• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Thoughts on modding my fretless.

Medic579

Medic579

Dec 18, 2009
411
336
Tallahassee
#1
I'm in the planning stage if a custom fretless bass. I have a 2000 MIM Fender Fretless Jazz. It's in good shape and has great paint, but, I want to swirl it, replace pickups use a hipshot tremolo bridge, and hipshot tuners. Not sure what kind of pickups yet. I've got an awesome guitar builder/tech who will swirl dip it and do all the work for me. Just starting to work on the parts list now. What would you do?
 
#2
Go for it. You can buy mim fretless jazz basses used for $200-$300 all day long so it's not like modding a $10,000 bass. Have fun with it.

I'm looking at modding a mim jazz myself. Looking at dying the fingerboard black, coating the fingerboard, probably a hipshot bass extender, bad ass bridge, some upgraded pickups. Ill have more money in mods than what the bass is worth but who cares. It's all in good fun. Fretless isn't my main instrument
 
#3
Same here not my main bass. I'm a vintage Peavy man myself. I know I know everyone thinks peavy is junk. Anyway, it's the perfect bass to just have fun with because like you say it's not like you can't get another one for a couple hundred bucks. Thinking about using the DiMarzio DP149 Ultra Jazz Bass Pickup Set Black for pups mine is mystic blue so that would be the base color before the swirl dip.
 
#4
I had an old peavey fury p bass copy that was actually better than my real p bass so there's nothing wring with the older peaveys. Really out of the mods your thinking the one I probably would stay away from is the tremolo considering its a fretless. On fretless you can already do vibrato and sliding harmonics. It probably won't fret out as bad on a fretless but it requires a bit more work than other aftermarket bridges. You'll have to rout out the body. Almost everyone either ends up putting pennies between the neck and the body to raise the neck or they have to cut down the body under the bridge to get the action good. There's a kid on YouTube that put one on his warwick corvette. I'm not comfortable enough to do all that.
 
#6
Totally go for it. I love modding basses; to me, it provides a connection to the instrument that's just way, way greater than you'll have with something you bought off the rack.

In terms of what I've do:

Hipshot Cloverleaf Ultralights
Epoxy the board
Shield with copper foil
Hipshot A-Style Bridge (to be able to tweak the string spacing)
Rout out an 18V battery box
Add a preamp with active/passive switching

Pickups (any of these):

For growly (in a good way): Nordstrand NJ4SE
For burpy/smoother: Bartolini 9J#1 S/SB
For darker growly (i.e., darker than Nordstrand): DiMarzio Model J (series)

All of the pickups I listed are hum-cancelling; I like J's, but I hate hum. YMMV.

Preamp:

I'd get an active/passive push-pull setup if I went the preamp route.

Aguilar OBD3: aggressive, with HUGE deep bass
Pope Flexcore: transparent and clean
Audere Z-Mode: transparent and clean, and able to get some very cool fretless sounds with the Z-mode switch (I've heard some issues with Barts and this, however)

I wouldn't got with the tremelo bridge. I've never found them to be very useful, and I imagine that it'd make it much harder to play in tune while using it on a fretless.
 
#8
I had looked at the A-style bridge. I think the tremolo for the money it will cost for all the body work would not have enough in the pros category to make it worth the expense. I didn't realize how much work it would actually require. Gotta read the fine print! Lol
 
#9
Sounds like a fun project but you might want to try and do as much as possible yourself, like shielding, pickup and tuner change and such. It will save you piles of money. Be aware that by getting a pro to do these things the parts will not be the biggest cost in these mods, the guy's time will be. You will be paying more in time than the bass is worth. I am not telling you not to do it, just don't plan on re-selling.
 
#10
Not a resale item for sure. The guy has become a great friend. Ill be under 500 barely for everything. Especislly since im gonna nix the tremolo. I already have the bass. It's one of those want to things not a need to you know. Folkstone guitars is his business. Am I allowed to say that on here. Anyway he's just a great down to earth guy. And he's fast and very precise.
 
#14
The East J retros? Looks cool. How many people can give me a run down on em. I haven't heard of them before. That doesn't really mean anything but. They look awesome. I like that its active and passive. And that it's an easy installation.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back