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Upgrading my Jazz?

M

MudKricket

Aug 11, 2007
46
0
#1
ok so i'm gettin a MIM jazz soon and am kinda excited lol i know its not much but its a huuuge step up from what i got. but im thinkin about puttin some stuff into it. so heres what im thinkin about:

1-DiMarzio J p'ups
2-Badass II
3-new neck ( i love the feel of the geddy neck or marcus miller neck)

so yeah thats it so far lol anyone have any ideas or comments one what i should do or what im planning on doing? thanks
 
#2
Erm, so you're buying an MIM Jazz body and a bunch of extra parts? If you've got the cash for that stuff or expect to have it relatively soon after buying the bass, I'd just as soon get a body from Warmoth and build the bass "right" the first time. That's what I plan on doing when I finally get around to building a Strat, since Fender doesn't offer a Strat model that will give me everything I want without serious modification.
 
#3
MudKricket said:
ok so i'm gettin a MIM jazz soon and am kinda excited lol i know its not much but its a huuuge step up from what i got. but im thinkin about puttin some stuff into it. so heres what im thinkin about:

1-DiMarzio J p'ups
2-Badass II
3-new neck ( i love the feel of the geddy neck or marcus miller neck)

so yeah thats it so far lol anyone have any ideas or comments one what i should do or what im planning on doing? thanks
Click to expand...
I think the pups and the bridge are reasonable and pretty cost-effective. As for the neck, that's going to hurt your wallet. Why not look around for a used bass that comes closer to meeting your needs.

Lots of good axes for sale on TB.

Good Luck,
 
#9
yeah i would have liked to save for a better bass but its what my mom is giving me for christmas so i kind of dont have a choice lol. i know the neck is gonna be something like 300 bucks but o well, i have that and enough to put the other stuff on it. since this will prolly be my main bass for quite some while, i figured i mught as well make it as good as i can. i was just lookin to see if anyone here had any suggestions or reccomendations as to what i should do. or am i lookin at having a pretty decent bass after i get all of the stuff i plan on getting. thanks again
 
#10
MudKricket said:
yeah i would have liked to save for a better bass but its what my mom is giving me for christmas so i kind of dont have a choice lol...i was just lookin to see if anyone here had any suggestions or reccomendations as to what i should do...
Click to expand...

Honestly, MIM Jazzes are quite nice. Your Mom is getting you a very generous gift. :bassist:

What's your amp like? Maybe the extra bucks could go toward a new speaker cab or amp head? Assuming your rig is REALLY gig ready, here is my advice about the Jazz bass:

1) Once you get it, play in without any mods for 2 to 3 weeks.

2) After that time, take it to a good bass technician, and get a professional "Set up," including action, fret levelling/crowning, neck relief adjust, pickup heights, nut slot check, etc. Make sure to have a new set of top quality medium light or light gauge strings of your choice installed then, too.

3) Play it like that for few weeks, without any mods.

4) After that, add a new bridge if you still feel the need. Careful not to disturb the Bridge ground wire!

5) Play it for few more weeks, without any NEW mods except the bridge.

6) After that, replace the pickups if you really want to.

7) Find a good teacher and a couple of cool bands.

8) Do not replace the neck.

Hope it all works out! Congrats on the new bass. :cool:
 
#13
I'll jump on board with Jim, too. That bass is rather decent (especially as a gift!) and some nice pu's down the road would be a rather easy swap. DiMarzio has sure earned a place in my heart with their Ultra-J's and I'm going to try on their other set soon.

Keep your shopper's eye open as time goes by and grab the bits & pieces along the way that you know for sure that you'll eventually use. You'll probably also stumble across someone unloading a franken-jazz someday that might be dead weight for them, but pure gold for you. It's happened for me twice now and come to think of it, they're both quite close to the bass you want to build. At least you have some evidence that they're out there, right?

Necks... when you spot a good one for a song, that's the one to gobble up for that rainy day. I have a Warmoth neck and a Modulus fretless neck, too (oh hell yeah!) that I found rather by chance in my travels for relative dirt $. They were both no brainers. Take your time, keep jammin', and be selective. You'll eventually find the right stuff.
 
#14
dcr said:
+1!


Except personally, I'd swap options #4 and #6. I can't stand basses that "hum". Gotta go with stacked humbuckers ASAP!

dcr
Click to expand...

Yes, could do.
I went with Lindy Fralin split-coils on my MIM 60's Jazz classic.

The key is to start with the known, and have the bass set up professionally, with good strings of a medium to light gauge, IMHO.
 
#16
I also think Jim gave excellent advice, but I'd get the new bridge installed during the big setup (step 2). I think the MIM bridges are a weak point, and the Gotoh 201 is an excellent, inexpensive ($30) replacement. (It made a big, unexpected difference on my MIM project fretless Precision. I can't imagine a Badass would be noticably better.) I'd get that done by the tech so it's properly installed and adjusted as part of the setup. Otherwise, you might need to pay for a partial setup again.

Before you spend major cash on pickups, play the stockers for a while and experiment with strings. I think the MIM pickups are decent, so with the right strings you might be happy with the tone. If you want more cutting highs, try stainless rounds, for more fatness try flats, etc. Like Jim, I went with Lindy Fralin's Split Jazz to go noiseless, and they're outstanding -- but costly at $240 a set.

And I agree you don't need to replace the neck. Fender's MIM necks are great these days. A good setup should be all it needs.
 
#17
My MIM Jazz Deluxe is a really a nice instrument. I can make it make whatever sound I want, That's why I bought it.
I got the stock noiseless pickups, and they really are.
My only complaint is that they could have spent a little more time buffing down the edges of the neck/frets.
Badazz bridge? maybe some day, but the stocker is working fine so I ain't messing with it.
 
#18
Why do people want to mod basses that they haven't even tried yet? You'd just be modding for the sake of modding when you buy replacement parts without even trying it stock, and that is a big waste of money and time. I bought an SX P copy earlier this year, and had I listened to people on here who buy replacement parts before they even try it, I would have never known how good it sounds totally stock.

Jim Carr is absolutely right. Try what he says before you spend dime one on modding.
 
#19
dcr said:
+1!
Except personally, I'd swap options #4 and #6. I can't stand basses that "hum". Gotta go with stacked humbuckers ASAP!
Click to expand...

Jim Carr said:
Yes, could do.
I went with Lindy Fralin split-coils on my MIM 60's Jazz classic.

The key is to start with the known, and have the bass set up professionally, with good strings of a medium to light gauge, IMHO.
Click to expand...

I might note here that I made changes in my MIM '60s Jazz Classic for two reasons. First, I was dealing with a sound engineer on a weekly basis who hated the sound of my bass. Second, one of the things he hated was the single coil hum.

I first changed the bridge to a Leo Quan, and after quite a while (a couple of months, IIRC), I got the Lindy Fralin split coils. The bridge was an attempt to darken the tone and increase sustain, and the pickups were to enable a quieter bass when the pickups were not both dimed. They both helped meet those goals, but the engineer still hated it, so I got a Lakland 44-01, which made him quit riding me. I later got the Sadowsky P/J. Lately, they only want upright, so it just goes to show you no good deed goes unpunished.

JimmyM said:
Why do people want to mod basses that they haven't even tried yet? You'd just be modding for the sake of modding when you buy replacement parts without even trying it stock, and that is a big waste of money and time. I bought an SX P copy earlier this year, and had I listened to people on here who buy replacement parts before they even try it, I would have never known how good it sounds totally stock.

Jim Carr is absolutely right. Try what he says before you spend dime one on modding.
Click to expand...

+1

Really get to know your instrument before making changes, and save the old parts so you can either fall back to the original parts if the new stuff doesn't work out, and so you can sell the bass with original parts and keep the upgrade stuff for later use on another instrument.
...and Jimmy, thanks for the kind words. :D
 

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