• 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.

What’s your #1 mod regret?

#101
I tried tackling the Bart MK-1 pickups and preamp in my Ibanez SR 755 all in one shot. Should've done the preamp first then the pickups if I still wanted a different sound. Turns out, I actually HATE wiring up those tiny wires more than I thought I would. To this day, it's still missing the Aguilar preamp that's sitting in a cup all soldered up.

p.jpeg
 
#102
Forgot to record self before every change. So just have fuzzy memory to go off of. Doesn't really sound different after pickup change? Or was it the strings? Or what amp and settings did I use. Love all I've done to my epi eb0 but can't show what each change did. Better than disliking a mod and not being able to go back though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ReillyProductions
#103
ReillyProductions said:
Let’s hear some mod horror stories!
Click to expand...
"Refinishing" my Ripper back in about '82 because I didn't care for its aged natural look. Smoothed out some of the more pronounced corners I didn't like, bad sanding job, bad refinish with a brush, sanded off the logo, serial number is almost unreadable, made it fretless a couple times over th years. Stupid stupid stupid move. But I played the hell out of it and still have it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rtslinger and Pauly 4001
#106
Not horrible, but I once swapped the bridge pickup out on a Strat style guitar for a rail humbucker. But in my naivety, I unsoldered the wires directly from the pickup itself, not from the pots, and in doing so, damaged the coil winding on the pickup itself. No idea why it didn’t occur to me to leave the wires on the pickup, even clip them short or anything. So, the original pickup had a broken coil and started to unwind itself, and I had to buy a new pickup when I wanted to put a single coil back in the guitar.


DJ Bebop said:
The picture says it all...
View attachment 4093410
I love the bass but now I wish I could have time shifted from 1972 to today to buy a Squier P and took it back with me and done this on a Squier instead of a 1962 P bass :(
:D
Click to expand...

I’ve got a Squier P that I’d be happy to trade you for it, so you can do it all over again... :roflmao:
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop and ReillyProductions
#107
Bought a $350 / 35" scale LTD bass because I loved the way it looked. Spent way too much time stripping and giving a rattle can refinish. Truly tedious and I'd never attempt that again. Upgraded all the hardware with boutique pickups, Babicz Bridge, and Gotoh Res-O-Lites. All-in I was probably at $750. It was a beautiful bass when it was finished. Unfortunately, I never bonded with it and ended up selling it for a significant loss. Lessons learned: a $350 LTD (or any secondary brand, for that matter) is still a $350 bass no matter how many expensive mods you make to it. If resale value is important, you're better off sticking to Fender or Ric.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ReillyProductions
#108
My first real bass was a brand new 1970 Tele.

It was the platform for my mods for about 12 years. I wiil say that I don't "regret" what I did, because it seemed like a good idea at the time but it was a total crapshoot. There was no way to know what you were going to get.

2 Refins
Added Gibson Mudbucker at neck. Not an uncommon mod back then.
Added preamp of some kind. It was overwhelming.
Moved single coil P towards bridge, added Carvin bass pickup in middle.

Reached a point of a kind of audio chaos. Decided a new body was in order with a fresh start. All worked out well.

Still have that original body too!!! Maybe one day it'll come back.
"Open the skylight Igor, it's an electrical storm!!!!"
 
  • Like
Reactions: neuman, Jefenator and Deleted member 365158
#111
Gutted one of my T-40s (with a somewhat rare red finish) and wired the stock pickups to a modern Audere preamp. Even routed an 18v battery box in the back, no less. The price of T-40s has kinda jumped up the last few years and I'm starring to regret it
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: ReillyProductions
#113
Back in the late 80s, I bought a Precision bass from a co-worker. I paid $200 for it. The body and headstock were refinished in 7-UP green see through nitro finish which was naturally reliced and actually looked pretty decent. The Fender decal was gone and in place of the pickguard, there was a tear dropped shaped control knob cover made from translucent green plexi.

The co-workder had bought the bass in Knoxville, TN and it was supposed to have belonged to Pat Benatar's bassist. No proof on that.

Anyway, fast forward to the mid 90s I had owned that bass for about 10 years. Back then, there was no internet and info on vintage basses was sparse. Then, 10 years after having bought it, I took it apart and low and behold, the neck was stamped June '62. The body's year was/is unknown but it is ash with the router pin marks and had a 1966/1967 neck plate.

Basically, it was a parts bass. But it had an original pre CBS black bottom pickup all crusty and filthy.

So, this bass I bought for $200 was a modded Fender Precision Bass done in 7-UP green. In the 90s, I sent the bass out to be refinished in 3 Tone Sunburst nitro. I had the headstock stripped and done in clear nitro. Found an original Fender decal at a guitar show. I made the bass look exactly the way that it probably originally looked before the clear green refinish job.

By the way, I still have this bass.

Mod regret? Damn it! Now, after all of these years, I wished that I would have left the bass alone and kept it with the bizarre translucent green nitro finish and with all of it's dings and finish cracks etc.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the bass when it was green and who wants to see and yet another 3 tone sunburst P?

Thanks for reading my story.

Lesson? Many times it is best to just leave stuff alone!
 
  • Like
Reactions: farmertom, 68Tele-Bass and ReillyProductions
#114
Learning to refret on my 76 Precision. Did a horrible job and bought a bunch of tools I never used again. Then I converted it into a fretless and kept sanding and sanding trying to get the neck right, and now it's super thin. It does work as a fretless neck, but it feels so odd that I quit using it and just bought a fretted neck for it. Fortunately, I modded all the collector's value out of it long before then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jefenator, ReillyProductions, WillyWonka and 1 other person
#117
JimmyM said:
Learning to refret on my 76 Precision. Did a horrible job and bought a bunch of tools I never used again. Then I converted it into a fretless and kept sanding and sanding trying to get the neck right, and now it's super thin. It does work as a fretless neck, but it feels so odd that I quit using it and just bought a fretted neck for it. Fortunately, I modded all the collector's value out of it long before then.
Click to expand...

Did you sand the fingerboard or the back? Build up the FB with CA gel and re-radius, and level.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JimmyM
#119
TDR1138 said:
Not horrible, but I once swapped the bridge pickup out on a Strat style guitar for a rail humbucker. But in my naivety, I unsoldered the wires directly from the pickup itself, not from the pots, and in doing so, damaged the coil winding on the pickup itself. No idea why it didn’t occur to me to leave the wires on the pickup, even clip them short or anything. So, the original pickup had a broken coil and started to unwind itself, and I had to buy a new pickup when I wanted to put a single coil back in the guitar.




I’ve got a Squier P that I’d be happy to trade you for it, so you can do it all over again... :roflmao:
Click to expand...


I did the same on my Jazz. Instead of soldering extension wires on pickups, I went to the source itself and promptly ruined a pickup!
 
  • Like
Reactions: TDR1138

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back