What's the best modification you've made?

[mellowgerman]

Newly completed project that I think qualifies as one of my top favs thus far. Back around 2004(?) when these basses came out (Ibanez GAXB150) I saw a red one at a music shop, loved the way the 32" scale felt and happened to have the extra $160 in the bank. The stock pickup was just your average mediocre soap-bar humbucker so younger-me ended up getting bored with it and eventually sold it.
Just recently I had the chance to snag one up again, cosmetically roughed up a bit, but in this really cool blue finish. Instantly took me back 10+ years once I had it in my hands. Same mediocre tone I remembered too though, so I decided to give it a little overhaul, dropping in a vintage-spec Novak bisonic pickup and a 90's Guild reissue Starfire bridge. Pretty stoked on the results and it's nice to have a bass that I can toss into a gig bag and take to the open mic without having to deal with the inherent stress of bringing the vintage Starfire bass along...

Before:

After:

 

[eli]

You changed the bridge too. What is that? I've never seen one.

 

[mellowgerman]

You changed the bridge too. What is that? I've never seen one.

Yup, it's a late 90's Guild bridge. They first made them for the USA Starfires of that period, then continued using them on the Dearmond import models that followed. Recently they showed up on the Fender "Rascal" basses too... probably just using up some old stock. Anyway, they're very cool bridges... essentially function just like a fender bridge but they maintain the harp shape of the 60's and 70's Starfires. String spacing is not quite as narrow as the vintage spec, but considerably narrower than a 19mm fender. I don't know the exact measurement off the top of my head but I'd think somewhere around 17-17.5mm. They are also pretty heavy compared to both a Fender bridge and their vintage counterparts.
There are a few small sellers online that still offer them NOS on ebay and reverb sometimes, which is how I got this one.

 

[arbiterusa]

Tearing the active electronics out of all my Corts. That stuff was awful.

 

[Stempelloos]

The first modification I made was putting an old Höfner pickup at the bridge of a Korean fretless. The jazz pickup there lacked output I felt. The output at the bridge was higher after that. But not for long, because the winding of the coil broke, it's an old sixties pickup and not waxed. I replaced it for a DiMarzio DP121 G-humbucker. Later I also swapped the P pickups for DP146's. And put CTS pots in it and a Gotoh bridge on it.

I like to think it sounds better than it originally did.

I got the Höfner pickup rewound, together with a Crucianelli toaster humbucker.
And tested them on an old EB3 copy.

They sounded allright, so I decided to put them on a hollowbody that I restored.
Because they were hollowbody pickups originally.

The EB3 copy was set up with replacement pickups.

Latest news is that I got a DP120 model One yesterday.
So I'm curious if the EB3 will sound better than the Korean fretless after I've set it up with the model One.

 

[mapleglo]

Going from 4 strings

Jetglo

• mapleglo
• Mar 9, 2018
• black jetglo rickenbacker

Blacked out Jetglo 4003

to 5 strings

425 Jetglo

• mapleglo
• Sep 14, 2018
• 4 to 5 rickenbacker

almost complete

 

[Bagusys]

Moded my tuning keys cuz why not right?

 

[eli]

Going from 4 strings

Jetglo

• mapleglo
• Mar 9, 2018
• black jetglo rickenbacker

Blacked out Jetglo 4003

to 5 strings

425 Jetglo

• mapleglo
• Sep 14, 2018
• 4 to 5 rickenbacker

almost complete

Yow, nice! Maplego, did you do this work yourself??!?

 

[bassman74]

Best Mod I ever done was on my Ibanez BTB1605 bass when installing Nordstrand DC5 pickups, Aguilar OBP-3 Preamp, and custom D-Cline knobs. That bass was seriously as good as any Boutique level bass I've owned 3-4 times the cost.

View attachment 2899315 View attachment 2899316 View attachment 2899317

It’s the exact same mod that i’d like to do to mine

 

[Ralphieboy57]

Besides a Pro setup, I installed a Hipshot A style bridge. Improved sustain, intonation, and string spacing.

 

[JimmyM]

Tie between Geezers on my P and PJs and Hipshot Xtenders, especially the 2 stop Xtender.

 

[Resonance129]

Haven't done much modding cuz I'm a chicken, and admittedly a bit ignorant when it comes to bass mods... But I did replace the pickups on my CV 70's P a few months after I bought it. Bought an Seymour Duncan SPB-4 pickup (Steve Harris Sigs) to pull some more mids out of the bass. The original pickups sounded nice, honestly, but I definitely liked the change when I replaced them. That bass growls now, but also has this semi-hollow, woody tone that compliments and better represents the actual bass, IMO.

 

[Doner Designs]

Flux capacitor installed.

But seriously, inline spit coils to replace pure single coils is something I would always do because I cannot tolerate hum. The Audere NC preamp is a good alternative to get the best of both worlds.

Nothing makes a bigger difference than strings.

 

[BasBeestNL]

Widen up the low B saddle of a Warwick bridge so it can hold a .135 string.
Standard fitting was .125 tapered i guess.
Brass nut for tonal equality. Dunlop straplocks, hand adjustable bass strap with wireless attachement, heavy duty mini-XLR to angled jack cable with guides.
This is my workhorse and has never failed.
First pic is from a similar strap on a Ibanez SR805

 

[stefancaunter]

Nothing makes a bigger difference than strings.

If this was stamped on every headstock the world would be a better place.

 

[Berniez40]

New Strings and Different Tunings.

 

[mambo4]

changing out a bridge is seldom ever worth the effort or the money.

It's less tone related, but I feel replacing string holes with string slots, and difficult to adjust screws with easily accessible screws makes like easier.

 

[bassdude51]

Ummm, since I can't say strings (TI Flats).............modifications..............getting the correct pickup height adjustment along with a good set-up.

Switching pickups has only ever given me debatable results.

 

[JohnArnson]

Wired the 2 cheap stock J pickups of my 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro bass in series directly to the output jack socket.

My bass sounds no short of awesome now, even better than my 4 string P/J Mikro that I installed a set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups in.

Wasn't the case before I wired the pickups in series though, sounded way too burby and oddly hollow at any possible setting and the two upper strings sounded thin and weak no matter how I adjusted the pickups, as bad as you would expect from cheap pickups like this, actually worse than I expected too, but somehow wiring the pickups in series directly to the output jack socket of the bass magically solved those issues completely, and, as said, now it sounds no short of awesome, completely different tone, might even be the best sounding bass I've ever owned.

Very clear, defined, articulate and well balanced tone overall.

I was planing on swapping the 2 cheap stock J pickups, but not anymore, I don't really need more than that one perfect tone, so not having any adjustment options on board is not an issue for me.

 

[4001]

Is it supposed to be something that I did,.... or something I thought of, couldn't do as good as an expert and had and expert do it?

If the latter, then having my Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass wired for a dual output like a Rickenbacker, so I could use two amps and feed each pickup to it's own amp.
Improvement in sound ???
If you haven't experienced what that can do for your sound, then you should check it out.
I can also use the standard mono output for that classic Jazz Bass tone all squeezed up into one signal...
Since I never use the tone pot, I eliminated it and just have two volume pots.

My Fender Blacktop Jazz Bass is also wired this way and the dual P-Bass pickups in stereo are awesome to hear.

For a mod that I did....
I sanded, primed, painted, decaled and clear coated the headstock face of a Squier Jazz Bass neck years ago that turned out excellent, and it's attached to my Fender Blacktop Jazz Bass body... and it says Fender Jazz Bass....