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when is a "beater" worth upgrading? *UPDATE - useless truss rod!*

Argali

Argali

Aug 19, 2008
389
222
49
Portland, OR
#1
I recently acquired a weird Blade 1 bass, made in Korea some time in the '90s, P-bass copy. It feels nice, plays well. But the pickups are junk, the input jack is junk, and the nut is chipped. I keep it around just in case I break a string, which I have yet to do (knock on wood).

I've put the bass on CL for cheap, but no one seems interested, as it's a no-namer really. So I'm pondering now if it's worth upgrading. An EMG Geezer P should fit nicely, and would solve the pickup/input jack issue. I could try a precut Tusq nut, maybe even replace the bridge if something will fit.

But I wonder if this bass is worth it...if I'd be better off, say, grabbing a cheap Fender MIM and modding that. How have you guys decided this issue?
 
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#3
Thinking about doing the same thing to my Tobias bass. I was changing the strings yesterday and the nut came off in my hand (giggity). I was able to glue it back but it gave me the idea of maybe wanting to upgrade the nut and pickups. It doesn't sound quite right, so maybe a pickup change is in order. It feels nice to play though even if the neck is a little wider than I'm used to.
 
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#6
When is a beater bass worth upgrading? when it's:
1) Yours
2) You think it is.
Honestly, nobody can answer that question for you. It's your money, time, and happiness we're talking about here, not mine (or anybody else's). I have a couple that I think are worth it - to me - but I don't spend much time thinking about what others think about it. If you have the time and the money, and it will make you happy, then by all means, go crazy with the thing...:)
 
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#10
Argali said:
I recently acquired a weird Blade 1 bass, made in Korea some time in the '90s, P-bass copy. It feels nice, plays well. But the pickups are junk, the input jack is junk, and the nut is chipped. I keep it around just in case I break a string, which I have yet to do (knock on wood).

I've put the bass on CL for cheap, but no one seems interested, as it's a no-namer really. So I'm pondering now if it's worth upgrading. An EMG Geezer P should fit nicely, and would solve the pickup/input jack issue. I could try a precut Tusq nut, maybe even replace the bridge if something will fit.

But I wonder if this bass is worth it...if I'd be better off, say, grabbing a cheap Fender MIM and modding that. How have you guys decided this issue?
Click to expand...


I can definitely speak to this question because I've undergone something similar a while back. I won't bore you with the story buy suffice it to say I should have stopped once the neck couldn't be sorted out.

Now she's a wall hanger.

If you like your bass and it plays well enough to keep "you" happy, then I say keep it and put as much money as you want into it. Don' worry about the resale value, just enjoy it.

Just don't change the major things like the bridge for example because that will definitely affect the way it presently sounds.

Good Luck with it......
 
#11
I took a 90s MIK E Squier that just felt awesome to be my main bass. It was beat to heck from the pickups, wiring, jack all was crap. I added new wire, cap, pots and put a new pickguard on her, also reworked the neck.
The best thing I did was putting in Duncan Antiquity II pups.

So for the $75 bucks I gave them for a bass they couldn't sell and another $200.00 in parts it's gold.

This thing plays as good as my MIA P basses from any year. In fact I sold my last one and gig that beater bass today.
 
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#12
The pickups and electronics are typically where cheap basses skimp. The good news is that, for a p bass, pots, a cap and a jack are probably 25 bucks, it the circuit is a pretty easy one (either to DIY or cheap to pay someone).

I wouldn't bother with the nut unless the chip affects playability. I took a fairly ugly bite out of the nut on what was my main giging Bass, and have played it for years without an issue.

Getting a nut cut right is probably not a good DIY project, and is fairly expensive, and while nut material probably makes some difference, I don't think it is enough to mess
With on a cheap bass unless it is causing problems.

Like others have said, if you like the feel of the bass,it sounds decent unplugged, and you are planning to keep it (nobody will probably want your upgrade one either), the. Have at it.
 
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#13
I spent like $20 to replace the pots and input jack on my Jazz bass... the electronics were in some poor condition when I bought it cheap. Seeing as a P-bass only has 2 knobs you could replace the pots+input jack for less than that, not to mention you get to ensure a proper soldering job. (I don't know how many NEW guitars I've opened up to see huge globs of solder.. it really only takes the slightest bit) Doing so brought my Jazz back to life.. so much so that the only reason I'm considering replacing the pickups is because I think I'd prefer split coil pickups because the rehearsal space my band uses has really noisey wiring through the house, so I tend to just keep both volume knobs up to not have to deal w/ the hum.

If you've got noisey pots/input jack it might be worth a touch of contact cleaner.. or honestly just replacing them would be about the same cost as a big ol' can of contact cleaner you might never use.

I'd wait to see what happened with cleaning up the exsisting electronics before replacing something as pricey as a good set of pickups. Unless you've gone in and checked the wiring yourself you never know how a bad solder job could be affecting its tone.

*Edit* $20 was the cost of 3 pots, + 1 input jack. My dad and I tackled the soldering ourselves. We even took the capacitor off of the old tone pot and put it on one of the new pots.. so $20 if you can do the work yourself comfortably. .
 
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#14
The second you get it home. First off, it's yours, and you can do what ever you want. Second, little changes could make a lot of differences. Third, it's practical experience in working on a bass.
The most common things to change are pickups, tuners and bridges. Start there, just keep the originals so you can swap them back when selling and use the upgrades later. Good luck.
 
#17
I believe I had the same brand of bass back in the late 80's: Blade by VMI Sebring, P Bass copy with no pickguard.
Yeah, cheap electronics. I put an EMG Select pickup and it had played and sounded really decent. I never saw a problem with the stock bridge.
A bass like that, you can watch for pickups here in the TB classifieds.
 
#18
I realised my second-hand P-bass was worth upgrading when I found myself playing it waaay more often than my expensive main bass, and I'd always reach for the P-bass first when rehearsing, playing etc!
I did get a bit carried away tinkering with it mind you!
 
#19
To me there is only one time a beater is not worth upgrading..

When you're not going to play it!

I have a Crate P bass copy that plays great and has one of the thinnest necks I've ever seen (< 1.4"), but the stock pups sounded weak. Replaced it with some Seymour Duncan 1/4 lb'ers and the tone was improved 100%. It's still my project bass that I plan on upgrading more when I have time.
 
#20
I got a MIM beater a while back, and it felt like a million bucks. Great neck, wonderful resonance AND sustain, and I liked the vibe and general feeling of it. Got the frets worked on and new pickups, and now it's just killin McShmillin.
 

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