Who has modified their Geddy Lee Jazzes?

[slowburnaz]

slowburnaz: I have the intention of putting darkstars in my jazz as well, but I saw over at the dudepit that the darkstars doesn't quite cover the original jazz holes. How did you tackle that since I can't see any holes around the pickups?

Well, the neck pickup was no problem: I had bought the black pickguard from Jeannie Pickguards (he's a member over at the pit) with the hole for the DS already cut out.

As for the bridge pickup: I went back to Jeannie Pickguards for this one as well. He sells surrounds made just for the DS, specifically for covering up the hole left behind by the original pickup. I also got the chrome thumbrest from him.

Here's a free plug for him: http://home.comcast.net/~pickguards/

 

[slowburnaz]

Could you tell us about this mod a little more? As far as how intensive it was to have done and what the tones are that you get out of it?

That is too cool.....

Thanks!

The mod wasn't all that intensive, as the tough work was all done by someone else . Although it was done in steps, I basically just bought all the parts as I could afford them and had my local luthier put them in along the way.

As for the tone... It's hard to really nail tone down with words, so I'll say this: Think of the ideal "Jazz bass on steroids", and then add more volume (hotter pickups), a sweeter high end, and definitely a bigger low end. The low end is VERY solid, but never boomy.

I've also noticed that these pickups never "fart out", as I call it... With some pickups, if you really start digging in, the sound kinda reaches its limit, I suppose, the notes lose their attack. I don't think you can dig in too hard with the DarkStars. They're akin to a tube amp... you can push them really hard, and they sound really good while you're doing it.

 

[D-Bone]

I noticed the front Volume pup on your J-Retro was a single knob. Mine has the normal volume/blend knob on mine. Why did you decide to do it this way?????? Is this because of the Dark Stars?

 

[bwl124]

It's not a mod, but I put black strings on mine and it looks very cool.

...Bruce

 

[slowburnaz]

I noticed the front Volume pup on your J-Retro was a single knob. Mine has the normal volume/blend knob on mine. Why did you decide to do it this way?????? Is this because of the Dark Stars?

Hey D-Bone... it's actually an Audere JZ3 preamp, not the J-Retro.

 

[Modern Growl]

I think the Geddy Lee sounds fine all stock. I mean thats why its so popular for petes sake, right? People play it at the store (all stock) and love it.
With that said, I switched out the pickups w/ Nordstrand NJ4's. It didn't REALLY need the upgrade, I just had an extra set of Nordstrands that I had no other bas to put them in, so in the Geddy they went.

With the NJ4 install, I noticed a sweeter high-end, and more lows. Also a more 'grindy' midrange.

 

[Halkan]

Well, the neck pickup was no problem: I had bought the black pickguard from Jeannie Pickguards (he's a member over at the pit) with the hole for the DS already cut out.

As for the bridge pickup: I went back to Jeannie Pickguards for this one as well. He sells surrounds made just for the DS, specifically for covering up the hole left behind by the original pickup. I also got the chrome thumbrest from him.

Here's a free plug for him: http://home.comcast.net/~pickguards/

Thanks, friend. I had actually heard about the darkstar pickguard but not the surrounds. I'm going to check it out now, thanks again.

 

[rllefebv]

I'll be interested in how many folks changed the pickups but liked the originals better, or how many just liked the originals enough not to mod theirs.

I love the original pickups... The output may be a bit low for some, but that's covered by turning up the amp ... Deifinitely cannot argue with the tone!

As for mods, after replacing the BAII with a stock 'thin' bridge, the bass sounded better overall, IMO... I removed the pickguard to adjust the truss rod and liked the look so much I just left it off...

-robert

 

[BassDudeSA]

I just received my Geddy yesterday. New from Music123 where they were having a 10% off Fender sale. Not bad for $620 w/free shipping and no tax.

I absolutely love this thing. You guys all know how great they are so no need to get into all that. I'm only writing here to say that above all my other basses, this is the last I would ever want to mod or change in any way. I guess I look at buying this bass as a tribute to my bass hero, Geddy Lee. It might sound cheesy, but if this bass was built around his specs and his bass's looks, then I don't want to change it at all. My Geddy is staying 100% Geddy.

 

[afroman]

I put Hipshot tuners, DiMarzio Model J pickups (after having Di Marzios UltrasJazzes), black pearloid pickguard, series/parallel switching and body routing for the trussrod.

I liked it a lot until I got my Lakland DJ4. Then it was bye bye...

 

[jpark369]

Bought mine earlier this week already modded courtesy of uglycicles. DiMarzio Ultra Jazz pups, J-Retro pre and a black pickguard. I absolutely love this bass! Check this thread for a pic

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284729

wow. that geddy is sick!!! ive been thinking about modding ine for a while. i wanna maybe do a pup swap for a more beefy tone. could you put an s-1 switch in a geddy?

 

[Baird6869]

Geddy said recently in an interview that he swaps out the tuners on his replicas and sands all the necks. These changes will be on the new batch of Geddy basses.

Start sandin' and looking for new tuners!

I just received my Geddy yesterday. New from Music123 where they were having a 10% off Fender sale. Not bad for $620 w/free shipping and no tax.

I absolutely love this thing. You guys all know how great they are so no need to get into all that. I'm only writing here to say that above all my other basses, this is the last I would ever want to mod or change in any way. I guess I look at buying this bass as a tribute to my bass hero, Geddy Lee. It might sound cheesy, but if this bass was built around his specs and his bass's looks, then I don't want to change it at all. My Geddy is staying 100% Geddy.

 

[Mofo-Kang]

One of mine is stock except for an abalone pickguard and abalone-topped knobs.

The other, I swapped out the stock ones for Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups and also installed a Audere preamp. I like them both...the one with new electronics is punchier and has a bit wider tone options, as you'd expect, but there's nothing bad about the sound of a stock GLJB, in my opinion.