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Would you mod a signature model bass?

Would you mod a signature model bass?

  • Yes! This isn't my hero's bass, it's MY bass! Fold, spindle and mutilate!

    Votes: 122 71.8%

  • Yes, but only if it was already used, modded, needing TLC, et al.

    Votes: 12 7.1%

  • Yes, but I would think of resale value, so no big changes and save the original parts.

    Votes: 37 21.8%

  • No! I want to play a bass just like my hero's bass!

    Votes: 7 4.1%

  • No thanks, I have no interest in modding or don't know how.

    Votes: 9 5.3%

  • Carrots.

    Votes: 20 11.8%
  • Total voters
    170
#41
My problem is Fender doesn't offer what I want. The Geddy Lee gets close, pickups and bridge, but I want the rosewood with block inlays. The 70's Jazz has the inlays but has the narrow7.25 radius. Not to mention color choices, I love the nostalgia of Seafoam or Surf Green. The Adam Clayton model comes close but I didn't want to shell out that kind of money. Oh and a Hipshot!
 
#42
Would I mod a signature model bass? To most makes and models, no. To a Fender, not a problem, their signature models have no real meaning, they are just shallow marketing tools to swamp consumers with.
 
#43
I've had a Marcus Miller Jazz Bass for (I think) about 12 years now. It has hands down, the most comfortable neck I have ever played on a Fender and I make it a point to play other ones when I'm out. The stock preamp fizzled out on me years ago, and I ran it passive for a long time. Since then I have added a new preamp and changed the pickups 3 times that I can remember. Why not? It is a comfortable hunk of wood and sounds tremendous.

I also have a Lakland with a "nicer" and easier to play neck, but it just isn't my Fender. As mentioned in another thread, it's the difference between a really tightly built BMW and a '69 Z28 with some scratches and a weird vibration noise under the seat somewhere. The BMW is a more highly refined machine, but I'm getting into the '69 almost every time.
 
#45
I have two sig models, a Geddy Lee and Mark Hoppus Fenders. I never owned a Rush album and don't recall ever hearing Blink 182, I just like them for the hardware and aesthetics. I thought about getting a Warmoth body for the Geddy, but read the neck pocket needs to be modded for the neck. I just got the Hoppus bass, so I'm still seeing what I like and would change. Otherwise, no bass is sacred to me, and I never really gave a squirt about resale value on any of my basses.
 
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#49
I'm going to go out on a limb and say in the grand spectrum of collectable signature basses, the Waters is not on the high end. So I doubt the resale would be harmed all that much, and would be eclipsed by the joy you will get from modding it to your preferences.

If you are concerned about resale, hang on to all the original parts and throw them in so the buyer has the choice of restoring it to it's original flawed state.
 
#50
A signature model is what that guy wants. Changing it to your liking makes it your signature model. Pull out the Sharpie and sign your own name.

Ok, maybe ignore that last sentence if you want to re-sell it someday. It's a question of commitment. I have bases I've built that have my initials on the headstock. Guess I'm married to those basses.
 
#52
If I felt it needed mods, then I'd have no problem modding it. I have a Mark Hoppus (yes I'm a total fanboy, but that's not why I bought the bass) and when I get around to it I'll switch out the neck plate and pickguard. But I've been playing it stock since April and it's great.

But just wait until y'all see what was done to the Geddy I bought... ;)
 
#54
I don't collect basses, I buy basses because I intend to use them so, yes, I will modify them sig or not. The one sig that I own is a Fender Reggie Hamilton and it is a serious bass designed by a serious bassist who I had never heard of before I noticed his bass in the Fender catalog. He is a great bassist and a great guy but he is also a great bass designer and it was the design of his bass that attracted me to it. He does a lot of session work and he appreciates a bass that is versatile enough that he only has to take one bass to a job to satisfy the producer and the other artists. I have to play a wide variety of musical styles for my church band gig and I likewise appreciate the versatility of his bass design. But that does not mean that I can't think of ways to make it better -- for me. I put a new bridge on mine mostly because I happened to have one I was no longer using on another bass. I put a battery monitor circuit to warn me of impending battery failure. And I put a passive mode tone control in it, something the CS version has but which was cut from the MIM version for cost reasons, I suppose.
 
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#55
If it's a cheap sig model, do it! Pino P Bass? No way.
Within a week of buying my Matt Freeman bass I had new pickups in it. The bass was cheap and the DiMarzios were affordable. It sounds perfect now.
 
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#56
buldog5151bass said:
Yes - it's a tool. But keep the original parts if you sell.
Click to expand...

This is what I would do…mod away, but safely store the original parts as a "just in case". It wouldn't be the first time I've modded something, decided I didn't like the main platform, put it back to "default settings" for trade/sale and kept the new parts for another project. :thumbsup:
 
#57
There are two reasons to buy a signature bass:

1. As a collectible piece (which seems a waste of $$$ IMO) - then there would be no reason to mod it
2. You like this collection of parts, and could not do it cheaper yourself with a stock bass. In that case, it's just a tool - the name on it means nothing, so make it how you want to play it.
 

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