Jazz bass Mod becomes Build?

[Trevor Davies]

There are a lot of bright spots on that neck! Cannot wait to see it assembled.

[fender3x]

Me too! Most, but not all, of the parts are already installed on something. Mostly they are still on my Chinese Frankenbass...since I didn't really have anywhere else to put them.

[fender3x]

A quick pause, to memorialize the "donor" bass. 19 years ago, I bought an SX bass--a Chinese-made bass from a Taiwanese company that sold exclusively through a mail order distributor. It was incredibly cheap, but well finished, played reasonably well, stayed in tune.... This is how it looked when it was new:



I bought it to experiment with mods. It was not un-Jazz bass sounding, but I wanted something a bit closer to a p-bass sound, so I replaced the pickups with DiMarzio J's (DP123). These are split coil humbuckers--like a P-bass pickup, but side by side, so that they look like j-bass pickup. I also thought I experiment with the electronics. I put in a master volume and master tone pot, and put a blend pot between them. I put in push pull pots to switch from serial to parallel. I never used the parallel mode, and ultimately did not really like the blend pot. I played it at a Halloween party because I thought it might rain, and sometimes kept it in my office at work. As I stared to build my first PitBull guitar, I tried all of the setup stuff first on the SX, before trying in on the build (an ESB-4). In the process I got it to the point where it was really playing well...


...which got me thinking about upgrades. The DiMarzios sounded like something in between a P and J pickup...which turned out not to be what I liked. What I really wanted was a real P-bass sound, with the ability to dial in a bit of J-bass growl. So I got a set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups--passive, alnico V, with increased output from the J-pickup to balance the generally louder output from the P-pickup. They sounded great! Now it played well and sounded great... but it had some neck dive. So it got Gotoh Res-o-lite tuners. I also swapped out the pickguard and control plate...so now it looked like this:



Now it played well, stayed in position sounded good, and I continued to replace parts...but about 30 min to an hour playing it and my back stared to twinge, and sometimes my left fingers started to tingle. I really liked the bass, but it needed to lose some weight. So, I got a paulownia body and then I found a cheap neck on line...and the modded bass became a donor bass. When I took off all parts that I had at some point replaced, it left me with just the string tree, the bridge, the neck plate and its bolts.



It's going back in it's gig-bag for now, although I have a plan, perhaps, to resurrect it... For now, though, I did not want to just put all the parts on a new body and neck without a reflecting on the bass they came from. I learned a lot from this bass. The wear on the frets is an indicator that it got played. It was ultimately a terrific bass that exceeded all reasonable expectations.

[fender3x]

I wanted to see how the PJ bass was going to look once assembled. Nothing is screwed in, but this gives an idea.



As the previous post implies, it has more parts from the donor bass than original parts.

New parts:

• Body
• Neck
• Sung Il high mass, locking Bridge
• 3-String tree (not shown)
• Strap buttons (not shown)
• tuning post ferrules
• Neck plate and screws (not shown)
• LOTS of other screws (not shown)

The J-pickup in the pic is from the original SX and is just there for the moment to help me line up the strings with the bridge and pole pieces. The bridge pickup is the EMG blue-taped into place for the same reason.

I am just fine with a normal Fender-style bridge, but since the body is very light, the high mass bridge at the back helps to balance the neck. Also these Sung-Il bridges are really nicely finished.

The SX had Schaller Straplocks, which I don't really like as well as the little rubber washers on a conventional strap button. The Schallers were clunky and overkill for someone who doesn't vaguely resemble Pete Townshend.

My other bass projects have Hipshot tuners with screw on Ferrules, but these Gotoh's use press on. I didn't use the Gotoh ferrules on the SX because the orignals were nice and snug and fit the posts well. Meanwhile the Gotohs were slightly small for the hole. I have always wondered if there would have been a weight savings if I had used the Gotohs. The answer is "no." I have three sets of ferrules: the original Gotohs, a set that came with a PB kit and the original SX ferrules. The lightest were the ones from PitBull by about a half gram. The heaviest were the ones from Gotoh, by about a half gram. So I went with the PB's, although I am sure I would not have noticed the difference in weight--they also fit better than the Gotohs, which were a little small for the pre-drilled holes, just as they were on the SX neck.

I got the Gotohs because they covered the screw holes when I pulled out the cheap tuners from the SX bass. I hate the screws, and they are a little heavier than the Hipshots...but otherwise these are my favorite bass tuners. They stay in perfect tune, and are silky smooth. I have tried Grovers, Hipshots, Schallers and Gotoh. The Hipshots are a close second, and lighter, but the Gotohs are the smoothest and most precise.

A word on screws: After using several sets of Hipshot tuners that use just one screw per tuner, it is very clear to me that there is really no good reason why I should need 16 screws to mount 4 tuners other than tradition. This is particularly important because you have to drive the little suckers into maple. It's super easy to strip a head or break it off. Here is a piece of advice that I live by: To the extent practical, only use high quality, stainless steel screws. If there is ANY wear or tear on the Philips-head when you take it out, throw it away. When it comes to the tiny tuner screws, consider them "one-use." I do not use ANY tuner screws a second time. A few years ago I bought a box of 100 stainless steel screws in the proper size for tuners. Even though they are good quality they still strip very easily. That makes them a huge pain to take out later. In my case, the chances are very high that if I put it in, and took it out again, it may be damaged enough not to bear another cycle.

[fender3x]

The day started out pretty well. I had begun bolting things onto the bass. I got the tuners in place, as well as the pickguard and control plate. I got the bridge, neck and pickups aligned and bolted into place. It was going quite well, and I was starting to think I might all the drilling done today...when I realized that I needed to finish up in order to get to a meeting at work. I should have stopped there.

Instead, I thought, that if I hurry I can drill the ground wire hole from the bridge to the pickup cavity...

Attachment 46023

I am not sure how I did it, other than the fact that I was looking at my watch rather than at the angle of the drill bit. The angle was, needless to say, too steep. To make matters worse, I not only botched the bottom, but cracked the finish on the top, when I tried drill a sallower angle to the pickup cavity. The only thing I could have done to make it worse is to have done it on a transparent finish. The solid finish is what makes this a setback rather than a tragedy.

I made several mistakes. Obviously not being careful enough about the angle. But the biggest mistake was rushing. If I had stopped and returned to this when I had more time, I would have done at least three things differently. I would have been more compulsive about checking the angle. I would have sharpened the drill bit, which was clearly pretty dull. I would have just gone slow.

The build will definitely slow down now. I put some wood filler in the hole. I put the wire in as well since once the wood filler sets, it may not be a hole anymore, and I really don't want to drill this again.

Argh!!!!

[Trevor Davies]

Ohh bugger! As you said, just a setback and all can be fixed.

Drilling the bass guitar bridge ground wire hole to cavity (either pickup or control) is a job I fear a lot. There is lots of room for setbacks. I feel your pain.

[fender3x]

To add insult to injury, the pic (which I hated to take) didn't post properly. So I had to go retrieve it again. I have it patched now and re-sprayed three coats of the cream colored paint. I may not wait the full three weeks before applying clear, but will at least have to wait long enough to sand properly.

I tend to think that part of the usefulness of build diaries is to show the mistakes, if only as an object lesson to others. Sometimes more painful than others

[fender3x]

I am going to start searching for a jig, to make this a little more idiot proof. Failing that I will attempt to invent one. I don't care how many 2x4s I have to turn to saw dust in the process.

[Trevor Davies]

I use a block of wood (with a hole drilled through at an appropriate angle) clamped to the body of the guitar. Basically, an angled drillblock.