Passive P-Bass active conversion

[Bobzilla]

I'm having a lot of fun at the minute playing with a p-bass, plan being to turn it active and fretless with a self build pre-amp. The best thing about this is that I can experiment as much as I like because it cost me a grand total of £18.50 so I don't care if I screw it up.

I've hit my first problem, and that is that the current cut-outs for the pots are not big enough for a 9v battery and the pots. I'm thinking get my trusty router out and route a hole for a battery box in the backside, or possibly even just put a battery hole in the front under the scratchplate.

Any thoughts? Other than 'why are you turning your bass active, of course... The answer being 'because I want to, its fun to play about and I can'.

[dannybuoy]

It'll cost a lot more than £18.50 but the East P-Retro is made for P-Basses and fits in without needing to rout a battery box as it has an internal rechargeable battery that you charge up via the jack socket:

http://www.east-uk.com/index.php/all-products/p-retro.html

Edited April 22, 2015 by dannybuoy

[Bobzilla]

Its a Westfield. Its very not worth spending £195 for electronics on. Its a bit like putting an Aston Martin engine in an Austin Metro.

[Pete1967]

Just go for it and have fun.... utterly disposable at that price and you just might end up with a peach. A rear rout for the battery box will be a lot more convenient for battery changes. Buy a cheapy battery box from the internet. You might need a long drill bit to connect the cavities.