Originally- when I realised I could sell things I wasn’t using to buy things that I wanted and upgrade stage by stage.
then I have a fairly short bucket list so I would buy and sell to work my way through that list of things I wanted to try. Tried pretty much everything I wanted and crucially worked out what I liked.
then recently it’s been accidental buying things to try... and then finding I prefer them to what I had. I got up to four basses and wrote on here that I could sell them all as I was so happy with the Jazz I had. It wasn’t hyperbole and a year later I had sold half of them. The last “extra” Might go and I might blow all the money in 2-3 basses on a nice old P bass.
im genuinely happier with less basses as I play music more and think about basses less
does it make much difference to sound? I've used threaded nuts in bits builds before and to my ears, it makes a difference vs screws. (I prefer screws)
i see you're input and raise you.... https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/181108334549003--fender-custom-shop-post-modern-p-bass-black-burst-spalted-maple
60's and 70's jazz are fairly different sounding to my ears.
See if you can find someone who's done loads of pickup recordings. I downloaded a set from Talkbass about 10-15 years ago of P bass pickups recorded in the same bass - it's really interesting and I can crank them through headphones/stereo/bass rig to hear a rough guesstimate of the differences or at least the broad sound of them.
Buy a nice set of something second-hand from here, and then if you're using a preamp or a wiring loom use a chocolate box connector or similar so you can swap pickups if you want without a soldering iron.
Ismael bought my G&L - he's a lovely guy, really patient, good communications and it was a joy to sell him a much loved bass. Thank you @imembrive - enjoy it!
I love the point of a gig where you realise you're not thinking about the instrument at all, it's just doing exactly what you want with no fuss.
Normally less knobs helps me get to this point, both in the band and on the bass