Finished! Two upgraded basses!

[Shockwave]

Hey guys.

A few months ago I picked up a P bass in pink. Its an AMAZING bass for the money,



I enlisted the help of Waghorn guitars and Oli Foxen I decided to turn it into a P-J bass with all black hardware.

I purchased a bass with a Dimarzio Split P and Ultra Jazz, ripped them out. Got Waghorn to rout a jazz pickup sized hole in the 70's position, got the bass to Oli Foxen who is just this minute putting it all together.

A new heavy duty bridge, Knobs, Wilkinson tuners, the works! Heres the work in progress...



Secondly is a bit of a mistake! (Not in a bad way.)

I was on ebay and spotted a nice Sunburst jazz body for a reasonable price, I was umming and aahhing at it on my phone, even so much as to have it on the "Confirm to buy screen". I decided against buying it as I had enough on my plate. Anyway when I next unlocked my phone, I pressed the buttons one to many times and came back onto the confirmation screen and I pressed commit Doh! (Honestly I didnt mean to do this!)

So with a heavy heart I bought the rest of the stuff to make a bass, All gold hardware, Wilkinson bridge and tuners, a Harrier Maple/Maple neck. I still need a set of pickups for it, but I have spent way to much already! Not sure what pup I will go for, something growly, Geddy Lee sounding maybe. Thinking of going with Dimarzio Ultra Jazzes again, but I havent heard 2 of them at the same time...



So we'll see how they turn out!

Rob.

[Kempy535]

Where do you get the bridge from it looks a four hole unit?

[Mr. Foxen]

I took it off my old bass that really wasn't worth the upgrades I put on it. Those are still available on ebay. I like the topload system an smoothness.

[Chairleg]

Got one also in the same colour.
I am not going down quite the same route as you Rob, I don't have the skills/kit/friends for routing out cavities but, I fully intend to hone my skills when it comes to fret dressing, changing tuners and sticking a Wilkinson pup on it. I have also ordered a dark grey marbled scratchplate, pup cover, thumbrest and a set of flats for it.
All the best for your projects. That Jazz pup looks good and the black bridge makes me think I might have been a bit hasty getting a chrome hardtail for mine .
Will post mine when the bits have arrived.
Regards,
Mark.

[Shockwave]

Some progress with the jazz bass.
Had to get the neck pocket routed deeper and sanded a more rounded butt end to fit snugly into the pocket. Bridge ground wire is in and the pickups.




Unfortunately one of the wires disconnected itself due to a "cat" related incident, and will now have to be reattached if possible!

[Mr. Foxen]

Trying to fit the new tuners, managed to drop one of the washers which went through a crack in the floor. Pulled up a board to ahve a root around down there, see if I could recover it. I got some Meccano an these marbles:
[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/shielding002.jpg[/IMG]

There was some seashells too, so must have been some kids stash of shiny things.

So gave up on the machine heads for the moment, seeing if the supplier can send me one washer. On to the shielding, first time doing it with paint:

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/shielding001.jpg[/IMG]

[Mr. Foxen]

Hmm, 24 hours later and the resistivity of this 'conductive' paint is still in kilo-ohms, hope second coat sorts it out.

[Wil]

I'm not sure of the details but I think I've read somewhere on talkbass that cavity shielding paint doesn't need to be incredibly conductive in order to work effectively. No figures off the top of my head though.

Edited April 20, 2012 by Wil

[Mr. Foxen]

I've seen the paint Eltham makes and uses and it measures fairly conductive. Since this was the first time I've used it, I went and paid attention to a pro. Lots of paint left so can give it another coat or two I guess. Was kind of hoping to rob the leftover for other things.

[Mr. Foxen]

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/pinkhorror002.jpg[/IMG]

Let down by a defective tuner, replacement on the way.

[Nibody]

I upgraded to a set of Wilkinsons on my Phil Lynott alike bitsa. Didnt think they would fit the headstock due to the large footprint - to be fair the stock tuners are pretty good quality on mine.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Shockwave

[Mr. Foxen]

Yeah, the Wilkos turned out too big, these were a different set with the issue, supplier is sending out new one so no massive issue.

[Mr. Foxen]

Done aside from setting up:

[IMG]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/Incarante/inkhorrordone.jpg[/IMG]

[Shockwave]

Now finished!

The pink basses bridge has been exchanged for a better Hipshot Vintage one.

[Truckstop]

Ooh, love the jazz!

How much they set you back altogether?

Truckstop

[discreet]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1335369507' post='1630054']

[/quote]

You got enough amps there, Oli?

[Mr. Foxen]

Let's zoom that out a little:



Oh, how did Amy get in the shot, cuh.

Anyway, checking my current ebay bidding say no, no I do not yet have 'enough' amps.

[size=1]Photo credit
[url]http://www.charistalbotphotography.co.uk/[/url][/size]

[Shockwave]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1337557763' post='1662068']
Ooh, love the jazz!

How much they set you back altogether?

Truckstop
[/quote]

Jazz cost me £220 not including labour.

Precision cost me £235 not including labour.

The Jazz has a very strong E string, fairly deep neck that does not taper towards the nut, but pretty narrow.

The P sounds pretty aggressive! The jazz is a tad more polite!

They both have better actions then my Warmoth bass, which is bloody annoying!

[mckendrick]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1337558694' post='1662084']
Oh, how did Amy get in the shot...?
[/quote]
Bloody annoying aren't they. Found one wandering round me kitchen the other morning.

[Mr. Foxen]

Reminds me, supposed to be adding a page plug to places I've put her pics: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Dawn-Model/281747201850413