building a precision bass

[garry warrington]

Going to put together a p bass with the help of a friend

got my head around the wiring

i want to go for a retro fat bass sound

what would be the the best tonewood for the body and neck

i have got some axes r us pickups which are decent along with a wilkinson bridge and cts pots

should i go for alder.ash or something else

[Evil Undead]

Welcome! But, wrong section

[discreet]

Hi Garry! Your retro fat bass sound will largely be a result of which strings/pickup/electrics you go for.
There are many threads on here about body wood, and how it makes very little difference to 'tone'.

And, oh yes...

Edited May 6, 2012 by discreet

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1336308820' post='1643748']
Hi Garry! Your retro fat bass sound will largely be a result of which strings/pickup/electrics you go for.
There are many threads on here about body wood, and how it makes very little difference to 'tone'.

And, oh yes...

[/quote]

what he says. But you will want to go for maple neck and alder body for the trad fender tone (or just look)

[Max Normal]

Hi Garry, I'm one of those much maligned basschat deviants who knows damn well that he can tell the difference between an ash and an alder P-bass tone with stock pickups, still anyone is entitled to their own opinon, so i suggest you take your own council on this matter. Mind you, it's true that you can get whatever style pickups you want nowadays, and that will have a stronger influence on your sound.....

For what it's worth, my opinion is: I have 2 ash P-basses (one Lakland Skyline Bob Glaub, one that I put together) and 3 alder ones, (two Fenders (one MIJ, one MIA) and one Warmoth) with one maple fretboard, one macassar ebony fretboard and three rosewood fretboards between them. I can't tell any difference in sound between the fretboards, but traditionally rosewood is supposed to sound softer. The ash bodies definately have a little more attack and sustain and more mid-range 'honk', while the alder ones have a softer more balanced sound. I like them both, but I'd personally go for alder if you wanted the "classic" P-bass sound.

I put simple tone circuits in most of my P-basses, and I use 0.47 uf Orange Drop capacitors, and they work fine (close to stock fender 0.5 uf).

Edited May 15, 2012 by Max Normal

[BottomE]

Hi Garry

Done a couple of projects like this and can't say i really noticed any diffference with the wood.

Got some vintage pickups and an old wiring kit - now that made a difference.

Welcome to Basschat

B

[alanbass1]

Swamp ash/Maple 'board or Alder/Rosewood 'board are the traditional choices

[Twigman]

Alder body rosewood board and Fender 'original' P-Bass pup rather than the axesrus pup