hamfist Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I tend to tweak most of my basses. The biggest differences for me always tend to be adding a thumbrest and/or changing pickups. Oh, I also always tend to change 250K pots in Fenders and clones to 500K's for a bit more zing. All well worth doing for my tastes. YMMV etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I've added a couple of preamps to different basses, the best outcome for me was adding an Audere Classic pre to a fretless bass. It lifted it to a much better instrument imho as I felt I could get more out of it tone wise. The other successful mod was a Kiogon twin stacked knob kit to my old Antoria Jazz - made a huge difference to the 'quality' of the sound, due I suspect to the quality of components and grade of wire used. I've put flats on a few basses but I'm not convinced that's a mod as such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W11ATO Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I've tried a few times without much success, always to basses I bought expecting to love but didn't quite....put SD pups into a Warwick Fortress, they were louder but the bass still sounded weak and feeble, defretted a $$ but it was still awful. Policy now is if I don't like it I shift it on, can't make yourself love it but throwing money at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 [quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1377034945' post='2182632'] Most definitely THIS. A synergistic string choice can make all the difference. The hard part is finding the right strings! [/quote] I've read this a lot and I'm clearly missing something. I've tried lots of different strings through the years and as long as it is like for like eg rounds v rounds or flats v flats then I'm surprised how little difference it makes in a real life (playing with a band) situation. I'm currently playing with strings bought on ebay for just under £6 a set and they sound no different to other brands I've had at 3 times the price and so far seem to be having similar longevity. Then again I'm not playing solo intricate jazzy stuff or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monckyman Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Neck swaps, pickups swaps, loom and capacitor upgrades,mainly. Some PU swaps didn't work so well,but you have to take that in context of the type of music you need the bass to cover. I usually put Jazz necks on things because I don't seem to like P necks,however I just got round to putting a Seymour Duncan pickup in my OLP ray copy and it sounds completely and utterly different. I played it for a whole show the other week, only picking up my Go to P bass with Fender Jap 80s PU and MIM jazz neck/flats for one song, and it sounded dull and quiet in comparison.. I still don't like the OLP slabby neck, but it didn't seem to matter so much because the sound was so good. Schaller strap locks on all. Not experimented with tuners or bridges as such, though I have a black Gotoh bridge to go on something. I would agree with the others that looms, pots and pickups make the most difference to sound and reliability of a bass, and strings often get overlooked in the equation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 (edited) [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1377019701' post='2182320'] [b]Hipshot bridge[/b] - aesthetic improvement. Sound improvement/sustain; maybe, but not massive [/quote] Pun intended? ;-) Edited August 21, 2013 by Roland Rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bassman7755 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 [quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1377005382' post='2182080'] The biggest change you can make is to try different brands and types of strings, it's surprising how many people don't experiment. I was always modding my basses when I first started playing but now I leave them pretty much alone unless there's a problem. Because there are so many "upgrades" available for Fenders it's tempting to chuck them all on it, and then it doesn't sound like a classic Fender anymore. [/quote] Indeed, people buy fenders because they like the "classic" sound of a poorly engineered instrument - much easier to just but a decent bass in the first place than to try and turn a fender into one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 [quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1377015816' post='2182264'] I never understood getting something like a VM Squier and then changing the tuning pegs, the switches and the pu's. It winds up getting close to the price of a Fender and it's still a VM Squier. [/quote] I bought an early 70s Maya Precision (classic Japcrap) from PsychoAndy of this parish. Body and neck were really lovely pieces of wood, the hardware & electrics were appalling and had already been badly modified. My guitar tech re-modded it for a P/J configuration and slotted in a set of Lollar pickups I got from Beedster, then we fitted new hardware throughout plus a classic anodised scratchplate to hide the dog's dinner of routing, rounding it all off with a set of LaBella FLs. The conversion/upgrade cost significantly more than I paid for the bass. Result? The bass is now an absolute tone monster and a genuine delight to play. I am lucky enough to own a number of high-end P-basses including a genuine '57 and a genuine '65, and the Maya is right up there with them despite costing me (all up) less than a tenth of what the '65 is worth. But it says "Maya" on the headstock, so no one will ever nick it at a pub gig or a jam, and other bass players sometimes think I must be really good (I'm not) because I can make such a crap old bass sound good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low End Bee Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1377087583' post='2183154'] I bought an early 70s Maya Precision (classic Japcrap) from PsychoAndy of this parish. Body and neck were really lovely pieces of wood, the hardware & electrics were appalling and had already been badly modified. My guitar tech re-modded it for a P/J configuration and slotted in a set of Lollar pickups I got from Beedster, then we fitted new hardware throughout plus a classic anodised scratchplate to hide the dog's dinner of routing, rounding it all off with a set of LaBella FLs. The conversion/upgrade cost significantly more than I paid for the bass. Result? The bass is now an absolute tone monster and a genuine delight to play. I am lucky enough to own a number of high-end P-basses including a genuine '57 and a genuine '65, and the Maya is right up there with them despite costing me (all up) less than a tenth of what the '65 is worth. But it says "Maya" on the headstock, so no one will ever nick it at a pub gig or a jam, and other bass players sometimes think I must be really good (I'm not) because I can make such a crap old bass sound good. [/quote] I can confirm this. It's a wonderful bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Cool story, Happy Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Why thankee, young Master, thankee kindly. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Performance/120804%20Halfway%20House/TheJunkyardDogsTheHalfwayHouse26.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Performance/120804%20Halfway%20House/TheJunkyardDogsTheHalfwayHouse26.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkyard Rocket Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 [quote name='owen' timestamp='1377022085' post='2182369'] Wired my EMG for 18V instead of 9V. I was convinced that it would change my world.. Sadly there was no obvious difference apart from the rubbish rout at the back. [/quote] That made a massive difference to the 80s EMG I have in my '81 precision. With 18v it has load of punch that was previously lacking with 9v which always sounded squashed. I wonder whether this means that the modern ones work better with 9v than the early ones did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deep Thought Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 I put a SD Quarter Pounder in my '07 P after the useless S1 pickup packed up-definitely sounded way better. I put a Gotoh 201 on my Mex P which is a nice heavy bridge, but I can't say it's done much for the sound. I also copper shielded the control cavity, which got rid of the buzz I was getting, so that was a good mod. Oh, and changed the white scratchplate for a black one, huge improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alstocko Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 I've modded a couple on basses before, the best result being my a P Bass that I bought off davehux a few months ago. I swapped out the pickup for a Wizard Trad, changed the strings twice, once to Ken Smith Slick Rounds, then to D'Addario Chromes. Settled on the Chromes, and will soon be putting in a KiOgon Loom as the electronics are nasty. It sounds insanely good, and is now my main gigging bass. Pics and sound clips will be up soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Schaller straplocks, no question. Apart from that, I've built a couple of bitsas and changed the odd bridge or two. One of the bitsas is glorious and will never leave me; the other is the one I pick up when I want to noodle. It's not a good job buildwise, so I doubt I will ever be able to flog it. I suppose I might get £200 for the two of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Schaller strap locks are the only mod you need Having said that I fitted a vintage tone switch to my early 4003 last week - first gig tomorrow night . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 Schaller straplocks on everything except the B2V (I use a locking strap on that). Put a DiMarzio pickup into my 1970s Precision. Didn't hear any difference. Put a home-made active circuit into it too and did a couple of other things (if it still has the scratchplate that I modded, it's got a brass section corresponding to the chrome control panel on a Jazz). Put a Delano Sonar preamp into my Sei because the original Bartolini preamp had partly failed. Just last night I put a Just-A-Nut I onto my main Antoniotsai 5-string, as I already had on another of my Antoniotsai 5-strings. That's about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bikenbass Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Purely for asthetics. Before and after. Imo, better with a black scratch plate and chrome controls. Schaller strap locks on all my basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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