In at the deep end

[Tidley]

I have just picked up the bass less than 12 months ago and loving it!!! Not that good but gives me great satisfaction, I am looking to buy a 2nd bass hopefully at the bass show in March so I can try a few and see what suits, but I have become very distracted and found a Precision Bass body, that I have literally fallen in love with that says will fit a fender neck and the feed back is all good!!! Very positive towards the company selling!! I keep thinking this is a big commitment, but I have good friends that know there way around the technicalities of a bass and will be willing to help, but really questioning whether to build myself a custom bass, something unique!! I know there will be pitfalls and I have a feeling it will be expensive as the body alone I have looked at is £140 as a start point, got 24hrs to decide but would appreciate any feed back from more experienced people like your good selves!

[HowieBass]

If you know what you're doing in putting an instrument together (what parts to buy, aligning and assembling components, electrical shielding, soldering pickups to control pots) and how to set-up the instrument so that it plays well then building a 'bitsa' bass can be great fun and you'll possibly have an instrument that really suits you... or, you could buy a decent secondhand P bass from someone off here and know it's already well put together and plays well. The recent blind Precision test conducted by Basschat members highlighted the fact that you don't need an expensive vintage Fender to get a great sounding bass, the made in Mexico Fenders seem to do well (known as MIM Fenders) and these are less expensive than made in America Fenders (MIA Fenders) and in fact the 'budget' Squier series are well worth owning, particularly the Vintage Modified, the Classic Vibe and the signature artist models. Early built in Japan (Silver Series) Squiers are now sought after.

Hope this helps and welcome to Basschat!

[Tidley]

It really does help, I do know the principles of what is involved with regards to the electrical soldering but from a computers back ground and not a musicality back ground and I totally agree with what you say about buying the 2nd hand bass that would be the logical thing to do, but two factors for me:-

1 I love a challenge
2 a second hand precision bass won't have the beautiful green swirling tie dye body that looks even sexier under neon light!

Granted this is short sited and shallow being on a cosmetic level but all I can think of it looks cool! I do have a very talented friend who knows his stuff around a bass and will be able to aid me with regards to purchasing parts that would fit and alignment.

Just keep thinking of only fools and horses
"He who dares Rodney wins"

And if it does go tits up it just means I will have two basses instead of three.

But you've actually given me some awesome points to consider, it's gonna be a restless 24hrs to make the decision.

On another note I saw the testing of the P-bass on sound alone and thought it was a brilliant.

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

[Tidley]

Saying that I have just had a shower and thought about what you said and I think this project is to adventurous for me at the moment. So thank you for pointing all that stuff out to me, but feel maybe one for the future???

[HowieBass]

Definitely something to consider. I haven't yet been tempted to modify any of my basses (swapping out pickups, tuners, bridges) though I have had to shim necks and realign bridges and I really enjoy setting my basses up... not sure whether I'm in a minority here when it comes to keeping instruments essentially stock, maybe I've been lucky with my purchases, but if you can afford to experiment then I'm sure it's great fun!

[Lozz196]

You can get a Mighty Mite neck on evilbay for under £100. They`re licensed by Fender so that would be where I`d start neck-wise. From there, pickup wise, well depends on tone your after.

[Thor]

+1 on the Mighty Mite neck, I just finished building my first project P Bass and am still really pleased how it ended up - it sounds huge! I did take my time in setting up the bass, had to file the nut a fair amount to get a decent action but it was well worthwile doing and is a dream to play.

[hamfist]

[quote name='Tidley' timestamp='1404765548' post='2495575']
Saying that I have just had a shower and thought about what you said and I think this project is to adventurous for me at the moment. So thank you for pointing all that stuff out to me, but feel maybe one for the future???
[/quote]

IT's a pity you have suffered from a loss of confidence. Building your own bass bitsa is hugely satisfying and you will bond with it in a way that is completely different to a pre-made bass.

Building Fender-style bitsas is a piece of cake for anyone with even a modicum of DIY ability. THe key thing is to make sure your heel width on the neck and the heel slot on the body are pretty close. Fender's standard stat is a 2.5" (63.5mm) heel width, but Fender-style bodies and necks do vary somewhat, from something like 62mm - 65mm heel width. You can always widen a body's heel slot a bit with sandpaper and a block, but if the heel slot is considerably too wide for a neck it will not look cosmetically too great (although I would argue that functionally having gaps around the side of the neck heel has no effect on vibration transmission or tone).

WHy not buy a cheapo P body at the same time as your "lusted after" P body. You could initially put together your bitsa with the cheapo body, learning all your lessons with no great fear of mistakes, and then once all is sorted, you can change to the nicer body.

As for necks, the Mighty Mite ones are good, although I like the cwgp necks (from the Netherlands on ebay) even better.
Be aware of the basic differences between Jazz and Precision style necks. They are very different in feel but both fit in the same bodies (and obviously the same heel slots).