lemmywinks Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 I put this together for under £300 with careful used purchases, done over a couple of years though! Fishman Piezo bridge with a Bartolini preamp, skimped on the tuners (Wilkonson) and pickups (Duncan Designed) to keep the cost down with an eye to upgrading them when suitably priced parts came up but I never bothered. Neck is Mighty Mite (back before they shot up in price) and the body is from an old Cort built Hohner. Looks, sounds and plays like a much more expensive bass. I wouldn't immediately discount cheap hardware from AliExpress etc either, I have a Schaller copy bridge fitted to an old Jazz bitsa which has been great and I have one of these on my Cort which is surprisingly heavy and all I need in a bridge: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/A-Set-Chrome-Vintage-L-Shape-Saddle-Bridge-for-5-String-Electric-Bass-Guitar-Top/32701082348.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dEVbgCU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 That fretless is lovely @Beedster, keep having a sneaky look at it on your FS thread! Exactly my type of fretless if you remove all that chrome stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, lemmywinks said: That fretless is lovely @Beedster, keep having a sneaky look at it on your FS thread! Exactly my type of fretless if you remove all that chrome stuff. There you go mate Edited January 22, 2019 by Beedster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roblpm Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 OK. Why do I need a pj?! Answer is that I don't. So what I need is P body. Quite fancy active though so how am I gonna fit the electrics in? Allparts and Warmoth are both a fortune! So need a bargain body..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDaBass Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Lovely basses Chris everyone a stunning bass. I've fallen in love with #4 .Ash body, rosewood Jazz neck, black tape wound strings and DiMarzio Pups. Handsome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 3 minutes ago, roblpm said: OK. Why do I need a pj?! Answer is that I don't. So what I need is P body. Quite fancy active though so how am I gonna fit the electrics in? Allparts and Warmoth are both a fortune! So need a bargain body..... Active in a Precision, get a P-Retro (used as discontinued). But passive is also pretty versatile if done well, speak to John/Kiogon about versatile passive circuits, he's just built me one for a P/J bas that does pretty much everything I need from a bass. Wood? You can pick up Warmoth and Allparts bodies and necks for £100-£150 if you keep your eyes open I'm getting the feeling I've got most of the parts you might need! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Just now, JohnDaBass said: Lovely basses Chris everyone a stunning bass. I've fallen in love with #4 .Ash body, rosewood Jazz neck, black tape wound strings and DiMarzio Pups. Handsome! Thanks mate, it's a lovely instrument. The real pleasure of playing around with Fender-alike bitsas is that you can keep chopping and changing parts until you get the perfect bass. And then sell it for about what it cost, and start again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Beedster said: Thanks mate, it's a lovely instrument. The real pleasure of playing around with Fender-alike bitsas is that you can keep chopping and changing parts until you get the perfect bass. And then sell it for about what it cost, and start again The other skill is realising when you've got there, and not selling it on to find something better 😢 Edit - that's what you said. I am a dimwit. I had a beauty - MIJ P bass body, lots of mojo, light as a feather. Mighty Mite maple Jazz neck, Wizard Trad pup, P retro, Hipshot tuners, Hipshot A style bridge. Edited January 22, 2019 by Paul S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roblpm Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 44 minutes ago, Paul S said: The other skill is realising when you've got there, and not selling it on to find something better 😢 Edit - that's what you said. I am a dimwit. I had a beauty - MIJ P bass body, lots of mojo, light as a feather. Mighty Mite maple Jazz neck, Wizard Trad pup, P retro, Hipshot tuners, Hipshot A style bridge. That sounds like the spec i want! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Well, there you are - do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roblpm Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 4 hours ago, Beedster said: Active in a Precision, get a P-Retro (used as discontinued). But passive is also pretty versatile if done well, speak to John/Kiogon about versatile passive circuits, he's just built me one for a P/J bas that does pretty much everything I need from a bass. Wood? You can pick up Warmoth and Allparts bodies and necks for £100-£150 if you keep your eyes open I'm getting the feeling I've got most of the parts you might need! What about a squire vm body to start...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Nice ideas in here. Personally, I've always fancied a bass with NO internal electrics at all, but the pickups routed to two separate Jack sockets, one per pickup. Then just have an off-board pre amp or even passive controls that you can customize ad infinitum without taking the instrument apart. Only potential issue is noise. You could have active and passive options in the external unit. Or even a pre amp per pickup.. but that's getting expensive now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 As said previously, keep an eye out on the Marketplace on here. There are definitely bargains to be had; I passed up a Squier Matt Freeman P Bass neck for £60 a couple of years ago that I didn't think at the time that I needed. I should have bought it just as a spare, if for nothing else. There was also a Squier James Johnston Jazz neck that went for a similarly ridiculous price. The only problem is that you need to be quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I recently swapped out the Delano pickups in my Sandberg Cali II TT with some Bartolini B-Axis items. Picked them uo pre-loved from Bass Direct for not much at all and they are an interesting alternative to singlr coils. I know it's hardly a bitsa but just wanted to mention the pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 I put this together a few years ago on the cheap, there was a thread on here about the build, it's changed a bit since then but it still works out a cheap bass. Body was off ebay I got for £30, flamed maple jazz neck was £75 off ebay, tuners were £20 off here, Wizard 84's £50 off here, East J-retro £110, Hipshot bridge was £27 off ebay. It's my longest serving bass and plays and sounds superb, I've got 2 keepers, this and my Alpher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roblpm Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 9 hours ago, DarkHeart said: I put this together a few years ago on the cheap, there was a thread on here about the build, it's changed a bit since then but it still works out a cheap bass. Body was off ebay I got for £30, flamed maple jazz neck was £75 off ebay, tuners were £20 off here, Wizard 84's £50 off here, East J-retro £110, Hipshot bridge was £27 off ebay. It's my longest serving bass and plays and sounds superb, I've got 2 keepers, this and my Alpher. Looks great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) On 22/01/2019 at 18:20, lemmywinks said: The licensed ones {Hipshot tuners} are great btw, mentioning just in case the OP is put off them by this slight derail! Had a set on a Cort and they were rock solid for an entire gig as well as being light as a feather (as the name would suggest). I've got pukka USA Hipshots on my Shuker and licenced ones on the Sire. They feel exactly the same, smooth and precise. Edited January 25, 2019 by Rich smelling pistake 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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