Parts bass - worth it?

[rasher80]

I've been browsing the web recently for another P bass, but being a lefty they're not in plentiful supply in my price range.

I've always fancied having a go at putting together a bass for the first time, I found a Squier P Special body on reverb for 80 quid which I fancy getting resprayed in shoreline gold.

I was also looking for necks, and found a bound/blocked P width neck from China for virtually nothing!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Electric-bass-guitar-neck-34-inch-20-fret-Fretboard-left-hand-Truss-Rod-B1/391945640740?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D9a7ae7e4c9274c3296cc187f5373ff2c%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D391945640740%26itm%3D391945640740%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2481888&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Ab8997d6a-ce16-11e9-828d-74dbd180ae35|parentrq%3Af5e0ffe916c0ad4a4ceaa819ffd36f70|iid%3A1

Then i started to wonder if it would be worth it and if I put a crappy part on the instrument it might compromise its playability. For 50 odd quid it looks too good to be true. For the headache it would probably cause me I should wait for a Fender or Squier neck to become available and start from there.

Anyone out there got any experience of this? Cheers

 

 

[Unknown_User]

If you've never done it before then I would definitely say go for it.  I built a jazz bass from a kit that cost about £100 and I learned so much about how to set up a bass from doing it.  How to set the string height, pickup height, intonation, how to adjust the truss rod, etc..  Starting as someone who didn't understand any of that stuff, after setting one up from scratch I would now feel moderately confident setting up a bass.  I might not be as good as a professional at it but at least I know how to do it and make it playable.

The downside of the cheap neck I have is that some random frets past the twelfth do buzz.  So I think it needs the frets levelling, but when I get the time I could happily use it to learn how to do that and not be worried that I was knackering an expensive bass.  If I make a real mess and properly ruin it I could either get it refretted or buy a new neck. 

It's not the best bass you'll ever play with but I've gigged with it a few times and it's perfectly fine to play if you don't go up the dusty end!

If you are happy to potentially lose the money on the cheap neck then as you've never done it before I say get it so you can learn about how to put a bitsa bass together.  It's a bass you will cherish and one you can upgrade if a better neck comes along later.

[Dan Dare]

You can always get the cheap neck and use it until you find something nicer. I built a Bitsa P bass a couple of years ago. Using decent parts (Squier body courtesy of eBay, Seymour Duncan p/u, Grover machines, Gotoh bridge, etc), it cost me around £230. Works very well.

[Davo-London]

Making a bass would be fun and informative.  However, you want to make a keeper.  In my opinion, the No 1 part of the bass that defines whether I buy/keep it, is the neck.  Therefore, buying a cheap neck might not be the best way forward.  Well, it could be if the neck feels good to you.  I'd be tempted to buy a used neck if it were me.

Peace

Davo

[fleabag]

£53.79 is not the price you'll pay

VAT is charged at 20% on goods sent from non-EU countries if they are worth more than £15. Customs duty at 2.5% is charged on items with a value between £135 and £630.

 

 

[rasher80]

Thanks for all the tips.

It would be a shame for me to put a lot of work into it only for the build to be let down by a shoddy part.

I can see a few Player Series necks floating around, so that might be a more sensible place to start.

👍

[BrunoBass]

I put together a P bass last year, not from a kit but from parts I sourced, mainly from eBay. It was the first time I’d done it and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I did the whole thing for around £200; around £60 of that was the body and neck - there’s a thread over in Build Diaries. It’s not the greatest bass in the world of course, but it plays surprisingly well and sounds pretty good too. 

Go for it! 

Edited September 3, 2019 by BrunoBass

[fleabag]

I had a search of my Ebay purchases for the P bass neck i bought, which i sent to Andy JR on these forums to build a body. The neck was superb, and didnt need a thing doing to it.

It wasnt expensive , around £70/£80  delivered ( cant remember exactly ) but it was from a UK seller. Trouble is, i can no longer find him. One's Ebay purchases dont seem to stay in the purchase list forever, so i cant be any more help with that particular guy

Edited September 3, 2019 by fleabag

[TheGreek]

Looks so sad...

[BrunoBass]

44 minutes ago, fleabag said:

I had a search of my Ebay purchases for the P bass neck i bought, which i sent to Andy JR on these forums to build a body. The neck was superb, and didnt need a thing doing to it.

It wasnt expensive , around £70/£80  delivered ( cant remember exactly ) but it was from a UK seller. Trouble is, i can no longer find him. One's Ebay purchases dont seem to stay in the purchase list forever, so i cant be any more help with that particular guy

Looks great!

[Unknown_User]

37 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Looks so sad...

Haha!  I would have said it's more of a tired face myself, but maybe I'm projecting!

 

EDIT: Lovely bass mind you!

Edited September 3, 2019 by Unknown_User

[fleabag]

Maybe Andy was partially asleep at the time

 

[Roger2611]

I have five self build Precision's and a Jazz, personally, from a financial recovery position I cannot recommend it, if you are not worried about recovering your outlay then go for it but if the plan is to build and sell then I would say don't bother!

All of my self builds have quality parts on them, however as a whole they will not sell for enough to cover even 50% of the build costs and, here is the real problem, all 5 of the Precision basses I have self built are fantastic playing basses and to me are every bit as good as far more expensive and original Fender basses I own, I don't want to break them for parts when they really are fantastic basses as complete items so I find myself in a position of perhaps wanting to move some of them on to make room for other projects but knowing they won't even get near to covering their build costs purely because they are "bitsa" basses!

The Jazz bass was a build to replicate Andy McCluskey's Jazz that he played on all the early OMD tracks, it looks great, didn't cost the earth to build and sold to an OMD fanatic it would probably recoup its build costs, that was until some idiot (me) decided I wanted it to sound good and fitted Lindy Fralin pickups and top notch wiring which now means break it for parts if I want to sell it on!

[SpondonBassed]

11 hours ago, rasher80 said:

Then i started to wonder if it would be worth it and if I put a crappy part on the instrument it might compromise its playability. For 50 odd quid it looks too good to be true. For the headache it would probably cause me I should wait for a Fender or Squier neck to become available and start from there.

Alternatively, you could regard the cheap neck as a starting point and use it for practice in your first assembly.

Don't kid yourself.  Once you do one build you will want to do more.  The quoted neck may surprise you and be worth keeping or it might be a part that you can upgrade later when the part you want becomes available.

In any case, I wish you much enjoyment from the project.

[Si600]

6 hours ago, fleabag said:

 

Presumably no-one else saw, at first glance, a model bass lying on a pair of legs in leather jeans?

Just me then.

[Telebass]

1 minute ago, Si600 said:

Presumably no-one else saw, at first glance, a model bass lying on a pair of legs in leather jeans?

Just me then.

Ahem, no, no one else saw that...

Can't unsee it now, though!

Edited September 3, 2019 by Telebass

[uk_lefty]

I'd be very wary of buying cheap from China. I just think there's more chance of getting something unusable than something that can be used in your project. I've made the same mistake twice, buying a cheap P bass neck from America that didn't fit the body I'd bought and at the time had no tools or space to even attempt and inevitably flip up the woodworking, and I bought. G&L second neck that was amazing, the real deal, for about sixty quid but got excited at the deal and didn't realise it was completely wrong for the body I wanted to use. I've still never built a frankenbass but if I did I would be very careful what parts I used to keep the buggering about with it restricted to set up and not widening neck pockets etc as I have neither the skill or patience for things like that. 

[rasher80]

12 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

I'd be very wary of buying cheap from China. I just think there's more chance of getting something unusable than something that can be used in your project. I've made the same mistake twice, buying a cheap P bass neck from America that didn't fit the body I'd bought and at the time had no tools or space to even attempt and inevitably flip up the woodworking, and I bought. G&L second neck that was amazing, the real deal, for about sixty quid but got excited at the deal and didn't realise it was completely wrong for the body I wanted to use. I've still never built a frankenbass but if I did I would be very careful what parts I used to keep the buggering about with it restricted to set up and not widening neck pockets etc as I have neither the skill or patience for things like that. 

Well I guess I like the idea of attempting to learn how a bass is put together but I severely lack the technical expertise I'd possibly need to do it. I could have a word with my friendly bass tech and see if he'd be willing to help me, he does do courses from time to time. Thanks for all the input everyone!