The bitsa thread

[Cuzzie]

P basses

Bottom is a repair and refurb of a damaged and cracked body and some neck pocket work to fit a hilimire neck (great necks)

Goldie is a Mighty Mite body blank painted and relic’d by me and an AllParts neck

Orange was an English swamp ash rough blank shaped and routed and coloured by me and a tele neck from the same factory that do AllParts

Black Limba block of wood shaped and contoured myself mostly by hand apart from finishing routs, P bass lyte neck I had hanging around was fitted (best neck pocket I have ever done). Great fun

Edited December 1, 2020 by Cuzzie

[Cat Burrito]

Put together out of some Squier bass and parts from here;

[JohnDaBass]

On 28/11/2020 at 13:15, JohnDaBass said:

Fender Stu Hamm Urge Ray

 

 

 

I am really impressed with the range of tones on offer with the Harley Benton MM 84A body, but the control pots are your typical low cost Chinese variety. So I sent an email to Thomann Service department ( cheekily) asking for a copy of the circuit diagram or parts list for the Bass. Within 24hrs I received a PDF of the circuit with the values of the pots clearly shown. They reminded me that I would invalidate my 3 yrs. warranty if I did proceed to upgrade the pots. I did some Tinterweb  searching and discovered that the company supplying the preamp for the MM 84A designs and supplies preamps to C F Martin for their acoustic guitars. Another good endorsement for the quality of the parts used in the some of the Harley Benton basses.

[Wilson_51_]

This is my bitsa. It’s my backup for my main bass in my band. I’m in the process of changing all the hardware to black. 
 

Unknown body bought for £20 about 5 years ago and refinished by me in surf green. It’s been bashed about a bit in those years.

Neck is a mighty mite jazz 

tuners (on the way)will be black hipshot hb7 as there the only ones I could find to fit without redrilling holes.

pickup is a G&L MFD as my other bass that I use in this band is a SB-2.

pickguard is by Tim at gigink.

Headstock decal says Franken precision 

this is tuned to drop C with Kallium strings  

[Wilson_51_]

Just added new hipshot tuners and string retainer to this. I’ve got some black block stickers coming which I’m going to try on to see if there any good. Easily reversible!

also thinking of getting a black nut for the jack as it sticks out a bit 

 

[Bassworm]

Not in the same league as some of the glorious creations in this thread, but here's the PBass I put together as a lockdown project. Turned out better than expected considering every component was ultra-budget except he Kent Armstrong pickup. Makes a great racket. I also built a Telecaster. 

[Beedster]

Courtesy of Walshy for the stunning body, Lindy Fralin for the PUPs, Kiogon for the loom and an unknown manufacturer for the neck, this is on the basis of going back through photos my 19th bitsa build, and one of the best. Lightweight, resonant and articulate. 

 

Check out the wood.....

 

[Beedster]

Should point out that Walshy didn't just sell me the body, he also made the body. A lovely piece craftsmanship on an equally lovely couple of piece of walnut  

[Old Horse Murphy]

This is my one: a Fender Japan Unlined Fretless Jazz neck, a swamp ash P Bass body I had made for me and a set of EMG Jazz pickups. 
 

 

[walshy]

On 10/07/2021 at 22:08, Beedster said:

Courtesy of Walshy for the stunning body, Lindy Fralin for the PUPs, Kiogon for the loom and an unknown manufacturer for the neck, this is on the basis of going back through photos my 19th bitsa build, and one of the best. Lightweight, resonant and articulate. 

 

Check out the wood.....

 

How lush does that look! Not that I am shocked having bought a bitsa or two from you before, looks stunning mate. The compliment of the natural neck is sublime. Glad it went to you mate,I knew you'd do it justice and thanks for the kind words about the body 

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, walshy said:

How lush does that look! Not that I am shocked having bought a bitsa or two from you before, looks stunning mate. The compliment of the natural neck is sublime. Glad it went to you mate,I knew you'd do it justice and thanks for the kind words about the body 

Credit to you Paul, it's a breathtaking piece of timber and craftsmanship, almost feels alive! Funny how the moment I saw it I knew it had to be white PUPs though  

[Obrienp]

My “nobody is going to pinch it” ‘51 p bass bitsa it weighs 7.5 lbs. It has a DiMarzio Will Power humbucker at the neck with a coil tap switch, a Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder in the middle position and 4-way switching: neck & middle in series, middle solo, neck & middle in parallel, middle solo. The neck is an Allparts licensed ‘51 and the most expensive part of the build. The body is Obeche. It has through body stringing and a high mass bridge from China off eBay. Machine heads are Wilkinson. It sounds pretty good to my ears, if a little bright, which I guess is down to the Obeche body. 

[Beedster]

21 hours ago, Obrienp said:

My “nobody is going to pinch it” ‘51 p bass bitsa it weighs 7.5 lbs. It has a DiMarzio Will Power humbucker at the neck with a coil tap switch, a Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder in the middle position and 4-way switching: neck & middle in series, middle solo, neck & middle in parallel, middle solo. The neck is an Allparts licensed ‘51 and the most expensive part of the build. The body is Obeche. It has through body stringing and a high mass bridge from China off eBay. Machine heads are Wilkinson. It sounds pretty good to my ears, if a little bright, which I guess is down to the Obeche body. 

I'd pinch it

[Obrienp]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

I'd pinch it

Yep, you haven’t seen it up close. The picture flatters the finish on the body, which is dreadful. I used all water based, environmentally friendly products and they just come off with use and mark up really easy. Also the Obeche is really soft, so dings at the slightest knock.
 

I think I could leave it unattended at a pub gig and be confident that it would still be on its stand when I get back from the bar!😀

[Beedster]

36 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I think I could leave it unattended at a pub gig and be confident that it would still be on its stand when I get back from the bar!😀

Would love to be able to say the same of our drummer  

[Beedster]

There's been a whole lot of experimentation with Fender-alike bitsas recently, the Bitsa Box is now oversubscribed - two having to slum it in another box at present - and due a clearout. Keep your eyes open on the FS thread folks 👍

 

[LukeFRC]

1 minute ago, Beedster said:

There's been a whole lot of experimentation with Fender-alike bitsas recently, the Bitsa Box is now oversubscribed - two having to slum it in another box at present - and due a clearout. Keep your eyes open on the FS thread folks 👍

 

that is a very exciting looking box... you have the best bitsas!

[Beedster]

11 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

that is a very exciting looking box... you have the best bitsas!

 

My therapist is yet to resolve it 🤔

[TrevorR]

On 29/11/2020 at 12:37, TrevorR said:

My only bitsa is my Frankenjazz. Body and neck bought from a guy on eBay called “Build-a-bass”, Hipshot tuners, Graphtech saddles, Audere preamp. Turned our to be a monster Jazz. Was going to swap the pickups but once the Audere was in never felt the need to. Maybe one day I’ll add some split “single coil” humbuckers? Similarly was going to add a high mass bridge but I like the old BBOT  bridge plus graphite saddles fine as is!

 

 

 

My Bitsa (or Frankenjazz as I prefer to call it) has been a bit more bitsa’d… new scratch plate to accommodate a Catswhisker neck humbucker and a Catswhisker 2+2 Jazz humbucker in the bridge… luvverly!!! Sounds fabulous!

 

 

Edited yesterday at 16:20 by TrevorR

[fretmeister]

Can any of you fine people suggest where I might be able to get a paulownia body?

 

In an ideal world it would be EBMM Sterling shaped, but a J shape without pickup routs would do if I can't find a Sterling one.

 

ta

[Alanko]

 

My bitsa! Fender MIA Professional II P Bass body and Jazz neck. Hipshot bridge as the original seized up. Black pickguard and tugbar as I liked the look of John Entwistle's infamous 'slab' basses. Not shown here, but currently wired up with EMG GZR pickups.

 

I have the original rosewood neck in storage, but not sure I will ever swap back. Prior to switching the neck I had a mint pickguard on the bass as I didn't like the dark Fender tort pickguard.

 

[lemmywinks]

Don't own this any more but this is my old cheapo rat Jazz I threw together from random bits off here and AliExpress/eBay:

 

 

 

The pickups were old MiM units, the body was from a low end vintage MiJ copy (already sanded/stained when I got it) and the neck was from a very nice old Japanese copy. Tuners, neck plate and bell plate were new cheapies, the bridge here was a nice quality Korean unit. God know how many bridges and tuners this thing had over the years, lots of extra holes but it had a certain charm.

 

If anybody wanted to know what those old butcher block Fender copies from back in the day look like when the paint is sanded off well, here you go.

[Geek99]

On 10/07/2021 at 22:08, Beedster said:

 

Check out the wood.....

 

I’ve got better wood from looking at it …

[Jono Bolton]

This is my bitsa; Fender AVRI 62 neck, Fender MIJ P Bass body refinished in sonic blue nitro, a Creamery pickup, and a mix of Gotoh, Hosco, and Fender hardware. It's very light, coming in at 3-point-nine-something kg.

 

[Beedster]

17 hours ago, Beedster said:

There's been a whole lot of experimentation with Fender-alike bitsas recently, the Bitsa Box is now oversubscribed - two having to slum it in another box at present - and due a clearout. Keep your eyes open on the FS thread folks 👍

 

In response to a couple of PMs I'll post pics of each of these (and the two that don't fit in the box) in a day or so 👍