Pimp up my P!

[franzbassist]

I recently picked up a very nice Player Series P Bass in a lovely butterscotch finish.  Weighing in at 8.5lbs the bass is super-resonant and sounds great. 

 

The previous owner had put a white pearl scratchplate on it, but other than that it was stock and in very good condition.  However, as an eternal tinkerer, I decided to pimp the bass up and made a few basic modifications:

 

• Hipshot HB7 tuners - much more stable and accurate tuning with these
• Hipshot Kickass bridge - a new interpretation of the classic Badass bridge, very impressive!
• Dunlop straplocks - these go on all my basses
• Fender pickup and scratchplate screws - all changed just to get rid of some rusted screws
• Fender thumbrest - I don't use them, but I love how they look on a P bass in the tugbar position
• CTS 250k Mojotone vintage taper pots - the original Korean pots were nasty
• .047 orange drop capacitor

 

I did toy with the idea of changing the pickup, but it sounds pretty good so I have left it alone for now.

 

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

Edited September 15, 2021 by franzbassist

[M@23]

Looks spot on! New scratch plate is a big improvement. 

[BruceBass3901]

Absolutely love it! Pretty close to my ideal P.

 

Only thing that irks me is how close the KickAss/BadAss bridge always looks to the back of the bass.

[Lozz196]

The Players are good basses stock but are also ideal to tweak like this to get everything as liked, congrats.

[franzbassist]

  On 10/09/2021 at 10:41, BruceBass3901 said:

Absolutely love it! Pretty close to my ideal P.

 

Only thing that irks me is how close the KickAss/BadAss bridge always looks to the back of the bass.

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It looks worse than it is in that picture.  Here’s a better angle.

 

[Guest]

How hefty is that bridge? I just picked up a black and maple Players Precision. 

[franzbassist]

  On 15/09/2021 at 17:18, Moving Pictures said:

How hefty is that bridge? I just picked up a black and maple Players Precision. 

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It's weighs twice as much as the standard bridge.  It's a really excellent lump of metal.  You can also change the brass inserts for steel if you want more attack (not included though) , and Hipshot supply two spare brass ones as well so you can vary the height to personal taste.

Edited September 15, 2021 by franzbassist

[Guest]

Thanks! I’ll put that on my list of options. 

[TheGreek]

Not thought about cream pick up covers and knobs? 

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by TheGreek

[franzbassist]

  On 15/09/2021 at 17:35, TheGreek said:

Not thought about cream pick up covers and knobs? 

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I think that would make it too vanilla for my tastes Mick!

[krispn]

Lovely bit of work making the bass your own. I’ve done that to a couple

of basses and it’s quite satisfying. I’m saying that I’ve got a Hot P Seymour Duncan I’m not using if you do fancy something hotter as a pick up upgrade and a tone styler. I’ll be listing them in the next few days once I dig them out of storage boxes. 
Don’t worry mods I’m all paid up.
 

Edited September 15, 2021 by krispn

[PaulThePlug]

Nice...

But i'm a Thumb Rest on Top kinda' guy...

[Velarian]

  On 15/09/2021 at 17:53, PaulThePlug said:

Nice...

But i'm a Thumb Rest on Top kinda' guy...

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Indeed, it wouldn’t be a thumb rest if it wasn’t on top. 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

  On 15/09/2021 at 17:53, PaulThePlug said:

Nice...

But i'm a Thumb Rest on Top kinda' guy...

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  On 15/09/2021 at 19:28, Velarian said:

Indeed, it wouldn’t be a thumb rest if it wasn’t on top. 

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Very much so. I don't really see the point of 'tug bars'. Does anyone actually use them any more or are they just for the sake of 'period correctness' on certain instruments?

I think it would just get in my way.

[BlueMoon]

  On 16/09/2021 at 11:25, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I don't really see the point of 'tug bars'. Does anyone actually use them any more or are they just for the sake of 'period correctness' on certain instruments?

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I guess if you play "old school" with your thumb, then a tug bar gives you a place to put your fingers. Otherwise, it has nice "pose appeal"!

[Duarte]

  On 15/09/2021 at 17:35, TheGreek said:

Not thought about cream pick up covers and knobs? 

 

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Absolutely right, this is screaming for cream covers!

[NancyJohnson]

The Hipshot KickAss is a nice thing, whether or not it adds anything to the tone or not (*subjective) is questionable, but it does feel nicer than BBoT and isn't likely to rip a hole in your wrist if you're a pick player and play close to the bridge.

 

Dunlop Straploks are a given!

[NancyJohnson]

Question for the OP.  Given the outlay for the new parts, wouldn't it just have been better to save some pennies and just buy something new that's closer to what you're trying to achieve here?

[franzbassist]

  On 17/09/2021 at 11:00, NancyJohnson said:

Question for the OP.  Given the outlay for the new parts, wouldn't it just have been better to save some pennies and just buy something new that's closer to what you're trying to achieve here?

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I didn't buy the bass new.  Even with the new parts it came in at well under the cost of a new stock Player Series P 

 

[pete.young]

  On 16/09/2021 at 11:25, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

 

 

Very much so. I don't really see the point of 'tug bars'. Does anyone actually use them any more or are they just for the sake of 'period correctness' on certain instruments?

I think it would just get in my way.

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Back in the day, it was the first thing you took off and threw away, along with the ash trays.

[Reggaebass]

A friend of mine told me that back in the day a lot of people used the tug bar for playing with the thumb, but they removed them when slapping became popular because they got in the way 

[lee650]

  On 10/09/2021 at 09:46, M@23 said:

Looks spot on! New scratch plate is a big improvement. 

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It's always surprising how a small thing like a pickguard change can transform the look of a bass 😁

I have a black Highway one P bass, which came with a black pickguard, I swapped it for a reliced tortoiseshell and it looks so much classier.

Edited September 17, 2021 by lee650

[Velarian]

  On 17/09/2021 at 11:36, lee650 said:

It's always surprising how a small thing like a pickguard change can transform the look of a bass 😁

I have a black Highway one P bass, which came with a black pickguard, I swapped it for a reliced tortoiseshell and it looks so much classier.

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Funny enough I have a black p-bass that had a tortoiseshell pick guard that I swapped for a black one, it looks so much classier 😂😂😂

[Duarte]

  On 17/09/2021 at 13:07, Velarian said:

Funny enough I have a black p-bass that had a tortoiseshell pick guard that I swapped for a black one, it looks so much classier 😂😂😂

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I'm all about the black pick guards. Single ply, of course!

[franzbassist]

Well, if nothing else this thread has highlighted that the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things!