Are Overhauls Viable?

[oz of the bass]

I have an old fender jazz cheap japcrap copy thing, and I was intrigued by these forums and spoke to some boffins I know and I'm gettin very mixed reviews on it being worth it to have ago a little project and spend some money on making it abit more special... I like the feel of it and so felt like a fairly ideal place to start, what would be good things to start on?
Should I want it to be inkeeping to fender looking type things? should I let my imagination go nuts? is it even worth throwing money at aesthetically pleasing driftwood!?
All responses welcome!

[Paul Cooke]

tuners, bridge, pickups, control pots...

although you'd never get back the money spent on those upgrades, you'd get valuable experience in fettling your bass...

With the amount of money you'd have to put out for decent components, you might be better off watching the for sale section and pouncing on a second hand real Fender Jazz when one comes up...

[Musky]

Depends on the japcrap really - some of the stuff was better than some of the instruments Fender was knocking out in the late 70's and early 80's.

[Mr. Foxen]

If you can be patient, pick up all the parts second hand, so they retain their value, if you take them off and sell them again. Its generally what I do, except for the selling them part. I just have a room of weird frankenbasses.

[Happy Jack]

It really starts with what sort of cheap Jap-crap thing it is.

If it's an Ibanez or a Greco then you get one answer. If it's a Kay ... well, the answer could be different.

What does it say on the headstock?

[soopercrip]

Just having a go with an old 5 string
you may get the urge for a self build.
worst you can do is dump it in a skip if you bugger it up
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=45917"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=45917[/url]

[oz of the bass]

The Name of the beast is..... "Yamato!"

[Happy Jack]

Paging Bassassin ... call for Bassassin.

[Marcus]

You could easily throw £300 at upgrading pickups bridge & tuners..... but for £300 you could get a good 2nd hand Mex Fender, that may not be what you want to do though, is the idea of "personalising" the bass more important to you than ending up with a playable, good sounding instrument ?

If so a custom paint job could be the way forward.... [url="http://www.simscustom.com/"]http://www.simscustom.com/[/url] they do some amazing work !!

Enjoy

[EdwardHimself]

It's not worth it. Trust me, i've been there.

[jezzaboy]

In the past I have had the urge to mess about with various basses and have enjoyed it. You can buy some decent upgrades from the like of WD music. Another place that is quite good is [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/bassguitarpartsdirectuk"]http://stores.ebay.co.uk/bassguitarpartsdirectuk[/url].
I now keep an old body and neck to mess around with.

If you set yourself a budget and shop about, you will enjoy the experiance, end up with something unique and if it don`t work out, sell the parts on.
Go for it!

Jez

[oz of the bass]

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='461067' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:36 AM']It's not worth it. Trust me, i've been there.[/quote]

What became not worth it? This is the sorta thing tha intrigues me, I mean the achievement of building a bass with some simple starting foundations like a mediocre guitar sounds great! Can you make it something good? if even it not worth it on cost, I generally find you cant pay these people selling basses monthly at least you can buy a little bit and keep going, I mean hell, in truth theres nothing to stop you in the end putting the electronics in something else entrirely you prefer the feel of is there?

I like the sound of it