Mod for mods sake

[Rayman]

Does anybody else struggle to see the point/need for modding/upgrading a bass in most cases?

 

I just watched Low End Lobster.... and actually enjoy his content, however the amount of money he throws at basses after he's purchased them seems a bit ridiculous? Part of the fun of it for him, it seems, is this constant need to "upgrade" parts on the guitars he's bought..... I don't see the point? In my experience hardware on basses (or guitars in general), on the most part, is fine as it is, unless its faulty. I joined in the trend for putting Badass bridges on my Fenders a few years ago, but honestly, I literally cannot hear a definable difference in the tone from the basic stock Fender bridge, at all.

 

So I ordered (from Andertons who are currently out of stock in my preferred colour) a blue Epiphone Newport Bass. I absolutely love the looks and I want to try a reasonably priced short scale bass because of my shoulder issues. The reviews are mixed, but I know how to setup and fiddle with gear to get it right if there's a setup issue with it when it comes. But Mr Lobster, instantly pulled out the tuners and replaced them with Hipshots and the same with the bridge, probably at a cost adding up to maybe a third of the price of the bass in the first place. Seriously why? I mean I get it, if you've had it a while and you're not happy with some of the hardware functionality, but lets be honest.... MOST hardware, even the basic stuff is perfectly fine and useable unless you're a pro gigging musician who needs top end gear.... most of us are not that.

 

In my opinion, basses like these, have a vibe and a voice and a functionality that is part of its charm, inc pickups, harware etc.... and unless its actually broken in some way...... either:

 

A: Buy something else if you don't like it as it is?

or

B: At least play it a few months to find out what you do or don't like about it? Then, think about some changes IF you're going to keep it?

 

Personally when I'm looking to buy a used bass, and the seller describes it as "Upgraded" or "Modded", I go elsewhere, because I'm looking for a bass that is as intended by it's manufacturer, otherwise why are you buying it at all? 

 

I dunno. Each to their own eh? 

[MacDaddy]

I usually mod guitar/basses thus killing the resale value 😆

It was only when I started buying my custom Shuker's that my basses were exactly how I wanted them, so no need to mod.

[Paolo85]

For LowEndLobster that's a specific hobby and the angle of his channel. I guess in general that's part of the point in modding. If one considers all the trial and error, cost of tools, zero resale valie, and time spent on it, just buying a bass that suit you makes more sense. But it's not the same.

Personally, I have swapped pickups quite a bit and I am a big believer in that. I tend to buy bottom-of-the range basses with cheap ceramic pickups. This does not mean they are bad per se, but I cannot see why I wouldn't drop in something like a £20 Wilkinson P If I prefer it, or some higher end pickups that often come out here at very good prices. 

As per the tuners, there are a few aspects of it. Some ar hard, and I could not care less. Some do not keep in tune for very long, and this bothers me a bit. While I never got to replace tuners just for that, I get a special satisfaction from one of my basses when I play it, pick it up the next day, and it'a still in tune. Is it worth say £50? For a bass that I play an awful lot, I would say yes, regardless of wether it cost me £100 or £500.

Then there is the weigh issue. Most basses I have got were at least a bit neck heavy, and could always do with some less weight. I have some hipshot licensed ultralitesthat I bought here for cheap. But again, for a bass that I play an awful lot, I think they are worth full prices, even if the bass I put them on is worth £100

Bridges? So far I do not care as long as they work. Maybe one day I'll think differently

 

 

[fretmeister]

I mod lots of basses. I'm very picky about what I want.

 

Tuners are usually the first thing - in fact if I was going to buy a Newport I'd have them ordered at the same time. The difference in neck dive and balance is immense.

 

Then it will usually be the pickups. I like EMG's for J types as they are silent for recording, and for passive P types I really like the Aguilar 60s wind. I've no doubt that other P pickups would be just as good, but somehow my favourite mod makes the bass more mine.

 

I've never swapped a bridge though. Most aftermarket bridges are heavier than stock items and I always mod with a view to lowering the weight.

[Paolo85]

...on second thought, I would also argue that in most cases, having maybe 2, three max basses if you play very different genres, and sticking to them your whole life is perfectly fine unless you're a pro gigging musician who needs top end gear, and most of us are not that

It's all about having fun in the end

[PaulThePlug]

Cheap tuners on cheap basses can be feel rough, but a quick go with some coppa slip on the worms, and a good few turns to remove plating flashing and improve the mesh, then a clean and dab of vaseline can work wonders... not Schaller wonderful, but a great improvement, especially when a set of tuners can be a third of the price of say a Harley Benton... along with a smooth and pencil lead in the nut slots.

 

And the recent post on High Mass v BBOT and tone was an eye opener, me preferring the BBOT... often an upgrade is for the eye.

 

Saying that the likes of Wilkinson, Tonerider, Entwistle, Maida Vale etc at the lower end pickup price point, can breath new life in to a lagging purchase for £20ish.

[Waddo Soqable]

I think modding can be viewed as part of the fun in many cases tho.. 

The Headless Rick thing I did was, (to me) an interesting and informative project, I didn't spend a great deal on it being "Johnny Skintbloke" as I am 

[asingardenof]

1 hour ago, Rayman said:

Does anybody else struggle to see the point/need for modding/upgrading a bass in most cases?

 

I just watched Low End Lobster.... and actually enjoy his content, however the amount of money he throws at basses after he's purchased them seems a bit ridiculous? Part of the fun of it for him, it seems, is this constant need to "upgrade" parts on the guitars he's bought.....

He seems to have a hatred of anything that is merely "functional". 

[BigRedX]

For me I can't see the point any more. There are so many instruments available, all with slight variations that unless I want something very specific there will be an off-shelf one that is right for me somewhere. And if there isn't I can always get something custom-made that will be exactly right.

 

Back in 70s when I started playing, when choice was considerably more limited and I had no money, there was a point. In fact the only way I could afford my own solid electric guitar was to make it myself and buy the parts as and when I had the cash for them.

 

I now have some guitars and basses with "good quality" machine heads from Gotoh and Hipshot and some with whatever the far-eastern factory fitted as standard, and there is no applicable difference between how well they work. In fact the last time I had to replace a set of machine heads was on a Burns Sonic Bass from the early 60s where the gears had worn to the point that they would no longer hold the strings in tune when at the correct pitch. Everything else I have owned has been fine.

 

Same with pickups. The last time I changed a set was back in 1990 when I replaced the factory fitted Js in my Washburn 5-string with a very expensive set of active EMGs (that cost half as much as the full price of the bass) and was rather disappointed to find that the change had made absolutely no difference to the sound. Besides these days, by the time I have passed a bass or guitar through my Helix so long as there actually a signal I can get all the sounds I want out of them.

Edited March 20, 2023 by BigRedX

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

A lot of modding, and I've been guilty of this, is marking the bass as your territory like a tomcat, but I s'pose it is more hygenic to put on a different bridge/set of tuners/pickguard than peeing on it.

 

In my case both of my Epiphone vintage pro thunderbirds got Gotoh GB650 resolite tuners at around £100 a set. There was nothing wrong with the stock Wilkinsons but  I like the aesthetic of the more vintage looking Gotohs.

 

Yesterday I was writing a list of mods to do on my sunburst vintera mustang bass - I have a black pickguard incoming and I will fit a thumbrest (on the bass side, so not a tug bar), shield the cavities with copper tape, put on a set of Chromes (is this a mod?) and roll the fingerboard edges. I'm not going to change the pickups though as the stock ones are surprisingly good.

 

I imagine there is a similar urge for people to personalise their gear in a lot of hobbies. At least basses are cheaper and have less depreciation than cars.

[asingardenof]

The only "mods" as such I've done to my two basses is to stick Dunlop pick holders to them, and swap the standard strap buttons with Schaller S-lock buttons. Other than these minor things the basses are what they are and I wouldn't have bought them if I didn't like them.

[TimR]

2 hours ago, Rayman said:

Part of the fun of it for him, it seems, is this constant need to "upgrade" parts on the guitars he's bought..... I don't see the point?

 

Mainly to create engaging content. Which seems to be working. And no doubt a bunch of BassChatters will now head off to YouTube to add more views following your free advertisement. 

[TheGreek]

I've been playing - with a few years off in the 90s - since the early 80s and in that time I've only ever changed one set of pickups - and that was in my Kawai over Xmas (Thanks @Grangur) because the bridge pickup was noticeably quieter than the neck. Loads of messing about and being let down and TBH I could have/ should have lived with the original pickups over the replacements. 

 

I've started a project recently and again it's probably more hassle than it's worth. The idea was to clear parts from my drawer - didn't happen. If anything I've acquired parts. Definitely not been cost effective - I'll probably never recover my money - who will want a slab body Tele with PJ pups?

 

Once finished I'll hopefully have got the desire to build/ mod/ update out of my system and leave stuff alone.

 

I'm not convinced there is any benefit to modding - only other bassists care or can tell and that's actually open to debate.

[Dad3353]

2 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

... - who will want a slab body Tele with PJ pups?...

 

Should be in the 'Marketplace'; Mods, please move. 

 

...

 

 

[Dan Dare]

If you make modifications reversible, you shouldn't affect the resale value of an instrument. You're unlikely to add value to it, either, unless a buyer particularly likes what you've done. But that isn't really the point. I modify something for my benefit - playability, appearance or just because I prefer it. I don't really care what anyone else thinks. Had I kept my childhood toys in their original boxes and never played with or scratched them, they'd probably be worth a lot of money nowadays, but that does rather defeat the object of having them in the first place.

[Cato]

I fancied a go at moding a few years back so I bought a Squire VM70s jazz and put in Aguilar pickups a Babicz bridge and a Kiogon loom.

 

It was a fun project and I'm glad I've scratched that itch, but being perfectly honest with myself the results weren't such a radical improvement that I've been tempted to fiddle with any of my other bassses.

[Waddo Soqable]

Replacing like with (more expensive) like, is probably not going to make much difference, as mentioned above..

I'd tend to mod if it's result is something you can't really get off the shelf or at a realistic price, again like the headless thing I did, you could not go out and buy that (in the unlikely event you wanted to😁) plus the donor and parts were v. cheap in the scheme of things. 

Lots of folk put basses together out of parts they've got plus a few bits off ebay (or here) tho arguably do those actually count as Mods? 

[smithy]

Well, I´m with you, Rayman

But-

as a motorcycle fan I think I can understand those modders. If you´re a pro or semi pro you´re trying to get the best performance out of your bike/bass.

Sometimes it might be that those improvements are just imagination because you want it so hard. Sometimes improvements are so slight that an amateur (like me) isn´t able to hear.

On the other hand motorbikes/basses are not only fun to ride/play but working on them is at least half the joy.

And joy is what it´s all about, right?!

[asingardenof]

1 hour ago, Cato said:

I fancied a go at moding a few years back so I bought a Squire VM70s jazz and put in Aguilar pickups a Babicz bridge and a Kiogon loom.

 

It was a fun project and I'm glad I've scratched that itch, but being perfectly honest with myself the results weren't such a radical improvement that I've been tempted to fiddle with any of my other bassses.

TBF the VM70s Jazz was a very decent bass to begin with. I'm still upset I had to sell mine, but being able to eat was more important at the time, and I'm definitely not unhappy with the Sire that replaced it.

[Happy Jack]

1 hour ago, smithy said:

Well, I´m with you, Rayman

But-

as a motorcycle fan I think I can understand those modders. If you´re a pro or semi pro you´re trying to get the best performance out of your bike/bass.

Sometimes it might be that those improvements are just imagination because you want it so hard. Sometimes improvements are so slight that an amateur (like me) isn´t able to hear.

On the other hand motorbikes/basses are not only fun to ride/play but working on them is at least half the joy.

And joy is what it´s all about, right?!

 

Ha! I've always loved this analogy.

 

Back in the 70s, the guys who first got me into biking were obsessed with 'fettling' their bikes. I remember that John's idea of a perfect Saturday afternoon was to take the carbs off his CB250, strip them down and clean them (on the kitchen table 😨), adjust the needle, refit and re-balance. If all went well, he ended up with a bike that ... erm... ran exactly the way it had before.

 

He could never understand why I avoided fiddling about with tools and mucky things like oil and grease and chainlube, and instead I got my fun from actually riding the bloody things.

[Skybone]

And there was me thinking it was going to be a thread about fish-tail parka's and scooters...

 

It does sound like a case of tinkering because you can, rather than tinkering because you need to.

 

It also sounds like a case of "creating content".

[lemmywinks]

If you really like a bass and are gigging it but see shortcomings in the hardware (which might be functional but is an obvious cost saving measure) then it would make sense to replace with something to your liking. I gigged a Sire as my main bass for years and did some (reversible) mods, only one of which (Nordstrands) made it sound better. The Schallers I put on there made it a better bass to gig though as did the metal knobs which sorted the somewhat cluttered bell plate.

 

It turned a bass I really liked into a bass i really liked. If you're sensible and keep the original parts in case you want to move it on then modding can be very cost effective, especially if you source used parts to begin with.

[Rayman]

2 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Mainly to create engaging content. Which seems to be working. And no doubt a bunch of BassChatters will now head off to YouTube to add more views following your free advertisement. 

Maybe I AM lobster 😉

[kodiakblair]

4 hours ago, Rayman said:

Does anybody else struggle to see the point/need for modding/upgrading a bass in most cases?

In most cases there's FA 'upgrading', its all about 'Brand Name' dropping in the hope  strangers will appauld and echo the poster's choice 😶

 

I don't think it's quite as bad here but over on TalkBS it's rife 😄 

 

Little ryhme , reason or thought is given just throw out some buzzword names. It's rare to see a post going "I've X bass but the pickups are lacking 'Y'" or "they've too much 'W'"; "swapping to pickup 'Z' got me ....".  Posts normally go "I fitted 'current buzzword'" and that's it. The 'current buzzword' angle is pretty important since there's a definite pecking order to this consumer p!$$in contest 😄

 

You might think I've went a bit OTT but if that's the case why do the buzzword companies all sell T-shirts ? Instead of "Team Aniston/Jolie" it's "Team Lollar/Nordy" 🤣

[Old Horse Murphy]

Been there seen it and done it, sometimes without even trying the bass out in its original spec. Goodness knows why, I guess it's a case of idle hands and good old peer pressure. 

 

It's something I stopped doing a good few years ago and certainly don't feel any of my basses are any worse off because I haven't dicked about with them. 
 

Whatever floats your boat though but must admit, if a bass is advertised with countless mods I generally leave them well alone (especially if the original parts aren't included). 
 

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Old Horse Murphy