NBD - Restomod late 50s P-bass (partscaster).

[cocco]

It took a while longer to come together than expected, but today I took delivery of this absolute beauty and I'm pretty happy with it. 

 

The idea (inspired by a mate who's done similar tele and strat builds) was to build a really high quality vintage looking P bass but with modern appointments. The same kind of idea as buying a classic car and putting a modern drive train in it. 

 

The body came from MJTs eBay store. I had waited for an Aztec gold one to come up for a few months, one finally did but it sold for more than I was willing to pay. Shortly after this ice blue metallic one came up, I'd never heard of it before but after some googling I was pretty sold. I bid, won, paid the import, waited for delivery and finally it arrived in early August. 

 

The bridge is a gotoh 203 and the tuners are gotoh resolites. I'm really happy with both, they look classic but are slight functional improvements over the what an actual vintage bass would have, fitting in nicely with the restomod idea. 

 

Pickup and electronics are EMG GZR. I agonised over the decision, it's really easy to get analysis paralysis with P bass pick-ups because there are so many available. I considered Kloppmann, Bare knuckle, Di Marzio model P, various Seymour Duncans and probably a few more. Then I played another bass with the GZR in it and enjoyed it, so because I couldn't test any of the others I ordered the GZR. I may change it in the future but for now I'm pretty sold, it does exactly what I want it to, not that I could describe what that is. 

 

The strat and tele that inspired the build both have Warmoth necks. I enquired about getting the spec I wanted built and they weren't able to help, I wanted a 16" radius which they apparently don't do on bass necks, so it was back to the drawing board. I ended up contacting Jon Shuker about building a neck and ordered the same spec as he uses for the JJ Burnel Zenith bass, I shipped the body and parts to Jon, he built the neck to fit the pocket and assembled and set the bass up, all for less money that my mate had paid for his Warmoth necks after shipping and tax!

 

Today it finally arrived and I'm over the moon. I'll list the full spec below for those that are interested. Most importantly there are photos. It weighs a shade over 4kg. 

 

Neck (Shuker): 

Roasted flamed maple.

Carbon reinforcement. 

Stainless frets.

Brass nut. 

Luminlay side dots.

Black fret board markers.

16" radius.

Gentle c carve. 

43mm nut. 

20.5mm depth at the first fret. 

22.5mm at the 12th.

 

Body (MJT):

Alder with usual contours.

Lightly aged ice blue metallic finish (nitrocellulose). 

 

Hardware:

Gotoh resolite tuners in nickel.

Gotoh 203 brass bridge in nickel. 

Gotoh aged domed nickel nobs. 

Gotoh large nickel strap buttons. 

eBay special anodized scratch plate.

 

Electronics:

EMG GZR pick-up and wiring. 

 

I think it came together pretty well!

Edited Friday at 20:26 by cocco

[Pea Turgh]

That is lush.  Nice one 👍

[Beedster]

Nice 👌 

[mowf]

Oof. I have no need for another Precision but I absolutely love that.

[80Hz]

The neck is absolutely gorgeous. The way the lines / cracks on the body finish and the brushing on the pickguard align gives it a very unified look. Also the colour of the pickguard brings together the neck and body finish.

 

Enjoy it!!

[cocco]

Thanks all,

 

I've only been able to play it at home so far.

 

Initial impressions are very positive, it's very resonant unplugged, sounds great to my ear and feels right. 

 

It's first rehearsal is next weekend, I'm really keen to hear how it does in the context of drums and guitars. 

[BassApprentice]

Nicely done! Who did you use on eBay for the anodised plate? 

[cocco]

48 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Nicely done! Who did you use on eBay for the anodised plate? 

 

Thanks mate! The seller is called Musiclily UK. It came from China and seems decent quality, I'm hoping it ages interestingly. 

[AlexDelores]

Very nice that 👌

[ezbass]

21 hours ago, cocco said:

Pickup and electronics are EMG GZR. I agonised over the decision, it's really easy to get analysis paralysis with P bass pick-ups because there are so many available. I considered Kloppmann, Bare knuckle, Di Marzio model P, various Seymour Duncans and probably a few more.

I’ve been down this rabbit hole. FWIW, I think you made the right decision (in other words, the same result I came to, the EMG just nudging the Model P into 2nd). Cracking looking bass, that’ll sound the dog’s dangly bits.

[cocco]

35 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I’ve been down this rabbit hole. FWIW, I think you made the right decision (in other words, the same result I came to, the EMG just nudging the Model P into 2nd). Cracking looking bass, that’ll sound the dog’s dangly bits.

That's really good to know, I'm pretty happy with the decision based on home playing. I think it'll work well for my current bands sound.

 

I guess the good thing I can swap it out in the future if I the mood takes me.