My modded Jag - FINISHED!!!?

[Grissle]

My Mods are:
• BEAD Tuning
• Fender CS '60s pickups
• CTS Precision Vol/Tone Pots
• Copper Shielding + Star grounding
• Jazz knobs (large & small)
• Schaller strap locks
• Deluxe 5 bolt neck plate + contoured heel
• Hipshot Ultralite tuners
• Badass II bridge
• Bone nut
[attachment=27822:100_2710.JPG][attachment=27823:100_2711.JPG]
I'm still playing with the idea of putting a neck pickup cover on it?
[attachment=27824:MyJagPupCover.JPG]

[Panda]

Hey Grissle, looks you spent a bit of money on time here.

As a fellow Jag player I'd be interested to know what you were wanting to get out of the mods and did you achieve it? If you had to be limited by budget or whatever to one mod, which would it have been and why?

[Grissle]

I'd been waiting for a good deal on one for about six months, when my local shop put them on clearance and that knocked off a few hundred dollars right there. I already had the extra pickups and did all the work myself. It only cost me about $150 for all the parts so I've done well really.
As far as why... the Jag bass's design and function are everything I've ever wanted in a bass, but in order to keep it competitively priced (according to Fender's thinking) they saved some money on the tuners, vol/tone pots (they're really cheap) and pickups ( they're ceramic not Alnico V). They've done the same with the Geddy bass and some others. But thankfully the base instrument is very high quality.

Changing the pickups and the bridge took the bass to a new level. Then using the 5 bolt neck plate and adding the heal contour was the icing. I love that Fender designed the Jag to look so vintage yet it has a most versatile modern approach electronically. And if Fender didn't cut some corners on the hardware it'd probably be like £1000 or more.

[Spartacus]

[quote name='Grissle' post='528988' date='Jun 30 2009, 07:14 PM']And if Fender didn't cut some corners on the hardware it'd probably be like £1000 or more.[/quote]

Fender still charge £1000+ on basses with cut corners The Jag is still about £600 in the UK.

How does it all work out? Did you change the active electronics cos I thought they would have been a very weak link.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='Spartacus' post='528990' date='Jun 30 2009, 07:18 PM']Fender still charge £1000+ on basses with cut corners The Jag is still about £600 in the UK.

How does it all work out? Did you change the active electronics cos I thought they would have been a very weak link.[/quote]
I'd agree with that, based solely on my experience of trying a Marcus Miller Jazz. Super instrument, let down by a (powerful but) low quality EQ.
Fender aren't the only guilty party here. In fairness, it's probably realistic to consider that [i]most[/i] factory fitted active EQs are not as good as they could be, and that a good aftermarket device will likely be better. There are exceptions, mainly instruments which employ "genuine" (rather than licensed) systems from Bartolini, Duncan, EMG and the other usual suspects.
The other exceptions are more expensive boutique or custom instruments, which generally use the aftermarket systems or their own bespoke units.

Edit - Nifty mods, BTW! It's nice to see examples when people take a good basic instrument and make something even better from it with sensible changes.

Edited June 30, 2009 by Lfalex v1.1

[Grissle]

I forgot to add that with the new pickups and tidying up of the shielding a bit improved the preamp a lot. It's not a Sadowsky but it is now very pleasant. The pots on the preamp should probably be changed to, the tapers aren't great, maybe down the road?