A couple of P/MM's, budget basses into live players

[Mykk]

Hey Guys, I wanted to share a couple of recent projects. Turning a few budget/learner basses into a pair of live show ready players.

 

First is a Kona learners P bass that came complete in a beginners kit.

 

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First few changes were to replace the pickguard with an anodized copper/brass aluminum guard. Swapped the pups for a set of Duncan SPB-2's and changed the tuners out for a set of Hipshots.

 

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Placement of the Duncan SMB-4A musicman pickup.

 

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I give myself a solid C+ for the routing work. Had a few dremel bits, cut off wheels and sanding drums explode along the way that claimed a few spots in the black finish.

 

 

Also wanted to install the threaded inserts for the bridge and neck.

 

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Pinstripped the perimeter of the headstock to help tie in an otherwise blank looking neck into the black body.

 

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And voilà!, one custom hot rodded learner P/MM ready for the stage.

 

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[Mykk]

After some pickup rolling a set of Duncan SPB-3's are a better fit matched with the SMB-4A MM pup.

 

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Bass #2; being so pleased with the outcome, tone, play-ability and look of the first P/MM I wanted to put together a second P/MM with a different yet similar flavor.

 

Huntington P-bass copy for it's natural body:

 

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OLP Stingray bass for it's neck:

 

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Black anodized aluminum pickguard for this project:

 

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A set of EMG-HZ P & MM pickups & electros

 

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There is one critical flaw with the plan. With the OLP neck bolted down to this P-copy body it landed the scale length at 35", which would feel and look great but the fret's are spaced for 34" scale.

Out comes the dremel, recess the neck pocket further into the body to relocate the neck for proper scale length, also to route for the MM pickup. I give myself a B for this one, with the tool slipping once and digging into the finish outside of the pickup routing.

 

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Also added the threaded inserts for the neck & bridge and again, voilà! a proper 34" scale custom P/MM with a totally different feel & voicing from the first P/MM project.

 

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The EMG-HZ pickups, despite looking cool just sounded rather dull. The output is low and just rather, well... Boring. The Duncan equip'd P/MM sounds so much more vibrant and alive. This bass doesn't sound bad, just more reserved and rounded. Attempted some pickup swapping, installed the SPB-3's and SMB-4A to see if that would breathe some more life into this bass:

 

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It did drastically help, the output doubled and had it's zing but still has a totally different voicing then the same pickups installed in the other bass. Just didn't sound as bright and alive as the other bass. I've chalked it up to different woods working together and reacting differently to vibration absorption and reflection.

Now the Duncan pups are back in the black bass and EMG's back in the natural bass, for now.

 

 

Thanks for checking out my projects, they may be coming to a stage near you soon :-)

 

 

[DeepEnd]

Looks pretty good, especially the all natural specimen. What's the pickup balance like with the P+MM pickups?

 

. . . There is one critical flaw with the plan. With the OLP neck bolted down to this P-copy body it landed the scale length at 35", which would feel and look great but the fret's are spaced for 34" scale.

Out comes the dremel, recess the neck pocket further into the body to relocate the neck for proper scale length, also to route for the MM pickup. I give myself a B for this one, with the tool slipping once and digging into the finish outside of the pickup routing. . . .

It would have been much simpler to just relocate the bridge. You'd have a couple of holes to fill but less drastic and far less work than rerouting the neck pocket. Sure, it would throw the location of the P-Bass pickup off but pickup positioning is moot as soon as a string is fretted anyway.

[Mykk]

...It would have been much simpler to just relocate the bridge. You'd have a couple of holes to fill but less drastic and far less work than rerouting the neck pocket....

 

Tried it, it did indeed move the P-pup into what I'd consider a "sweet spot" and it sounded good, different then the typical P bow-bow. Doing this also ate up the room for the MM pickup between the pickguard and bridge.

 

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After doing this I felt the raised bridge looked kind of goofy and made the bass appear even more fake & cheap. Ultimately decided to put the bridge back in it's original location and sink the neck in, thus opening up the room for the MM pup too.

 

The MM pup is the dominant sound source, more so on the black bass then the natural. However there is this sweet spot when you back the MM volume down a hair and you can hear the mids do a sweep then the basses just sing.

[DeepEnd]

Tried it' date=' it did indeed move the P-pup into what I'd consider a "sweet spot" and it sounded good, different then the typical P bow-bow. Doing this also ate up the room for the MM pickup between the pickguard and bridge. . . .[/quote']

I would have interpreted that as a sign I was on the wrong track. Anyway, there's plenty of saddle adjustment left so you didn't need to move the bridge a full inch. You probably would have still had room for the MM pickup. But what's done is done and I'm not the one doing the mods. It still turned out okay.