P bass rebuild

I'm in the process of cleaning up my garage, selling some gear, giving some away and organizing in general. While doing this I came across a stack of bodies I had stockpiled. One of those being a late 80's or early 90's American Fender bass body. It was white at some point and has aged to a creamy yellow color.

I ordered up an AllParts neck, maple with a rosewood board, Fender decal and a lightly relic'd nitro finish. I want this bass to be a cousin to my main P bass, that one has a Gibson Recording Bass pup in it. Since I'm keeping this simple, I ordered a Lace Alumitone P bass pup, it'll drop right in so I won't have to do any routing. I decided to go with a real Fender guard, brown tort as I think the colors will look great together. As for the bridge, I have a Babcicz Full Contact that I scored on a sweet deal. I normally like to use the Badass II bridge, and may switch to that, but I've used a Babcicz on another bass and thought it sounded like the Badass. So why spend $ when I already have a great bridge to put on it? I did have to get a set of Wilkinson tuners, and will try my hand at aging metal parts. Can't decide whether to use an "F" engraved neck plate, or a laser etched one I got off eBay that has a portrait of Frankenstein on it. I'm leaning towards the "F" plate and saving the other for the walnut bass I'm building

That's about it, I don't think I left anything out. The neck will be here Thursday, the rest of the parts will arrive Friday. I'm hoping to get her all together Sunday afternoon when I get up. I work nights and weekends, Wednesday and Thursday are my days off, and I don't think I'll have time before work to do much. I don't like to start a project before working, because I inevitably run out of time. I don't move as fast as I used to, so better to take my time and do it correctly, and not backtrack to fix mistakes I made while in a rush.

I'll get some pics up when I get to working on it. I'm really hoping that this turns out decent! My blue P bass is an absolute monster, but I have it tuned BEAD, and have REALLY wanted another bass that's similar tonewise that I can tune standard or drop D.

Neck arrived yesterday, got sidetracked and didn't get it bolted on. I'm ok with that as the tuners will be here today. And I'd rather mount the hardware before installing.

Got some pictures uploaded! Haven't done much besides get the pup mounted, and do a rough mock up. I'll install the tuners when they get here later today, then mount the neck. Luckily I have a busted up P guard that'll be enough for me to wire it up and play it some.

Here she is with what I'm hoping will be her sister bass. My main bass, the Blue P, is a Frankenstein of parts. Squier body, Warmoth neck, Badass II bridge, Gibson Recording Bass pup. The yellow bass I'm hoping will be close tonally, I went with Lace Alumitones as they sound sorta HiFi like the RBP, but are a direct drop in replacement. I had a Babcicz bridge laying around, and it's aluminum like the BAII.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psqyvjttca.jpg

I'm going with a Tort guard to ape an early to mid 60's vibe. The Tele neck will go on my Gold Sparkle Tele, and the Squier neck that's currently on it will go on another Tele body I have laying around.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psscngalya.jpg

Lace Alumitones, some of my absolute favorite pickups! Don't laugh, they surprised me as much as the DiMarzio Yngwies did!!! Seriously underrated, misunderstood, and maligned. But take it from a vintage type tone junky, they're really badass!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psdbe2setw.jpg

And here's the pups in the bass. I searched through my stash and found some nice 250k pots and an Orange Drop .022uF cap.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psfjolkfxe.jpg

Great photos. I think that may be the first time I've noticed the blue bass--I love that pickup in it. Whole thing looks like it's got mojo to spare.

Love seeing the progress of the new one.

Thanks. Yeah, for being a true beater parts guitar, the blue P absolutely KILLS! It sounds like a good old school P, but with a broader tonal spectrum. Hard to explain, you just have to hear it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psaxivlb3e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psxcqnmjaf.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...pskjyvlful.jpg

I like that!

off to google "alumitone," I know nothing.

I got her all buttoned up, Tort guard is sitting on my porch. Still need to do final setup, but she's playing as she sits. Usually the mail is delivered by 2, but it rained today so I had to leave before they got to me.

I'll post more pics when I get home.

THERE WE GO!!! Now I think it looks "right", wish I had more time today to finish setting her up but I have to get to work. That's ok as I'm off tomorrow, my one week off a month from Church. Luckily I play bass next week so I can give it a good run through at rehearsal Thursday and have time to change anything if needed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psqkssbmcy.jpg

I'm still thinking that a Badass II is what's needed on this bass, purely for aesthetics, the Babcicz is a pretty amazing bridge! For as much as I like to do weird things with guitars, I'm a little sentimental when it comes to some particulars...

Fantastic!

Looks great. Congrats on a purty purty bassarooni.

Thanks again guys, I really do appreciate it, I really do. IDK how much it's going to be like my blue P, I do have to say that my initial reaction is that it does sound good. I'm thinking that this bass is gonna lead to ANOTHER P... I'm already in the talks with a custom winder... :D

I really like that!!!

what's that bass neck with the green painted headstock?

Did you have to drill your own mounting holes? I see the neck being clamped into the pocket in one of those pictures.

What kind of strings do you use?

thinking of another p-bass project, are ye? I'm stalled on mine and possibly might think about selling the MJT body in a very nice gold finish in just about the lightest relicing I've seen them do. With the neck I had before I found out it was bad it yielded a finished bass just over 8 pounds.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...uild%20006.jpg

Hey Dan!

The green neck is from a failed experiment, I built an F type bass out of Maple and put Ric esque pups in it... Sounded NOTHING like my Ric. So I disassembled it and used the parts elsewhere. It's a Warmoth neck, and I have a J body I'll use it on. I need to strip that paint off.

I did have to drill the holes, none of the AllParts necks I've bought came predrilled. It's easy to do, lightly clamp the neck, run a string down the center point and clamp down hard once it's lined up.

As for bass strings, I'm hooked on Dunlop roundwound nickels. They feel and sound like Rotosounds, for half the price! If you're into that sort of thing you should check them out! Right now the bass has D'Addarrio's on it, they were an extra set I had laying around. I normally play 45-105, but the blue P is strung with the low strins from a 5 string set, so it's 65 85 105 125. It's tuned BEAD. I play the blue P at church where most guys play a 5 string. I can't cope with that many strings, I seem to get lost on the fretboard. Somehow this works great for me, plus it means I can use a J width neck. I have VERY small hands, they're literally the size of a small woman's hands. No joke! So even a regular P neck feels too wide to me.

I'd be interested in the body if you want to sell it. I love custom colors like that on basses!!! Shoot me an email ccpacheco26@gmail.com

Played this bass at rehearsal tonight, sounds really good. A few tweaks here and there and Chuck's a happy boy. It's not as HiFi as the blue P, not that that's super HiFi either, but this new one is closer to an old school P. I'm very pleased, proud and excited about it.

Glad it's worked out for you. Must be quite a feeling to play something that you've put together like that.

Thanks guys! About the only thing I need to do with this bass is put a smaller shim in it, and change the strings. But that can wait as it's fine right now. She's a gorgeous girl, really has a 60's vibe going on. I'm loving the color combo and the amount of aging on it.

I'll try to get a decent picture of it, forgot to do that Thursday night.

Went through the bass on Saturday and fixed all my quibbles with it: smaller shim, Dunlop strings, etc. Played her Sunday morning at church, sounded SOOOOO good! I think I might adjust the action a little still, but I don't really have to. I'm really happy with this bass, and I'm signing off on her.

Thanks again everyone for the kind words and high praise. Here's a better pic of the new beast sitting next to my rig.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psd3fsqcnv.jpg

Fantastico.