Question modding/customizing

[your idol]

Do you leave your bass(es) bone stock or do you hot rod em out and make them "yours"?

If you do customize them what do you like to do to them?

What resources do you use for parts?

Any full paintjobs in here?

If you have pics of your creations I'd love to see them. Variety is the spice of life!

 

[bovinehost]

Do you leave your bass(es) bone stock or do you hot rod em out and make them "yours"?

If you do customize them what do you like to do to them?

What resources do you use for parts?

Any full paintjobs in here?

If you have pics of your creations I'd love to see them. Variety is the spice of life!

Paintjobs, pickguard changes....all cool. But keep in mind that this is the official EBMM website and forum, not the aftermarket pickups/preamps etc website and forum.

Proceed, but having seen this type of thing, oh, about a BAZILLION TIMES ALREADY, don't be surprised if it eventually wanders off and then I have to edit or close it.

*sigh*

Jack

 

[nicjimbass]

As far as customizing goes, I feel I've gone pretty deep into it with my SR5... a little too deep at times. It started with a pickguard, morphed into sending my baby back to SLO to have the headstock painted to match the body, then I went and ruined the bass by putting a Bart pickup in (which has since been removed), routing out a bigger hole where the battery goes and dropping a dual-battery box in it, ran it at 18v for a while, then back to 9v, then 18v while I had my Bongo, now it's 9v again, I once had Hipshot ultralites installed, but realized I didn't really need them after a while, and last but not least, tried to make the bass into a through-body bridge instrument, which was a HUGE mistake, and one that will be apparent for the rest of the time I own it.

After all that modding/ customizing, it's sitting in my basement, prety much bone stock, just the way it should be.

 

[Caca de Kick]

Nope, all my instruments are bone stock. All I put on is strap locks.

 

[RobertB]

I find I'm not compelled to change these EBMMs. I make 'em mine by playing my music on 'em.

 

[bassmonkeee]

morphed into sending my baby back to SLO to have the headstock painted to match the body,

Um...What?

 

[Caca de Kick]

Um...What?

This isn't the first time I've heard of sending them back to the factory for headstock matching or even repaints.

Last week there was a guy on TB selling an '07 StingRay he says he shipped it back to the factory to have the neck gloss finished. I hit the roof when I heard that one, because I prefer gloss necks. But I've been too busy to investigate this any further.

 

[Duarte]

Don't do it!

 

[and lombardini]

I just put some plastic knobs on my sterling so I can see the center "0". no big changes...it's pretty perfect...I think that the mod mania is because of Fender...everybody lived the "my jazz is a motherf I just changed pu, tuners, bridge and electronics" moment.

 

[your idol]

Paintjobs, pickguard changes....all cool. But keep in mind that this is the official EBMM website and forum, not the aftermarket pickups/preamps etc website and forum.

Proceed, but having seen this type of thing, oh, about a BAZILLION TIMES ALREADY, don't be surprised if it eventually wanders off and then I have to edit or close it.

*sigh*

Jack

i wasnt trying to stir the "aftermarket" pot. i just wanted to see what people have done to personalize their gear. its hard to imagine why anyone would spend money on an ebmm to turn around and throw barts in it. you buy them for the sound and the feel. i was simply more into the asthetique changes just to clarify.

I just recently picked up a flawless sr5 H. and even though it's amazing i just cant help but try and envision it in a Lime Gold metallic with a vintage white pickguard (like a bass versionof a 68 Shelby Cobra) something classy that i could be assured no one else would have. I was more interested in seeing the fruits of the labor of anyone else who has went the direction of making their vison a reality

 

[Russel]

I make my basses mine by tweaking them JUST the way I like them, then playing them a whole lot.

I tweak so many small details(but never really change anything) that the bass ends up greater than the sum of its parts--electric tape over pickups, messed up radius, reversed/mispositioned knobs, and a whole lot of other things. They are all unique.

You could say that all my basses are "bone stock," but I would refuse to think of them that way. They're especially mine.


But I guess that everybody sort of does that.
As for all the Music man basses I've played (several) and those I've owned(zero), I find they don't need anything other than what they come with.

 

[Psycho Ward]

The most radical mod I’ve ever done to my EBMM basses is have them built in reverse! Everything is backwards!!! Call me crazy!

 

[the unrepentant]

I'm keeping my main SUB stock because it doesn't need changing, but i got a SUB body and some bits on the cheap and i built that from some odd bits and pieces, there's a link to the thread with pics in my sig if you're interested.

I also seem to remember a guy on here that refinished his graphite pearl ray white and another guy that had contours cut on his SUB bass and had some sparkly gold finish or something like that, i'll see if i can find the threads.

EDIT: found a pic of the SUB bass, it was refinished in silver not gold. Here it is. I rather like it
I just found the thread too, here it is. not sure if the pics are showing up though.

Also here's both threads from the refinished ray.
1
2
Also pretty cool i think.

 

[Duarte]

Don't forget the black pickguard on your SUB...I think that counts as an aesthetic mod....

 

[the unrepentant]

Oh yeah I wouldn't have called it a mod tbh but i guess you're right.

 

[oli@bass]

Last week there was a guy on TB selling an '07 StingRay he says he shipped it back to the factory to have the neck gloss finished. I hit the roof when I heard that one, because I prefer gloss necks. But I've been too busy to investigate this any further.

Funny! I was so close to seriously considering that bass, but then saw that it had the neck refinished... I love the feel of oil & wax, so that's not for me.

Something little to consider in this "story": The original owner did buy the bass, and had the neck refinished, maybe for a considerable amount of money. A month later he decides to sell the bass because it's "not his thing". Now he has a mint condition non-stock instrument sitting there and most people who would be interested in buying that model will probably not do so.

Modding of perfectly fine instruments in general devaluates them. So don't do it

 

[oli@bass]

Well, maybe I should add that I do "reversible" modding like putting on Dunlop strap locks, a Hipshot D-Tuner. I'm also known to be guilty of "aesthetic modding", as changing pickguards... like putting a mirror on my Dargie

 

[iamcatwarrior]

Well, maybe I should add that I do "reversible" modding like putting on Dunlop strap locks, a Hipshot D-Tuner. I'm also known to be guilty of "aesthetic modding", as changing pickguards... like putting a mirror on my Dargie

To me, this is as far as I would go for "modifying" a Music Man. The only thing I change is to Dunlop straplocks, and have even considered adding a detuner key to my old SR4 H.

If I were to replace the pickups, preamp, etc., then it wouldn't be a Music Man anymore.

 

[strummer]

I'm toying with the idea of painting a Bongo, but I need to find a suitable project bass for that, refinishing one of the green basses is kind of out of the question, well maybe I could rip the falming biff bongo theme off Jacks bass;-)

 

[Big Poppa]

I would be happy to see an invoice where we refinished a neck or made it matching. There was a short time in 201 when a few slipped through the cracks.