ForbiddenWytch

You know what, there’s nothing I can say to this because I totally agree with all of it. It echoes a lot of the replies in this thread so far but a lot of great added points too. Special mention to this, I love a good poem to make a point. Not gonna lie, i’m a sucker for a neon green finish. Would love to see Leo’s #1 in neon pink 😂😂

Yeah I read in an interview with Michael Kenney (steve’s tech) that they didn’t realise the body was maple until a chunk of the Control cavity fell out and had to be fixed which is why these basses were made of Alder and they switched to Maple for the West Ham Model. I don’t think these models are actually that close to Steve’s basses and I know he very rarely uses these particular ones As a side note, the original blue with red mirror guard signature from 2001 was so far away from Steve’s spec that he never ever used them. Makes you wonder why he signed his name off against them?

Thanks again to everyone for your replies. Again still on just my phone so I can’t replied to each one but I’ll sum up some of the more frequent things here and I’m trying to keep answers brief. * the cost of having a pickup routed is expensive...? i know quite a few people who would be able to do it professionally and for a very reasonable price. Less than the cost of a set of pickups so the cost of the route isn’t a problem. * Buying a new body and transferring the parts...? I can see why this one has come up but simply, buying a new body isn’t an option. I absolutely love the blue sparkle finish which is why have this one. Other than that, finding a body in the colour I want and that’s made of a decent weight piece of Alder (to be the same as the Harris) that either doesn’t have pickguard screw holes already or has but matches up to the chrome pickguard *then* paying for the bridge pickup route and new pick up to install would put it past the price of what I could pay for a whole new “project” bass. * Why don’t you swap the pickups...? I have done, I’ve had the SPB-1 (originally came with it), SPB-4 (Harris signature pickup), SPB-3 (wanted more grunt but they didn’t work for me in this), old Jackson J50 (had a set from a Charvel/Jackson 3B bass), EMG GZR and DiMarzio Model P... so yeah cool I’ve tried a few pickups. All of which I love on their own but I miss having a bridge pickup to blend in. * Or try changing the electronics...? This is one bass I refuse to put active electronics in but I have done other changes to the wiring like switching from 250k to 500k pots or more recently, switching the volume to a push/pull pot which bypasses the tone control in the down position (my preference and Harris has the tone removed from his bass) but pull it up and it engaged a Fender TBX pot which I installed in place of the regular tone. Now, I absolutely love the sound of the P bass but I keep wanting to blend in some bridge pick up for that bite! So besides active electronics, not much more I can do. * A lot of people buy signature products purely based on the name / some people buy products because the spec is up their street...? This applies on both fronts. Steve Harris is the reason I play bass, the reason I have a scarf of my favourite football team knitted around my strap, the reason i put my foot on the monitor etc etc but as well as that, I’ve always been a fan of the P bass sound, all my basses have had Badass II bridges on them, the sparkle blue finish on this bass is one of the most beautiful finishes I’ve seen (IMO) and apart from the lack of flexibility, I love everything about this bass. I support Leeds United, I’m not going to go buying the West Ham livery bass and be seen playing that on stage but this bass has done * a lot * of gigs and some important gigs too. * How do you know this is a sound you will like? As mentioned in the OP: James LoMenzo & Marko Hietala who are two of my favourite bassists, use basses with the P/reverse P configuration and I really love the thump it gives their basses. I’ve owned a couple of BC Rich Basses with double P pick ups in them and I always loved the sound of them. As well as that, the 3 Tobias basses i own have 2 soapbar pickups in them which have P positioned coils under the casing (I’ve tested it and opened one up when replacing them). * Side note to the above in case some one asks “if you liked that sound why did you replace them/sell them?” the BC Richs were too heavy and awkward. Had to go. As for replacing the pickups in the Tobiases, the stock pickups in these basses (the Toby Pros in case any one wondered) are notoriously low output and whilst they sound good, I wanted something with more output. One has Nordstrand J coils for a Jazz Bass sound, one has P coils for the double standard P sound and the other is still stock as I’m awaiting the Fishman Mike Inez 5 set. * The bass is likely to go up in value...? not planning on selling it though. It’s one of two basses I don’t ever see myself selling (the other being the bass I got for my 18th birthday from my Parents) * (Not sure if this was mentioned but this is my other option) What about a J pickup? I have two other basses that have the P/J set up. The only way i’d add a J coil to this bass is if I could get one of the 80s Yamaha J bar pickups from the BB basses as have that installed. Why? Because Thin Lizzy are another one of my biggest influences and Phil Lynott’s Black P bass had a BB J-bar pickup in it (along with a Creme DiMarzio P) but I’d rather leave that for a Lynott project some day. Finally: * It’s your bass, so you do what you want with it...? I know, I know... and i suppose I have already made a couple of changes so it’s not strictly a Steve Harris P bass any more so it really shouldn’t be a problem. Just worried I’ll have the police at my door! 😂 I hope I haven’t left out anyone’s replies/ideas there and I apologies if I have! I hate replying on a phone screen!

This thread has gotten way more replies than I expected and typically my laptop has given up the ghost so replying on my phone will take me a little while haha I’m really glad it’s gotten so many replies as well. Thanks to everyone who has so far!

Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies, wasn’t expecting so many! Will have a read through and reply to them as well.

Evening all! Im wondering what the general opinion on modding signature basses is? As it’s nearly 2am, there’s a long story behind my question below but if you want to ignore that and just leave your opinion, feel free! The gist of it is “bass I need to justify keeping and don’t want to have to sell so need some more variety out of it and buying another bass isn’t an option due to money & adding new pickup would be much cheaper” I own one of the Fender Steve Harris Precision basses from the 2010 run of Made In Japan sparkle blue basses but whilst I really do love it and love the P bass sound, to justify keeping a bass of that value I need to use it more so I need some more versatility from it. I have a bass with two J pick ups in it and a bass with P/J (Spector style) pick ups in it already so I have the Jazz sound and P/J sounds covered but two of my favourite bassists, Marko Hietala of Nightwish & James LoMenzo of Megadeth/BLS/etc. both have basses with a regular P pick up and a reversed P pick up in the bridge position which is one of my favourite tones I’ve heard and this has got me thinking of adding a reverse P and a mini 3 way toggle switch to my bass to give me extra options. I have considered selling the bass quite a few times but ultimately, I have far too much sentimental attachment to it to let it go (i’ve owned it from new, first “new” bass I had, first high end bass etc etc) and there’s a lot to the back story of how I got it/gigs played on it. Also better mention that Steve Harris is the reason I play bass too. This means selling it to get a cheaper bass for modding is out the window. Not just the sentimental reason but I love the spec and finish of the bass. The bass it’s self isn’t mint but it’s been extremely well looked after so it’s not like i’d be modifying a show piece, this is a workhorse and I have already installed a Hipshot D-tuner & Graphtech black tusq nut when the original broke on it but apart from that, it’s stock! I should add, I wouldn’t dare attempt routing the bass myself, I would pay someone to do it properly so it’s a clean rout and likely have the cavity lacquered then I’ll copper tape the cavity like I have shielded the other pickup cavity already. Costs wise, i already have a pickup to go in it and copper tape, switches and wire so the only outlay would be the cost of the routing. Anyway. Sorry for the essay and interested to know what others think. If you’ve read through that then I congratulate you and apologise again for my late night ramblings! 😂😂 (Pickguard is reflecting an Iron Maiden flag pinned to my ceiling, it’s not artwork on the pickguard)

Please hear me out on this: I have a bass with a Reverse "Spector" P/EMG DC Soapbar configuration but I've sold the pickups and am replacing it with passive Duncans. already put an SPB-3 in the neck position and was considering the SSB-NYC for the bridge but it's more expensive than I'm wiling to spend so my other option is sticking 2 SJB-3s (as they come up fairly cheap 2nd hand) in a soapbar housing and wiring it up. I find wiring fun so could be a fun project? I know I'd need the actual SJB-3 set (RW/RP neck pick up) but I was wondering if:- - Will 2 J pick ups would fit in a soapbar housing? - (and if so) I plan on having this pickup hooked up to a 3 way series/parallel/single switch (essentially utilising the 4-conductor element to the wiring) so I'd replace the black/white wires on the south "coil" (SJB-3b) with red/green and treat the wiring like a typical 4-con Series/Parallel/Split humbucker wiring method? - side note, I would put a strip of copper tape over the back of the 2 coils and solder on a "bare" earth wire to that (my Nordstrands have that method on so must be alright?) Here's some pics for reference and thank you in advance to any one who replies (within reason haha):

Because I was bought it a few years back and noticed that it made a difference to the noise in my rig when playing crappy dingy "venues" (aka pubs that think they're a venue) who run extension lead in to extension lead and have sh1te grounding. In fairness, that's also been the case in some other more professional venues too. I'm not in a pro touring band, I'm in an unsigned metal band so we don't have our pick of the creme de la creme venues unfortunately. They're also 6x the top end of my budget! haha I'm in Bedfordshire mate. That would mean having to buy another case which would likely cost another £50 which I don't have the budget for unfortunately.

Hey everyone this may seem like a bit of a stupid question, but does any one know if Fender used the same mirrored chrome pickguard (as in same part, cut out, screw hole alignment) for the 2009/10 MIJ Blue Sparkle Precision Bass as they use on the newer MIM West Ham version? Reason I ask is my bass has been gigged an awful lot and where the body and neck are in near perfect condition (odd dink on the very end of the headstock unfortunately!), the chrome pickguard has the usual swirl marks and scuffs from either where I’ve rested my thumb on the pickup screw or where a pick has caught the guard SO I’m thinking of taking this plate off to put on another P bass and putting a proper replacement one on there to keep it looking clean. I don’t use the Blue Sparkle one for gigging any more due to needing a 5 string tuned to A standard and the fact I’m scared to death of it either going walkabouts (seems to be a recent rise in gear thefts) or it getting damaged so I keep it in the case. It also has a lot of sentimental value to me so there’s also that! any help would be appreciated and again, sorry if it’s a stupid question! Cheers!

Unfortunately my case only has 1u of space in it as there is a power condition, Marshall JMP-1 and multi-Fx unit in there and it’s a 4u case

Thanks for all your suggestions everyone! I’ve had a couple of messages about potential power amps as well which is quite handy so I’ll be taking those in to consideration. And yeah it was definitely a case of the 2nd hand market for buying one. Ideally I wanted a Marshall VS 8008 but whenever they pop up, it’s always at the wrong time and going for more than what I could budget. Again thanks for all the suggestions!

Hey everyone I'm basically just looking for any pointers here towards any decent, budget friendly 2 channel 1u rack mountable power amps please. preferably 100w or more per side as it's going to be used to power 2 4x12 cabinets in a doom/stoner rock band. Must be rack mountable, 1u spacing and have 2 channels. 1/4" ins and outs would be preferable too. I have the power conditioner, pre amp, noise gate and multi fx units I want in the rack but need an amplifier for it all now! Thanks in advance!

I have one of these basses, one of the Made In Japan ones and yeah it's a great bass but £2k? Guys a fool. I paid 1k for mine new and have considered letting it go at times for that same price but to try and get £2k for it is absurd!

What a great gesture from Rotosound! Fair play to you. The reason I play bass and reason I got my first set of Rotosounds was Steve Harris. Stuck a set of the SH77 flats on my Epiphone bass and used them for ages. Loved them. Moved back to using round wounds after that and was drawn to use Rotos again because of Geddy Lee & Duff McKagan.