aende Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 So, I bought an unfinished fleabass..... I am borrowing a German built Warwick Corvette, which is very nice, but sadly not mine. The plan with the fleabass is to let my 3 year old daughter paint it/colour it and to fit gotoh tuners. I may even update the pickup and electrics; anyone any experience of updating a fleabass - let me know what works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Schoen Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I put an EMG 35DC pickup in mine because I didn't like the sound of the original pickup. The 35DC is active and comes with tone and volume pots and an output jack, all definite improvements over the original parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 nice idea! make sure you post pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basskit_case Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Brilliant, I had the exact same thought, I was keen to get my 2year old son to decorate it. Interested to see how you get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aende Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 Right; I have not done an awful lot of work on this one..... So, far, I have reshaped the headstock with an orbital sander to resemble a Modulus Head shape. I have also replaced the P bass style tuners for gotoh style tuners. As the tuner holes are 17mm, I could not go with Gotoh own brand as they use a 14mm hole and I did not fancy dowelling up and re-drilling the holes. I found some gotoh style tuners for 17mm hole on ebay - they look allot better IMHO. I will upload a pic asap. Next plan is to rout out the pickup area and change from a soapbar to an MM style pickup. I am also going to fit a side exit jack and a MM pre '76 pre amp - the MMpre-amp has 3 controls; Vol, bass and treble, so, I can re-use the vol and tone holes and the existing front exit jack socket for the pre amp pots. Once I have the basss configured and working, I will then strip it down and let junior do her thang,......probably in pink! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aende Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Reshaped Head - Sort of Modulus/Musicman style....Easy completed with a B & D workmate and a rotary sander. The whole shebang.... Changed Tuners....Holes are 17mm, I could not be bothered to plug them with dowel and redrill for 14mm Gotoh tuners. Trying to keep the 'Machined professionally' look. Needs finishing with light sand paper.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Wow. That's a lovely project, and the headstock looksvery nice and balanced. Well done. If your daughter is not satisfied with her design, is there a way to remove it so she can have another go? best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I let my 9 year old daughter and 6 year old son temporarily decorate my 5 string project.....a sort of Musicman/Sandberg job until its warm enough to respray it. They used a CD marker pen and Lewis drew a camels chuff! Luckily it's partially hidden by the bridge I used a Delano MM style pup which I'm very impressed with, along with one of Tommo's Sabre clone pre's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me And My Bass Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Nice man, could you possibly pop me a pm with a link to the ebay tuners you got? Been hunting high and low for some that will work with the fleabass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me And My Bass Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I also have a unfinished fleabass project on the go l will get some photos and a thread up for. [attachment=129835:398887_10151308713066402_1714830435_n.jpg] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aende Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 Personally, I think the Fleabass original shape head is clumsy; hence some serous sander'age. All I did was draw out the rough shape and then use a rotary sander. I affixed the bass to a workmate bench. I also felt that the P bass style tuners just looked plain wrong! I wanted to use expensive Gotoh mini's, but they require a 14mm hole and are £32 - the bass is not really worth the cost of the tuners and the effort involved to fill and redrill IMHO. The tuners I bought, were these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190584089766 Next jobs: [list] [*]Install pro bass stinger pre-amp (a pre'76 MM preamp clone) - will see how this sounds with the standard pickup [*]Rout for MM style humbucker - This may happen/may not happen, see above! [*]Install an MM humbucker (either EMG, Status, SD or Bartolini in mind!) - as above! [*]Fill and wrap headstock [*]Paint! [/list] Then I will strip it and get junior to paint it. I am going with the 'see what she does and live with it' approach....an attempt to stimulate her creative flow, it will probably be pink.....I was going to try spin art or swirl painting it with junior; but each process is time consuming and messy. As we are about to move to West London in the next few weeks, I don't think I will get time to do this..... The headstock...I may wrap with carbon fibre....Not sure. Any advice on pickups would be appreciated! I am not 100% sure that I will re-rout the body, the bass is not really worth much. So, I may go with just fitting another soapbar. Essentially, I want something fun for junior to do/be involved in and a bass that I am happy to use for gigging that sounds okay and is not a bank breaker. I am also refurbishing my 2 Peavey tx 210 cabs. I have fitted them out with Eminence beta speakers (500w at 4ohm), they sound massive! The carpet and corners are all a bit tired. So, I will strip them down and get junior to paint the baffle boards! The cab shells I will just do black.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aende Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 [quote name='Me And My Bass' timestamp='1363131464' post='2009151'] I also have a unfinished fleabass project on the go l will get some photos and a thread up for. [attachment=129835:398887_10151308713066402_1714830435_n.jpg] [/quote] Please keep the thread updated with your progress and ideas! Looking cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me And My Bass Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Thanks for the link to the tuners. I have another fleabass with a EMG 35DC in it that sounds great, good throw about bass. But l am very interested to see how you get on with the probass preamp & possible MM P/u convertion. I have a spare Nordstrand PU l would like to drop in mine. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aende Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 Thinking about replacing the rather cumbersome bridge with something a little bit smaller: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HARD-TAIL-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-THROUGH-BODY-STRINGING-CHOICE-OF-FINISHES-CH-BK-GD-/190687139949?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&var=&hash=item2c65d6d86d Also gives me the choice of string through or string over mounting. I would prefer a Badass 3, if only for the name......but they are like rocking horse sh*t to find and expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me And My Bass Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Wee update on the progress of my Flea - I took the plunge routed out the p/u cavity with a demel . . . . result, not the best job, Problem is l have no patience! But my new p/u now fits. Next steps - [list] [*]Bass is away to Mark (7string) who is going to drill the new side jack socket hole. [/list] [list] [*]Then off to get a swirl paint job in some crazy colours. [/list] [list] [*]Install Nordstrand 4.2 pickup, Probass Stinger preamp & Jack socket. [/list] [list] [*]New nut & setup! [/list] Picture to follow as they happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.