Tobias Toby Pro 4 upgrades - which parts?!

[kingforaday]

I have a Tobias Toby Pro 4 (one of the early musicyo ones) and although I rarely play it (ok, never play it) it holds a great deal of sentimental value to me, for years I’ve been thinking about giving it some upgrades and just generally a bit of attention... now I may actually do it! 

now, I know there are people on this forum who have upgraded parts, but I’m struggling to find exactly what you replaced and what it was replaced with. 

I’m thinking replace;

Pickups (emg 40 size seems right)

preamp (no idea)

bridge (was thinking hipshot but the mounting holes aren’t the same?)

machineheads (I bought Schaller tuners but again, mounting holes didn’t line up - I didn’t check before buying them so my bad)

 

so have you done it, if so what did you use? I’d prefer to not hack the bass up too much so direct drop in replacements massively preferred

cheers!

[Pea Turgh]

Did you do any upgrades in the end?

[kingforaday]

I’ve started! Not finished yet but so far...

replaced the tuners with gotoh gb707’s (I bought gb350 Res-o-lites first... plastic buttons... really?! Gross. Those are now on eBay!) the gb707’s are great... I found a good price, they’re really good quality, great look and a direct drop in replacement, so super easy too.
 

I bought a pair of emg40dc pickups with a BTC stack pot and wiring... I started obsessing over the switch/control knob size/style etc and I’ve only just tracked the parts I need down. It’s gonna look great though...

Very quickly wired it up to make sure it works but haven’t really played with it yet... 

Next will be the bridge - still a little torn... I always wanted the hip shot A style just purely for looks and adjustability... it’s pricey though and I can’t afford it right now! I had the B style on another bass and it was cool, I do love the top loading aspect of hipshot bridges. Nothing is gonna be both an upgrade and a simple drop in replacement though, so I’m gonna have to get the drill out (I really didn’t want to have to do that)

once I’m done, I’ll chuck some pics up because it’s coming together really nicely and I’m glad I’m finally doing it

Edited December 12, 2019 by kingforaday

[Pea Turgh]

I spotted one on eBay recently - I just hope that when I get around to getting one it will be as good as I remember when I tried them in a music shop 25 years ago!

[kingforaday]

From my experience, the earlier the better... I’ve owned 2, the other was good but was somehow lacking in the fit and finish department... latter one was lighter too which I guess could be seen as a good thing, but to me it’s always made instruments feel cheap - hence my unhealthy obsession with the seriously weighty Peavey T40!

[kingforaday]

Here’s what I’ve done so far... 

Gotoh Gb707 tuners... major upgrade on quality 

emg 40dc pickups X2 - again big improvement, volume, sound quality and with the btc preamp its way more versatile. 
 

smaller control knobs and switch. Purely aesthetic but to me, it really improves the look and makes it appear more expensive than it is

which got me thinking... dare I go for a string through body conversion!?! I realise there’s much debate as to whether it actually improves anything but purely from a “I’m modding this thing anyway” point of view, I may do

[kingforaday]

Done! I ended up getting the hipshot A style bridge and getting a luthier I know to install it... I also got him to utilise the bridges’ string through option, by putting some holes through the body and black gotoh string ferrules to make it look tidy. 
 

so very happy with the results! Expensive but on a bass I will never sell due to sentimental reasons... it seemed worth it to me. 
 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by kingforaday

[Pea Turgh]

That’s a great finish!  Why didn’t the luthier sink the ferrules to be flush with the body though?

[neepheid]

Nice one.  I like these modifications, they suit the bass very much visually and I know how good the EMG stuff is - I have 2x EMG-HB (an EMG-P in a guitar humbucker sized casing) and an EMG-BQC in my Epiphone Les Paul bass and I enjoy very much how it sounds.  I wish I hadn't done it years ago before all the quick connect wiring came out - it's a bit of a rat's nest in there

[kingforaday]

7 hours ago, Pea Turgh said:

That’s a great finish!  Why didn’t the luthier sink the ferrules to be flush with the body though?

At my request, I actually prefer it that way with the lip on the surface... I’d always presumed that was the normal/correct way, until i was about to get the work done and read that a lot of people go for it flush with the finish... 

 

6 hours ago, neepheid said:

Nice one.  I like these modifications, they suit the bass very much visually and I know how good the EMG stuff is - I have 2x EMG-HB (an EMG-P in a guitar humbucker sized casing) and an EMG-BQC in my Epiphone Les Paul bass and I enjoy very much how it sounds.  I wish I hadn't done it years ago before all the quick connect wiring came out - it's a bit of a rat's nest in there

ta very much, yeah visually everything is exactly how I always wanted it and the pickups and preamp have made a massive difference to the sound quality and ooomph of the bass, well pleased!