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Dramatic Mod: Ibanez Mezzo SRMD205 (Medium Scale P/J SoundGear)


therealting

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Got one of these recently, and was impressed enough with that I am planning a raft of mods to make it a really killer instrument.

Today we start nice and subtle, almost undetectable. Can you see what has changed?

2731D583-D35E-4DD3-AD1B-B072AABD379A.jpeg
 

More photos:

640D4B23-EDCF-4FFD-BE38-B8ECBEDCC8EC.thumb.jpeg.945c7e41d2d7b963ca45450610da85f2.jpegE2D37019-2101-4A93-8FC8-C6CB750CF278.thumb.jpeg.64b4d3b8e3c3b32008e74de7f848b271.jpeg

Edited by therealting
Updated with more photos
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We have a winner!

E2D37019-2101-4A93-8FC8-C6CB750CF278.thumb.jpeg.64b4d3b8e3c3b32008e74de7f848b271.jpeg

Fairly major mod obviously, and cost me more in parts and labour than I actually paid for the bass itself, but I **REALLY** like the way it’s turned out and now intend to follow through with a new preamp, aged brass knobs and a new pickguard... possibly aged brass too?

Kudos to Tom at Feline Guitars who did the work - it looks like it was originally designed and built this way.

Photos added to original post.

Edited by therealting
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  • 3 weeks later...
18 hours ago, fretmeister said:

@therealting

Have you done anything with the pickups? I'm liking the P but when I'm recording the J is a noisy thing.

I'm trying to find a noiseless J that I can drop into it without any routing but I'm not having much luck so far.

Any ideas?

Not yet - I’ve taken it out once for church, and found that:

1. I’d forgotten to intonate it. D’oh!

2. There was a grounding hum only resolvable by touching one of the knobs.

The first was easy to fix, the second I think requires me to sand part of the finish off the bridge so it can contact properly with the grounding wire. Haven’t gotten around to that yet.

I reckon I will be upgrading one or both pickups and also the preamp. Will probably put in the Glockenklang that came with my Sadowsky NYC, and as for the pickups I’ll wait for something suitable to come along secondhand.

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I think the nordy hum cancelling J will fit. I need to do some accurate measuring to check before I order.

Then maybe an Aguilar 2 band. I quite like them and they seem to be low noise too.

 

I'm actually thinking of moving on my 2nd 5 string and getting a 4 instead, and then modifying that quite extensively into a 32 scale stingray type. I have really fallen in love with the 32 scale.

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That's one awesome looking bass! 

If you don't mind me asking, what are the advantages to headless or is it just personal preference? 

Always been fascinated with headless instruments but never had a chance to get my hands on one to try. 

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Awesome job! That bridge system looks great, and the routing and refinishing was nicely done. I really like the look of that cutout for tuner access. 

On 09/10/2020 at 19:29, Natexxo said:

If you don't mind me asking, what are the advantages to headless or is it just personal preference? 

Always been fascinated with headless instruments but never had a chance to get my hands on one to try. 

I play two Status S2 Classics and a Hohner B2A, and to me the biggest advantages are

  • Tuning stability: because you don't need to wind the strings around a tuning post, there is a lot less slipping and stretching. Instead, on most headless systems, the ball ends of the string clamp into a claw at the bridge end and the claw moves forward and backward on a threaded tuning screw. Once the strings are properly stretched, there is barely any detuning;
  • Compact size. I like how compact my Status basses are, especially for portability: they fit into a regular guitar gigbag. The Hohner has its own dedicated gigbag which is even more compact because of the body size (if you can call it a body). 
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  • 1 month later...

Hi there - congrats on an absolutely gorgeous project!

I'm thinking of following your example, get the wife to get me an Ibanez mezzo for Christmas, and go down the headless route.

Before I do that I just wanted to ask you: a couple of months down the line, how are you finding the bass has responded to the mods?

Cheers

Tom

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
On 22/12/2021 at 17:17, Dazed said:

@therealting Love this!

Any chance of an update on this? Had this idea for a long time and never bring myself to do it.
Oh the basses I’ve in my head chopped the head off 😂 

I haven’t actually played it for a while as I got a bunch of other basses which have captured my attention. Will get it out again one of these days!

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