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Not so Dusty


Doctor J
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More of an assembly job than a build, but anyway...

 

I have an old ESP 51-style Precision, single coil pickup with a slab top. I love the fat, farty sound out of it, but I need a forearm contour and I'm much happier with a J-sized neck.
 

Last year, I ordered a 54-style ash body in trans-white (the Mary Kaye finish) from Warmoth which has been waiting for an accomplice. Today, the postie delivered the neck, ordered from Warmoth late last year - roasted maple, Jazz nut width, tele headstock, side-dots only with banjo frets. The smell of the roasted neck is utterly delicious 😂

 

Anyway, I'm thinking a humbucking old-style P pickup is the way forward, rather than a proper single-coil and, perhaps, a serial/parallel option via a push/pull volume knob could be very interesting. A Cabronita style scratchplate in mint could be very tasty, too. I'll go with something a little sturdier than the original early-50's style bridge and, of course, it won't be strung through the body anyway. I'm undecided whether to add a bridge cover or not. I think a pickup cover would just get in the way.

 

I have some parts but need to get more before I can really start putting it all together, but this is the starting point.

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Looks nice, I always thought the only thing wrong with an early 50's P bass was the slab body and sharp edges. Will be interested to see how a noiseless 51 style pickup goes. I heard good reports about Jess Loureiro's split coil 51 P pickup and of course there are several other makers doing either stacked or split coil versions.

 

Looking forward to how your build pans out.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I watched countless videos of single coil and double coils Ps and what sounded nicest to my ears were those with the Seymour Duncan SCPB-1, so that's what I went with in the end. No electric funny business after all, which is quite unlike me. The Warmoth stuff has been good to work with. The neck pocket is snug, though would have been too tight if I had sprayed the neck with lacquer instead of an oil finish. I've rolled the fretboard edges and had to slightly widen the output jack hole but that's the extent of the woodwork, pilot holes aside. Fret dressing and polishing was straightforward.

 

It's coming together nicely. Schaller tuners, brass nut, old Gotoh bridge leftover from a previous upgrade to another bass, SD pickup and shielding done. Just the pots, output jack and associated control plates left to do from a functional perspective before I string it up. I'll add a bridge cover and Cabronita-style mint scratchplate for the sake of aesthetics too.

 

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Edited by Doctor J
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