bitsa bass with good parts? (title change from HB bass kit question)

[lidl e]

I was planning on an HB kit and kitting it out, but i know the neck will never make me happy.

 

So i'm now onto the idea of just piecing a P-bass together. i can decide on all the bits, tuners, pickups, wiring, etc, but which vendor would you use?

 

thanks for alll the previous replies. i changed it so as not to clutter up forum.

 

if you were to build a bitsa bass with higher end parts, who would you use for body and neck?

 

it's so hard to decide and know what would fit.

 

i have the necks down to a few vendors. 

 

allparts, hosco, fender and warmoth (too expensive?)

 

and i am seriously looking at guitarbuild.co.uk/ for the body or warmoth. any other good body manufacturers i should be looking at?

Edited December 16, 2022 by lidl e
new discssion

[Pea Turgh]

I think @Beedsterdid a goodn a while ago. 

[Bassfinger]

Our rhythm guitarist did a guitar one. It's sound all round, but with ready built HB'S being so inexpensive and so well finished for the price the kits seem expensive and pointless .

[lidl e]

I like to do the refinishing process. It's fun and rewarding!

 

I did my MIA jazz with spraycans in lake placid blue metallic and it came out great. I want to do it again. And putting it together is no bother. Get a nice pickup and a P wiring kit. 

 

[Ralf1e]

Not yet but I am very tempted as I like to stain and hand oil a timber finish. I could even be tempted to add a fancy top to it as an experiment. I have some black walnut will do nicely for that. I also have some red cherry somewhere.

[lidl e]

1 hour ago, Ralf1e said:

Not yet but I am very tempted as I like to stain and hand oil a timber finish. I could even be tempted to add a fancy top to it as an experiment. I have some black walnut will do nicely for that. I also have some red cherry somewhere.

i'm just worried the neck is no good. i assume it's fine-ish

[Jackopie1]

Yes - I have! I built their P Bass kit.

 

They're actually surprisingly solid, with straight necks and fine truss rods from what I can tell. The frets were OK

 

The pickups are rubbish, and I ended up sticking in something else. The strings and tuners were also cack, and the bridge felt pretty flimsy, too.

 

As a process though, I really enjoyed it, and as a gateway into the first steps of luthiery (soldering, fret-levelling, finishing, drilling for and installing new tuners and bridges if you end up upgrading them) it's great. The nut on mine also needed alot of work, as it was very high and ruining the intonation. I managed to mess that up a couple of times...

 

Like someone else has said though, it is not value for money if you're looking at the bass you get out of it. I felt it was value for money for the experience!

 

I'm a teacher, and ended up giving mine to the school band, as after gigging on it once, I realised I probably wouldn't reach for it too often.

 

I'll post some pics in a sec.

 

Jack

 

[Jackopie1]

Here it is. 

 

Had to do the relic thing as I sanded through the auto paint I used!

Edited December 11, 2022 by Jackopie1

[Jackopie1]

On 09/12/2022 at 16:54, lidl e said:

I like to do the refinishing process. It's fun and rewarding!

 

I did my MIA jazz with spraycans in lake placid blue metallic and it came out great. I want to do it again. And putting it together is no bother. Get a nice pickup and a P wiring kit. 

 

That looks lovely! Which spray cans did you use?

[lidl e]

3 hours ago, Jackopie1 said:

That looks lovely! Which spray cans did you use?

reranch brand. you know that crowd?i was living in the US at the time.

 

i think you can get similar here

[Ralf1e]

12 hours ago, Jackopie1 said:

Here it is. 

 

Had to do the relic thing as I sanded through the auto paint I used!

Any idea what weight it came out at?

[BigRedX]

As someone who has built solid electric instruments (in the late 70s and from scratch when there was virtually no information available on the subject) I would offer the following observations:

 

If you are intending to use it as a first step in a bass building "career" then then I think it makes an interesting and useful starting point.

 

However from my experience of building and modifying instruments it seems to me that thesis are kits very much of two parts. The basic assembly appears to offer no more challenge than assembling a simple piece of Ikea flat-pack furniture. (I know people joke about how hard that is, but in reality it's easy if you work carefully and follow the instructions, and if that is beyond your capabilities then I despair.) You don't even need to be able to solder, as the main wiring loom is pre-assembled and the pickup has a plug-in connection.

 

However if you want to do something interesting with the paddle-shaped headstock, you will need the appropriate tools, some degree of skill in using them and somewhere appropriate to do it.

 

It's going to be the same with the finishing of the neck and body if you want to do anything more ambitious than a simple oil finish. I know from personal experience that even a simple solid colour finish requires significant expertise and skill to even get close to the standard of a budget Chinese instrument, as well as a well ventilated and temperature controllable space to do it in. And I also know from my experience that anything less than near perfection is going to seriously bug you.

 

Also as other have said it appears that most of the hardware is pretty poor, and if you do end up making a decent job of the build, you'll most likely want to look at replacing all of it. So you may well be better off just buying a basic neck and body and sourcing decent hardware yourself. Overall this would be a more challenging experience and you'll learn a lot more about building instruments in the process and you can create something to your own spec.

 

On the other hand if you just want a cheap bass, there are plenty of ready made ones to chose from.

Edited December 12, 2022 by BigRedX

[Jackopie1]

20 hours ago, Ralf1e said:

Any idea what weight it came out at?

Not sure exactly, but it was a very light body, so although it was pretty light, there was a bit of neck-dive. 

[lidl e]

14 hours ago, BigRedX said:

As someone who has built solid electric instruments (in the late 70s and from scratch when there was virtually no information available on the subject) I would offer the following observations:

 

If you are intending to use it as a first step in a bass building "career" then then I think it makes an interesting and useful starting point.

 

However from my experience of building and modifying instruments it seems to me that thesis are kits very much of two parts. The basic assembly appears to offer no more challenge than assembling a simple piece of Ikea flat-pack furniture. (I know people joke about how hard that is, but in reality it's easy if you work carefully and follow the instructions, and if that is beyond your capabilities then I despair.) You don't even need to be able to solder, as the main wiring loom is pre-assembled and the pickup has a plug-in connection.

 

However if you want to do something interesting with the paddle-shaped headstock, you will need the appropriate tools, some degree of skill in using them and somewhere appropriate to do it.

 

It's going to be the same with the finishing of the neck and body if you want to do anything more ambitious than a simple oil finish. I know from personal experience that even a simple solid colour finish requires significant expertise and skill to even get close to the standard of a budget Chinese instrument, as well as a well ventilated and temperature controllable space to do it in. And I also know from my experience that anything less than near perfection is going to seriously bug you.

 

Also as other have said it appears that most of the hardware is pretty poor, and if you do end up making a decent job of the build, you'll most likely want to look at replacing all of it. So you may well be better off just buying a basic neck and body and sourcing decent hardware yourself. Overall this would be a more challenging experience and you'll learn a lot more about building instruments in the process and you can create something to your own spec.

 

On the other hand if you just want a cheap bass, there are plenty of ready made ones to chose from.

Ya, the only thing I'd be worried about is the shaping the headstock but i have at least half a dozen friends with the tools and skills to cut what I'd want. 

 

I'd have to have someone replace the cheap nut as well.

 

The finish i wouldnt be worried about it. I have refinned before and found the process quite enjoyable. 

 

Putting everything togther and setting up, to me, is a a breeze. Ive built a few warmoth basses and have setup dozens.

 

Im not worried about making it look, play nor sound nice. 

 

I'm just wondering if the necks are crappy. Will they warp on me? Do they feel and look cheap. Plastic nut obviously, but are the inlays very cheap looking? The fretwork good? Would a good setup make this a great bass?

 

 

[Minininjarob]

I quite fancied one so I could build a Mark Hoppis style P bass……. But any old jazz bass could be butchered up to make one of those. 

[andruca]

I built the P-style kit in early 2016. It went thru a lot. First I made it a reverse P. Then added a J pickup from a Squier someone sold me. Did the "S1" series/parallel switching mod (via a push-pull vol pot). Then, after often stringing it BEAD I decided to make it into a 5-string (16mm spacing at the bridge). Then refinished in worn out red, then made it a fretless. Basswood body, super stable neck, no sharp fret ends on mine, and the pickup is VERY decent (i.e., sounded better than the Delano P in a Maruszczyk I've owned, which sounded DEAD and with a terrible dip around 600hz, also like it better than the tone I used to get from a Fender Am Dlx P5 I got years ago). As a fretless, flats are starting to get boring (and far from what I do as a bass player) so I'm probably going back to roundwounds soon, for a more Tony Franklin kinda' mood.

 

This was her original form and tone...

 

Reverse P mod...

 

J addition...

 

And this is my current fretless 5er...

 

For the 88€ it cost it's a great little project bass. I don't think I've put another 88€ more in parts (if you don't count the 55€ LaBella LTFs in it). Any upgrades are made on the absolute cheapest, mostly AliExpress parts. Spending real money on this would defeat the purpose. Only thing that failed was a tuner, some teeth in its gear just snapped while tuning about 3+ years in (got a cheap yet decent enough tuner set for 25€). IDK, it's cheap, it's simple, it's reliable enough, easy to work on and it's given me many many hours of modding/tuning/tweaking fun, so well worth the cost.

 

All that said, I got a used Harley Benton PB-20 a year ago and my guess is if you found one used (you might find onoe for 60-70€ 2nd hand here in Spain, not often seen tho') you could have a better bass from the get go, which can also be modded to death. Only bad thing about the PB-20 is the neck is a little thicker than the P kit (I personally prefer them as skinny as possible), still totally in the P-bass ballpark, nothing extreme.

Edited December 16, 2022 by andruca

[lidl e]

8 hours ago, andruca said:

I built the P-style kit in early 2016. It went thru a lot. First I made it a reverse P. Then added a J pickup from a Squier someone sold me. Did the "S1" series/parallel switching mod (via a push-pull vol pot). Then, after often stringing it BEAD I decided to make it into a 5-string (16mm spacing at the bridge). Then refinished in worn out red, then made it a fretless. Basswood body, super stable neck, no sharp fret ends on mine, and the pickup is VERY decent (i.e., sounded better than the Delano P in a Maruszczyk I've owned, which sounded DEAD and with a terrible dip around 600hz, also like it better than the tone I used to get from a Fender Am Dlx P5 I got years ago). As a fretless, flats are starting to get boring (and far from what I do as a bass player) so I'm probably going back to roundwounds soon, for a more Tony Franklin kinda' mood.

 

This was her original form and tone...

 

Reverse P mod...

 

J addition...

 

And this is my current fretless 5er...

 

For the 88€ it cost it's a great little project bass. I don't think I've put another 88€ more in parts (if you don't count the 55€ LaBella LTFs in it). Any upgrades are made on the absolute cheapest, mostly AliExpress parts. Spending real money on this would defeat the purpose. Only thing that failed was a tuner, some teeth in its gear just snapped while tuning about 3+ years in (got a cheap yet decent enough tuner set for 25€). IDK, it's cheap, it's simple, it's reliable enough, easy to work on and it's given me many many hours of modding/tuning/tweaking fun, so well worth the cost.

 

All that said, I got a used Harley Benton PB-20 a year ago and my guess is if you found one used (you might find onoe for 60-70€ 2nd hand here in Spain, not often seen tho') you could have a better bass from the get go, which can also be modded to death. Only bad thing about the PB-20 is the neck is a little thicker than the P kit (I personally prefer them as skinny as possible), still totally in the P-bass ballpark, nothing extreme.

they do sound good! necks feel alright?

 

 

[lidl e]

so, sorry for the topic change, but i just don't think i would ever be happy with the neck

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by lidl e

[lidl e]

i round these two vendors

 

https://www.guitarbuild.co.uk/

https://www.rebelrelic.com/index.php?route=common/home

 

anyone use either?

[andruca]

On 16/12/2022 at 16:45, lidl e said:

they do sound good! necks feel alright?

 

 

Neck feels great. It's a modern C shape, around 21mm thick @fret 1. In fact I have another cheap parts bass (made from the cheapest neck & body I could get from AliExpress) and it's 1+mm thicker.

 

 

[Jackopie1]

That's interesting- I just measured mine and it is 23mm at the first fret. Definitely feels more chunky than other Ps I have played. Do you think they just get unfinished necks from wherever they have surplus at the time? 

 

The neck itself definitely feels solid, though.