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Help identifying this potentially old Fender P-FrankenBass


Ritsugamesh

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On 15/07/2023 at 16:00, BassBunny said:

If you plan to go passive it might mean new pickups as those EMG's could be active.

That said the pickups plus the preamp are pretty saleable to offset the cost.

 

Agreed - those early EMG's have a very distinct and good sound - there is the famous Lee Sklar bass with them assuming they are early: https://scottsbasslessons.com/blog/the-most-recorded-bass-in-music-history-yep-probably-bass-tales-ep-9#!

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The dot move is more likely to have been caused by the nut being in a different position or the fret inlays being a slightly different scale. We don't know that the fretboard replacement and the original dots getting filled in happened at the same time. Measure from the nut to the 12th "fret" inlay, is it exactly 17"?

 

No-one rational would have the dots replaced if an aftermarket part didn't work out for them, they'd just put the original part back on. Besides, the Badass bridge is a drop-in replacement, already successfully installed on thousands and thousands of Fender types, and is adjustable, it is not the reason. EMGs have minuscule magnetic pull and are intended to be set up as close to the strings as possible without getting clattered by the strings due to your playing style, so it isn't them either.

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On 20/07/2023 at 12:11, Ritsugamesh said:

 

The G string will be accurate at the 12th and about 50c flat on frets below the 12th. The inverse occurs above the 12th. It's only the G string that is struggling to intonate, the other 3 are fine, which suggests scale length isn't the issue. 

 

It's seemingly impossible to have the lower frets tuned to pitch and still have it accurate to the 12th. 

 

Going to try and put another string on to see if that fixes the issue. Any additional troubleshooting tips welcome! 

You would think that the intonation problem would be the same for all strings. If you measure the distance from the nut to the first fret position is it the same as on another bass (if you have one to compare)?

If that distance is a few mm more then maybe a zero fret is required? 

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My guess is that the fretless fingerboard was supplied with excess wood at both ends to allow for whichever neck it was to be installed on. Unfortunately whoever fitted it didn't account for that and just slapped it down regardless, probably thinking "it's a fretless; who needs markers? Play by ear".

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