P Bass Upgrades

[Swills]

I bought a Bass Collection Detroit P Bass from this very forum and wanted to do some upgrades. 
 

A few chatters have said that they’d owned these/played these and thought they were as good, if not better than the Mexican Fender models, albeit at a fraction of the price, which I would agree with. 
 

So first things first is to switch out the pickup and wiring, fit a neck bolt kit and get a set of flats on it. 
 

I’ve gone for a Montys ‘62 pickup which arrived today and boy do they go the extra mile with the packaging and presentation. I feel like this is going to be a pretty special build once it’s complete. 
 

I can’t wait to get this all together and hear it through the amp. 
 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Swills

[Swills]

Right we’re done. It was a little tricky fitting the loom with larger CTS pots into the cavity, however a little chisel surgery and she’s gone in fine. 

 

 

The neck bolt kit has gone in without any challenges, it’s brought everything super tight to the body. In retrospect that was overkill, the quality of the neck and the pocket was fantastic, it was super tight already. However, this can’t hurt. 

 

 

I’ve used the old pickup covers to save drilling new holes in the body, the new ones were a little slimmer. 

 

I’ve fitted a set of flat wounds and it sounds great. The old pickup was distorting and sounded overdriven, it’s got a lovely warm tone now. 
 

I need to make some minor adjustments to the action to level out the string heights in parallel with the fretboard radius and then I’m good to go. 
 

I may have to put a smidge more foam under the pickups but that can wait for the short term. I want to give it a few months and see how I get on. 

 

 

[Swills]

I’ve had a few issues with grounding which I’ve sorted. The control cavity has been routed quite thin so the CTS pots don’t fit quite as snug. I’ve got it sorted now, it ain’t pretty but it works.

 

Quick check to make sure that everything is grounded properly and then back together it goes.  
 

I’ve also shielded the cavity just to add a little more protection. 

[Andyjr1515]

One thing not to forget is to solder an earth wire to the chamber shielding.  You can also/alternatively add a little copper foil tab from the control chamber towards one of the plate fixing screws so that the top plate and chamber are mutually earthed and form an all-round cage.

[soulstar89]

On 23/12/2023 at 20:04, Swills said:

I’ve had a few issues with grounding which I’ve sorted. The control cavity has been routed quite thin so the CTS pots don’t fit quite as snug. I’ve got it sorted now, it ain’t pretty but it works.

 

Quick check to make sure that everything is grounded properly and then back together it goes.  
 

I’ve also shielded the cavity just to add a little more protection. 

 
how did you find the pickups with this setup?  

[neepheid]

I have nothing to offer except...

 

Damn, that is one studly capacitor!

[Swills]

The capacitor was an insane pain in the backside to comfortably fit into the guitar body. I had to do some wrangling to get it to fit!

 

The pickup is lovely with this set up. A huge improvement over the stock pickup!

[Swills]

So I’m a month in and she’s playing like a treat. I’d been toying with the idea of getting a Fender P bass but picking this up has me questioning what I’d gain from it. 

Edited April 11, 2024 by Swills

[Reggaebass]

8 minutes ago, Swills said:

So I’m a month in and she’s playing like a treat. I’d been toying with the idea of getting. Fender P bass but picking this up has me questioning what I’d gain from it. 

Top job there swills, it looks really cool, imo I can’t really see what more you would gain by buying a fender precision (and I’m a fender fanboy), you got nice pickups and loom and it plays good, the only difference would be the name on the headstock 

[PaulThePlug]

So you have had the Tort plate off a couple of times, and not replaced it? 😉

[Swills]

That ‘manly’ resistor gives fantatsic tone but was causing some serious hum issues due to it being shoehorned into the control cavity. 
 

The simple fix has been to wrap it in electrical tape, isolating it from the other components and preventing the conductive surfaces from connecting. 
 

Whisper silent operation and stunning tone has been resumed 😊

Edited March 9, 2024 by Swills

[Swills]

As I’ve been told many a time over, it ain’t pretty but it gets the job done. I’ve switched out the stock tuners for some Hipshot Ultralites, opting for mini clovers rather than the full size efforts. This should resolve the smidge of head dive that I had. 
 

The holes are a little bigger than the new keys but it’s literally a few mm. I can’t see this making any difference. 
 

I’ve also sanded the neck to remove a couple of light dings and scratches, sealing the bare wood with Monty’s Instrument Food. I’m super impressed with this product and will be leaving it overnight before buffing to let it sink in. 
 

I think I might be there now. I’ve no burning desire to replace the BBOT bridge, I don’t want to get too far from the vintage design. 

Edited March 15, 2024 by Swills

[Geek99]

On 08/02/2024 at 20:02, PaulThePlug said:

So you have had the Tort plate off a couple of times, and not replaced it? 😉

Why would he ? He is clearly has excellent taste and appreciates tort

Edited March 16, 2024 by Geek99

[Swills]

Minor tuning key fettle required to get them to sit snug in the existing holes. They were moving under tension. 
 

Lord bless copper tape and its multitude of applications ❤️