Bass of Theseus

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I built a sunburst bitzer fretless precision over twenty years ago, using decent parts. Over the years I have tweaked it slightly, changing the bridge, pickguard etc. As I don’t really need a fretless, I recently bought a Fender precision to jazz bass conversion neck for it, and already had a set of hipshot tuners to fit the neck in my bits box. whilst it was at the gallery having the nut cut, I ordered an EMG GZR pickup, aged pearl pickguard, a pair of lovely callaghan knobs, a fender thumb rest and a set of cobalt flats for it. I fitted these parts yesterday and now it is like having a new bass. I then realised the only parts that remained from the bass I built all those years ago were the body and ‘F’ neck plate. I quite fancy buying a black painted body for it, and it struck me that if I did I would be able to rebuild the fretless from all the spare parts I now have — I’d just have to find another neck plate in my bits box. Then I could start the cycle again.

 

Is this the perfect way to bring a new bass into the house without alerting the other half?

[Downunderwonder]

1 bass smuggled into the house in parts over 20 years is the crime of the century. You might get away with it. Depends how silly the other is. They may not really care for the skullduggery all the same.

 

 

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I built a sunburst bitzer fretless precision over twenty years ago, using decent parts. Over the years I have tweaked it slightly, changing the bridge, pickguard etc. As I don’t really need a fretless, I recently bought a Fender precision to jazz bass conversion neck for it, and already had a set of hipshot tuners to fit the neck in my bits box. whilst it was at the gallery having the nut cut, I ordered an EMG GZR pickup, aged pearl pickguard, a pair of lovely callaghan knobs, a fender thumb rest and a set of cobalt flats for it. I fitted these parts yesterday and now it is like having a new bass. I then realised the only parts that remained from the bass I built all those years ago were the body and ‘F’ neck plate. I quite fancy buying a black painted body for it, and it struck me that if I did I would be able to rebuild the fretless from all the spare parts I now have — I’d just have to find another neck plate in my bits box. Then I could start the cycle again.

 

Is this the perfect way to bring a new bass into the house without alerting the other half?

 

Seems like a lot of effort to go to when you could just say "I'm buying/I've bought a bass".

[SumOne]

 

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

1 bass smuggled into the house in parts over 20 years is the crime of the century. You might get away with it. Depends how silly the other is. They may not really care for the skullduggery all the same.

 

 

 

 

[JoeEvans]

I've been doing that with bikes for decades - I've had one bike that's been my favourite since 1993, except only the rear derailleur is left from the original bike, and I bought that in about 1997 to replace the original... But it's definitely still the same bike in its inner essence.

[uk_lefty]

8 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

 

My thinking exactly!!