I have no idea how or why but I just bought a Squire bass. WTF? Why? Ya, I know…. but this thing looks pretty pimp.

Squire’s are pretty much the official “my first guitar/bass”. They don’t cost too much, look like a Fender and are pretty decent. The last couple years though they’ve stepped it up a notch; especially with their Vintage Modified line of basses. Some even compare them to Fender quality. I’m sure that’s just talk but they are pretty nice now… a good bang for the buck.

So, why buy the Squire? Well, I had 2 $100 gift certificates to Guitar Center from my birthday. I really didn’t know what to do with them till I saw someone talking about this bass on a secret bass forum I’m a member of. I love the look of these 50’s era Tele-basses and for $299 I figured I’d drop the gift certificates on it and go out of pocket for the remaining $100.

I’ll get this guy delivered to the Digg offices in about a week. So, now I’m thinking “hmmm, what mods should I do?”. Re-routing it for a Dark Star pickup sounds kinda fun but it’s also a lot of work to route the fucker with my Dremel. Plus, I can’t rely on the pickguard hiding my not-perfectly-straight-lined routes. A Duncan Antiquity II seems like a decent choice… especialy at a street price of ~$85 (I’m sure I can get it cheaper from “my people”).

I think I’m just gonna leave her alone for now though. Maybe play it for a while and see what inspirations strike me. I do love the OG design & the Lake Placid Blue finish. So, this should be a fun one… at least ’till I get my Sadowsky.

Finally got my beater bass back into playing shape!!! It’s my first bass ever. I got this guy about 14 years ago and I still love the ‘lil bastard.

I cannibalized it about a month ago in order to source some parts for my last P Bass project but about 2 weeks ago I decided it was time to fix him up. The main problem was that I’d lost a couple set screws for the saddle. Without these set screws I couldn’t get the string height right and the bass would be pretty much unplayable. The challenge is that these are some random ass screws. Home Depot didn’t have any… neither did Orchard Supply. Finally, I swung by Gelb Music on Saturday and Ed rummaged through a bunch of drawers ’till he found a screw that fit the bill.

So the bass i nowhere near stock. He’s got quite a few modifications:

• Warmoth J Bass neck with Tele style headstock
• Badass 2 bridge
• Lindy Fralin pickups
• Sadowsky style knobs
• Schaller tuners
• my name’s painted on it

The only thing stock on the bass is the body. This Epiphone PJ has come quite a way over the years. He’s quite the player; feels great and sounds great!

I’m still not done though. I think I’m gonna make this guy an active bass again. He needs a preamp… it sounds good but I gotta admit I’m a preamp addict now. They add some bite and give you a tremendous amount of versatility. I haven’t decided what preamp I’m going with (maybe an Aguilar OBP-1 or OBP-3) but I have decided to install an on/on/on mini toggle for pickup switching (neck, both bridge) instead of using a pan knob.

I’ll report on the whole preamp thing later once I figure out what I’m gonna do. ‘Till then here’s some pics for ya:

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I just stumbled upon a P Bass Body on eBay and had to click on the “Buy it Now” button . The BIN price was only $65 so I figured it was totally worth snagging (+$20 for shipping).

It’s supposed to be a genuine Fender body… but whatever, its not like the Fender people put out stellar shit. The main selling point for me was the finish. Its a sparkley sort of black which is pretty cool. I already have a spare neck for a bass and a few P pickups laying around so this should be a cheap and quick build. I’m thinking a white pearloid pickguard would look pretty sweet against the black, sparkle finish.

Now what do I need to buy?

• Tuners - Schaller BML (~ $50)
• Bridge - BadAss II (~ $70)
• Knobs - chrome (hmmm, I think I have extra knobs)
• Copper sheilding tape (~ $5)
• Pickguard - white pearloid (~ $40)
• String tree (~ $2)
• Pots & capacitors (~ $5)

Adding it all up, including the body I just purchased, I should have a pretty nice P Bass for about $270.00. Not bad huh? Its nice that I have extra pickups & a neck stashed away; saves some bucks, especially with the neck (the all rosewood neck I have is about $300). I’ll post pics and stuff of the build process once I get all the parts in and put the fugger together.

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