Best bass guitar parts according to redditors
We found 45 Reddit comments discussing the best bass guitar parts. We ranked the 37 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 45 Reddit comments discussing the best bass guitar parts. We ranked the 37 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
If you're looking for that Pop-Punk bass sound I would recommend getting a P-Bass and putting in some Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickups. This is pretty much the go to set up for that kind of sound.
Golds my man, they sound great. Found them on amazon, they ship from China so they take awhile
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JRIXG4C?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Nope. But this looks damn cool!
Not being able to find one, you might try to make one yourself. Just need a piece of clear plexiglass (1/8" thick max). It's fairly easy to cut, probably with a jigsaw, and just drill some holes in it with a drill. Might be a cool little project. Usually plexiglass comes with a protective adhesive paper covering to protect it from scratches during the process.
I made myself a control plate for my Precision, years ago, just out of a blue piece of plastic. Since there's no pickguard on the bass. I made it sort of teardrop shaped, or sort of like half a yin-yang shape...
You can definitely get amazing pickups for way cheaper than $300.
EMG Geezer Butler Signatures cost around $110
Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounds cost around $75
Rio Grande Muy Grandes cost around $150 but it seems silly to put these kind of pickups in a Squier.
Personally I'd go with the Quarter Pounds. That's about the peak of cost/benefit, and you're running these through a Squier.
Based on the description of your Strat, it sounds like it has the vintage 7.25" fretboard radius. String bending, especially in the higher registers, is know to be problematic on that fretboard radius for exactly the reasons you describe.
Essentially, you need to do a proper setup to try and lessen the problems you're describing. If you're unfamiliar, doing a setup on a Strat involves adjusting things like the truss rod for neck relief, the bridge/claws to determine how you want your tremolo setup, the action, the intonation, and the nut. In essence, everything that your strings touch that can affect how they function mechanically.
You can learn how to do this yourself even if you have no experience. Dan Erlewine has a great book to tackle just this sort of stuff called How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great and you can snag a used copy on Amazon for the price of a new set of strings, practically. StewMac, the company where he works and that sells supplies for guitar building, has also started releasing some very helpful YouTube videos on different aspects of the setup. You can also poke around r/Luthier for any tips you can find there (though there's a lot of shorthand that would be tough for a beginner to get into).
My advice to you would be to buy the book, read it over a weekend (it doesn't take long to get from cover to cover), buy a few tools to get the job done and learn how to setup your own guitars so you'll always be able to make sure they're in perfect playing condition and won't have to rely on your local Guitar Center.
Basic tools you'd need include either a pre-assemlbed kit if you want to go the expensive route or a few of the individual components from elsewhere:
If you can install a stereo, hang a picture and put together a puzzle, you can set up your own guitar.
1)
How can I fix the crazy neck dive on my p-bass? It's a cheap 100£ lefty.
Previous to last week it went unplayed mainly because of its poor playability. But a setup and a neck shim later, I've got the action lowered on par with that of my SR300e; low and light.
2)
If I were to replace the pickups with something like these,
am I likely to hear anything different? My amp is an Ampeg BA210-v2 (2019). Bass was a gift from my dad, which is what started me on this path of enlightenment, so cost isn't as important as not sounding pish poor.
If it is a Tiesco, it's had a neck replacement I think?
You could always do a Bigsby for the tailpiece/trem.
Your saddle depends on how you want it to look - you've got the floating roller design or the floating fixed piece design. Both offer adjustable intonation up and down, as well as with individual strings.
Don't buy the one's I linked just cause I linked 'em; I'm on mobile and it was easy to just paste something. Search around for what you want, use the links in the sidebar ---> cause they probably offer higher quality. I'd avoid non-adjustable designs cause they probably wouldn't fit the aesthetic, and they're difficult to properly intonate.
What other mods were you considering?
half of what I listed are "regular tools" though like allen wrenches, socket wrenches, screwdrivers, a small screwdriver, etc. A string height ruler is like $6 on amazon, this one in particular comes with bonus fret guards and feeler gauges are cheap too. You can even buy the ruler and feeler gauges together for $10. The fret rocker is definitely just a bonus thing, not necessary at all, but it's a nice little bonus thing to have.
I guess I do just like precision and hate "eyeballing" things, I'm really of the mindset of precisely measuring shit out, like I build pedals and have the holes drilled out to the millimeter on the dot and going off one or two millimeters really fucks my shit up, so I might be a bit crazy. Or if I'm going to cut something, I prefer to design it as a vector graphic and then laser cut it because I know laser cutting will be 100% accurate and my hand cutting will be slightly less than perfect and it'll ruin my day. Yeah, I'm nuts.
I gave up on the accelerometer and got these piezo disks instead. I then flashed ESP Easy on it and had it report the piezo voltage to Home Assistant over MQTT. However, I wasn't able to find a good threshold (walking or talking in the laundry room registers about the same as the dryer running) so I pretty much abandoned the project :(
Ah. I rarely use that mode. I put these transparent knobs on my SQ-1 so that the knob LEDs are still visible: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WWH5QRQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Pe8RBb6977732
Usually you can just look it up on the website of whoever made your guitar and it will be listed on the spec sheet for the model.
If you can't find it on their website, this set of gauges is what I use.
You can probably find a used set in the $60 range. There's a set of used ones on Amazon right now for $58.53: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0002KZB0W/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
A Kawai-Teisco model EP 150 was up here recently, and it had the same body style, and f-holes:
https://picclick.com/Vintage-Electric-Guitar-1960s-Kawai-Jazz-Jumbo-Japan-223306822537.html
This three pickup version has the same body, f-holes and headstock (I think):
https://reverb.com/nz/item/3015854-c-1964-kawai-ep-150-vintage-3-pickup-archtop-jazz-rockabilly-guitar-made-in-japan-great-guitar
Note that OP's guitar had surface-mounted pickups (no cut-outs in the top for pickups). That's a detail often found in "Teisco-type" Japanese guitars of the 60's/70's.
Two pickup version, with different headstock:
https://reverb.com/ca/item/10643823-early-60-s-kawai-electric-hollowbody-archtop-ep-150
Restoring such a guitar--if you don't already have the hardware and electronics--might well cost more than $150, if you were to use era-correct parts (and did the work yourself):
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2499334.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0.H0.Xteisco.TRS0&_nkw=teisco&_sacat=181223
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2499334.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0.H0.Xteisco.TRS0&_nkw=teisco&_sacat=181223
But, if you were to do it with inexpensive, contemporary parts, it might cost about half of that:
https://www.wish.com/product/5a680a0b2495d4486e5c516f?hide_login_modal=true&from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_code=US&_force_currency_code=USD&pid=googleadwords_int&c=%7BcampaignId%7D&ad_cid=5a680a0b2495d4486e5c516f&ad_cc=US&ad_curr=USD&ad_price=4.00&campaign_id=7203534630&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1PTCsPDp5QIVQRx9Ch2-CAl4EAQYAiABEgLCNvD_BwE
https://www.amazon.com/WINOMO-Archtop-Guitar-Rosewood-Bridge/dp/B01N9O8RLO
https://www.dhgate.com/product/2pcs-chrome-toaster-pickups-for-electric/123277749.html?f=bm%7cGMC%7cpla%7c1471809117%7c59782623991%7c123277749%7cpla-297845415828%7c113018001015%7cUS%7callguitar%7cc%7c2%7c&utm_source=pla&utm_medium=GMC&utm_campaign=allguitar&utm_term=123277749&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImpqX9vLp5QIVYSCtBh1iTAZiEAQYAyABEgIgYPD_BwE
https://www.cbgitty.com/guitar-instrument-parts/cigar-box-guitar-parts/chrome-open-gear-economy-tuners-machine-heads-6pc-3-left-3right/
I just put one of these Fender HiMass Bridges on my 2005 MIM on Jazz Bass. I love it. It looks great and sounds great. And of course installation was super easy. And it says "Fender" on it just in case I forget what kind of bass I own. ;-)
$55.00
https://www.amazon.com/Fender-HiMass-4-String-Assembly-Saddles/dp/B01M5JN7YC/ref=asc_df_B01M5JN7YC/
Like others have said, most likely you simply need to set the guitar up. Its not that difficult. Just take your time and be careful with the truss rod.
Refer to this Ibanez PDF.
http://www.ibanez.com/world/manual/guitars/Maintenance.pdf
Looking online you need a few things:
https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Set%EF%BC%8C30-Master-Measuring-Luthier/dp/B07594N814/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1537217933&sr=1-1&keywords=feeler+gauge+for+guitar
Adjust your neck relief accordingly.
https://www.amazon.com/Dreamtop-Understring-Radius-Luthier-Guitar/dp/B01LZBHHC2/ref=pd_sim_267_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01LZBHHC2&pd_rd_r=883fa36e-babc-11e8-87eb-1be919d0e38f&pd_rd_w=40MfM&pd_rd_wg=eOv48&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=56838e6b-66d4-41e0-a762-743f1a1a628a&pf_rd_r=C4RV6HSAJA5KWFZG20J2&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=C4RV6HSAJA5KWFZG20J2
https://www.amazon.com/String-Action-Electric-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/B00NARHNCS
The Ibanez PDF outlines these steps, but YouTube search to find more examples. Its pretty straight forward. These steps with a small investment in tools will not only save you money, but teach you how to set the guitar up in manner you prefer as opposed to paying someone.
If after all that it is still unplayable, then I might venture to guess you have a major neck issue like a broken truss rod or something.
Good luck.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002KZB0W?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
Here’s a pic of the stock bridge vs the KickAss. I guess it moved the ball-ends 3/4”? Might not be as drastic on the A-style. Dunno.
Here’s the wiring kit I got. That capacitor is a a bit ridiculous in size, but sounds good for my application.
I never thought I’d go back to rounds either (it’s been years), but I started missing them. I’m soon getting a J-style 34” bass and am gonna put flats on it. If I ever buy a third bass, that will prob get rounds and I’ll go back to tapes on the Jag.
Yes. There's ones from Fender, [over here] (https://www.amazon.com/Fender-Bass-Tuning-Machine-Bushings/dp/B005SUVW3G/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=Tuner+bushings&qid=1556201357&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1)
that should work. Otherwise I might try to plug the holes and redrill. It's a very cheap neck.
You can also get them for ~$40
I was not a believer until on an impulse buy I picked up the "Surfing Triple Rails" loaded pickguard for a perpetual project guitar, to my amazement they sound as good as pickups I've paid five times the price for.
If you're willing to take a chance, I strongly recommend trying them. Like I said I got the "Surfing" ones myself, which you can find here.
But I was also able to find the same pickups in a standard white or black pickguard as well.
If you do take the plunge, please let me know what you think! :)
If you can't fix it I just picked up over of these cheap high mass Bridges and it's been working amazing. 20 bucks is totally worth it to not have to deal with issues like this.
Bass Guitar Bridge 57 Millimeter 4 String Thru Body or Bridge Chrome https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BNHFKWG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_uCV1DbR7FQXGG
Image
I can third or fourth this recommendation. I've been playing my corvette for about 8 years and still love its look and sound.
One thing to be aware of.. If you ever need to replace the nut, Warwick's "Just a Nut" is about $75 and can take a while to deliver, as it's only made in Germany. That said, I still say the bass is well worth it.
BTW, they started selling a device called a Fump to get that muted sound you get from foam under the bridge: http://www.amazon.com/Gruv-Gear-Fump-Bridge-Side-Dampener/dp/B00YVFHI6Y
Not my favorite purchase. Anyone else had luck with this?
If your problem is specifically on a Fender bass then it's because that's how Fender's are. Fender even knows about this so they made some equipment that you can buy (instead of fixing the problem) :/ here it is: https://www.amazon.com/Fender-0078972049-STEALTH-STRING-RETAINER/dp/B00UL49CRW
I'm sure you can find it for cheaper somewhere else. But what I do instead of buying a string retainer is I just wind my string so that it is at the lowest point that I can get and it seems to work for the most part.
If you don't own a fender bass then I have no advice for you other than try winding the string on the tuners so it's as close to the neck as possible.
Good question, I didn’t know about the difference until after I ordered them. It doesn’t say on this page but I used these https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00RGKF9WG?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
EMG Geezer Butler Signature P Bass Pickup https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J8POGWQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_a6TZzb9SHPM3Z