just took apart my Squier jag bass

[neonblack]

I'm going to paint it but I don't know what color. I feel like I should do something else to it while its all apart like this. The bridge pickup sucks ass. I wish there were some way to get a humbucker in there without ruining the body. So probably gonna swap it out, but don't know with what. A buddy suggested Seymour Duncan quarter pounders. I seriously don't know shit about pickups. I just want something punchy and fat for the neck, and something with some sharp top end but that doesn't sound too thin for the bridge.

Any other fun mods or anything I could do to it? I'm comfortable soldering and I'd like to polish this turd as much as I can. The bass plays and feels great, just sounds bad and looks cheap.

For the color, I'm thinking jade green, dark Grey, or maybe navy blue. My pick guard is black so something that looks good with black. Gonna look at spray paint at Home Depot tomorrow.

Anyways, I'll probably keep updating this with my progress, if I decide to do more than just paint it.

You guys are always doing crazy shit to your guitars, so suggest some crazy shit! It's not my main bass at the moment, but it may end up that way if I do this right.

[skullservant]

Alumitone J for the bridge. You wont regret it

[neonblack]

Yep, I think that will do nicely.

Im going to leave the stock P pickup in there, I think. Ive never had any problems with that one. Im probably going to get a new bridge too. Nothing fancy, just a Gotoh. Its a little heavier than the stock bridge and I hope it balances the slight neck dive a bit. If not, Ill get some Hipshot ultra lite tuners.

And that honestly might be all I do.

[neonblack]

How the fuck do i get these out?

[skullservant]

Get a flathead screwdriver and push on all sides from the back

And the Gotoh is a nice budge solution. I have one on my Jazz bass and its a hunk of metal

[Holy Schnikes]

Another method to remove bushings is to use a screw driver or similar metal shaft, place thru bushings/holes from top side, and gently rotate it against bushings in circular motion slowly rocking them out. Like this:

[youtube][/youtube]

[neonblack]

Awesome! Got them out. Gonna go paint shopping soon.

[neonblack]

Sweet! Just scored a gently used alumitone P pickup on talkbass! I wasn't planning on upgrading both pickups right now, but I couldn't pass it up. If I finish everything else before I get the cash for the J pickup, I'll just put it in there later. Also, started painting the headstock tonight. Gonna put a couple more coats on and some clear coat and I'll post a pic. I settled on dark blue. I think it'll look good with the black pickguard and all the chrome.

Gonna order the bridge and new strings in a couple days.

I'm breaking into my bass vi fund for this, but fixing this bass up seems more rewarding than buying a new one.

[neonblack]

I don't mean to spam my own thread. Here's the headstock so far. Lighting is shitty, but I couldn't resist taking a pic. This thing is gonna look good when I'm done.

I'll post one in the sunlight tomorrow.

[goosekevin]

dang it dude, you're making me want to do this too
mines the longer scale active pups version, but its the same red
not toooo bothered by the colour and my last guitar painting efforts turned out terribly but i need to change the pickups and get rid of the active circuitry i think, i probably only need a good pbass pickup and can leave the stock jazz one disconnected, pbass pickup + volume + tone will do me fine
i know nothing about electronics though haha

[Iommic Pope]

You will stain this black, right?

[neonblack]

dang it dude, you're making me want to do this too
mines the longer scale active pups version, but its the same red
not toooo bothered by the colour and my last guitar painting efforts turned out terribly but i need to change the pickups and get rid of the active circuitry i think, i probably only need a good pbass pickup and can leave the stock jazz one disconnected, pbass pickup + volume + tone will do me fine
i know nothing about electronics though haha

I may end up just leaving the bridge pickup alone, or disconnected. We'll see how the new p pickup does. The old one was okay, but I have a little money, why not upgrade?

And I'm worried my paint will end up botched. We'll see.

You will stain this black, right?

I'm doing super dark blue. at least I think its super dark.

If it looks bad in the sunlight, like too bright or cheap looking, Im going to go back and get a dark grey. Or dark red. Or grey-green.

I have a black gretsch, though.

[Iommic Pope]

Cool man.
My vote would be on the dark red!
Blooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood.

[DarkAxel]

i feel blue looks better with cream/white pickguards. So i'd go with the green probably

or just... blowtorch

can't really comment on the pickups i'm afraid

[neonblack]

Well. I'm glad I only started the headstock. I woke up today and didn't love the blue. So back to home depot we go. I'm still not sure about the color.

My first thought is something like this:


But I also like this:


But I don't know how it will look with the black pickguard.

I read that you should only use high gloss paint on guitars, but if I use satin paint and a gloss clear coat, won't I get the same effect? Cause the best colors were all satin finish.