Whut the....?

[Minnesota Flats]

A P/J-Fire bass?

 

[fronobulax]

Well executed. I suppose if you want One Bass to Rule them All this might work since I would expect there are three distinct tones to work with and you could probably spend all day fiddling to get just the right blend.

 

[EWH]

 

[fronobulax]

View attachment 28413

My first reaction was that some Barry Oakley fan was trying to make a Tractor Bass clone and didn't know it was a JJ not PJ nor which PU from a Guild was used.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

"Buffetcaster"?

 

[EWH]

 

[mellowgerman]

My first vintage bass was a Japanese "Cameo Deluxe" from the 70's, which was essentially a short-scale P-bass with a massive chunky neck and a chrome Maxon single coil pickup (that looked like a mini-humbucker of sorts) in the middle position. Wanting to get more of a Jack Casady sort of sound, I found a vintage Guild Starfire pickup on ebay and bought it. Had it installed in place of the Maxon pickup. Unfortunately, I didn't know enough to realize that the Guild Starfire pickup I really wanted was a Bisonic, so I ended up with a short-scale P bass with one of these big ol' chrome humbuckers in the middle position. I remember I liked the sound of it but not enough to keep it around. Wish I had kept that one around.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

It's an MIA "California Series" P Bass "Special" and not a Photoshop job. Don't know if it's a one-off, Custom Shop product or an after-market mod, but it's real and looks to have been well done, at least cosmetically. Not mine. It's up for sale, but I don't know if linking to it would violate rules, so I won't. The P/J circuit and GuildBucker circuit are completely separate , each with its own output jack.

 

[fronobulax]

I'm going with my gut on this one and am calling BS - this is a foto-chop...

It's your gut but in a world where the following exists, not much surprises me.


BA-314 which makes this all the sadder ;-)

 

[zulu]

Ok, I'm going to show you guys this. Don't judge me haha- this is how i bought it. Well, you can judge me for the fretless conversion and tapewounds - I deserve that. Only good news would be if this is a valuable guitar pickup in the middle of my beloved bass.

 

[lungimsam]

zulu,
I like that finish. Do you know how it was done and what color it originally was?

 

[zulu]

I've always assumed the finish is original

 

[JohnW63]

So many knobs and switches.

 

[mellowgerman]

Zulu, there are some great guitar-humbucker-sized bass pickups out there. Unless you particularly like the sound of that one, you could easily swap it out for something more bass-appropriate. Some of my favorites are the Schaller and Dimarzio ones from the 70's/80's and they can typically be had for around $80 when they pop up for sale. Actually just put a set back in my sunburst 1967 Starfire and was reminded how much I dig them. They sound great both in humbucker and single-coil mode, plus they have hollow hex-screw pole pieces so there is very little magnetic pull on the strings and you can adjust their height individually.
That said, absolutely no judgement if it works for you! I love weird experimental basses The only time they bother me is when the pickups aren't relatively straight and centered. Whoever installed that guitar humbucker in your bass, did a clean job!

 

[zulu]

Thanks, mellow. I appreciate the response. Sorting this mess has always been on the list to do. The guitar pickup sounds bad, the second three way switch is complicated beyond belief. I just set it to pure bisonic and that's it. Ideally I'd find a piece of wood or pick guard material or something to cover the hole the guitar pickup would leave. Then the tone suck circuit... it's a circus. Some day. After all that I might likely just play the neck pickup anyway.

 

[lungimsam]

Ever since I put a neck bisonic in my Starfire that is all I play it thru. It sounds so good compared to the bridge bisonic. You have all you need with that neck bisonic!

 

[mellowgerman]

Ever since I put a neck bisonic in my Starfire that is all I play it thru. It sounds so good compared to the bridge bisonic. You have all you need with that neck bisonic!

I really wish they would do an NS M-85 with a neck position Bisonic and preferably any finish BUT black. I would 100% for sure buy one.

 

[lungimsam]

You got the skills to make it happen!! just buy a regular one and put it in yourself!!

 

[Minnesota Flats]

I really wish they would do an NS M-85 with a neck position Bisonic and preferably any finish BUT black. I would 100% for sure buy one.

Never understood why they chose black for the NS M85s. What a turn-off.

Reminds me of what Henry Ford said about his Model T cars: "you can have any color you want.......as long as it's black". (or some reasonable facsimile thereof)

 

[mellowgerman]

You got the skills to make it happen!! just buy a regular one and put it in yourself!!

I've certainly come close and if they were available in any kind of transparent finish I would have! I'm typically pretty indifferent to aesthetics but a solid gloss black finish has always been my least favorite for some reason.