nmiller
Member
...But it paid off!
I regret selling my 1970 JS-II with the Bi-Sonic and the Hagstrom humbucker, and I'm not likely to find another one soon. However, I did find one of those Hagstrom bass humbuckers for sale; I bought it figuring I'd have someone make a couple copies and I'd stick them in a custom bass. Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars did a superb job replicating that pickup in a standard humbucker-sized cover, and I was starting to narrow down a list of luthiers when I spotted a husk of a JS-II for sale. It lacked pickups, sported holes from ten different bridges, and there was a lifetime's worth of finish wear. On the other hand, it had the right scale, the right neck profile, and the tuners and wiring harness were intact. I got some custom pickup rings from Frets On the Net - no new screw holes required that way - and a luthier leveled the frets and hooked up the pickups.
Sure, it's uglier than sin, but that just means we have something in common. My goal with this project was to make my ultimate recording bass - and I think I've succeeded. Even with all the work that went into it, it came to less than half of what a fully-custom bass would cost and also less than your average JS-II. It plays perfectly and has a thumpy, warm tone with plenty of clarity. The mud switch is disconnected, but no real loss there.
I regret selling my 1970 JS-II with the Bi-Sonic and the Hagstrom humbucker, and I'm not likely to find another one soon. However, I did find one of those Hagstrom bass humbuckers for sale; I bought it figuring I'd have someone make a couple copies and I'd stick them in a custom bass. Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars did a superb job replicating that pickup in a standard humbucker-sized cover, and I was starting to narrow down a list of luthiers when I spotted a husk of a JS-II for sale. It lacked pickups, sported holes from ten different bridges, and there was a lifetime's worth of finish wear. On the other hand, it had the right scale, the right neck profile, and the tuners and wiring harness were intact. I got some custom pickup rings from Frets On the Net - no new screw holes required that way - and a luthier leveled the frets and hooked up the pickups.
Sure, it's uglier than sin, but that just means we have something in common. My goal with this project was to make my ultimate recording bass - and I think I've succeeded. Even with all the work that went into it, it came to less than half of what a fully-custom bass would cost and also less than your average JS-II. It plays perfectly and has a thumpy, warm tone with plenty of clarity. The mud switch is disconnected, but no real loss there.
