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View Full Version : Hot rodding affinity P bass



Duff
March 15th, 2009, 12:16 AM
I'm well into hot rodding my excellent condition affinity P bass. I put on a beautiful black Fender pickguard and it matches the glossy black, minorly not fakin' it body, with a classy look that can only be described as beautiful. The oiled rosewood neck gives it a really classy dark look that is very pleasing to my eye and it sounds decent thru my Marshall MB30.

My question is: should I put in GFS p bass pickups or spend just a little more and get Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders.

My goal is to have a hot hot hot P bass with lots of output but not too much noise.

I'm right at that pickup stage right now and am wondering if any of you all have any experience with these pickups and if they will give me some heat over the stock affinity p bass stock pups.

Also any other ideas for some hot P bass drop in pickups would also be appreciated from those with any experience. Even theoretical stuff I will consider, but real world experience and doing the job has no substitute, needlesstosay.

Feedback appreciated.

Duffy
Peace

I still need to post some pictures of my hot rodded affinity "Black Pearl" strat with the SD hot rail in the neck, 'lil '59 in mid, and JB jr in bridge; and these do not not sound like their big HB brothers. They definitely have a nice strat tone to them but are humbucking. SD really knows what they are mass producing.

Pictures:
http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/P1010063.jpg


http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/1-18-09/P1010064.jpg

Ink black walking stratocaster, Nigella:
http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/1-18-09/P1010016.jpg

markb
March 15th, 2009, 01:18 AM
JB Jrs are nice in the back of a strat. Excellent choice of finish too :AOK:

Duff
March 15th, 2009, 08:59 AM
Thanks Mark.

That black strat affinity cost me 25 US dollars and has a beautiful heavily flammed maple neck all the way up. I took my time and put on that nice pickguard, hence the name "Black Pearl"; then new pots and switch. You should hear it. Very nice.

I'd recommend those SD pickups to any one. People put them in, the same ones in the reverse order that I did sometimes, a lot of guys put them in like I did, according to the SD tech I talked to when deciding just exactly what I wanted to do for sound and a wide tonal range for the guitar.

The body has a couple dings but waxes up good.

Duffy

I need to take some pictures of my black affinity bass with the new black pickguard. It really looks classy in all black with the white pinstripe in the pickguard layer and the dark oiled rosewood board.

Last night I ordered hot alnico V GFS PB Pro Plus Overwound pickups to put in it. 16kOhms vintage waxed wire, wax potted with beeswax and paraffin. I will see how good they sound. The stock pups don't sound bad for stock affinity bass pups. I have flatwounds on it and will hopefully keep them on.

I like hot rodding some of my guitars and this is my current project. I will take a picture of it to date. Should have taken one when it looked like I got it. Can't go back. Soon, hopefully the guitar will be done and it will be sounding hopefully really good.

Duff49
March 18th, 2009, 11:54 PM
Going to try GFS Pro Plus P Bass Overwound pups in my hot rodded black glossy affinity bass with a new Fender three ply bwb, with white pinstripe look and a glossy matching black top that goes great with the glossy black body to give it a classy look, especially with the dard rosewood neck.

Stock affinity p bass pups soon to be replace with the GFS overwound ones and I will get back with results. I'm expecting a remarkable difference in tone thru my Marshall MB30 practice bass amp. These will be hot hot pups.

Should have taken a before picture just like with that "Black Pearl" affinity strat above, but the finished product looks way better. Might name my black p bass "Black Onyx" or maybe "Pitchblende". It should be really cool.

Might go for the Seymour Duncan stacked J bass pups though for my J bass.

I'll have to see how these GFS ones sound. They make very few bass pups.
Maybe that should tell me something; like maybe they can't compete. Quarter pounders aren't much more than a set of these. Probably about twice the price, so that's substantial after all. The tonality is probably way different though. The SD's I have on other guitars sound great. Just played a Epi Std with the hot rodded SD set thru the distortion channel on my little Marshall MG15CDR with tank reverb and it sounded really good. That little Marshall sounds mighty good for what it's worth.

Now I have to work the installation of the GFS p bass pups into my schedule somehow.

I'll keep you posted if you are interested.

Duffy
Peace