pimp my dano

[Specialsauce]

so i got this cheapass danelectro danoblaster bass fora hundred bucks at a pawn shop:
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5631/bassgit6lz.jpg
(sorry for the ****ty pic)

And now im gonna mod the living piss out of it. I've already taken it apart, stripped the paint off the body and defretted it. My dad (who is a screenprinter and is helping me with the project) is going to screen print me a custom pickgaurd (hopefully). It has to be one color, so i was thinking maybe getting a checkerboard pattern on it (two-tone ska ftw).

From here on, this is the thread for this project, and any questions i may have, and i do have some.

First, I cant find a slap plate anywhere, i was thinking, maybe buying a neck plate and putting that on the end of the fingerboard might work, but that might be a bad idea... will this work, and can anyone point me in the direction of a slap plate i can buy online (ive already checked ebay).

Stewmac and allparts, are they good places to buy? as in, are prices fair, and delivery timeley? I dont wanna buy something only to have it take six months to deliver.

I have to holes for jacks and a place for a battery that i dont know what to do with,. i can always fill the battery slot in if i cant find a use for it, but i really want to make use of the two places for jacks. any suggestions on what i could do?

What color do you guys think would look good with the checkerboard pickgaurd? in that pic it looks black but its really a hideous black with sparklies all over. What color should i paint it now?

[neatobassman]

ha ha ha, I played a J bass versoin of that bass. I didn't like how it played though. If it plays nice, go ahead and trick it out, but if it plays like shiit, then leave it alone.

[Polyamarous]

Is it true they don't have truss rods?

[Specialsauce]

Is it true they don't have truss rods?
no, but you have to take the neck off to get to it.

[wicked_child]

a dimarzio on the neck position

[Shuffle It All]

i love those basses, i dont know why, its teh shape i like. the chessboard idea sounds good.

[bass&cookies]

honestly, i don't see much need for a slap plate. i've slapped my fretless alot, but i don't really see any wear from it, i certainly have more wear from regular playing

[Peg Dizzler]

I'm not sure what you can do about the slap plate, but.. you'd probably want something you can adjust in height. Just in case.

Stewmac is a great place to buy from. They're really helpful, they answer any questions for you, and for me, delivery is like 2 days. Then again, I'm in the next state over from them..

As for the pickguard, the chessboard sounds like a good idea. I like that. For the finish... I don't know what color to recommend to you, as we all have different tastes, but how does the wood look? Would a natural finish be nice, or is the wood really ugly?
Lastly... what'd you use to defret it?

[Specialsauce]

I'm not sure what you can do about the slap plate, but.. you'd probably want something you can adjust in height. Just in case.

Stewmac is a great place to buy from. They're really helpful, they answer any questions for you, and for me, delivery is like 2 days. Then again, I'm in the next state over from them..

As for the pickguard, the chessboard sounds like a good idea. I like that. For the finish... I don't know what color to recommend to you, as we all have different tastes, but how does the wood look? Would a natural finish be nice, or is the wood really ugly?
Lastly... what'd you use to defret it?

I heated the frets up with a soldering iron and pulled em out with a pick...

[sunshineplaysbass]

Stewmac > all other parts dealers

[kirmitdafrog]

I suggest for the finish go with the checkerboard. then it will co-ordinate with the pickguard. for the empty battery socket...you could install an active on board eq wich i think would reqiure a battery. and why two jack sockets :confused:

[myles]

may be one for active and 1 for passive ??

[Specialsauce]

i had two jack holes because it had built in FX, one jack was for using the FX and the other was just for playing normally. I wanted to make it so that one jack was active and the other passive, but that didn't work out. I painted it cherry red, and all i have to do now is screenprint the pickgaurd and wire it and fill the frets in. Its gonna be sweet when im all done. But it'll be a little longer...

[manson667]

preety good for 100$

[tim_commerfordism]

TBH, you might aswell just buy a good bass than modding a **** one.

Just my $0.02

[Specialsauce]

TBH, you might aswell just buy a good bass than modding a **** one.

Just my $0.02
think about it this way. Someday, i want to start a business building/modding/repairing basses and guitars. How do i start? By modding. This is something I want to do, not something i think is gonna get me a sweet bass for cheap. I wanted to practice on a chea **** guitar rather than buying something nice and modding it. Do i make more sense to you now?

Btw, im not trying to invalidate your oppinion, just trying to put things in perspective.

[tim_commerfordism]

think about it this way. Someday, i want to start a business building/modding/repairing basses and guitars. How do i start? By modding. This is something I want to do, not something i think is gonna get me a sweet bass for cheap. I wanted to practice on a chea **** guitar rather than buying something nice and modding it. Do i make more sense to you now?

Btw, im not trying to invalidate your oppinion, just trying to put things in perspective.

Fair enough. I know what your saying, but modding generally isn't that hard. Putting a few screws in for a bridge, or a neck is nothing. Soldering a new pickup in is really nothing - it won't gain you much knowledge to starting a business.

That's stuff you could do without buying all the extras. You could practice soldering with just 2 pieces of wire. You could put screws into holes on a plank of wood. You could practice routing and sanding on a piece of wood.

I'm just saying, if you are doing this 'project' purely to have the know how to do modding to a bass/guitar then you might aswell take the cheap alternative I told you, and if you are seriously considering starting a music business, you could save the money because starting a business is very hard to get of the ground.

If you are doing it for a bit of fun, fair enough, but if it was me, IMHO I would buy a good or reasonable guitar to do it to, like a MIM J/P for example because you already start with pretty good stuff.

Just my $0.02. :thumb:

Good luck.

[Mad_Fingers]

Starting with good stuff defeats the purpose of modding something, especially when you're paying extra for hardware that you aren't going to use. I've modded a squier strat before and did so because I was both bored and wanted to learn alot of this stuff for later use.

99% of people would buy a good guitar, but if you want to learn how mod things correctly and make sure they work well and don't make everything crap, then this is probably the best way to do.

if he screws up, he's out like $100, but if you screw up with a better bass, you're out that much more, especially as far as body work goes (sanding, cutting, etc.)