my latest 5 string conversion

[jingle_jangle]

Now I'm flashing on a very appealing light sand-colored Fenderbird with a maple neck. That one was a fiver, wasn't it? Could you post one more pic?

[jwr2]

This is more what I would really like to do with a 4-2-5 bass ...

[cheyenne]

Hey Jeff,,,you have any finish issues with those guitar stands?

[markbass99]

if you want to do a 4-2-5 you are looking at choices like these ...

normal.jpg

wonky.jpg

For my tastem the first one looks more "Rickenbacker" to me

in Jeff's second pic, the tuner isn't centered in the wave and the tuner's aren't reversed, which is necessary to keep the "A" key from looking like it's falling off a cliff.

When I do it I center the hole with about 1/2" clearance from the hole to the edge of the wave. Then reverse the top row to push the keys back, they actually come pretty close to where they would be on a factory RIC fiver.

[jingle_jangle]

OK, then all you really need to do is rotate the tuner a bit when you install it. A minor "cheat" that allows the key to follow the curve of the headstock and open up the spacing a bit.

[jwr2]

Paul ... just for you ... fresh fenderbird pics ... taken by my 13 year old ... not bad camera work heh?

[jwr2]

Hey Jeff,,,you have any finish issues with those guitar stands?

nope ... but I have purchased instruments that have stand damage ... for some reason it doesn't happen to me ...

[jingle_jangle]

Jeff...thanks a heap. I really love the look of these. That thang is gorgeous!

And, of course, I'm sure it sounds really good, too.

[jwr2]

This Fenderbird is a total joy to play once I cured the neck dive. I love the feel of a p-bass neck with 5 strings on it.

It was a little dark sounding when I had it wired with all 500k ohm pots so I put in a 1000k ohm tone pot and that brightened up the sound.

[jingle_jangle]

So you relocated the strap peg, right? What are the pickups. Sounds like passive electronics, too.

If it sounds like i'm wanting to build one, well...

[jwr2]

The body is alder made by A&D guitar company. The neck is a mighty mite p-bass maple neck. The bridge is schaller. The pickups are Epiphone t-bird pickups. It is passive VVT wiring 500k ohm volume pots and a 1000k ohm tone pot. The straploks are dunlop. I got some brass pipe and long screws from home depot and made my own strap extender to kill the neck dive. Both the neck and body are finished with a tung oil / mineral spirits mixture.

Like I said it is a joy to play and it has that "Quadraphenia" sound.

[jingle_jangle]

Thanks for the details. I can see the pipe extension peeking out from behind the body in the above pic. A cool solution, handled properly.

I'm hankering...

[ram]

Hey Paul - I like the new avatar....