There’s always ramen…
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Just throwing out ideas here, but you reface it. take everything off the body, plane it down 1/8 inch, glue on a new 1/8 inch board on top with custom cut holes for your pickups. You’d have to sand/file/contour the new face on then repaint/stain it.
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I was going to suggest clear pickguard as well, then clean up the electronics cavity. Could look nice!
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This is a cool option - add a maple cap or something. the only bummer is he then loses electronics access. He’d have to add a back cavity.
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id suggest giving the term “kintsugi” a google. may spark some ideas.
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Get. A. Pickguard. You. Like.
Done and done. 
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That’s a $500 worth of labor. Might as well buy another cheap body or bass with less work to mod. 
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Hey maybe the G&L MFD would fit in that extra space. Pickup - L-Series - Four String – G&L Online Store
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I was assuming he’d do it himself. 
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Then it’s definitely more than $500.
Me too, I don’t think he’s sending it out.
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Thanks all for the awesome brain storm!!
Just to re-iterate: this is a 80 dollar bass - I am not going to spend 300 bucks on pups and 500 bucks for a luthier or other craftsman to do extensive woodwork on it But, there were some cool suggestions for sure!
Ramen noodles it is 
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Whichever way you decide to go, I’m super interested in seeing the final product now. Love projects!
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I love projects.
I’m about to start, about to being the operative words, a couple of project.
Both would hopefully run about a quarter or less of the cost of the real ones.
I did the “Sterling” Joe Dart standing next to the real one, it’s pretty close.
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Heck yeah @Al1885 , that looks great! Do you have the before pic? Guessing it started life as a typical Sterling Stingray?
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What about a mirror pickguard, to match the existing chrome metal control plate ? Or a 1-ply black pickguard and a black control plate, kinda like on my japanese JB ? (2-ply on mine but the control plate would need to be custom made ; harder to find than a 1-ply metal black plate)
Or maybe just a custom micro-pickguard that would look like a ring for the neck pickup, if you really want to avoid a full size pickguard. Just an idea …
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One of the instruments that came to mind immediately when you first mentioned this is this guitar from Relish. Only, I couldn’t remember what it was called
I was reminded today, unfortunately it was by a video talking about them going out of business. Regardless, I thought they had some pretty innovative ideas, like the entire back of the body being attached to magnets, complete access to pretty much everything inside, and the ability to swap out pickups in a matter of seconds. This was actually the first time I’d seen the “indestructible” headstock, that was pretty cool too.
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Cool! I’m just watching Westworld in this very moment - this is the Guitar that would suit a Host…
It never ceases to amaze me how something that costs so little to make can be sold to musicians for a ridiculous amount of money. It’s pathetic. All I can says is…why didn’t I think of that? 
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No actually, it’s the Sterling SB4. pretty hard to find but pretty cheap it’s usually about couple hundreds, it’s cheaper than the SUB 4. it has different body, it’s the Sterling Body slimmer and has the carved neck heel. Speaking of which the SB14 (older one) is just so sweet it practically the same as my EBMM Sterling. The new one is interesting, I have another extra SB4 I might to that too but may be not, I’d rather build another Joe Dart 3, lol.
Here’s the body. It’s an old new stock to took out the neck and ready for the paint removal.
This what I did with the last one.
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