I just found a document which is some kind of bible of the electronics for passive basses (there is also a small part about active basses but it’s not the main focus). Sadly it’s in german but with Google Translate it helps anyway ! here it is : http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf
it might be useful for our different project basses !
That should cover about every type of bass electronics imaginable, at 500 pages!
And probably useful too - because I just got the wiring kit that I ordered - all it is, is 3 potentiometers, a capacitor, and some wire, in a little plastic bag. Oh, and a tiny wiring diagram with no words, and not even all that clear. This will truly be some DIY wiring! But I guess for $18, what could I expect? I will be happy if it even works!
a basic wiring for a passive bass is extremely simple. what’s interesting with this book is that it shows some historical little variations (see the Precision 52-53 for example). it’s more for reference than anything else but the book also contains useful informations, for example at the end there is an interesting part about pickups, and I learnt about the pretty weird architecture of the Gibson Sidewinder (the “mudbucker”) that I didn’t knew.
also one day I guess we’ll have to talk about pots values and taper, capacitors and this kind of stuff. I plan to mod the electronics on my Greenie P very soon, maybe I’ll explain my choices 
Spray painted the body orange (my fav color, and the only color I had lying around), then sanded most of it off (this is my vintage-y look!). A small coat of spray on polyurethane to lock in the color. I’m sure there’s a “real” way to do this, but I like the look, so I’m good. A bass is really just a hunk of wood, once you strip everything down…
Ah, then, I filled in the ripped out frets with gold glitter glue 
Couldn’t think of anything else, and, it’s a little silly, but this is play time, and it looks okay. Other than when the frets came out, so did some of the wood, and, even sanding it down couldn’t really smooth it out. Oh well.
Time to start assembling it back together with the new parts that have arrived!
Moving right along . . . . 
it looks pretty grungy, I like that 
Oh yeah. I’m digging the distressed look. 
I’m doing the same thing with an old ukelele I bought at a garage sale. 
Finished this project, meet Frankie, my “new” fretless bass! (named her after the Frankenstein reference earlier in the thread) The hardest part, I found, was all the soldering connections on the inside - a real luthier would cringe if they saw mine - but, unbelievably, this bass works! I went with white and gold colors, as there is so much black and chrome out there, wanted something different.
The only issue is the action is a bit high - I sanded the nut down pretty far and the bridge saddles are as low as can be, but it may be because this was not designed to be a fretless bass. The intonation is sharp too, and I put the bridge as far back as it could go, saddles back too, but it’s all good, because since its fretless, I can just finger slightly above the fret marker line.
There are some things that were rigged too, I confess. Not having a router, the pickup cavities were widened using a flathead screwdriver as a chisel, and a hammer. The pots didn’t fit till I hollowed out the cavity some more with a drill, then, they were made for an American fender, but the knobs I got were metric. Let’s just say I made it all work, but it was fun too 
I don’t think Frankie will be my go-to bass, by any means, but I have a new respect for fretless players (your finger better be right-on, or your pitch is off!), it’s making me develop my fretting technique. Plus, tons to learn for anyone willing to try this - I have no qualms now about stuff like changing pickups, or other parts, or even doing soldering on a bass as needed. Anything with the fretboard, and major things, I would probably still get done by an expert though 
that’s a fun project very nice to see that Frankie came alive and I hope we will ear it one of those days !
Good for you, @Vik . . . 
Kudos for trying out something new, following a changing path to see where it would lead, and then completing the job!
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you expected”
Cheers, Joe
@Vik Good on you man. I look forward to doing this one day. Now we’re all looking forward to hearing you play it.
Awesome!
I appreciate the kind words and support, everyone! Just having this global bass loving community helps in experimenting with new things, gathering and sharing ideas, and such.
If anyone has any mods or projects, please share!
Awesome, @Vik! Didn’t you have to wait for a thunderstorm to jolt the beast with 10000 volts to bring it to life!?!
PS: I think you might be onto something developing your fretting technique on a fretless…
There is a guy in Germany who I see posting on talkbass.com who customises basses, and he specialises in the cheapest basses he can find on local sale groups. He has done modifications ranging from just new strings all the way up to swapping neck, pups & paint. Let me know if you’d like to extend your international reach and I’ll send you a link. The thread that I know him from is titled “The Mediocre Bass Club”, so no Fancy Dan egos in there - much like in here. His English is as good as yours or mine so no issues with communicating.
Excellent! 
Thanks @PeteP , however, I have decided that Bassbuzz will be my only bass social media outlet. Otherwise I’ll spend way too much time in one forum or another and never actually play! 
So very true - and worth it all the way!
Fortunately not 
- any project with electricity usually ends up with me getting zapped, not the project. In this case, not even a 9 volt battery either - my first passive bass, and no worry about leaving it plugged into the amp either, heehee!
Nice work @Vik!
So … these times I’m selling and trading guitar parts I have. My goal is to find/buy some bass parts for various projects. Here are the two things I got these last days :
The bass : it’s a beaten up to death Jim Harley P-style thing. very low-end, I’m even not sure if the body is made of real wood (edit : it’s a plywood body), but the metal parts seems to be made of real rust. I had this bass for free this afternoon, that’s cool ! the neck is very nice, I like its thick shape. Not sure what I will do with this bass, there are some repair to do, maybe a new paintjob because for some reason I don’t like at all black instruments. I think this bass could make a good vintage-sounding P, but I don’t really need one dedicated bass for this use (Greenie with some foam sounds vintagy enough for what I do). This could end up as my BEAD/AEAD dedicated bass, what do you think ? @Bassbot fortune ?
The neck : it’s a generic P51 / Telecaster Bass style one, and it’s 100% new, never been screwed to a body. I traded it against an old guitar neck I had (the neck of my first electric guitar, bought in 1994). The quality seems OK, I would compare it to a MIM Fender, it’s not bad. But despite the headstock shape, it has the width and shape of a JB neck. I’m not a big fan of this shape, but, yeah, will see. I might try to make a body from scratch for this neck.
