It’s good to know that this works both ways 
You would probably get struck by lightning or swallowed by a freak sink hole before you could even try 
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So aside from the faulty peizo under the E string which gets looked at this week, I have fiddled a bit with the bass and really like it because it has very unique and different tone(s).
The body being mahogany on back and ‘acuosti-glass’ (aka expensive plastic) on top gives the body and the bass a LOT of resonance, and, what I feel like is a bit of built in reverb going to the amp. Never experienced this before.
I was playing with blending the pickups and putting a lot of bottom end on the mag pickup and emphasizing the top end on the peizo and got some very unique tones, almost pick like without a pick (which is cool because I currently am not very adept at picks). Hoping to recored Folsom Prison Blues on it before it goes in for surgery Thursday as the three upper strings are fine on the peizo.
Looking like the peizo will need replacement, and looking forward to exploring tone across the bass.
Weird thing is there is no control cover on back (except for 9V battery access) and I don’t see any other way to access controls. The top and back are ‘fused’ together, whatever that means. So will leave to Chris at 812 Guitars (excellent luthier btw in Greenwich, CT) to figure out how to get in.
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That is typical for anything designed in Italy. It’s the same with Italian cars. They are designed and built to look beautiful, and everything fits and works (initially), but if you need to change a headlight bulb, you need to disassemble half of the engine
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I had a mini Cooper a few years back that they had to dissasemble most of the trunk and back panel to replace a tail light bulb.
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This worries me as the mahogany back and plastic top are ‘fused’ together. The un/re-fusing makes me nervous.
I’m hoping I am missing something.
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Yesterday I got my Epiphone Embassy back from the local guitar tech. I had him set it up and put on a set of heavy guages strings (.055-.110) and tune it D-G-C-F. And the EHX Holy Grail reverb pedal that I bought on Reverb came in. And the Fender Vintera '60’s Mustang I ordered from GC came in. I had a very busy and fun evening yesterday after work. 
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Upgrade Day for me…
Swapped out the Fender OEM Pickguard for an aftermarket from WD Music Products.
As easy as this was, I get the feeling it won’t be the last time I do this to one of my Basses. LoL!
Let me know what you all think?
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This got me thinking about how to take a Squire or something, do some routing, add an active/passive set of electronics, some push in wiring connectors on the surface of the bass, drill various pickup screw holes etc, leave off the pick guard and play ‘swap the pickups’ much easier.
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I’ve thought of getting a kit strictly for the purpose of learning how to swap things around and try different gear. I’m suspicious that past the point of needing the frets to be even that I may like it as well as anything with pieces and parts installed.
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I’ve swapped everything on my Squire Jazz except the neck, frets and body (tuners on their way).
It’s fairly easy stuff all around.
Mods that need drilling or routing are another story, but straight swap outs are quite straightforward. The one thing I see that might put people off is soldering, which you can practice with coins, wire or old electronics/cheap pots off to the side Vs on an actual bass until you are comfortable.
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Soldering I can do all day long. If there’s a screw, it was put there to be stripped. If there’s cutting or drilling, it automatically breaks out more wood than expected.
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I really like that perloid pickguard!
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What did you think of the quality of the WD pickguard compared to the standard Fender one. I know it looks way better, being Pearl and not straight up white, but what about the holes and edges?
I documented my WD pick guard for my Ray4. I absolutely love the asthetic of it, but the edges and holes, well, my $10 Chinese Black Pearl pick guard I bought for my other Stingray was way better in quality. It did not have flash and burrs on the edges or excess material in the holes that were present on the WD Custom. It was cut out and drilled on some sort of CNC router that WD must use to make their Custom Pick Guards, where as the Chinese one was mass produced with some sort of press mold, giving it nice round holes and perfectly beveled edges.
I was able to clean up the WD pick guard, but for the price they charge, I would expect better finished product.
Luckily, I got mine on sale and did not have to succumb to the WD $55 price, but if I did pay that, I would have been extremely disappointed.
I am just curious if you had the same results on yours, or if it was perfect like the original?
Super easy to fix one of those holes if you strip the screw, in say the pick guard or even larger holes like when adding strap locks and replacing the strap button, or pick up screws.
Use tooth picks or strings off a throw away bamboo chop stick (like string cheese), and pack the hole, filling it up with the scraps, and then screw the screw back in, is is as good as new.
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Was stuffing holes with toothpicks just last night on the Squire Jazz. I’ve taken the control plate and pickguard off so many times (and some of the screws had no wood to hold to start anyway) that a lot of the screws were just sitting and spinning.
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I watched a carpenter in amazement once. He told me you just have to be smarter than what you are working on. Hmmmmmm.
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Ummm, hard for me to be smarter than wood. I can be as smart as wood,
Signed
Toby Wood
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This reminds me of the experiment where you put buttered bread on the back side of a cat. Buttered bread always lands buttered side down. Cats always land on their feet.
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They also may or may not be in closed boxes, you can’t know until you open it. Cats are tricky things.
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@tdub I inspected it pretty closely before installing it (even buying it). Fortunately, all holes lined up nicely and the edges had decent bevels and no burrs or sharp edges.
Really glad I went with this one; I think it looks super sharp! FYI - the OEM pick guard was more of a green tinted cream color, not white (which surprised me when I saw it on its own).
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