This is a repost and an update of the very first project thread I ever posted on the old AGF. Back in 2008, I was brand new to Rondo Music and the Agile Guitar Forum (as it was called then). I already had an AL3100 (no MCC), and was an instant, full-on convert to Agile guitars. Pretty soon, I wanted to give an SX a try. Since I'm a bassist, and I had zero interest in Telecasters, or Fender-style guitars in general at that point in my life (those were dark days, I know... makes me shudder just to think about it now!
), I opted to go with an SX bass instead. I had caught a lot of buzz about them on TalkBass (mostly @Dabbler 
), and wanted to see if what I heard about them was true. It also helped that they had a Jaguar Bass clone (of sorts) too.When Fender came out with the Jaguar Bass in 2006, I instantly wanted one... In particular, the one with the 3TS finish.
I didn't care for the other finishes, but the sunburst one was only available in Japan! In the US, you could choose between bright, obnoxious red (Race Red?), or black. The Race Red hurt my eyes, and I had already had my fill of black guitars, so I figured I'd just wait until they started showing up on the used market, because while I wouldn't say they were particularly expensive (I think they cost like $700 or $800 at the time, which was typical for CIJ Fenders), it was more money than I was willing to spend on a bass just because it looked cool. Besides, I had 2 Jazz Basses already (the original Jaguar Basses had two J pickups instead of the P/J config they have now), and I had no use for all the extra bells and whistles that bass had, either.
I was hoping that the bass would become popular (and it did), because that would mean that there would probably be a Squier version, and other companies would start making copies of it (which they did). Then one day, while perusing the (then) extensive selection of bass guitars on Rondo, I came across the SX SJMB-62 in a 3TS finish!:
It had an ugly red tort pickguard on it, but I could change that (I didn't for like 7 or 8 years), but most importantly, it had a sunburst finish, and it only cost $150, so I bought it.
The bass itself was great, but everything on it was not, so I gathered up all the replacement parts (which was a dodgy proposition back in those days), and the story begins here.
P.S. This thread is pretty pic-heavy, and since there's a 5-pic-upload-per-post limit here, I'm going to have to break this up into several posts.
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July 7, 2008
Ok, the first part of my mods are complete... I started with this...
- CJ mod 1.jpg (20.74 KiB) Viewed 950 times
It‘s recommended that you take the strings off before removing the bridge.
- CJ mod 2.jpg (17.68 KiB) Viewed 950 times
I didn‘t mention in my review that the stock bridge is also pretty junky.. Made a terrible rattling noise... If you don't replace it with a Badass, I highly recommend you replace it with something else... Anything else!
- CJ mod 3.jpg (15.73 KiB) Viewed 950 times
As you can see, the Badass II bridge fits right on there.. No need to re-drill any holes... I love these bridges! I have one on my jazz bass and it just makes it sing! Sustains forever.
Then I shielded all the cavities with shielding tape, remembering to attach a wire to the shielding and solder the other end to a pot to ground it... Otherwise, it‘ll act more like an antenna than a shield.
- CJ mod 4.jpg (20.37 KiB) Viewed 950 times
Now here it is with a set of Vintage RI Jazz Bass pups, pulled from a Fender Jaguar bass,
and all new wiring, pots and cap.
- CJ mod 5.jpg (22.1 KiB) Viewed 950 times
As you can see, the bridge pickup fits right into the cavity without any problems.. The
route for the neck pup is plenty big, but I did have to trim the cut-out in the pickguard a
little to fit.
Continued...
