Last year I went on a search for a passive 5 string PJ style bass. I already have a Bongo 5 HH and a Sterling 5 HS, and the EBMM 5 string neck and 17.5 mm string spacing is the most comfortable for me. I find Fender necks and 19mm spacing too wide. If there was a 5 String Caprice bass I no doubt would have bought one, but they don't exist. I don't know why, but for some reason passive, PJ 5 string basses are not very common.
One day I saw an SR5 neck listed on the bay. I knew these were rare so I grabbed it - and decided to build a bass around it. I bought a Hipshot bridge with 17.5 mm string spacing, and I got Nordstrand PJ5 passive pickups (customized to a narrower polepiece spacing to match).
Thanks to the Luthier's Corner forum, youtube, and lots of patience and planning, I was able to make my own body (alder) and pickguard from scratch. I did outsource the painting but did everything else myself.
You can see my build thread here. But it's finished and ready for a debut tomorrow night! Plays like a dream of course, and sounds great too. So now with my Bongo and Sterling I have a stable of 3 very different sounding (and looking) basses but with similar feeling necks! Woohoo!
One day I saw an SR5 neck listed on the bay. I knew these were rare so I grabbed it - and decided to build a bass around it. I bought a Hipshot bridge with 17.5 mm string spacing, and I got Nordstrand PJ5 passive pickups (customized to a narrower polepiece spacing to match).
Thanks to the Luthier's Corner forum, youtube, and lots of patience and planning, I was able to make my own body (alder) and pickguard from scratch. I did outsource the painting but did everything else myself.
You can see my build thread here. But it's finished and ready for a debut tomorrow night! Plays like a dream of course, and sounds great too. So now with my Bongo and Sterling I have a stable of 3 very different sounding (and looking) basses but with similar feeling necks! Woohoo!
