Hohner PJ Bass Body at Buzzard's Bass Guitar Shop

>> Workshop >> Project: Hohner PJ Bass Body Upgrades for Hugh D.

This started as Hugh wanting just a custom pickguard and pickups but he turned out sending the body for upgrades to electronics, control cavity routing, cavity shielding, and custom pickguard. His attempt to provide a tracing of his pickguard failed when he didn't have one to trace. He tried "chicken-scratching" the body but this does not work as you'll see below . . .

Hohner PJ Bass Body Completed 7-17-10 ~ See Tally & Shipping

Body Finish: Black. Body has scuffs and digs here and there. I didn't get too deep into it but I managed to take the curse of the obvious areas that were missing paint down to the core, mainly the bottom rear edge: Photos: 1 - 2 Applied Dr. Duck's Axwax prior to assembly.

Cavities: Opened up to accomodate larger CTS pots: View 1 - 2 - 3

Pickguard: Custom Black Abalone: .090" x 9" x 15.5" : $49.95 + SH
I asked Hugh to send an exact tracing of his pickguard if he did not have a pickguard to send. This pencil scraped body is not what it takes to make a pickguard, and the only alternative was to have Hugh send in his body for me to make the template from. After all, he was needing the pickups to actually be installed at the center and square with everything else. There was no way I could do it with that abortion of a tracing.

Pickguard Template: Starts with a tracing of the body, cut out and placed on top of the body to accurately trace an outline where the PG will be, plus where the pickups and bridge will be centered and squared, and where the control pots will be . . . and everything elsew will be: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 ~ If you have any questions about any of the many steps it takes to create a custom pickguard, contact me. If you still think I charge too much to make one, see ya~!

Future Pickguards: All future pickguards for this bass bought by Hugh are charged for a pickguard blank only.

Finger/Thumb Rests: No

Bridge: Leo Quan Badass II being installed by Hugh. I suggested the OEM Deluxe but Hugh had already bought the BAII. I am providing a taped area with Center marks. I honestly do not think the BAII bridge will fit in the stock area without hanging off the bottom~! If it fits it will be a LOT closer to the bridge pickup than I would want. It never ceases to amaze me how many people get dragged down by brand names. The OEM Deluxe Bridge is a superior bridge for a number of reasons: 1) the OEM DLX fits standard Fender 5 screw mount holes; 2) a stock bridge cover can fit over it if desired; 3) it adjusts much simpler; 4) is not so big and bulky; and 5) isn't close to 100 bucks to buy~!

Bridge/Pickup Covers: No

Strap Buttons/Locks:

Project Parts and Labor Checklist

Hohner PJ Body

• Finish: Black

Bridge: Badass II

• Bridge Cover: No

• Pickup Cover: No

• PG Blank: Black Abalone

• PG Screws: Black

• Finger Rest: No

• Thumb Rest: No

• Strap Buttons: X

• Strap Locks: X

Electronics - Passive

Cavities: Shielded with Copper Foil after free-hand routing the opening to accomodate the larger CTS pots.

Pickups: GFS Overwound P Pickup and GFS Jazz Bridge Pickup

Control Plate: See Pickguard; drilled out for 3/8" for CTS pot bushings.

Controls: Volume - Volume - Tone - Output - All 4 on top of the pickguard.
View Control Assembly showing open cavity and soldered wiring. Always make wires long enough so the assembly doesn't come into contact with body.

Potentiometers: 3 CTS 250k Audio Taper Short Solid Shaft Pots with black dress washers and black nuts.

Capacitor: Sprague Orange Drop 225P/100V Series .047µF

Output: 1 Switchcraft Mono Output Jack with black dress washer and nut.

Wiring: Standard PJ Bass Wiring

Wire: WBE PTFE Teflon High Temperature Silver Plated Copper Wire - 600V

Control Knobs: Three 1/4" ID Black Dome Top knobs with set screws