Steve Doner’s MM/P/EB Custom Build

Our Bass of the Week comes from Steve Doner from Doner Designs.

I do have some higher end gear in my stable (eg: Stingray BFR, Markbass) and BBG has the best selection of the best gear I know of. But, this piece (and its J bass twin) are the ones that I cut my “modification teeth” on so to speak.

 

This is round two of mods for this platform which started as a $40 Craigslist special. I did my first two routes in it. One with a drill and chisel (blush) and the second with a router. I did not use a super premium MM pickup because I didn’t need it for this application – without a preamp (for bass boost) you can’t really use it by itself anyway.

 

The Duncan SPB-3 middle is the most popular P bass pickup out there of course. For the mudbucker there are very few options and the Gotoh is not bad at all for adding a bit of bass boost to the other pickups. The Babicz bridge is a great value and it contributes to the bold look that I seek in many of my builds. The Hipshot Xtender is standard equipment on every 4 string bass I have – once I had one, the rest followed shortly after – it’s addictive. The passive tone controls are CTS 1meg which seem to work well with the passive bass and treble controls which are a signature feature on most of my builds. If I need push pulls I use Bourns 500k. For capacitors I’ve moved away from orange drops because they take up too much room in the cavity and don’t sound much different from ceramics (to me). My new passion is building for charities, but I enjoy experimenting on myself.

 

Considering this was my first experience with a router I feel pretty good about how it turned out.

Featuring:

• Squier P Bass platform
• Duncan SPB-3 Qtr Lb P
• Gotoh Sidewinder
• GFS Alnico MM pickup
• Upgraded tuners
• Hipshot Xtender
• Babicz bridge
• Neck/Middle volume with 3 way switch
• Bridge volume
• Passive bass and treble controls
• Push-pull for semi-split coil on MM (Bill Lawrence style with capacitor)
• Tort PG
• Fender decal under laquer to complete the look
• Squier SN & MIC remains on back of neck