Volume/Tone Control Plate

[CharlesNGreggo]

Hey Leftoids! I just bought a Fender American Standard Precision Bass. I want to remove the pickguard and put on a '51 two-knob control plate to give it more of a vintage P-Bass look. Is there even such a thing? Or is this a custom job?

[Jeroen]

The routing of a standard Precision won't accommodate a '51 style control plate because the size and shape are so different. A '51 style Precision has but a very small control cavity because it only houses two pots, and the output jack is located on the side of the body instead of on the pickguard / control plate. So if you want anything out of the ordinary, it's probably gonna have to be a custom job.

Here's what a '54 looks like under the hood:



And here's a standard Precision body:



There are some other pretty elegant options, like maintaining the modern Precision style pickguard like cutting a piece off and mating it to a metal control plate. Yamaha does this on some of their new BB models, and our very own Rod of Regenerate Guitar Works does a very elegant take on this as well on his Regenerator model range.

[CharlesNGreggo]

Thank you Sir for the promt and awesomely visual response!

[Malfunct8]

I've been exploring adding a steel control panel on my 78 P.

about halfway down the page - called an Elimination plate - not sure if it will easily convert to lefty...
http://www.buzzardsbass.com/parts/control-plates.html

[Frenchy-Lefty]

Otherwise, there are plenty of cool after-market pickguards you can get. Keep in mind that you should submit a template as most of those after-market pickguard companies don't seem to have the correct template for a lefty US P-bass. I ordered 3 different ones and everytime had to make some adjustments to them.

[Rodent]

thanks for the link Jeroen

all of my stainless plates are laser cut by a local metal shop, and I then hand polish them to a mirror finish. it's definitely not a cheap way to do this, but the alternative is less than desirable for anything I'd put my brand onto


if somebody wanted a custom plate, I'd be open to considering a 1-off. best would be to provide me with a full scale 2D file (.3DM files preferred, but I can also handle STEP, IGES, and DXF formats) of the plate shape. it should take minimal clean-up/prep to get this ready for laser cutting ... but I could also work with a full size drawing/tracing of your pickguard shape (or even the pickguard itself) and create a new CAD file from that (there would be a cost associated with the CAD time, and that would depend on the quality/accuracy of the drawing I'm provided)

for anybody interested in this option, PM me for further details

all the best,

R

[Jeroen]

Otherwise, there are plenty of cool after-market pickguards you can get. Keep in mind that you should submit a template as most of those after-market pickguard companies don't seem to have the correct template for a lefty US P-bass. I ordered 3 different ones and everytime had to make some adjustments to them.

I keep running into that probleem too. I have a MIJ Fender '57 P reissue where the previous owner removed the pickguard and just installed a small black plastic control plate because he thought it looked cooler. When he auctioned it on eBay, he stated "the dog ate the original pickguard". I've been trying to get a new one for the bass, but every time I'm told the same: "Sure, we can make you a new pickguard, just send us a template of your old one!"