Only Minor Mods Needed
In fact, no mods are really necessary at all for this bass, but I wanted to change a couple of things anyway.
Firstly I think the bass works great the way it is with my workaround mod to make the flat-wound E string fit better. Secondly I am still undecided whether I like the round-wound strings or the flat-wound better. Some time playing the bass with the flatwounds will help me in making that decision.
The strings feel tighter than the stock round-wounds despite being about the lightest gauge you can get for flat-wounds. They are about the perfect tension for this particular bass I’d say.
My workaround mod was to extend the overall length of the E string, so that it would wrap around the tuning peg at the tapered, silk-covered area instead of the main body of the string itself. I hear that most flat-wound strings (not all) do not take to being wrapped around the tuning peg in such a way, due to their construction.
This workaround doesn’t look the best, but it works and was free! It involved using a small wrench socket placed behind the bridge, so the ball end sits about 3/4″ further back than normal.
Should I decide that I want to improve the looks I will install a Fender Hi Mass bridge. That bridge will screw into the existing holes, so no drilling required. It will also place the ball ends of the strings further back by a similar distance to my workaround mod, but for all of the strings of course. All the other strings fitted without any modification.
I already made a video of the stock bass. Here I posted a video of the modded bass.
Immediate update: I already tried stringing up the flat-wound E string without the extension and it seems to be ok wrapped around the tuning peg. No issues at all, so my work-around mod turned out to be unnecessary.
This also means that I am not going to bother getting a hi-mass bridge and in any event I think I may still prefer the tone of the round-wound strings on this bass.
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