PJ-4 HTR Deluxe Series : Great bang for the buck!

I primarily bought this bass as a modding platform. I really like to put my personal touch on all of my instruments and this HB PJ4 has what it takes to make a great looking, playing and sounding bass.

Looks: The absolute first thing to change was the pick guard. The tortoiseshell does not work for me at all! I took it off and painted it gloss black to match the pickups. The quality of the pick guard was okay but not great. The bevel was a little wavy, so I sanded the edges straight and smooth. Even though the stock hardware is very good, I decided to change all of it (bridge, tuners, knobs) to black. Black looks really great with the transparent red of the body. I would have preferred a solid red but this shade of red is very nice. Although the wood underneath the paint is slightly visible, it doesn't have any glaring discrepancies and the transparent

red coat is applied quite evenly. I did find one flaw in the clear top coat that I should be able to polish out. Another reason that I am changing the tuners is so that I can get lighter ones from Gotoh. Even though the bass is fairly well balanced and light weight (not neck heavy), I want to favor the weight on the body side so that the neck sits a little higher. I ordered a high mass bridge for the same reason. I ebonized the fingerboard with India ink. Looks awesome! Playibility: The bass came with the action set too high and intonation off at the bridge. I was able to adjust it quite low without any fret buzz. Neck bow was set perfectly. Frets are dressed very nicely. I steel-wooled and lemon-oiled the back of the neck for an ultra smooth finish. The vintage tint of the neck is perfect. Amber in color. Not a fake yellow as on a lot of guitars these days. Sound: I read some complaints that the pickups are out of balance. This is true as far as how the bass sounded when it first arrived. HOWEVER, the pickups are completely adjustable and I was able to match them perfectly with little effort. I ended up with the neck pickups 1/4" off the body and the bridge pickup 1/8" from the strings. And they sound great! Fairly low output but clear and balanced. There is no reason to change them out at all. There is nothing that a good boost/preamp can't remedy if you need a hotter output. Oh yes, one important thing...the bass is not shielded in any way. So there is a fair amount of buzz. Might be okay for some but annoys the heck out of me. This will also be fixed with lining all the cavities with copper shielding tape.

Conclusion: For what I payed for this bass ($200US incl. shipping) it's a great bargain. It is totally usable right out of the box. BUT, if you want to make it a really great bass, you'll need to put a little more time and money into it. Even then, you can equal or exceed the quality of a bass that costs three times more. The tones from this PJ bass are varied and excellent. All the classic sounds are there. You can find good demos on Youtube and hear for yourself.