If you’ve ever taken an instrument up into the Repair Shop here at Mass Street you know exactly what to expect from this article. Whether it’s restoring a family heirloom, getting your axe modded up, or taking advantage of our Free Setup, the Repair Shop takes what it does very seriously.

Now, that doesn’t mean they don’t like to have a little fun! Some of favorite customers love to bring in off-the-wall projects or pie-in-the-sky requests for the shop to take on. This particular one from friend of the store Von Kopfman is no exception. Von tasked Luthier Matt H. with adding a Jazz Bass pickup to a Mustang Bass. Normally changing out a pickups isn’t something that would require a blog post…this one however required creating an entirely new pickup cavity! The single most important instruction for this projects was to make it look stock. Matt H. embraced the challenge. That modification involved solving quiet a few problems along the way including routing the new pickup cavity, adding controls, rewiring the electronics and picking a new location for the jack. Scroll through the photos to check out how Matt H solved each of those design issues. Thanks to Von for letting us show off the bass!

First up is routing the new pick cavity using one of the Repair Shop’s custom jigs

Next is adding a knob and wiring up the new controls for mixing between the pickups

A glamour shot of finished pickup and controls

The upgraded Hip Shot tuner making “Drop D” tunings a snap

The new custom controls necessitated relocating the jack to the side of the Mustang

The new side mounted jack

The finished custom setup looking as stock as ever!