Why do I have to look at gear on the net? (Douglas semi-hollow)

[Alanko]

Holding up my hand for a minute, I have two basses with MM pickups. One is a Cort GB74 and one is an OLP MM2 Stingray copy. Both have Epiphone Thunderbird pickups in the neck position (virtually the 24th fret position on the OLP). On the Cort the bridge pickup is wired in series, with a coil tap on a pot and a series-wired 4.7 nF capacitor on another pot, so I can halve the pickup if I need to (noisy) or just cream off the bass frequencies if I need to.

On the OLP bass the pickup is also in series and runs through a pot with a 4.7 nF wired in series, but no coil tap. I removed the magnets from the pickup (ceramics) and replaced them with small neodymium magnets, but only on the coil nearest the bridge. I experimented with the magnets on different combinations of pole-pieces. For example, I could charge the E-A poles on one coil and the D-G coils on the other. The non-magnetised pickup coil functions like a dummy coil, and because it is close to the sensing coil, and near identical in resistance, it functions pretty well! The pickup still sounds fat, but that is probably the product of the coil and pole-piece design itself. The Thunderbird pickup is for woody low end, and the MM pickups add enough sizzle, crunch or punch as required. Solo'd they also sound great. Both basses are passive, but can go from a dubby EB-0 thump through to a completely modern-sounding treble twang when required.

When I got the OLP the wiring was totally botched by the previous owner. The Cort was (presumably) stock, and I rewired the MM pickup in it to be in parallel. It sounded like a Stingray, and that is when I learned I didn't get on with that tone. 

[Chris P.]

I think it's great there's a lot of choice in semisolids nowadays.

- Warwick makes a Chinese version of the Star which is afforable sounds great! And very well made. It has a middle pickup and even the bridge pickup is very useful. 32"

- The Hagstrom is great too. Coil split, a bridghe pickup which is very in the middle.

 

[Alanko]

Never seen the Warwick in the flesh, but I've had a bash on a Hagstrom Viking. The fit and finish was a bit sub standard to be honest. I was put off by the rotary pickup selector which was already loose and sloppy. From memory it was right down the end of the treble horn, so would be a bear to replace or repair.

[nofi]

i tried a viking . the neck was too small in every direction. plus it was way expensive at the store i tried it.

[Alanko]

I thought the Viking was expensive for what it was; a criticism I also have for Eastwood guitars. Nothing bad, but the Viking didn't feel any better or more luxuriant than a cheaper Ibanez Artcore, and the electronics look like they might have presented issues down the road. It is a shame that Ibanez never really distributed the double cutaway Artcores over here in either configuration, otherwise I would settle for one of those!

[Alanko]

My Shine bass arrived! It is bright red, rather than wine red. I really like it!

I've strung it with D'Addario Chromes. I had to sink the nut slots slightly and take some meat off the top of the nut to keep it all happy. I removed the Tele-style knobs off of it and put on some tophats that I had lying around. I also straightened the neck slightly, though it seems to play better with a bit of relief and higher action. I could really tune the thing up to G standard and it would function fine; the strings are a bit low tension compared to what I am used to.

I have all the pieces on order to make up a different pickup for it. The electronics seem a bit cheap, so I might rewire it all with coax. I plan to install a Precision-style pickup into an empty MM-style pickup case, and buff the top of the pickup to a gloss finish.

 I also plan to fabricate a couple of pickguards, one aged white and one black, both 3-ply, for the bass. It looks a little naked without one, but most generic ES335-style pickguards have a neck pickup route.

First impressions are good. I will drag it along to the first rehearsal with a new band later this week and see how it gets on under fire.

[daan]

I still love my Douglas. I haven't felt the need to mod it (well, I'd LIKE to mod it,  but it doesn't really NEED anything...)
I'd like to see how your pickup ends up, that sounds interesting.

[Alanko]

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days!!

So here is my bass:



The fit and finish of this bass is perfectly excellent, and the design avoids some of the pitfalls I feel are present on some semi-hollow and true hollow basses (flame suit on). There isn't needlessly long wiring runs, simply to locate a switch of pot down the far end of one of the horns. The bridge is also perfectly functional and normal, unlike a Trapeze design. I've heard horror stories about the Hagstrom Viking reissues, for example. The wiring also lacks the usual idiosyncrasies, so there aren't any weird passive filter matrices or panels of toggle switches. The pickup is also in a fairly logical place for a single pickup instrument.

Flame suit off.

I did not mind the stock pickup, but it seemed mercilessly hot for the job required. I also felt it was a bit vanilla really... the bass could have been anything. I didn't get a Stingray characteristic from it, just quite a compressed mids-heavy tone.

I'm surprised there aren't more basses that stick a series-wired humbucker in the 'sweet spot' middle position, though.

I've made some modifications since I first received it. I carved the pickguard myself, using a Vantage 'guard as a template. I cut it from a parchment Telecaster pickguard that I swapped out on my Fender. I was going to put on a black pickguard, but the white paper template I created looked so good. It reminds me, subtly, of a red Mosrite Celebrity III bass I saw on Ebay a while back.

I also added a Stratocaster-style output jack. The top is surprisingly thick, and the supplied output jack kept coming loose. I couldn't ever get it tight enough, and I damaged the wiring a few times trying. The Strat socket gave me another means of accessing the wiring run, and it spreads the strain of the cable a little more over the top of the instrument. It also fires the cable out at an angle that directs it straight to where the strap is, so it is quickly out the way and off the top of the instrument.

 I also added the MXR-style knobs.

The pickup worked pretty well. I purchased a cheap black MM-style humbucker and chiseled out the epoxy and coils, until I had an empty black case. I used a G&B branded P pickup in its place. I used various tools to chop down the flatwork until I could get both pickup halves inside the pickup case. I also reversed the coils, so that the D-G half was closer to the neck, and the E-A coil closer to the bridge. I drowned the whole thing in black epoxy as a final measure.

I have the bass strung with D'Addario chromes, and it makes a nice clunky, dunky tone. It doesn't sound too muffled or too booming, and it doesn't sound too much like a P bass either. It records pretty nicely. I'm really not sure how to describe it. It doesn't sound like any other basses I've heard or played, but it also doesn't sound too unique or unusual either. You wouldn't know it was a hollow bass necessarily. It isn't an EB-2, Starfire, Coronado or Jack Casady model, but I suppose there are wee bits of all of them in there.

I've just become involved in a psychedelic project, and this bass seems like a good choice. I've ordered a few empty MM humbucker shells, so I'm going to roll another pickup with a skinned Thunderbird pickup. I have a shelf of Epi-style Thunderbird pickups I got from various sources, so I'm not entirely sure what one I've just skinned. It might be from my Tokai Thunderbird, which would be good if true.