OK so since I posted in here last, I got laid off, got a new job, had another kid, and had a flood in my basement work area... not good for finishing projects, huh? ANywyay I FINALLY am back on my feet, and enough of my kids are in school so I have time to work on my stuff once in a while. So when I left off, I wasn't getting any sound out of my pups. After a LOT of messing around, I discovered that one of the pots in my control plate was broken internally (the shaft spun 360* without doing anything-shoulda checked that better, huh?) One of the replacement pups didn't work at all, and both of the ones I had rewound also didn't work.
I used to have a Hofner 500/4, that had the pickups from an early '00's Gretsch Jet bass in it. I really liked the way it sounded, and after a bit of research found out those may (or may not) have been "Artec" guitar mini humbuckers ("Firebird" style minis with no polepieces thru the cover, which are basically regular minis with a solid cover) So I looked around for a set of those. Somebody on Ebay was selling some, I got a ceramic one for $10 and an Alnico one for $12. And with the track record I've had so far, I took them to an electrician buddy who tested them with his multi-meter and they both work. (The "staple" looking ones, one registered at 6.5K and the other one was infinity.)
I bought 3 new pots and a capacitor and just replaced everything that came with my control plate. If I realized how (comparatively) cheap these components were, I'd have just done that to begin with rather than tear the bass all apart, I'd have been able to play it for about 2 years now, instead of having it spread out all over my basement...
Now I need to replace the guardplate my bass came with because the new pups are 1/8th" or so narrower than the staples, and the plate doesn't work with the new control plate anyway. Plus it's real thin plastic (it looks like they were supposed to be B/W/B and they "forgot" to laminate all 3 layers on it) It has lots of extra holes in it from thumb rests or something, too so I don't mind making a new one. I got a new blade for my M-I-L's bandsaw, and she's gonna be at her winter home all winter so I have the basement to myself this winter.
I got some construction paper to try and make a pattern for the new guard. I did cheat and buy an actual Jazz bass guard, but it didn't come close to being the right shape...