The Last Bass Outpost

Man look at that pickup, last picture, no wonder they measure about 29.5 Q ohms. (Quintillion)

I have'nt made any mods on my '69 EB-3 but I've been tempted for a while. It's tricky to leave out the choke in position 3 and still have it in position 4. What is also tricky is that the resistor is connected always in series from the neck output.An easy way to try without a choke (make the neck pickup equal to an EB-0) is to disconnect the choke coil wire at lug 8 and the capacitor wire at lug 7. Also use a wire and shortcut the resistor. This way you can see if you like the unchoked sound in position 3. I'm not sure the bridge pickup will be that much drowned out because since the pickups are wired in parallell the high DC resistance of the Mudbucker will be slightly "shortcut" by the bridge pickup.

Also notice that if you want to individually adjust the volumes you must switch the connections on the volume pots. Gibson connected them so both volumes act as mastervolumes. They did for some really strange reason (which is beyond me) connect the output jack side to the mid lug of the pots.

If you can make anything out of it I made an alternative schematics from the original.

Original:



Mod:



Position 1: Full Mud
Position 2: Full Mud + bridge pup
Positon 3: Mud with resistor and capacitor + bridge pup
Position 4: Like position 3 on the original schematics

I have'nt switched the wires on the volume controls on the schematics but I would do that as well.

Well if you haven't done it yet, I may be the guinea pig, both look like great ideas and I'm going to attempt them this weekend (I hope). I'll let you all know how this works and sounds as soon as I'm done. It's really cramped in there though and these simple little mods may take me a while.

Gibsonbass.com seems to be down at least right now. I'm looking for a schematic for the wiring, what I want to do is have the full output of the neck pickup along with the bridge in pos #3. I haven't really looked at the wiring very much and understand that there's a choke probably in series with the neck to cut out the treble and maybe a cap in series with the neck for the baritone position #4? Can these be bypassed and be reversed? Has anyone ever gotten full output of both pickups together probably in pos. #3 and if so how did it sound? I realize the neck will probably completely drown out the neck but can a good balanced sound be achieved with the volume controls? I'm just guessing at the wiring so all info anyone has will be appreciated.

Well finally got the GHS 95-45 gauge flatwounds Dave mentioned, they're are great strings and light like this bass needs, got the old feel that I remember.

I got my first B.J. when I was 15 in '69 listening to this on tv with a sexy lil brunette named Michelle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x6chChxzV0&feature=related

Inside Looking Out, one my favorite tunes by Grand Funk, ever hear The Animals version which predates this one by several years?

Roy Orbison's house? I guess he's just selling a few of his toys.

I own a "bass version of anything that Brian Setzer plays"... a 1964 Gretsch model 6070. It is enormous, long scale (34"), giant hollow body. The sound, with Rotosound Tru Bass black nylon strings, is very old school. You are right, the large body is less comfortable to play. But it is a jaw-dropper every time I bring it to a gig.

That is a beauty. I also like EB-2's a lot, I've owned both large and small (Hofner, EKO) and think the larger ones sound better. My favorite is the EB-2, Guild starfires also sound great although I've never tried one, Jack Casady's fuzzy JA sound sold me on those.

Who is Brent Ware anyway? He's got the most stuff of anyone I've ever seen in my life. Check out the wall of Kustoms. His prices are astronomical though.  This bass didn't sell.