The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs => Topic started by: Alanko on October 02, 2020, 01:35:13 PM
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I've been working from home for 28 weeks now, and starting to hatch bad ideas.
My P Bass has sort of 'split in two'. The neck on it is now on my Jazz Bass, and I replaced the body with a white P Bass body.... so that leaves this sunburst body looking for a purpose in life:
(https://i.imgur.com/JochDGz.jpg)
I've been messing around with neck pickups in basses for years. I've chopped up a fair few basses to add extra pickups. My plan is to install a Roswell-branded mini humbucker in the neck position on this P Bass.
(https://images.musicstore.de/images/1600/roswell-pickups-rk-vintage-toaster-pickup-bridge-chrome_1_GIT0051191-000.jpg)
They've cheekily made it look just like a Rickenbacker Toaster pickup. I already have one of these pickups in my 4003 and it sounds pretty good! Darker than a normal Rick pickup, but in such a tonal 'dead zone' this isn't really a problem. It delivers lots of low end.
I'm sticking one of these in the bridge position:
(https://images.musicstore.de/images/1600/roswell-pickups-qpa-split-coil-alnico-v_1_BAS0009307-000.jpg)
Its a Roswell 'QPA' pickup, which looks like a SD Quarter Pounder copy, with chunky alnico poles.
I'm going to wire it like a Jazz Bass, with three controls. I will use a 4.7 nF capacitor as a treble bleed on the bridge pickup volume control. This means that if I roll back the volume to 8 I should get a tone that is like the 'vintage' setting on a 4003 bass.
I will update this thread with photos when I get round to doing anything.
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So for once I actually did exactly what I said I would do.
(https://i.imgur.com/R0y1y42.jpg)
I carved out my P Bass body and then shielded liberally with copper tape.
This gave me enough room to implement this:
(https://i.imgur.com/clr8sjo.jpg)
And this is what it sounds like:
https://youtu.be/9vZLvF2jZSs
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That came out nice! :toast:
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Very nice!
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Not bad! Now put a bar bridge on it and you're done 8)
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Nice.
A little bit Sheehan-esque.
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Nice , but there should be a big gaping hole around the bridge pickup .
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That looks great. Every P bass could use a neck pickup. :-X ;D
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That looks and sounds great!
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Fender should use that!
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Nice , but there should be a big gaping hole around the bridge pickup .
Time to fire up the Forstner bits!
There is a certain oomph you get from a true neck pickup that you can't really fake with cunning EQ'ing, shelving etc.
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:mrgreen:
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Very Cool. Lots of useable tones on tap!
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Oh I like that. What are the settings on the different parts of the video? Sounds like the pickups combine pretty well!
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Looks like you also changed the bridge. And bought a maple neck for it?
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Totally missed the video. That thing sounds great! My favorite was the first setting, which I'm assuming is both pickups wide open?
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Oh I like that. What are the settings on the different parts of the video? Sounds like the pickups combine pretty well!
Totally missed the video. That thing sounds great! My favorite was the first setting, which I'm assuming is both pickups wide open?
The settings are, as far as I remember.
0:00 - 0:16 P pickup 100%, Neck pickup 0%, Tone 100%.
0:16 - 0:28 - P pickup 100%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
0:28 - 0:40 - P pickup 80%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
0:40 - 0:50 - P pickup 50%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
*point at Rickenbacker behind me*
0:50 - 1:01 - P pickup 0%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
1:01 - 1:06 - P pickup 0%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 0%.
1:06 - 1:10 - P pickup 0%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
*grabs pick and plays same riff*
1:10 - 1:16 - P pickup 0%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
1:16 - 1:23 - P pickup 30%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
1:23 - 1:28 - P pickup 70%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
1:28 - 1:32 - P pickup 70%, Neck pickup 0%, Tone 100%. This shows you the solo'd P pickup with the bass being cut by the 4.7 nF cap on the volume pot.
1:32 - 1:36 - P pickup 100%, Neck pickup 0%, Tone 100%. - Full P pickup
1:36 - 1:41 - P pickup 100%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100% - Both pickups turned up full, with a mids scoop.
1:41 -> - P pickup 80%, Neck pickup 100%, Tone 100%.
From here on out I'm not sure what precise combinations I used! :rolleyes:
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What a great idea! That came out really well! Looks good, sounds good. Nice to see something a but different.
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That sounds amazing! Nice job!
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It sounds so much better than a traditional PJ setup!