The Last Bass Outpost

Gear Discussion Forums => Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs => Topic started by: morglan on March 16, 2016, 02:32:41 PM

Title: Are basses wired the same way as guitars?
Post by: morglan on March 16, 2016, 02:32:41 PM

Hi all,

I've always rewired my guitars, and now my brother wants me to rewire a couple of his basses.

They are both Epiphones (a Thunderbird and a Les Paul Special bass).  He wants me to convert them to master volume and tone, with the third pot unused.

My question is, can I simply follow a guitar wiring diagram for this set-up?

Should I replace the stock pots (and will it make a difference if I do?)

He doesn't want a blend pot installed, but is it desirable in basses to install a "blow switch" (to bypass the tone control and go straight to the jack)?  All of my experience is with guitars, so I don't even know what bass mods would be desirable...

Thanks!

Title: Re: Are basses wired the same way as guitars?
Post by: slinkp on March 16, 2016, 03:38:31 PM

He wants both pups all the time, no choices?  Yeah that should work exactly like a guitar.

Title: Re: Are basses wired the same way as guitars?
Post by: morglan on March 16, 2016, 04:07:49 PM

Just spoke with him, and I'm going to install a 3 way switch in place if the unused pot, and replace the other 2 pots with better quality 500k parts.

Title: Re: Are basses wired the same way as guitars?
Post by: clankenstein on March 16, 2016, 07:06:18 PM

Sounds good.is he happy with the pickups?

Title: Re: Are basses wired the same way as guitars?
Post by: Alanko on March 17, 2016, 03:37:48 PM

Sounds basically like a Telecaster. I'm currently re-wiring a Frankenstein P bass with a neck humbucker and a 3-way switch. The switch itself is of a Gibson style, so as long as you can decode each component then there is no difference between bass and guitar wiring.