The Last Bass Outpost

Just b/c they aren't expensive doesn't mean anyone will call them firewood.

But it looks like some woodland critters have stolen the strings off your J type. Be on the lookout for any squirrels with blue masking tape.

And THAT's why I like it here so much... I had posted at some other bass site years ago and got "run outta town"  because I didn't have some fancy (or brand-name, I can't remember which now) bass. ]
And our squirrels are going nuts (see what I did there?) gathering stuff up for winter. We have a bunch of Walnut and Oak trees in the yard, and I think 3 counties' worth of rodents are running around back there. It wouldn't suprise me if I went out there and found the Red squirrels tying the grey ones to the trees with my strings... mean buggers, those guys.

The Gotoh 201 is a drop-in replacement for a standard Fender bridge, same 5-hole mounting pattern. IIRC the mounting are spaced 11/16" apart center-to-center (17.5 mm)

Unfortunately what I have now, has one screw on each corner instead of the 5-in-line mounting. And the bridge is a different size than the Gotoh one, so it isn't "drop-in", just like on my other bass. It's thicker, too so I wonder if I'd have to recess it or something, so it didn't stick up too high. Obviously my measuring skills are suspect, considering how easy changing the bridge SHOULD have been on the other one...

You never know, he could live a LONG time from now...
My wife's grandpa (father's father) is 94 (or maybe 95 by now, I forget when his b-day is) He's been a RAGING alcoholic his whole life. Like, was given "last rites" and a month to live, in... 1965 when his wife died. He's been functional with everybody trying to keep him in line, but when he turned 90 his Dr told the family, "Let him go, he's lived this long already, just keep him out of the car". He's the gallon-0-vodka-a-day kinda drinker, too... and is showing NO signs of slowing down. They had 5 kids, who all live right by him so they all keep an eye on him, but he seems healthier than I do at 1/4 his age...

I like it. Looks like we had the same idea. This is what I did to my St. Blues:




Excuse the crappy pictures.

Nice! Great minds and all that...
WHat pickups are in that? How does it sound?

I've had this bass for pretty much ever (since the early 90's, anyway) It's a Korean-made (possibly by Cort) P-bass copy, pretty standard other than the Jazz bridge pup and being a neck-thru design. 3-piece maple neck, and "soft maple" wings added.

My first nice guitar was the same brand, they had standard bolt-neck basses and guitars like mine, and the "Professional" neck-thru ones for 3-4X what mine cost. WHen I found this bass at a pawn shop in Milwaukee it was a few years old and a LOT cheaper than when I had seen them as new. I didn't know anything about them until I got online a few years ago, so I didn't know about where it was from, the construction, etc. Anyway mine was stock until this week, it plays and sounds great (to me anyway) so I didn't want to mess with anything. I did step on the cord and break the guardplate years ago, but I just added extra screws to hold the piece on.

 It has "Select by EMG" pups like a lot of low-mid import guitars from back then. The wooden parts, the tuners and bridge all seem good, but the electronics are all pretty cheap, though-mini pots and the "box style" pup switch.

Well about a year ago the selector switch got really loose, and I had to "wiggle" it to get sound to come out, and I wasn't sure it was actually doing anything when I did get sound. Also I found somewhere to get a black/red/black pickguard to replace the single-ply black one. I just liked it so much I was kinda hesitant to take it apart, since every time I start a project, it seems to never get finished...
So anyway I got my pickguard, a real 3-way lever switch and a couple pots. The routing in the body would barely fit a full-size pot in, let alone a bunch of wiring, so I ended up getting new mini pots. I debated enlarging the route (and going nuts and cutting a new output jack hole in the side, to avoid breaking the pickguard again)  but chickened out and got minis and kept the top output.

THe wiring was kind of strange, it sounded fine for all these years until the switch broke. The capacitor was attatched to the output jack instead of one of the pots, never seen that before. I also didn't know that the pups were attatched to the body, so it kind of suprised me when I took the old guard off and everything stayed on the bass...

I just played it like that for a while, just because it was kinda strange.

So I got my "Carlo Strings" the other day, and had time to install them today. (Kids back in school, yay!)

They were all plenty long.

I don't know what kind/brand of strings this bass came with, but the ...ball ends? The circular metal things at the end of the original strings were about half the size of what the Carlo strings came with. I had to loosen the tailpiece to get the ends underneath it.

It all snugged back down fine though.

I took the bridge off when the strings were off, mostly so it wouldn't fall off and my 2-year old hide it or something. THe individual saddles are just kind of "pressed" in, there isn't a screw adjuster or anything. I had to make sure they didn't move while it was apart, cause I'm not sure how I'd get them back in in the right place... I'm sure I should have it intonated now, assuming I can find somewhere reasonably close to me.

It sounds nice, I REALLY like the flats on it better than the rounds it came with. I'm letting it settle for a day or 2 before I mess with it.

Welp, I got it wired up (again, let's hope I did it right this time) I followed a diagram from Seymour Duncan, the other guitar I wired up (that actually worked the first time  was off a diagram from those guys.) I had followed a "generic" diagram I found online the last time I messed with this guitar, and it didn't work. So...


ALready I had to change it a little, the 3-way didn't fit in the cavity in the orientation I  had it, so I had to lengthen a wire to be able to rotate it. I'm also waiting to get the nut fixed, but I probably should string it up to make sure it works...

I do have a question. I bought a set of strings for it when I bought it (about 3 years ago) I strung it up earlier this year, when I started this thread and then tore it down again. How often can you re-use strings, anyway? Guitar strings that cost $4 a pack I don't mind chucking, but I'd rather keep these (flatwounds, Diaddario or other "name brand" ones from the store I bought it at. Something like $35 for the set so I don't want to toss them, cause I'm cheap.)