So... I had the new nut put on the bass. I was not at all happy with the "setup" job that they "threw in." The whole thing was under $40, so I am OK.
The truss rod still needed adjustment, so I did that... the bridge adjustment was not right, so the intonation was waaay off. Fixed that.
I went upstairs and plugged her in....
nothing on the treble pickup. no sound at all.
very quiet sound on the bass pickup.
I am not sure what is wrong, as I did test the pickups before assembly.
Any thoughts?
It´s true that the electronics are not the best, but the pickups sound fine when they work.
I´ve got the early Aria Diamond model 1820, which is the same instrument as the ET-280 with different
headstock. I was 16 years old (back in 1993) when I tried to upgrade it by changing the jack, pots and wires.
But the PUP´s was very weak after the ´mod´and as with yours one of them stopped working.
A while ago I picked it up again, and it was now obvious to me that my ´mod´had killed it.
The magnetic wire was destroyed by my soldering iron back then, and the non-working PUP was really falling apart and could not be saved. I re-wound the thin sounding neck PUP with .058 wire, really hot, and constructed a new bridge PUP , equally hot but on a taller bobbin to give it some treble response as well.
I completely shielded the cavities as well.
It´s not a high end instrument, and not really that easy to play - but it sounds like bass guitar sounds like
on good sixties pop recordings - nice and smooth round sound. Warm, but not muddy on a good tube amp.
I like it and was glad I gave it a second chance, it blends better than I thought even on recordings with a full band.
Not something I´d marry, but still a nice week-end lover....