The Last Bass Outpost

I was recently given a Strat copy at a charity gig. I've never owned a Strat before so this gives me chance to try out some pickups I was given 20+ years ago by UK luthier John Birch. They were experimental and as far as I know never went into production; he called them "Full Range". I plan on keeping the Strat wiring options as standard but to maybe try to take the pickup name at face value I'm planning on switching out both of the tone pots to Fender TBX pots, since I already had two of those in my bits box too. Does anyone know of any reasons for or against the idea; I know that Fender put one TBX and one normal tone pot into the mid-90s "Contemporary Strat" but I don't know if there was a sound reason for that.

I haven't measured the pickups but I believe they were low imp intended for a MIDI application, so making the guitar "active" might be a future option if the sound ends up disappointing.

This job is just something to keep myself busy with during Corona lockdown, so no great shakes if it doesn't work. I've already discovered that I'm good with a Dremel by making the pot area cavity bigger with a seamless join to take in the much bigger lower TBX. 

Quote from: uwe on April 30, 2020, 05:36:41 PM
I think royalties must play a large part in it. Slade had a songwriter team with Lea and Holder that hoarded all the royalties. Once the hits in a band's  career dry up und record sales of new output dwindle along with - eventually - ticket sales, you get a schism: The writers can lean back and live from the back catalog still being played on the radio, the non-writers have to keep on gigging for lack of other income to diminishing returns. That poisons everything.

You'd be correct, after a lot of wrangling H and Don were each given a six figure pay check/cheque for back-dated royalties. My guess would be that it was a one-off.

Quote from: Highlander on April 25, 2020, 01:44:17 PM
Pardon...? 

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Quote from: uwe on April 26, 2020, 06:11:05 AM
I wish they would get back together, downtune everything a couple of half-steps und do one unplugged gig, is that asking for too much? If Ian Hunter can do it with Mott the Hoople in their various incarnations ... It would certainly bring me closure. I only saw them twice, once at that club gig and a few years later as Whitesnake's (Moody/Marsden era) opening act. By the late 70ies, they weren't a regular touring act in Germany anymore.

As Nod has said a few times there's no way they'd ever get back together now, too much water under the bridge and they struggle to have a same room meeting without it turning nasty. A few years ago I had a two hour chat in a local bar with Nod and while I won't go into particulars there's no way it will happen. Meanwhile, after departing what was left of Slade Don Powell has abandoned creating his own "Slade" and for now is planning a few UK gigs with a band called "The Ex Men". Jim Lea is has a few items in the pipeline and I had a great long catch up with him a few months ago.

I saw Slade live 36 times, the majority of the time I was stood directly in front of Jim. I also saw Motorhead live 16 times.
My tinnitus is pretty bad.

Quote from: Chris P. on March 20, 2020, 10:15:00 AM
I love the vid, Scott!

What can you tell about the distortion circuit? Is it comparable to an excisting floor unit?

My John Birch SG bass has the same circuit. It was a gizmo designed by John Diggins who built Jim's bass under the John Birch label. It's about the size of a postage stamp and in JD's words is "very simple", so while it doesn't answer the question I'd guess at not as intricate as a pedal. Jim used his when it was in the middle position, ie. both pickups. the level pot on the scratchplate was set to about 8. He then controlled it being in or out by adjusting the lower volume pot which you see him do on the above video when he says he wants to play with his booster. Jim's fullbackline was about 18000 watts through a whole PA range of cabs. The sound was .... immense.

Quote from: Alanko on December 06, 2017, 02:27:38 AM
They look like John Birch mini humbuckers, I just couldn't see the bajillion pole pieces that JB pickups tend to have. It could be down to image degradation or the film it was originally captured on.

Slade had a close working relationship with John Birch, so I wouldn't be surprised if the bass made multiple trips to him. When the bass was refinished white it also lost the mudbucker and gained a bigger batwing pickguard. After the mods the bass was closer to the custom basses John Birch built for Jim, so maybe Jim requested the mudbucker be removed and it was the refinish that was above and beyond the work requested.

It's a John Birch "Superflux" pickup. It only has single row of nine poles. They were John's attempts at a "blade" style pickup. They were very overwound and had a lot of range. It also meant that they could be used in guitar or bass, so Noddy Holder has one too in his Telecaster neck position.
This is my Tele with one in it.



The refinish of that bass happened a couple of years after the above video. I met and knew John after he built me a bass and he told me that the mudbucker was disconnected. Jim mentioned in passing to John he was "thinking" of getting a white bass. The next time his bass went in for a set-up John took his cue to refinish and restyle it. The mudbucker was removed which made no difference to the sound since it didn't work anyway.
Jim was not a happy lad, livid in fact, but he didn't have it for long. It went back into John Birch's workshop over Xmas of '75 and the place was broken into over the holidays, the bass was stolen and never seen again. It's out there somewhere.

Given the original premise of this thread and the specific request of it's author on it's relevance; the last page especially of it is nothing short of disgusting.
Ideally it should be reported to a moderator .............. but wait.......... 

Quote from: HERBIE on December 15, 2012, 06:17:53 AMWe all have opinions, some stronger than others, but lets keep this a place for even-keeled discussions and remember this thread for the reasons Denis started it: to offer simple condolences to those who have suffered most...

Good grief... common sense... and from me of all people...

Looks like your common sense fell on deaf ears, too many preferring to trawl over & over old, old ground.

Started with the very best of intentions without a doubt, but hijacked as though it was an event from the distant past. Shameful, & more shameful that those involved haven't the good grace to recognise that.

Little known fact; it was two Scots that invented copper wire.



They were fighting over a penny that they found in the street.

Michty me!

Quote from: Pilgrim on December 05, 2012, 06:55:38 PM
Did she have huge.....tracts of land?

She did actually; though they were quite a bit further south than you would have expected to find them on a map.

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on December 05, 2012, 12:25:15 PM
I once met a Scott from Shetland (in Prague of all places).  Nobody new his nameso they all called him Shetland.  After a pint you couldn't understand a word the fugger said.... which is probably why nobody knew his actual name.

I knew a woman from Skye, & she sounded kinda German in her accent. What a woman though!

Along with Tony Iommi, & Slade & later Geezer Butler; Roy Wood was one of the UK midlands musicians who were early clients of John Birch. I read a long time ago that it was he who did that pickup alteration on Roy's instructions. JB also made him a Strat shaped mandolin and a spade shaped guitar.

Quote from: Lightyear on December 01, 2012, 09:55:02 PM
Yep, well.  I read something recently about a guy finding a well under his living room floor in London - turned about to be a several hundred year old well.

I used to live just outside a village called Lasswade near Edinburgh, Scotland. They were renovating a local bar to build a restaurant area & found a well that was also a few 100 years old. They had the water tested & last I heard it was going to be bottled & sold from the bar.
There's a small castle where I live now that has a well under the cafe floor, I don't know why they don't do the same.