The Last Bass Outpost

Ok so what are y'all doing for photo hosting now? P-bucket isn't working, and literally all the other sites I've tried to use are blocked here at work 
I tried to upload the pics right off my phone, but apparently they're too big, and I'm too old to figure out how to resize them on the phone (ugh). I will keep messing with it and see if I can post them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Artec-Mini-Humbucker-Violin-Bass-Neck-Pickup-Chrome/152341473336?_trksid=p2045573.c100507.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555017%26algo%3DPL.CASSINI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41376%26meid%3D7635ee4344a847d0870822348de96baf%26pid%3D100507%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26

I have a set of these on my long-suffering Hondo Jazz project. I got them hoping they'd be similar to the mini-hums that were on my Electromatic, but they don't sound the same. They are cheap, though... There is a link to  a set of pups that look (a little)like the "staple" pups found on lots of import basses, I had a set of those on my Hondo for a while, too. (THey were supposedly from a Hofner Icon, but they're all over the bay for about the same $. So if you're buying something just to rewind it, I would guess this is a good start. (My bass is dead again, and I don't wanna mess with it )

Have you all seen that video with the bluegrass sounding band with the Tractor as a backing instrument? Could we get the Tractor and the Washer together as sort of "double drummer" thing?

There's a giant pile of unused mouse pads at work, maybe I can "recycle" them 

So I actually had the house to myself for a couple hours last night, I could drag the amp out and play loud. (The baby cries when I "plug in" and the 3-year old will actually go turn my amp off if I have it on... Perhaps some lessons might be in order? ) My JBP has the same "Select" pups as the Austin, so I had to A-B them. They sound... similar (to my untrained ears anyway) but the Austin is easily twice as loud. When I put the pups in, I used the foam pieces that came under the stock pups, so they sit up nice and high. I just realized I haven't touched the pups on the JBP, and they sit pretty low compared to the guard

So what does everybody like for under pups? Does it HAVE to be foam, or can I use something else? (or, y'know, just leave it alone, and turn the amp up higher )
I didn't weigh the basses, but the Austin is really light compared to the others. The Hondo is the heaviest, but not by much, compared to the JBP.
Oh, speaking of the Hondo, it worked OK when I picked it up from the store, but now when I plug it in, it just howls feedback, instead of sounding like a bass... I'm kind of tired of rewiring it, and the store guys had it for about 6 months the last time (and I don't reall want to spend more than I paid for it, again, to get it re-wired...again) I'm starting to see why people just save up the $ to buy something that already works. Oh, and my Douglas EB-2 copy, now sounds like it's strung with rubber bands, it just kind of "thuds" anywhere on the fret board instead of sounding like it should. I tried loosening the strings, and re-tightening them, but it still doesn't sound right... ugh. I joke about trading everything, but now I really want to.

That red Hondo looks nice! The "Fame" ones are newer than what I have (from my semi-educated guess), or at least their "nicer" series of stuff, the one I have is the same as the hundreds of "off brand/no name/Ibanez/whatever basses, I've seen tons of different branded, but identical looking ones online. Maybe I could find a neck from one of those, if this one gets more out of whack...

Stew-Mac is closing them out. Other Select models are also on closeout.

I just checked them out. THese are new, and going for about half of what used ones are selling for on the bay right now... Glad I got mine a couple years ago (for $1.00!) If I needed any more projects, I'd scarf them up.