Modify a Les Paul Tribute Jr DC bass with a Hobbit Pickup......

[Grog]

I installed them yesterday & like them so far. I've used D'Addario short scale strings for years but never flat wounds. Sweetwater sells 3 gauges of Gibson Brite Wire flat wound strings that I considered, but I went with the chromes. Oddly, the strings on the ES Les Paul Bass look almost identical to the Chromes. Same blue thread windings on the ends, strings look the same, just doesn't have the color coded end thingies like the Chromes. My tone control still doesn't have the range that my other basses have. I've tried two different value pots & four different capacitors. Also wired it two ways, not a huge difference. It sounds good & the amp has so many tone options that I left it as is. 2.5K pot & 3.3uf cap. I'm looking forward to giving it a good workout this afternoon.

[Basvarken]

Are you sure you have the right values?
The low impedance pickup requires different pots and different caps.

[Granny Gremlin]

IIRC there was considerable cap value variation among the various LoZ models - I've seen 2.2, 3.3 and 4.7 as per your daigram there depending on Rec, Sig or Jumbo etc.  He's in the right range/order of magnitude based on his last post (2.5k and 3.3uF); not in HiZ territory at all(x00k and 0.022 to 0.047uf). Though 2.5k vs 1k pot may change the rolloff point of the 1st order RC filter a bit, like an octave more not less so he went the right way for what he wanted.

[Grog]

Are you sure you have the right values?
The low impedance pickup requires different pots and different caps.

I used the components from an original NOS 1973 Les Paul Triumph Bass control plate that I bought years ago just to get a new plastic control plate to replace the one that I had that was cracked. I used the treble pot so it was a 1K, not the 2.5 K that I mentioned earlier, but I tried both with minor differences. Both the Bass & the Les Paul Recording guitar used the same Volume, Tone & Bass components. Only the first year L-5S with the Low impedance pickups used only a Volume & Tone like I was using. It used a 1K audio pot & a 3.3uf cap. The LPR used a 1K linear pot & a 4.7uf cap. I tried the 3.3uf cap, didn't notice much difference from the 4,7uf cap & left it. I tried the 2.5 KL bass control & the.15uf cap (the LPR has a .47cap here). Not a noticeable difference either. I asked an engineer I use to work with for advice. He said that my parts list called out for tantalum capacitors & that they are polarized. The old caps on my control plate didn't have any noticeable polarity markings. By buying the new 3.3uf caps, I know I had the polarity correct but it didn't change things noticeably.

P.S..... The bass worked great with the Chromes. They've added to the unique tone of the bass, I like it!

[the mojo hobo]

I installed them yesterday & like them so far. I've used D'Addario short scale strings for years but never flat wounds. Sweetwater sells 3 gauges of Gibson Brite Wire flat wound strings that I considered, but I went with the chromes. Oddly, the strings on the ES Les Paul Bass look almost identical to the Chromes. Same blue thread windings on the ends, strings look the same, just doesn't have the color coded end thingies like the Chromes.

I was under the impression that the ES Les Paul bass came with Chromes from the factory. Mine did.

[Grog]

Update while the LBO was down...... A months or two ago, I was surfing Reverb & Paradox Guitar started making replacement pickguards for this bass. I asked if I could order one without the pickup cavity cut in & they agreed to do it. I was playing my '74 Les Paul Signature & was getting comments on how great it sounded. I wanted to try one of the pickups in this bass. Long story short, it sounds great! I added a quick disconnect to the ground wire so I could switch the guts reasonably quick. Also, right after I ordered the cream pickguard to match the pickup, they posted many other color options that I might have preferred. It has grown on me!

[Basvarken]

Wow! I bet it sound as creamy as it looks ;-)

[morrow]

Those are such great little basses!

[Grog]

I've had two of these pickups for years. They've gotten very hard to come by. I only have a surround for one. I always thought that I could take a cream humbucker surround & pop two holes in each side. As it turns out, the LP Sig pickup is 1.375 wide & a standard humbucker is 1.5. Mounting it in this pickguard allowed me to use it without a surround which would be rarer than hens teeth. The first pickguard, they forgot to omit the pickup hole. it was just days before hurricane Hellen hit their aria. I sent it back & they cut the hole for me to where I just had to open it up a bit.