Midtown modding?

neepheid · October 04, 2014, 12:02:16 PM

Has anyone here tried modding a Midtown bass (either kind) with an actual mudbucker instead of a TB+ in disguise? Good/bad idea? Better idea when the old Midtowns are being sold at knockdown prices right now? Perhaps anyone has other suggestions? Curtis Novak seems to have several options for under the mudbucker cover. If I'm going down the custom route then maybe a coil split could be an interesting option at the neck.

Over to you...

dadagoboi · October 04, 2014, 03:34:01 PM

Just my opinion but the Novak Fakebucker I put in an NR I built for a customer was underwhelming. Customer admitted it was a mistake a few months after delivery. It has a very limited tonal range, the pole pieces are non functional and height adjustment of the pickup is nearly impossible because the coil just floats under the cover.

...except for that it was GREAT!

Highlander · October 05, 2014, 04:53:36 PM

If you are going down that road put in an original... works for me in my T'bird... mind you, I split the coil and fitted a rotary switch...

drbassman · October 06, 2014, 05:56:46 AM

I agree. I'd consider an original humbucker. Novak can wind those pups any way you want. If I went with a Novak, I'd want a high output version, not a modern setup. That might make the difference. I too prefer the adjustable pole screws of an original.

uwe · October 15, 2014, 08:25:11 AM

I like the sound of my Midtown as is. No, it ain't hifi, but that is not what you would expect with a bass as retro-styled as this one. The off-the-rack Fakebucker is warm and phat, not much transparence, but then you are hardly gonna play Roundabout or Tom Sawyer with that bass. As Mark has quite rightly observed, it's more to jam along CCR records.

TBird1958 · October 15, 2014, 11:42:39 AM

It sounded so good copping the bass on "Old Admirals" by Al Stewart! Kind of a woofy tuba - Good enough reason to learn the song, especially accompanying the horns.
It was very at home with Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railway Trilogy", lovely song, the bass suited it well

stiles72 · October 16, 2014, 01:09:10 PM

I have thought of taking my Lull pickup from the Epi Bird, and mounting it with double sided tape in the "mid" position - flat on the surface of the body - and running the wire down into the F hole. It's short enough in height that it should work. That way I don't have to take a chance on messing up the body if I goof with the router.