Accidental NBD ("Austin" Pbass, maybe project)

Dave W · December 26, 2016, 09:29:12 PM

Simple fix, if that's all that's wrong.

What made you think it was plywood? Austin says the bodies of their electrics are solid wood.

daan · January 01, 2017, 06:13:47 PM

I guess I thought it was ply because of the cheap "import" guitars I've had, were ply. Y'know, "less than $100, no wood for you" or something. Not that it matters, really, I'll sound like me on plywood or a $$$$$$& "real" bass.
Anyway I worked on it again today, I still had a set of the Allparts flatwounds, so I took the strings off, and the nut promptly flew off.

It's ok, my 3-year old found it for me. I also cleaned all the gunk off the frets and oiled the board.

The fretboard is stripier than I thought-the oil really made it look nice.

daan · January 01, 2017, 07:01:35 PM

I got my cleaning stuff out, and got all the gunk off the body, it was kind of gross. I polished it up, there's no scratches or anything on here, it looks great!

I also decided to take the pickups out, mostly because I was one of those kids who took EVERYTHING apart

Maybe everyone but me already knew this, but there was foam on the bottom of the pups, for height. I tried seeing how the foam was attatched, and pulled the magnets right off the bottom of the pup

I glued them back on, but kept the foam pieces for a different set of pups.

I glued the (ceramic, not that it matters) magnets back on. Oops. Anyway, my other F style bass has a set of "EMG Select" pickups and I really like the way it sounds. I know, they're cheap imported copies of EMG's, mostly found on Korean stuff from the 80's, but I like they way they sound, so sue me. I had been looking for more, in case I screwed up the ones I had. I found a set of them, for the princely sum of $1.00, which should tell me what everyone else thinks of them... Anyway they had been clear coated at some point, half of that was worn off, and grunge everywhere. I tried cleaning them, but it didn't help much. Today I got out some 2000-grit sandpaper and just wet sanded them. They cleaned up just fine, and the "Scratch-X" I used on the body, polished them up nice.

I have a set of pots and an output jack on the way, so when those arrive, I will put it all back together and it should be pretty nice. I mean, for the $ it cost, I won't have any complaints whatsoever!

Dave W · January 01, 2017, 10:56:13 PM

You'll have a good bass for very little when you're done.

Those EMG Select P pickups really do sound good.

Rob · January 02, 2017, 05:15:21 PM

just a drop of glue on the nut they don't need to be any more anchored than that id the contours match.

daan · January 16, 2017, 06:21:53 PM

I got to futz with this a little more. I had a couple gift cards from Xmas, and I found this neat "Varitone" circuit online. I realized I haven't taken any of the tone knobs off "10" for eons (or is it 0, turned all the way up anyway) and this Varitone would change the sound up without just rolling off all the highs. And I could just replace it with a normal pot if I don't like it...

It came with a fancy Chicken Head Knob, and I was able to re use one of the black knobs off my JB-Player, so now it has a nice all-black look, instead of mix&match

The only issue is that the route under the guard must have been for the mini-pots it had, since none of the components fit correctly...

So I will try to open up the cavity where it "necks down" so everything fits. My Dad gave me a Dremel for Xmas, and I can order a router bit for it, so once I won't be waking a bunch of kids up with my power tools, I'll get this buttoned back up.

If I wanted to get really crazy, I could actually replace the factory bridge from my JBP with the Gotoh one I've had in the case for a year (or two...

) and put the black bridge on here.. and while I'm at it, get some black PG screws... Yeah, it's all 80's up in here!

Pilgrim · January 17, 2017, 09:11:33 AM

Careful with the router bits. If you don't need to move too much wood, a sanding bit or other options might allow finer control.

Rob · January 17, 2017, 05:22:53 PM

Quote from: Pilgrim on January 17, 2017, 09:11:33 AM
Careful with the router bits. If you don't need to move too much wood, a sanding bit or other options might allow finer control.

Or use a carving bit. cylindrical kind offers more control than router bits.

slinkp · January 17, 2017, 09:29:10 PM

Didn't everybody used to hate on EMG Select pickups? Was that just the usual "it's cheap and it's not vintage so it must not be any good" fashion nonsense?

Highlander · January 18, 2017, 01:01:38 AM

I've got a few humbuckers and found them to be fine pups... had one by the bridge of my PC for circa 20 years as the only pup too...

Dave W · January 18, 2017, 12:11:47 PM

Quote from: slinkp on January 17, 2017, 09:29:10 PM
Didn't everybody used to hate on EMG Select pickups? Was that just the usual "it's cheap and it's not vintage so it must not be any good" fashion nonsense?

Some people did say that. My judgment came from actually hearing the P pickup. It sounded good. The innards aren't vintage type construction, at least there are no visible polepieces, but it's the tone that matters.

patman · January 18, 2017, 04:18:42 PM

My favorite P has a select Pickup. I love it.

Dave W · January 18, 2017, 08:51:22 PM

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

amptech · January 19, 2017, 04:50:30 AM

I tried out an EMG select bass humbucker in the neck position on a P bass, but there was no sound on the E string. Turns out the pole piece was misalligned. The 3 other stings sounded good, though. Now, of course - there is a mudbucker in that position.

exiledarchangel · January 19, 2017, 11:43:22 AM

Quote from: amptech on January 19, 2017, 04:50:30 AM
I tried out an EMG select bass humbucker in the neck position on a P bass, but there was no sound on the E string. Turns out the pole piece was misalligned. The 3 other stings sounded good, though. Now, of course - there is a mudbucker in that position.

When in doubt, add mud.