Modding Gibson LPB-1

[pjm]

I'm definitely going to remove the Bart preamp, just to clean sounding with an annoying hiss from the treble. Can someone link me to the right type of pots, I'm guessing CTS Long Shaft Pots 500k and a couple of 47mf caps.   

[Dave W]

You should be okay with those. That's what Cadfael's wiring diagram shows for 90s LP basses, but his 2012 T-bird diagram (also TB Plus pickups) shows 300K volume pots. Most Gibson USA models have used Gibson's 300K linear volume pots for years. The Gibson Historics don't.

[ramone57]

my son and I removed the bart pre from his LPB1 as it distorted all of the time, could not get a clean signal.  we used long shaft 500k pots & 47mf caps.  the bass sounds as expected.  it's one of my favorites, great rock tone.

[pjm]

my son and I removed the bart pre from his LPB1 as it distorted all of the time, could not get a clean signal.  we used long shaft 500k pots & 47mf caps.  the bass sounds as expected.  it's one of my favorites, great rock tone.

Did you have to attach a grounding wire to the bridge, like Fender? I don't recall having that in my old Epi Tbirds

[ramone57]

yes, there's a bridge ground.  it was a thicker single strand, yellow insulated wire.

[Granny Gremlin]

I'm definitely going to remove the Bart preamp, just to clean sounding with an annoying hiss from the treble. Can someone link me to the right type of pots, I'm guessing CTS Long Shaft Pots 500k and a couple of 47mf caps.

You don't need long shafts for a flat top LP - only the archtops (like Ramone57's).  Save a bit o coin there.

CTS are pretty standard but you don't need to spend that much on the brand name - Bourns are just as good; Alphas are good enough (they're what 's in most stomp boxes).  Carbon track pots; old tech and not much to it.

[ramone57]

actually, it is a flat top (took some getting used to).  the CTS short shaft pots aren't quite long enough, I tried.

[Granny Gremlin]

Huh, I stand corrected - regular shafts have always worked for all my flat top Gibsons.

[BTL]

Nice looking bass!

[pjm]

yes, there's a bridge ground.  it was a thicker single strand, yellow insulated wire.

You're right, i forgot but looking back at the pics i took it indeed has a bridge ground.

I'm going to wire it up like an SG bass, V V T and leave the space empty where the pot is closest to the bridge pickup, so annoying when playing with my thumb or playing with a pic and muting and always knocking the volume pot.

[slinkp]

I hope you enjoy the tone as much as I love my passive 3-knob LPB-1!  Easiest bass to record for rock I have ever had. Sounds great direct or amped.

If only it was easier for my left hand   I wish I could magically shift the bridge closer to the back end of the body.  The way it hangs makes it feel much longer than 34"!

[uwe]

"The way it hangs makes it feel much longer than 34"!"

A rather common male illusion. 

[Highlander]

Gibson players are used to handling a decent length... and also love the curves too... excluding 20/20's, that is...

[Webtroll]

So done with mods on my 5 string LPB-1. I had the upper rear bout shaped SG style to make it more comfortable to play (I rest my arm against the body). I had the side dots that were sometimes difficult to see with larger dots from Luminlay; in hindsight normal sized dots from them would have likely done the trick but it's still nice to see the dots easier. Face dots were not altered, and the larger side dots only go as far as the body due to their being too large to fit there and the difficulty involved. The neck wasn't quite straight, so rather than get close and futz with the frets I had the fingerboard planed and refretted. I yanked the Bartolini preamp (which sounded fine but I didn't care for the boost only bass and treble), now it has regular shaft 500K CTS pots wired VVT and added a 6 position Varitone from kellingsound88 on eBay. The bass straight up sounds great, and the varitone is pretty sweet, how useful it is only time will tell. The pots and switch all have generic black dome knobs in them that use the side screws to hold them in place. I lose the ability to look at the switch to see where it is, but with only 6 positions one of which is wide open I don't see that as a problem.

I'd been looking at wiring options and the passive configurations for VVTT didn't really have the tone controls affecting the pickups individually, so I went with the traditional VVT. The varitone is in line with the tone control so both are active all the time affecting both pickups.

http://www.luminlay.com/indexen.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Way-Varitone-With-Knob-For-Bass-or-Guitar-Custom-Wired-by-KellingSound-/201877270227?hash=item2f00d2aed3:g:jFkAAOSwG-1Wyd~T



I don't have any after pics yet with the mods but here is the before:

[bassilisk]

So, at the risk of sounding silly -

Are LP basses (with chrome TB+) wired in series or parallel?