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

[Grog]

Using just the Boss WL-20 in high impedance, it works just like a chord. The bass sounds normal & if switched to low impedance, the sound is barely audible. Adding the inline transformer to the WL-20, the bass Switched to low impedance sounds the same as it would with a transformer chord. Switching it to high impedance set up this way has an extremely loud output. Switching it from low to high impedance with a transformer chord, the output is about the same.

On another note, I took the bass to practice today. Just two of us maintaining social distancing. I was very pleased with the tone & how even the sound was anywhere on the neck. It sounded great in the 2/15 amp & sustained forever. It's a keeper!

[Grog]

The one idiosyncrasy with this bass that became apparent over time was a weird static noise, especially when sliding up & down the frets. Everything was grounded properly & even so, it shouldn't have affected the frets which are insulated from everything anyway. The main difference between this bass & the way the bass was originally is the lo to high impedance transformer. I don't know for sure if that caused the problem, I never had this issue with either of my Hobbits. I decided to try shielding the hell out of the entire cavity. The Les Paul Triumph & Recording only have shielding on the inside of the plastic control plate, I decided to shield everything because I'm tired of taking this thing apart....... It worked! Like the old Steely Dan song, "No static at all".



The "Smobbit" (small hobbit) is officially finished!

[Granny Gremlin]

nice

[Basvarken]

Hey George,
Since you took the original pickup out, maybe you can tell us what that pickup looks like under the hood.

I just saw this video discussed on Facebook and I thought it's a bit of a weird decision by Gibson to mount the pickup upside down.
And I am wondering if they did that with the entire batch or that it was a mistake maybe.

Skip to 9.12

[Grog]

Hi Rob, Mine was installed the same way, I just peeled the foam off of the two sets of outer round magnets for the photo. It would fit equally well in the cover either way. Since I had the entire assembly still intact, I tested the pickup both ways plucking another bass close to the pickup. It seemed to work the same front or back. Hard to say why they decided to mount it this way. The eight pole pieces would have sat just as well against the cover.

[BTL]

I started working on the electronics today, one thing led to another & I had to see if it would work as planned.







Everything seemed to work, the TONE didn't really make a huge difference. It worked well in low impedance with the transformer chord. I'll mess around with it more in a few days......

I love how that turned out!

[Dave W]

Hi Rob, Mine was installed the same way, I just peeled the foam off of the two sets of outer round magnets for the photo. It would fit equally well in the cover either way. Since I had the entire assembly still intact, I tested the pickup both ways plucking another bass close to the pickup. It seemed to work the same front or back. Hard to say why they decided to mount it this way. The eight pole pieces would have sat just as well against the cover.

The polepieces were exposed on the '14 and '17 EB Basses. Doing that with the DC Junior would be a little unsightly since the string spacing is noticeably narrower than the polepiece spacing. Putting it right side up, with the polepieces under the cover, would work but there would be air space between the tops of the poles and the body of the pickup, and my guess is that's why they mounted it upside down. It works either way.

[Basvarken]

Thanks for clearing that up George.

And yes Dave, I think your theory as to why they did it makes sense to me.

[Rob]

Really nice work George.

[gearHed289]

Now I want to experiment with one of those pickup on my Les Paul (if it ever comes back from the doctor...).

[Grog]

Thanks! After getting it tweaked in, it has quickly become one of my favorites. With the guitar pickup in the "sweet spot", it has it's own sound. I still wouldn't mind hearing it with a low impedance bass pickup but I'm happy with it as is.

[Grog]

After playing my ES Les Paul Bass last week, I was digging the flat wounds on it for a change. That's the only bass I've ever had with flat wounds..... I started wondering how they would work on the "Smobit". I ordered a set of D"Addario Chrome flatwounds. They should show up today. I've never used chrome strings before either. I've heard that you can never have too much chrome, we'll see if that extends to strings. It'll get a good workout tomorrow & we'll see if they stay on it or not. Anybody else ever use them?

[Pilgrim]

The Chromes are regarded as a bit brighter than the Labella Deep Talkin' flats.  I like both, although the DTF's are my go-to strings.

I have the Chromes on an Ovation-style acoustic-electric bass and they work great. They're about 10 years old and have settled in nicely.   

[Dave W]

Chromes are definitely on the bright side for flats, also higher than average in tension.

[amptech]

After playing my ES Les Paul Bass last week, I was digging the flat wounds on it for a change. That's the only bass I've ever had with flat wounds..... I started wondering how they would work on the "Smobit". I ordered a set of D"Addario Chrome flatwounds. They should show up today. I've never used chrome strings before either. I've heard that you can never have too much chrome, we'll see if that extends to strings. It'll get a good workout tomorrow & we'll see if they stay on it or not. Anybody else ever use them?

I actually set up the Low Impedance EB0 project I did some years back with D'Addario Chromes. As I noted before, I was impressed with the range of the tone pot in this system - and the Chromes might have something to do with that. I like the feel of LaBella's much better, but the Chromes are still on this one and it sounds great (though it's not mine anymore).