EB3 wiring harness by Rothstein Guitars

sniper · August 17, 2012, 08:47:42 AM

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151177791286882&set=at.10150343646511882.397335.317724746881.632781710&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

two years ago i had Curtis make me a choke and directed him towards the spool to use to make it. then i sent him a choke to use for a model when he wound the spools. now Rothstein is making a wiring loom (sorry i could not post a picture but photobucket is throwing a tantrum!) that looks and sounds like it may do the trick.

"1. The tone pot for the neck pickup is a push/pull that allows you to choose between traditional treble roll-off, vs. diode clipping (ala Jack Bruce). I found a particular type of Germanium diode that works extremely well. It sounds killer.

2. I'm using a choke bypass in the circuit. When I looked that original design it seemed to me that the choke is only supposed to be "live" in 1 of the 4 positions, but it seems like it is actually in the circuit more than it should be. So I tweaked a bit so the choke is 100% out of the circuit except in the 4th position.

As far as components, they are very old school featuring a Curtis Novak vintage reproduction hand wound choke, along with CTS pots, MOD paper-in-oil caps, carbon comp resistors, and vintage style cloth wire.

I will try to get some sound samples up within a week or so....stay tuned!!"

chromium · August 17, 2012, 09:37:46 AM

Here's the pic from your link...

Looks slick!

Dave W · August 17, 2012, 10:31:28 AM

His prices for Fender-style harnesses are sky high, I can only imagine what this might run.

chromium · August 17, 2012, 11:28:54 AM

Quote from: sniper on August 17, 2012, 08:47:42 AM
2. I'm using a choke bypass in the circuit. When I looked that original design it seemed to me that the choke is only supposed to be "live" in 1 of the 4 positions, but it seems like it is actually in the circuit more than it should be. So I tweaked a bit so the choke is 100% out of the circuit except in the 4th position.

In the earlier/60s EB-3, that filtering circuit is omnipresent. The choked/baritone sound of the mudbucker comes in as intended on positions three (choked mud+bridge) and four (choked mud). Position one is supposed to be unchoked wide-open sound of the neck pickup, but it is plagued by the same residual filtering effect that the EB-2s suffer from. The filter remains in the circuit, and in this mode has the side effect of rolling off the high frequencies - creating that thunderous low-hovering-cloud bass tone that lacks high frequency definition. Position 2 adds the bridge pickup to that.

I'm bettin' he based his circuit on the 70s EB-3 electronics. In that design, the choke/filter was only truly active in the circuit when using position 4 (choked mudbucker). This is definitely part of the reason that the 70s EB-3s sound more "open".

Can't imagine that there is a market for something like this, but it's cool that the option is there to have someone build it if needed. Some of these old Gibbie circuits will give ya a migraine trying to decipher what's going on!

chromium · August 17, 2012, 11:46:55 AM

As an aside, I just dug out my 68 a couple weeks ago and took it to a rehearsal. I had a blast with it! Takes a little EQ work to dial in, but it sat in the mix nicely. Mostly used position 3, and occasionally 2 to kick it up a notch for some songs (thicker sound). It had literally been about 2-3 years since I've played it! It needed restring, setup, and at the last gig where I had used it (previous band), a road case had gotten shoved up against it - and one of the latches left a huge gouge in the front.

Made me depressed every time I looked at it.

Finally drop-filled and touched up the gouge, restrung, leveled a couple high frets and set it up. What a joy to play - I love this bass!

uwe · August 17, 2012, 03:41:51 PM

I'm no electronics wiz, but I have ears: The four positions on the seventies EB-3s were the only combination that makes remotely sense to me. The sixties combination is unusable, you have to settle for one sound and adjust your amp to that.

chromium · August 17, 2012, 05:03:09 PM

Quote from: uwe on August 17, 2012, 03:41:51 PM
I'm no electronics wiz, but I have ears: The four positions on the seventies EB-3s were the only combination that makes remotely sense to me. The sixties combination is unusable, you have to settle for one sound and adjust your amp to that.

Yeah the older circuit is funky. EQ is pretty much mandatory in most settings.

That harness in the OP might make a good retrofit for 60s basses- something that would get them closer to the >=1972 sound. Look forward to hearing soundclips...