Martin Keith basses

[Jeff Scott]

Anyone here own or play one (or more)?

[4stringer77]

Not me, but I have to ask. Are you the same Jeff Scott on the testimonial page of Martin's website?
They seem like nice enough basses. He pulls off the single cut shape more elegantly than many other builders.

[Jeff Scott]

Yes, that is I!  I first learned about and met Keith at the 2010 NAMM Show.  I went to the Veillette booth to check out Joe's instruments as I had never had the chance to see one in person, and Martin was there with some of his basses.  I learned that Martin works with Joe.  I played a couple of his basses (with active electronics); when I asked if he had anything with passive electronics in it he grabbed the Elfin 5 fretless that I fell for and bought from him.  It is the one featured in the review of Martin's basses in the June 2010 issue of Bass Player.  About a year after that I ordered a fretted Elfin 5 from him. 

[4stringer77]

Interesting coil blend option on the push pull blend pot that also functions as a traditional blend. Congratulations on finding your "soul bass" and welcome aboard the best bass forum on the web!

[Jeff Scott]

I usually set the pickups to the pulled position and blend between the individual coils as desired since all four coils are in operation with the panpot in the middle (detent).  The fretted Elfin 5 has the outer coils in the traditional '60s location which is pretty cool as I can instantly switch between a Jazz Bass tone or a Precision Bass tone (more or less) by which position the switch is in (up or down, respectively) when the panpot is fully clockwise.

[chromium]

I do have some good sounding active setups, but have also always favored just a good quality, simple passive config - and the flexibility of external pres.  Nice to see some high end builders with that vision.

Kind of a tangent, but that blend pot piqued my interest.  I was trying to get my head around how that thing might be wired up...

Sure enough, I found a pot out there that could pull something like that off.  It's dual ganged with a push/pull DPDT switch:
http://www.wdmusic.com/bourns_push_pull_pot_dpdt_a_taper_metric_knurled_shaft_500k_bourns_500pp.html

No idea if this is how MK is approaching it, but from what was described above something like the schematic below should work.  It'll act as a normal pickup blend in one position, and blend the two outer vs. inner coils in the other...

Just sharing a rough sketch (by way of crappy cell pic) for anyone else who might have also been curious about it  

[Jeff Scott]

I'm not sure if I am reading your schematic correctly, but here is some more details.  The pull switch is on the tone pot so finding parts may be even easier.  When the switch is pushed down the setup works just like a standard harness, panning from one humbucking pickup to the other.  With the switch pulled up and the panpot is in the middle position the two pickups are just like the former setting, both humbucking with all four coils of the two pickups in use.  As the panpot is turned clockwise the signal moves gradually from the 4 coils to just the 2 outer coils; when the panpot is rotated counterclockwise the signal gradually moves to just the 2 inner coils.  It really is a great way to provide a variety of tone with a passive system.

[chromium]

I'm not sure if I am reading your schematic correctly, but here is some more details.  The pull switch is on the tone pot so finding parts may be even easier.  When the switch is pushed down the setup works just like a standard harness, panning from one humbucking pickup to the other.  With the switch pulled up and the panpot is in the middle position the two pickups are just like the former setting, both humbucking with all four coils of the two pickups in use.  As the panpot is turned clockwise the signal moves gradually from the 4 coils to just the 2 outer coils; when the panpot is rotated counterclockwise the signal gradually moves to just the 2 inner coils.  It really is a great way to provide a variety of tone with a passive system.

Ah ok - thanks for that info!  Having the push/pull switch on a normal (single) pot would make sourcing the parts easier.

Novel idea, and if I'm ever faced with rewiring a dual HB bass this is something I'd certainly try out.