Modified Low Impedance Pickups??

[Basvarken]

Wow that's a crazy cool bass!

Did you paint the pickups white? Or are they white plastic?

[drbassman]

Wow, nice work!  I like the look of both of them.  How do they sound?

[Granny Gremlin]

I hope I finally figured out the pic posting process.  Here are a few pic's of the two custom bass' I built that I referred to earlier and Granny asked me to show.  Grog and Granny, thank you again for sharing all that valuable insight and information. It was much appreciated.

I already appreciated the SG in the other thread, but that LP shaped one (is it actually a refinned Triumph or something else? Can't quite make out the headstock) is AMAZING!.  Love the colour and the postmodern pickgurad.  ... Not to mention the White LoZ pups (assuming they're from the LPSig Prototype - are they bass or guitar ones?)!  Just floored over here; seriously good work.  Please describe the controls you got there - looks like more than just the normal Triumph stuff.

[Highlander]

Holy Mother of Pearl...!

[amptech]

Wow that's a crazy cool bass!

Did you paint the pickups white? Or are they white plastic?

It seems, from the pics previous page that some white paint have peeled off the (black) neck pup.

They are Gibson embossed too, so then it can´t be LP sig protos, can they?

[Granny Gremlin]

Good eye - I was so enthralled with the retro look of the thing (it's a really busy design) that I didn't notice that (in my defense it's on the opposite side of the body to that heavily loaded/decorated control cover).

[BlendedCat]

Sorry for the Delay in responding - I was out of town at a convention.  Thank you all for the kind comments.  Man- you guys make me feel good about the work I did on it!  Friends here don't play instruments and basically give me that "It's really nice but why didn't you just buy one and save yourself the aggravation?"    The white pickups are regular Triumph bass pickups that I dyed with SEM plastic infuser.  That spot isn't a chip ( the SEM system which is used for Auto interiors is fairly indestructible) but a scrape from my file when I was doing the final fret level. I am a hack not a luthier and closer inspection of my work would confirm that.  Still I was so anxious to try it out that just left it for the time being.

The Body is the exact dimensions of the triumph.  I purchased a busted up one for pennies and used it as my model right down to the pocket depth  and such,  Then after I got it carved, sanded and routed perfectly I sliced the very top part off and chambered the bottom half taking nearly 1 ¼ pounds of weight out.  The color I used was the true 1957 Chevy Surf green,  not the later 62 Surf green which is what subsequent Chevy's and Surf green guitars are formulated from.  The 57 color had a lot more blue in it and can be of indeterminate color sometimes appearing green or blue in depending on light.  I did a nod to the  "57 Chevy thing" which is why the three chrome stripes are on the Fin, er I a mean control panel.  The fingerboard is plain maple (left in its original unstained condition) which I bound and inlayed before glossing it.   I never seen such on a LP so I thought it would give it that "It looks like a Gibson but something's wrong" feeling.  Same thing with the maple head plate which I Inlayed , painted and bound with a design  taken right from the Triumph bass layout.  Again Gibson never matched the headstock color to the body colors so I thought it was cool.  I agonized over whether to put the Gibson Logo on it.  It is not a Gibson and It might appear I was trying to rip them off.  But almost everything was inspired and Used from Gibson so to not acknowledge that seemed just as wrong. I researched the Laws and as long as I don't claim it's a Gibson and never try to sell it as such I can do what I wish with my property.   I tell people the truth about it – the name is on there as a true show of respect to the original and so they know that while I made it I did not create it.

[amptech]

Plain crazyness...  great!

[Grog]

Nice work! You sure put a lot of thought, work & electronics in that bass! Any chance of seeing a gut shot?

[Granny Gremlin]

Wow, I now remember you mentioning the preamp thing. 

Just one question:  what's the difference between the Z Mode switch and the Transformer switch (and what transformer did you use in there - LPSig or something else entirely?).... OK so that's 2 questions I guess.

That trhing is so snazzy I can almost overlook the maple fretboard 

[amptech]

That trhing is so snazzy I can almost overlook the maple fretboard 

Yeah. Almost!

[BlendedCat]

Hahahahahaha  I like the maple finger Board    Actually it almost lost out to an ebony finger Board.  I'm terrible with design and colors so at every step of the finish I got a consensus decision from a set of people who are talented with such things.  To be sure I would offer the options but I would go with the consensus.  The finger rest opposite the pickups was a last minute option which won most to the maple.  Without the finger rest the maple didn't work and the ebony was the clear winner

The transformer is an old multi tap audio transformer made in the 1960"s by UTC,  The one pictured  is Identical in shape but with different out puts and it matches the specs from the LP Sig Bass.  Because of the Ohm output of the pickups I had to use a different Tranny with a multi tap primary of 250, 500 and 750 ohms.

The Audere preamp is designed to accept only a high impedance input (hence the transformer).   It is one of the few preamps that uses active mixing were the pickups are buffered before the balance pot.  This prevents the resistance of the Balance pot from changing the start point of the attenuation frequency. It also allows for a customizable Z switch which changes the impedance load on the pickups effectively raising or lowering the resonant frequency of the pickups. (I hope I got this right !?!).  Any way the effect is that the balance pot really is sensitive and the sound of the pickups remain true regardless of the blend.  On the Z mode switch, the mid position of the Z switch is almost indistinguishable from my passive Triumph bass, the low position provide deep rich bass which is not boomy, the high  position is my slap bass setting.

http://www.audereaudio.com/index.htm



It is obvious that all of this wouldn't fit into the EBO slot head which is why I made this one.  I am finished making basses now.  I am not that good at it and It takes me forever (1 full year on the green one),

[Highlander]

All that pasta...!

[Grog]

Lota stuff under that hood! Lester would be proud! Thanks for posting the photos.........

[Granny Gremlin]

Ah.  Thanks for those details... and pics.