Ou7shined

Well as you know I've been charged with the task of the paint and finish. Matt dropped off the Victory all prepped for spraying. Today I rubbed the body and neck back a bit further to rid it of any hairy bits and reduce the scorch marks a little more (don't worry Matt you still have a serial ) and got 3-4 coats of primer on and flattened each time. While waiting for the primer coats to dry I got the first few coats of lightly tinted lacquer on the neck too. I don't think it will need much more tint (pic doesn't do it justice). ...oh and I made a start on Matt's Hagstrom which has been on my to do list for... oooh... about a year now :blush: Weather permitting (I never spray on damp days) I expect more of the same tomorrow.

Very interesting comparison. Thanks. For me the original pups sound way better with a classic rounder tone - but it depends what you are going for really. Interestingly the JVX's sound very modern and scooped (very EMGish) which is a huge surprise for me considering the JVs I have sound very classic-like.

Pinched off the web..... How to choose the right tone capacitor for guitar and bass? Most guitars and basses with passive pickups use between .01 and .1MFD (Microfarad) tone capacitors with .02 (or .022) and .05 (or .047) being the most common choices. The capacitor and tone pot are wired together to provide a variable low pass filter. This means when the filter is engaged (tone pot is turned) only the low frequencies pass to the output jack and the high frequencies are grounded out (cut) In this application, the capacitor value determines the "cutoff frequency" of the filter and the position of the tone pot determines how much the highs (everything above the cutoff frequency) will be reduced. So the rule is: Larger capacitors will have lower cutoff frequency and sound darker in the bass setting because a wider range of frequencies is being reduced. Smaller capacitors will have a higher cutoff frequency and sound brighter in the bass setting because only the ultra high frequencies are cut. For this reason, dark sounding guitars like Les Pauls with humbuckers typically use .02MFD (or .022MFD) capacitors to cut off less of the highs and guitars like Strats and Teles with single coils typically use .05MFD capacitors to allow more treble to be rolled off. Keep in mind that the capacitor value only affects the sound when the tone control is being used (pot in the bass setting) The tone capacitor value will have little to no effect on the sound when the tone pot is in the treble setting.

If you increase the size of the capacitor, you effectively lower the frequency cut off point.

They both work. The simplest thing to do would just be to de-solder you original pups and directly replace them with the new without changing any other wiring. The cap only determines how much top end is bled off so you may like how your original 0.1uf sounds if you are unhappy with it simply swap it for the .05 or swap it and redo the whole loom as per SD. It's up to you really.

The pickups are misaligned so it could be a Fender.

A lot of it is down to the sound-guy and how he arranges and finds space for similar frequencies which may emanate from different instruments. But for our purposes, in situations where sound engineering may not be available or possible, bass frequencies don't travel through "band air" as well as higher frequencies do so if you had a bass like a Stingray or backline that produce more mid frequencies than normal yet not overpoweringly so it seems to piggyback the bass frequencies into your audiences ears. I used to have a lovely Schroeder cab which when played quietly at home sounded too mid humpy it almost hurt yet at gigging level it projected my sound beautifully and filled the venue without emphasising the mids. I don't know why.

[quote name='peteb' post='925882' date='Aug 15 2010, 09:36 PM']Ou7shined - for your information: Try anchoring your thumb between the screws at the top of your MM style pick up and playing the 'g' string with alternative fingers (index & middle), which will be directly above the rear pole pieces. As you pluck thru the 'g' string your finger will come to rest on or actually below the 'd' (this is the same with the 'd' & 'a' strings but not so apparent with 'a' to 'e' due to the position of your hand on these strings). My middle finger is longer than my index and tends to catch on the back pole piece, especially when raking from string to string I usually have epoxy covered pickups set quite close to the strings and the idea is that your fingers glide just above the top of the pickup cover – this is quite a common technique and is used by Billy Sheehan (he talks about it in one of his instructional DVDs) & I’m sure many others (but probably not by those playing bleedin’ stingrays)!![/quote] I gave it a bash but my hands are huge and if I rest my thumb between the screws then my fingers fall midway between the pup and the bridge. When playing a 'ray I normally rest my thumb at the furthest forward point of the pup (which brings my fingertips closer in). Trying what you suggested I noticed that I don't really tend to go under the string all that much, I sort of rake acutely from on top. To force myself to accidentally hit a pole piece I have to come around a bit and go at it pretty rapid to the point where my technique starts to collapse but I do see what you mean

Does look nice but I bet you'd soon get fed up trying to tune those four "inner" tuners. :wacko:

Youch! Plastic tuners.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='925767' date='Aug 15 2010, 07:16 PM']I don't have a MM bass or even a MM pup in front of me but is it not possible to simply remove the plastic pup surround and replace that with a 'sealed' top (a la Bartolini/EMG) cover... failing that if the plastic surround comes off can you[b] fit a spacer that will mean the pole pieces are dropped below the level of the surround [/b](in my mind I know what I'm talking about, even if nobody else does ). I am just thinking out loud here and it might be a completely sealed unit for all I know! [/quote] This is what I'd do. However I have 4 MM pups spanning the decades from '78 to '06 and none of them seem to display this problem. I can't even imagine how you can be hitting your fingers off the pole pieces seeing as they are directly below the strings.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='924535' date='Aug 13 2010, 11:48 PM']I recon ou7shined should go over their with his Pingray and tell them it's the better than a real Stingray. .........[/quote] Hahaha. Do you double dare me?

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='925318' date='Aug 15 2010, 05:12 AM']Ok everyone, I am sure you have all vented your opinions in regards to the Ernie Ball forum and in regards to Sterling Ball...... .......Make what you may of it but surely before you comment / disagree or diss you really need to do your homework first.[/quote] So in essence you're saying he's a knob but does some charity work so give him a break. I've been a member on there for a few years now and found it to be a fairly pointless exercise. I've asked a few technical questions and never really got any satisfactory answers that weren't already available at the privately run musicmanbass.org. I guess it's an ok forum for folk who want to buy new all the time but compared to the likes of the G&L forums who are run by passionate fans it is little more than a drop in point for sycophants.

Bought a loaded no-name Jazz neck off Wayne. Arrived next day and wonderfully packaged in the style of Postman Pat meets Mad Max. Many thanks. Rich.

Bought a bunch of cheapo Jazz bits off John. They arrived next day all expertly boxed. Perfecto. Cheers mate. Rich

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='922671' date='Aug 12 2010, 01:06 PM']Looks great, although I do think the Fender RI is one of the finer examples of their range - rumoured to be discontinued though so the timing could be perfect.[/quote] Not a patch on Jon Shuker's version though. :brow:

Looks nice.

I have a pair of JVs (complete with pots) I can sell if anyone is interested.

You could split the individual parts of a P pickup and lay them transversally so that each string takes 2 poles.

[quote name='scottaylor' post='918853' date='Aug 8 2010, 04:59 PM']i have a vintage 4 sting bass and a line 6 15 watts bass shes a good bass but i was woching [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mO9UbWMycM&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mO9UbWMycM&NR=1[/url] and her other vids love the sound. bluse = metal = funk/ slap = [/quote] I like that "Free" song she does. BTW I meant the Tribute version in my reply above.

G&L L2000 many sounds in one great package.

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='918208' date='Aug 7 2010, 06:21 PM']Has anyone here totally modded a Fleabass yet? I know of the EMG pickup swap that most people do, but I was wondering if anyone has gone further? I have an unused Seymour Duncan Basslines alnico humbucker and the preamp eq system just itching to go into a bass. As I'm moving to 30" scale permanently, I've been toying with the idea of the Fleabass Junior and doing a good mod on it - but I'm unsure if the string spacing will suit the humbucker etc. I think I did see somewhere someone who did do this - i.e: re-route the pickguard and body, drill new holes for the extra pots etc, but I can't find where I saw it........ I've tried the Fleabass and thought it was quite okay, maybe not worth the full asking price, but a good bass to knock about on, and as [b]there aren't any other short scale Stringray-esq styled basses out there[/b], I thought this might be a good way to go. Any thoughts?[/quote] Aren't the probass ones short scale?