Ou7shined

Hi all. I've been given a single pup Pangborn with dodgy 'tronics to work on. The owner has made one or two home "improvements" in it's time. Chiefly the Vol pot, which does absolutely nothing now. He also partially installed an LED for the active circuit. It was a horrible mess and I've spent all day tracing, re-soldering, removing extraneous wires and replacing old corroded ones) and still can't figure out what's wrong. My poor finger tips are now scorched from soldering and de-soldering in the tiny space for the controls and I'm pretty fed up. The big old preamp is still wrapped up old school style in it's original masking tape and copper foil. So I'd rather only crack it open as a last resort - although tracing the circuit would be much more finite if I did. Below is my diagram of how it was originally presented to me (once I'd removed all the dross). I hope I've made everything clear enough. To the best of his knowledge this is how it was before he started modding it too. Although he can't be certain of the pot value that he removed. I've tried a 500k B and a 10k pot in case it was a bit fishy like an EMG circuit but nothing helps. Note : The centre control is stacked - both pots are fixed and adjust simultaneously. What I thought was a 50k treble pot in the diagram actually turns out to be more like a 100 when measured. The controls are vol>bass>treb in active mode (bass and treb seem to work to an extent) and I presume that it should then become vol>tone in passive mode (with the treble pot now out of the circuit) but obviously it doesn't function in this state. The pup bypasses the vol pot which itself bypasses the tone and the lone connection to the tone pot (if that's what it is) seems pointless. Any suggestions guys? Many thanks in advance.

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1393606850' post='2382557'] I've been meaning to post some constructive feedback on everyone's entries, so here goes...! [b]....[/b] [b]Ou7shined: [/b]As those above, good use of samples. Love the bass tone/playing. Interesting melody. The simple rhythm part really works. I really like the middle section where the bass drops out, leaving just the ghostly synth part. Subtle but very effective. Nice mix and production. Great track! [b]...[/b] [/quote] Wow thanks Paul! I was obviously very much out of my comfort zone genre wise with the track but I just let the vibe of the project dictate the direction it took. Although not my usual thing I do hear references to some of my biggest non rock influences in there. Going back a few days after first recording it I realised that the simple percussion line you mentioned was reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Childhood's Dream and Obscured By Clouds (in fact I think I now see a few nods to the mighty PF in there) and from the bass and keys side I hear a little Kate Bush. I find it fascinating how these musical flavours steel themselves deep within us and pop out subconsciously into our music when they feel like it. I'm glad you mentioned the production as making the grade. My monitoring is through a quite old 2.1 Logitech computer setup and although I think it sounds ok most of the time I worry a lot about my "mastering" such that it is.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1393578162' post='2382030'] Osteopath on call. [size=4] [/size] [/quote] I will include the phone number of my local bone cracker on the back of the headstock in case of emergencies.

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1393577260' post='2382009'] This way madness lies... [/quote] All the more reason to try it.

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1393576723' post='2381998'] Come on ! You've got to give us more than that. [/quote] Haha fair doos. The build is inspired by project myself and a drummer have started. These are the definites so far. I play my bass pretty low so the guitar part has to be over the bass part. The body will be Ash. I'm put off by the huge bodies I've seen in other examples so I am going to try and keep mine as small as comfortably possible while hopefully keeping it aesthetically pleasing - ie. no Steinberger lookylikeys. My initial sketches are based around a traditional P bass design but I'm open to more "unique" suggestions. I won't be building guitar neck from scratch. I have found a very nice acoustic Yamaha LL neck which I will set into the body. I'm undecided about what to do for the bass neck just now. My gut feeling was to go with a 2+2 headstock but my initial mockup had a Fender style neck and it seems to work well with the Yammy neck... at this stage at least. This bass/guitar will be used for dark riff based rock so I'm going with a single neck humbucker on each. At the moment I plan on a simple vol tone control system with a bass>both>guitar selector switch. Although the bass circuit will be passive (for now), I plan on integrating a switchable onboard fuzz/dist for the guitar output. I may go for a dual output option too so I can drive 2 different amps simultaneously.

Np

Timber bought, basic concept in mind. Watch this space.

Is [url="http://www.dhgate.com/store/product/wilkinson-lic-wbbc-bass-bridge-brass-saddle/135563950.html"]this[/url] it? This could be your [url="http://www.dhgate.com/product/wilkinson-lic-wbbc-bass-bridge-brass-saddle/135564063.html"]black one[/url]

Looks like a Wilkinson

This is probably why it woks for me ...

Ace. This is what modding is all about.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1393515332' post='2381312'] Bravo, chaps. A difficult choice, as usual, and quite the eclectic mix. It is after no small amount of deliberation on my part to give my vote to stu_g. (A very close 2nd and 3rd...possibly even joint 2nd...to Ou7shined and Dad.) [/quote] Cheers and cheers again for even mentioning mine.

Black blocks ..... although the neck gap leaves a lot to be desired

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1393489250' post='2380790'] You might reduce some of that headstock dent by steaming it out (damp cloth, warm iron job). I hope you get a bit of a discount for that! [/quote] It's unlikely you'll be able to steam out a dink from end grain Maple. Often you have to just rub it back and refinish. Worth a crack though I'm sure.

[quote name='Clarky72' timestamp='1393452933' post='2380615'] ..., the guy wants £500 for it too. .... [/quote] Walk on by man.

Has he consulted [url="http://www.newtonestrings.com/"]Newtone Strings[/url] to see what they can do for him?

Not a fender expert but a square on shot of the headstock might help eliminate some of the more obvious copies.

All that glistens....

Gold on black looks the biz.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1393332870' post='2378781'] Make a goat head bass out of a church pew! [/quote] And be damned to hell for all eternity? Might be worth a try.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1393332452' post='2378773'] ..... surely an old reclaimed piece of wood from an 1800s church pew would have more vintage mojo than anything those young upstarts at Fender have produced?..... [/quote] Awesome.

[quote name='davidpike' timestamp='1393190984' post='2377240'] ... My little boy likes it too! ... [/quote] Ace

Spoko. Would like to hear a bit more "bite" though.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1393081550' post='2375977'] I'm quite pleased that the dong on the back of the body isn't pictured [/quote] Apparently it's a stacked knob too.