BOD2

[quote name='Nostromo' post='975812' date='Oct 3 2010, 11:07 AM']ie . . for example if you wanted to raise the strings by say 1mm at the bridge compaired to their existing position, how thick would the shim need to be to achieve thie required change in neck angle ? . . . would you be talking about a shim made of a piece of newspaper ? . . or ordinary A4 office paper . . or thin cardboard . . or thicker cardboard ? . . .[/quote] Remember that once the shim in is place you will still be able to adjust the action using the screws on the bridge pieces. The shim just gets the neck back into an area where the normal action adjustment will work. Newspaper and standard A4 paper would be too thin to have any significant effect. You're probably looking at something the thickness of a stiff business card or some people use a piece of sandpaper, which would be around the same thickness. Other than that I'm afraid it's just a bit of trial and error.

The capacitor is used as part of the tone control circuit. If you don't have a capacitor then the tone control on the bass won't work. If you never actually use the tone control (and never intend to) then you could do away with both the tone pot itself and tje capacitor, and just have a volume control. If you want to have a tone control then you need a capacitor and the standard Fender values are as good a starting place as any. This link will show you where the capacitor fits in a standard P-Bass - [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=std_pbass"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wirin...matic=std_pbass[/url]

[quote name='BassKS' post='974861' date='Oct 2 2010, 11:56 AM']OK.... So I got this warmoth Jazz from the States while I was out there... It was put together ok but I just cant seem to bend the strings in the high frets. The strings hit the fretboard and die out. No bluesy solo.... The action is indeed low but increasing it may solve the bending string prob but not neccessarily make it easy for me to play the rest of the bass (Slapping etc). The neck has zero relief. Do I relieve it first, or will the shim take care of everything (as per diagrams indicating that the relief is zero should you choose to put the shim)... Help,[/quote] Neck relief has most effect on frets around the centre part of the neck. It's not so likely to stop fretting out on the higher frets as there isn't much neck left in that area. If you are having problems in the high frets then you'll probably have to raise the action. Try adjusting (raising) the action before attempting to do anything with neck shims.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='974015' date='Oct 1 2010, 02:08 PM']There are now 25 people reading it.[/quote] Nope 24. I just gave up and left..... Doh ! No I didn't - I came back to add this reply

[quote name='Twigman' post='973929' date='Oct 1 2010, 01:26 PM']Erm...yep.... Many venues ,say 20 years ago, would happily put on an originals band but these days insist on covers only.....if these covers bands didn't exist and the venue wanted live music they'd still be putting on originals.[/quote] Most venues will put on whatever it is they believe will bring people in to spend money on drink. And if that's a Karaoke machine then that will do. 20 years ago, where I was playing, venues weren't interested in covers bands or originals bands - what they wanted were "Blues" bands. It's a fashion thing. It comes and goes. The truth is that there are more players out there than there are people who can write good songs. If you're fortunate enough to join a band with a good songwriter then you can do originals. If you can't find the good songwriter then you can give up, play in the bedroom, or find some other players in the same boat who like the idea of having some fun playing good songs (covers) that they enjoy. If you get good at that then maybe you'll get some gigs and other people might have some fun listening.

You would need to disconnect the pickups to measure the resistance across them. The two pickups should be around the same resistance and that would only confirm that the coils inside the pickups were intact. That control cavity does look quite messy inside. I'd be inclined to completely rewire it. But I'd also like to know what's going on underneath the insulating tape there - the thick red wires just disappear in there and don't re-emerge. Are they soldered in there, or just twisted together and taped over ? You probably want it to be wired like this - [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=passive_soapbar"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wirin...passive_soapbar[/url]

Generally no. But that advice is to avoid the problem of using standard screened instrument cable for speakers. Instrument cable cannot handle the power that can go to a speaker cab and can break down and do damage. However, this isn't an inherent problem with "screened" cable - it's just that all instrument cable is screened so, in a musician context, screened cable IS instrument cable. Have a look at the the two conductors inside the cable - the screen is one and the centre core is the other. If they are good substantial cables (the core in particular) then they may be suitable. Compare the thickness with regular speaker cable. If the thicknesses (the thickness of the copper wire, that is) are the same then it should be ok.

I've attached the T40 wiring diagram - it may well be the one you've already got. The earthing in this diagram needs a bit of clarification if you're not familiar with it. Firstly there should be a wire that runs from the earth on the output jack to a common earth point somewhere in the circuit (the back on one of the pot shells would do). This is very important. Also, there should be a wire that runs from the bridge to a common earth point. This bridge wire is not usually soldered to the bridge but comes through a hole in the body beneath the bridge and is trapped between body and bridge when the bridge is screwed down. In the diagram, the selector switch (S2) shows a triangular "lug" to the right, to which two earth wires are connected. This is just an earthing point - it should not be connected to any of the switch terminals but the wires shown in the diagram going to the pot shells are necessary to earth everything. Every pot shell should connect to earth somewhere, and switch S1 should have one of the centre terminals connected to an earth (again, a pot shell would do). Finally, if the control cavity is shielded in any way, then you should insulate it anywhere where the components could touch the shielding paint when the guitar is reassembled. Hope this helps.

It shouldn't cause any damage, but you may need to adjust the truss rod to compensate for the altered string tension. A higher tension will tend to pull the headstock end forward and increase the bow in the neck a little. This is what the turss rod is actually there for - to compensate for this. If you are lowering the tuning (to dropped C) then this will lower the tension a little as well so the ebnd result might not be as bad as you might expect. You can't tell until you put the new strings on.

What about a noise gate pedal ? Set with the the threshhold high it would cut off the signal when switched on. When you start playing again just switch off the noise gate and it's out of your FX chain. This'll give you an idea of what a noise gate will do... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3HG6Cf2qP0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3HG6Cf2qP0[/url]

Have a look here - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=49897"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=49897[/url] ... and listen to the advice about the neck being tight in the previous replies. Just go slowly and carefully. You can see that you don't actually need to remove the strings.

"Ric o sound" just provides a method for splitting the signals from the different pickups so that you can send them to different amplifiers or FX chains. It uses a stereo jack socket on the bass into which you plug a "Y-cable" which has a stereo jack plug at the bass end and splits into two separate mono jacks at the other end. This enables you to plug each of the mono jacks into a different amp, or into a different EQ or FX setup, thus optimising the amp/FX for each pickup. This could allow you, for example, to setup a really bright amp EQ for the bridge pickup and a much deeper amp EQ for the neck pickup to emphasise the difference in the pickup sounds.

A BadAss II or III will fit on any bass that has a flat (not contoured) body -the bridge is flat so it needs to sit on a flat body. If there are 5 holes on the body then it will still fit but, depending on where the holes actually are on the body, you may need to drill 3 new holes for the BadAss, or fill the original holes and drill new ones. Can't say without seeing the body. BUT.... and this is important - the BadAss may be HIGHER than the original bridge. This will raise the action. If there isn't enough adjustment in the bridge saddles to lower the action back down then you may have to shim the neck (see separate sticky) to compensate. Obviously this will not be possible with a through neck or glued-in neck - only a bolt-on neck. The same comments would apply to any aftermarket bridge designed to fit a Fender J or P Bass. The only big deal about the BadAss was that that screw holes were in the same place as the original Fender bass - which os also true for many othetr bridges.

Are you using a stereo jack socket (with 3 contacts) ? This is required to switch the battery on/off when the jack is inserted into the socket. I would check the wiring at the jack socket and make sure it's all correct there. Also make sure that nothing is shorting out when you reassemble the bass - try insert some card as a temporary insulator anywhere where things could touch the metal of pots or any cavity screening.

iPods can be awkward to connect to mixers and the like. I believe it's all to do with impedance matching of the mixer inputs - the output from the iPod is meant to drive headphones, after all. Provided the mixer has a level control for the Tape Inputs then it should work ok plugged in there - but you should experiment with the adjusting the output level from the iPod to see what gives best results. If you have enough mixer inputs, the other option is to make use a "Y-lead" with a 3.5mm stereo min-jack for the iPod going to two 1/4 inch mono jacks, and then plug each jack into a separate channel on the mixer. You should then have more control of the channel input gain as well as the actual channel output volume. If the mixetr has any stereo channels, with 2 input jacks on the channel and a "Pan" control then you could use teh same lead to connect to that stereo channel. And always remember to try different iPod out levels and mixer levels until you get the best sound.

If it's only a problem within a foot of the amp then it sounds like it is just the pickups being affected by the electromagnetic fields generated by the amps transformers and other bits. If the bass has single coil pikcups then this is to be expected. Not much you can do about it really. A noise gate could be used and setup to cut off the noise in between songs if that's where the problem lies.

I just had a glance at the manual. Although the specifciations page suggests you can use a latched (FS-5L) or unlatched switch (FS-5U) the actual examples given on page 20 and 44 are with unlatched switches. Also the behaviour you are seeing with the latched switch suggests that an unlatched switch would work better. An unlatched switch switches one way when it is pressed down and switches back when it is released - this is the same effect as pressing a latched switch twice.

According to Marshall (who should know a thing or two about valve amps).... [i]"The most common symptom of valve failure is the blowing of the HT fuse. On some occasions after replacing the fuse the amp will work for a while but will blow the fuse again when it reaches full working temperature. This is the first warning sign that a valve is failing. If both the HT and mains fuses blow, then blow again on replacement, then it is pretty definite that at least one of the valves has short circuited and needs replacing."[/i] But given that you don't know anything about the history of the amp then it's best not to assume that this is the fault. If it is valve failure then bear in mind that a new set of power amp valves can be quite pricey, so you need to take that into account when looking at the cost of the amp.

The plastic film is there to protect the plate while the instrument is being assembled - no one would like to have their new guitar arrive with the plate all scratched. The luthier probably kept it on for the same reason and just assumed you'd remove it when you got it back. You don't have to remove the strings to get it off - it'll fit underneath. The pots can be a bit of a pain, but if you remove the knobs and tear carefully around the pots it should be ok. For the screws, just unscrew them a little and pull out the plastic.

Well spotted ! Sorry to put you through all that unnecessary work but at least you've found the problem now.

Other than checking that the earth wire inside the mains plug has not come adrift, there's not much you can do other than have a tech take a look at it.

The only two things I can think of are a possible problem with the earth wire to the bridge, and static electricity building up on the pickguard. To check the bridge you'd have to unscrew it and remove it from the body. Sounds drastic but it's only the 5 screws at the rear of the bridge. Underneath, there should be a wire coming through from the control cavity that is bared and should touch and make good contact with the metal underside of the bridge base plate. Occasionally you have to roughen the underside of the base plate with sandpaper to ensure a good contact. Splay out the bare ends of the earth wire to ensure a good contact - a touch of vaseline can also help here. If it's static on the pickguard, then glueing aluminum foil to the underside of the guard might help. You need Spraymount photo-mount adhesive and some Bacofoil. Remove the guard and cut a square of Bacofoil larger then the guard. Spray the reverse side of the guard with Spraymount then place it firmly onto the foil. Trim round the edge of the foil. You now have a foil-backed guard. If you can arrange it so that part of the foil touches the metal control plate when it is all reassembled then the foil will be earthed and should reduce static build up on the guard. Seems a lot of trouble to go to on a new bass, though ?

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' post='690148' date='Dec 20 2009, 09:16 PM']I'd paint the pickups . Sorry but ugh! (the pickups not the bass)[/quote] [quote name='raze']and I should give a toss about your opinion why ?[/quote] Please keep it civil. Everyone's taste is different and everyone is entitled to their taste. Thanks.

[quote name='Geek99' post='689300' date='Dec 19 2009, 06:48 PM']Blackberry having 3g trouble[/quote] It must be a ground loop..

If you are only using one cable to one cab then it actually doesn't matter - either wire could go to either connection on the jack and work ok. You would only get a problem if you were using two cabs, with two cables and these were wired opposite to each other. In that case the problem would be that the cabs were "out pf phase" - it would sound weak but no damage would be done to anything. I would wire the orange to the centre connector of the jack (on the basis that orange/red = hot and blue = cold) and the blue to the shield or case of the jack.