Grangur

This is a bass owned by @TheGreek Its a Kawai Alembic copy from the 1980s. This is, I suspect, from the Matsomoku factory on Japan. Certainly its well made and the headstock is the right shape for one of theirs. Mick came to me with this, asking if I had seen his thread on here discussing new pickups and electrics for this bass. I hadn't. In the past 3 years I've scarcely picked up a bass, let alone fixed one. Work has me pretty busy, but I've taken this on because it's a beauty of bass. I'd like to have if working and playable. Plus I need to stop working 7-days a week.

Most bass necks can take a few fret levels before they come to need a re-fret. I've seen a Fender neck that was leveled down to the frets having very little height. My guess is the person who did it didn't do a particularly good job. If I were you I'd ask @gary mac He's a great guy and would be happy to do you a good job at a sensible rate. Not sure where "green hill zone" is, but I guess its near Hertfordshire 😜

The tonal range that this bass has a reputation for, and you're wanting to re-build, will have been be created by the original pickups with their integral pre-amps and the specialisd control switching circuit in the bass. Regrettably, one of the original pickups has been, in the most part destroyed. This has destroyed the option of having the orginal tone of the bass where the bridge pickup is concerned. I have no doubt the new pickups are straight-forward and easy to install into a conventional circuit, found in most bass guitars. The circuit in the bass is NOT a conventional circuit. What I also know is the new pickups don't have integral pre-amps found in the old Kawai pups. Whatever pre-amp you choose to have installed won't be identical to the pre-amp that's in the orignal pups, so the sound won't be the same as original. Your circuit wiring diagram shows the wires to the pups as being green, yellow, white, brown and earth. What the pickups actually have are brown, white and earth. So the wiring to the switches as shown in the diagram isn't possible without changing the cables and connections to the pickups. Mick, your bass is of excellent construction. Its a solid through-neck beauty and I'm sure it will be a nice bass. It's possible the bass could be wired to be "as original" in respect of the neck pickup; if that one pup, and the related circuit works. What it will never be is the same as it originally was in respect to the bridge pup. Sorry, Mick, but I'll be returning the bass to you as it is and wish you all the very best with it. As discussed, I'll be happy for you to come and collect the bass, or I can ship it at your cost.

Thank you. I'm a simple guy. I've never got into effects, pedals and stuff. Happy to be educated. I can wire this stuff, to some level. I'd also be delighted to pass this project to anyone else who's better equipped to do it.

Mick and I met the other day after Mick dragged me out of bass-fixing retirement for this interesting beast. Here's a link to a similar bass for those who would like to see what we're talking about: https://reverb.com/item/27705275-1980s-japan-made-kawai-fiib-f2b-alembic-copy-bass-guitar Mick doesn't have the drop-tuner, but the bass has the potential to look very similar, if given some love and attention. That said, every "scar" is a sign of experience, so not everyone would want it looking so perfect, maybe. There's come interesting info on the bass on the Kawai page: https://kawaius.com/technical-support-division/faq/kawai-bass-guitars/ What I'm writing here is, largely, thinking aloud about the possible routes forward we could take on this. From the info on the Kawai page we can see the original active pups had a number of pre-progammed "tone characters". So from this we learn that the switches connected to each pup are not for series/parallel switching as I first thought. This also explains why the circuit in the bass also has no tone capacitors on the tone pups. Considering we don't have these original active pickups and we now have 2 passive pickups, it's fair to say the 3 multi-position pickup selector switches installed on the front are redundant. Moving forward, we need, therefore, to think of tha bass as wiring from scratch. So we have a few options to consider: Passive 1 For simplicity the bass could be fitted with thenew 2-wire pups as a passive circuit and connect it in a VVT configuration. I know, it sounds great to think we could wire it with a volume and tone on each pup, but I've never had a lot of success in wiring this way. Although we might think of each volume and tone as a separate circuit, then feeding to the next and on to the jack, strangely electronic circuits don't think this way. What actually happens is both tones affect all the tone. The negative side to this is we have 7 holes on the front of the body, ignoring the jack socket. VVT would only use 3 of these. I know Leland Sklar likes his DFA switch, we could install one of these, but having 4 could be a bit OTT. Passive 2 To the above VVT circuit we could add a series/parallel switch to each of the pickps. This would use 2 more of the 4 redundant holes. This could be good, i guess, if this is your thing? What it would call for is for me to attack the wiring provied with each pickup and add a second cable for delivering the connection to the centre connection to the 2 coils, back to the selector switch. Active 1 Among the goodies Mick supplied to me I have the G201 "preamp". Yes it has a battery clip, but there is no adustment. So no need for the holes in the body. Being a cynical person I'm also wondering what tonal quality the small circuit in the package will bring. What will it do, other than make the signal bigger? Do we need it "bigger" or will the 2, 2-coil humbucker pickups give all the "big" we need? What's the advantage of this over simply using the bass amp with the comprehensive controls on the front of that? Maybe use a Pre-amp pedal if that's your thing? Active 2 Get another pre-amp. Maybe an East U-Retro pre. This would use up a good number of the holes. We would still have 2 holes left, I believe. I guess, in addition to the East amp you could have 2 pickup selector switches. https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/East_Preamps_U_Retro.html Real life use What Mick also needs to also consider is his own needs/desires. This is a nice bass with some history, but it's not ever going to be "as original". So, Mick, think about what you're going to play. Yes, some folk could be turned on by a massive scope of sounds, but this all costs. If the reality is that your needs will be met with 2 great pups and a VVT, then lets go for it. Yes, you can have a DFA switch, but we do have another option. Since leaving the world of messing basses I've gone into wood-turning with a lathe. What I could do is turn dark wooden plugs that could be small and knocked into the redundant holes. These could also be tapped back out again if the holes were wanted back in use again. If it were mine, I'd keep it simple.

Surely, aren't the concentric controls are part of the pre-amp? If so, I imagine the knobs and controls will have been supplied by Sadowsky as part of the kit. So, unless you asked them to alter the kit when fitting it, haven't you got what you paid for? What did The Gallery say when you asked them about it? Surely, you will have asked because it would be rude not to give them opportunity to deal with it in private before you complain in public.

Fair point, but he owns a bass and knows how to play it. I admire it and I guess, if I could be arsed to buy a classical 6 string, it might sound different. It might sound better, but that it subjective.

I enjoy it. It's like classical guitar, but I prefer the lower register.

Hi all, This won't be to everyone's taste, but this guy appeared this morning on my Facebook. I think his playing is pretty cool. Some here might enjoy it.

The problem there is when you do use those screws, the stresses applied by the screws may well cause a split down the grain, unless we're looking at a chunk of wood of a fair thickness: such as that on the one by @Fishman

Come to think of it, if the wood was "solid", I doubt warping wouldn't be an issue - that's to say it's a certainty!!

If you're thinking of a scratchplate, I'd suggest a veneer on a thin sheet would be the way to go. You could use MDF, ply or even a normal scratchplate, but if it we "solid" wood it wouldn't be solid for long before it splits and needs replacing. To answer your original question, of you have a sheet of wood and you want it made thin in this way I'd find someone with a thicknesser machine that will do the whole width all in one go. Doing it with a hand plane would almost certainly end badly.

I would imagine a lot of people start with a bass that is favoured by an idol bass player, or it's simply the "best" they can afford. So they give it a go and get used to the neck. We may then experiment a bit and find a niche type/style of bass and settle with it. The feel of the neck will be something that you get used to. After that isn't it more a question of how may folk find they can easily accomodate different widths and depths or shapes of neck without it bothering them or the differnce in the feel messing up their muscle-memory? As far as it being "the cards your're dealt" is this finding those who are lead to a starter bass by fate (affordability of the bass, or it was a gift) and never really experimented with anything different? By definition, aren't most people here ones who do experiment and believe in trying different things? Because the "fate" type guy is probably one who plays in the band that he plays in, never pushes the envelope, just plays the roots on the one bass he has and goes home.

One I had with a really nice slin neck was LTD ESP. Mine was fretless, but they do fretted too... naturally Here's an exmple. I've not shopped around for prices ESP LTD B Series B-205SM - Natural Satin | Rich Tone Music

I have a Warwick that needed the same treatment. On mine the neck was twisted and the rod was messed up. So I ordered a new TR and passed the job to a luthier in Stevenage. It's that long ago I can't recall his name but @TheGreek knows him. So, when Mick gets here, he'll no doubt have rude things to say about Warwicks, but he does have his uses. The cost of having the work done, not including the rod which I ordered from Warwick, was £100. So I guess it might be £120 now.

WHAT!!!! NO fixing of the neck!!??!? Phur! 😮

Good point. The other thing worth mentioning, is to wear a face-mask if sanding wood to create the dust. The dust will be seriously fine and mess with your lungs and that stuff never comes out of your lungs. I use one of these. It's money very well spent. GVS Elipse Half Mask Respirator P3 | Reusable Half Masks | Screwfix.com

Mix Superglue and fine saw dust from a dark coloured wood. If you want some suitable, and not in a tearing rush let me know.

Exactly. In most cases I can hear the difference between a bolt-on neck and a neck through. This isn't true in a band setting. That would be stupid to claim, but when played in isolation with no effects. To me the notes from most bolt-ons sound more mushy. The note from a neck-though rings with more clarity. This is even true to some degree with bass with a tight fitting neck/pocket joint. This matters to me because I play the bass, on my own in isolation. In a band setting anything goes.

you're asking the wong person here

James Jamerson couldn't play like you or me either. We are who we are. No I don't want mandolin wires either, but LS clearly believes it makes a difference. Can't tell you what that is.. I'll stick with standard wires that come with the bass. I have enough problems with those!

Don't forget he also prefers the reversed P split. The reversal makes sense to me. The Fender way of doing it exaggerates the treble in D & G, andthe bass in E & A

Leland Sklar has all his basses fitted with mandolin fret wire. So he believes in the difference.

Good point. I still maintain my point on the effect, but you're right, of course, it's resistance to movement we're looking for, not flexibility. Interesting thought about the finish making a difference. So when I buy my cheap bass and rip off the 1.5mm of paint and lacquer. The paint the soft-wood body with 2 thin coats of Halfords best rattle-can, I've potentially wrecked it.