SimonH

Just acquired a Squier Paranormal Rascal and enjoying short scale on a long scale body (if that makes sense). Also enjoying the looks, if I'm honest. It comes with a pair of passive Squier humbuckers which sound pretty good at home but they lack 'sparkle' in a band setting – I've an Ibanez SR1200 (with Nordstrand Big Single passive pickups and Ibanez three-band preamp) and my bandmates said, A/B, that the Ibanez sounded "more hi-fi, more clarity, sweeter". 

So here's my plan for the Squier – and I'd really appreciate any input or advice! 

1) Split both doublecoils. As standard, the pups route to a 3-way toggle, then single vol and tone. My idea is to install a pair of mini two-way toggles next to the three-way, and split both coils (the coils are wired together with a solder join so easy to spit them). That would give me the option to combine both humbuckers and/or single coils in any config. 

Don't know if that will help get me closer to the sound I want, but I think it might reduce the muddiness of the humbuckers. 

2) Add a preamp. This is the bit I start to get confused about – I've installed a Noll in a Precision, a John East in a Jazz (pre-prepared), a Glockenklang in... I can't even remember now... what was that in? Anyway... they were all kinda like-for-like, or fairly obvious. This will be a bit more involved and will mean adding an extra pot for bass and treble eq. And a push-pull somewhere (vol?) for active/passive. Fortunately there's plenty of room under the scratchplate. Or can I can always rout out a bit more. I'll worry about the wiring later (the guitarist in the band is a professional amp builder). 

What I'd like to know before I start is, does that sound like a plan that might get me closer to the sound I want? Or do I need to simply replace the stock pups (with what tho?).

All advice/critiques welcome (ie buy a different bass, play the Ibanez instead, etc).

Thank you for reading this!

Bought a bass from Dave. Straightforward and quick - bass arrived the next day, well-packed. Top man to deal with. 

Just bought a Voodoo Labs 4x4 from Dave – easy peasy transaction, well-wrapped package arrived the next morning, all looks & works as described. Spot on.  

Big interest here, but geographically and fiscally challenged. 

Here's Mick Quinn from Supergrass playing his Blazer at the Taylor Hawkins gig the other day. What a bass. 

. 

Greg's a top man to deal with – full communication all the way (including contacting me when he had new terms for the sale, which was very good of him) and the item arrived promptly and was well-packed. Perfect! 

That's what I wanted to know. One of life's mysteries. 

Hi, DM'd you! Is this still for sale please? 

PM on way

I'll take the JR, pm in a mo

Still for sale? 

PM incoming.

On hold.

Bump and price drop, plus new delivery info - will now courier or can deliver in person between Peterborough and A1/M11 area, around Greater London (meet you just inside M25-ish) or into Kent.

Bump at £320 inc. delivery.

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. It's odd because I've collected from other people before; basically just drive to the A1 at Peterborough or wherever and meet. Anyway, I'll reconsider the courier then!

Bumped

Advice: is this overpriced, am I impatient, or is the market just really slow? Asking for a friend <called the bank manager>

Thanks! Were you to blame for the slight cigarette stain between the E tuning peg and the nut? Someone has tried to buff it out. :-)

Bump

Okay, let's reactivate this sale. Still here, still gorgeous, still up for grabs.

At this price I'll even drive up to Scotland to pick it up :-)

Yes, afraid so. Probably. I'm not desperate to sell but I am incredibly short of time, so unless it's really easy (like collection or meeting up close to me) it's not possible. Sorry, just being realistic. Where are you? I travel a fair bit.

Me too.

Bump