brensabre79

[quote name='Dr M' timestamp='1360159710' post='1965828'] Not wanting to confuse matters, but I was always under the impression part of the MM sound was due to the fact the two coils in the humbucker are wired in parallel? You still get the humbucking effect, but a cooler output that is then boosted by the active pre-amp? [/quote] We're just going off the wiring colours from SD at this stage - which we're assuming are correct for MM wiring, we can worry about configuring the pickup once we know its at least working!

Doesn't work as in no output from the bass? Just check the switch is actually earthed - i.e. connected in some way to the volume pot screening. If it still doesn;t work we need to work out which part of the signal path is at fault. Try connecting the Red&Black to the tip of the output socket and the Green&White to the sleeve of the output socket (i.e. bypass the preamp). you don't need to solder, just make contact and hold in place for now. Do you get any sound from the jack? If you do, then its probably the preamp that needs looking at If not, its the pickup (or the jack lead - rule out the jack lead first)

Behringer, Thomann, Mackie all do small (6-8") powered speakers for on stage monitoring. They go on a mic stand. Great for vocals. We use the Thomann one, it was under £100 and its not bad! It has two speakers in it. A bit hissy but it works really well, replacing two powered wedges.

Yes You can use the Zoom as a Pre-amp (pre = before the amp) and if you use the amp simulator in there then the sound coming out of the Zoom should be exactly what you want. Leave the amplifier flat to begin with, set up the Zoom how you like. Then when you gig, you can use the Amplifier EQ to tweak the sound a little as every room will make it sound slightly different. If you use it with other amps too, the sound you get from it (even with EQ flat) will be different, but at least you know the starting point from the Zoom is pretty much what you want.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1360155385' post='1965686'] The coil seletcor switch is now acting as the earth for the pickup. [/quote] I thought the switch was being bypassed completely. [quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1360158092' post='1965763'] That would mean it was wired in series? [/quote] It depends on which wires you use from the pickup. The SD diagram you had should be a good reference. For a humbucker you need to wire the two in series, but out of phase. But you don't need to worry about this. Just connect: Red & Black wire to the white part of the red wire that goes to the volume pot. Then connect: Green & White (+screen) to the braided part of the red wire that goes to the volume pot. Forget the switch if you're not using it.

Hi Milty I'm a bit confused as to what you're asking... There also seem to be a lot of red wires - which doesn't help you at all! The red wire that connects to the volume pot seems to lead to the switch, the green wire on the vol pot goes to the preamp. So I would say that if you're bypassing the switch, the red vol pot wire should be replaced with the HOT from the pickup. The COLD and EARTH from the pickup can just go to the vol pot casing. Also, if i'm not mistaken, the red wire we are talking about actually contains a white wire and a braided screen. In this case, the two HOT wires from the pickup should be connected to that white wire, and the two other wires from the pickup and the screen wire can all connect to the screen of the red wire going to the volume pot. I would leave all of the preamp gubbins alone as it seems to be all wired up already. I think this is the same G&B preamp they use in Traben basses. So you might find out more info there.... I hope that helps!

Depends what you want to do with it. I doubt it will be an exact fit for a Fender neck, but if you find an Encore neck it could fit. or you could have a go at it with some powertools

Sorry Milty I didn't realise it was an OLP - and that you have a different preamp. Some pictures might help, but I'm afraid if the pre is a little sealed black box with all the wires coming out of it already then you'll need to find out what the wires are. Getting it wrong could screw the preamp so it never works. Guessing the wiring for the pickup itself is not so disasterous, you might just get a bad sound, or no sound. To start with I would wire the pickup directly to the jack socket to test the wiring configuration for that. Once you have that sorted you'll be halfway there at least.

Dots? White pickups? and Made In USA on headstock! hmmm I don't think they started saying "Made in USA" until they started making them elsewhere too (i.e. Japan) which for the early 80s is correct (although you'd want a Japanese one of this vintage) as are dots, white Pickups and scratchplate. This is transitional too because they started the one-piece white scratchplate/control plate fiasco around this time. I think its early 80s. A 1978 Jazz will look like a Marcus Miller (as his was an off the shelf 78 Jazz before Roger Sadowsky got his hands on it) So white blocks and binding, 3 bolt neck, black scratchplate would be usual... Looking at Fender serial numbers around this time, the S prefix (for Seventies) was used 1978 - 1981 and the E prefix (Eighties) was also used from 1978. So I expect this is one of those transition era ones made from leftover bits. The neck has white binding but black dots. Strange! I know these are increasing in value, but the majority of instruments coming out of Fender in this era were only good for fire wood. My dad managed a guitar shop in the 70s and 80s and said that the QC was shocking around this time.

You could contact Marshall directly, (they took over Eden recently) or give Dave Lunt in Stockport a call: 07966 263 616. Alternatively there might be an amp tech nearer to you. If you go to the top of the repairs section, there should be a sticky with recommended Amp techs in the area... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/198-recommended-amp-techs/"]LINK HERE[/url]

Hi Milty, I'm not well up on MM wiring but i didn't think the MM pickups were active. From the looks of it you have white red black and green wires plus the braided screen. I would say that you have two wires from each coil of the pickup (+ and -) Looking at the SD diagram, the green, white and braided earth go to the casing of the volume pot (i.e. not a tab) and the black and red go to the pre-amp AUDIO input. No power involved. But if you want to coil tap then you'll need the second diagram (and a switch) too.

Just spotted that one Oli, its still up at the moment too! [url="http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/mush142?_trksid=p2047675.l2559"]he's[/url] is asking quite a lot of dollars for it though!

Hi Mick, not sure if [url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/guitar-bass-parts/bodies-necks/necks/bass-necks/5-string-bass-neck-rosewood-fingerboard-no-finish-p-1968.html"]these[/url] guys can help but I think Allparts have a UK site, they said to me once they can get anything from the US site brought over.

There's not much info out there on Tokai, I'm trying to figure out the wiring on my Tokai Ric copy at the moment too. However, there is lots of info on standard Jazz Bass wiring on google and I shouldn't imagine its going to be too different. Yes a 250k LIN pot should do the trick for the tone. While you have it open you might as well get yourself a couple of CTS 250k LOG pots too and do the whole thing properly

[quote name='M-Bass-M' timestamp='1359995218' post='1963190'] I'm considering fitting a new pre-amp with attached control plate, so it seems as though these two modifications will have to be done together. Thanks for the respsonses. [/quote] No worries. I have an ACG/John East J-Retro pre on my fretless JB that I'm thinking of taking off actually. I don't think they make these any more - its the one that comes ready installed on the control plate. Also a black/white/black scratchplate is coming off at the same time. So if you're interested drop me a PM when you're ready to do the mod.

Thanks folks, some great replies, I think I'll try lemon oil and a brush. I'm going to nitro the Tokai once its cleaned, but I'll try the danish oil on the Ibanez. Shame they don't do either of these with maple fretboards though really, I just don't get on with rosewood.

I'm not great with rosewood boards, having started with maple and continued with it. I recently aquired two rosewood ones. both came with some sort of green gunk in the grain of the wood. I tried using standard wood polish to clean them up, but whilst it brightens the surface it doesn't get the green stuff out of the grain of the wood. Any ideas on how to get it out, and also how to prevent it building up again? I'm guessing its old sweat or something... Cheers

Just a thought.... You said it was de-fretted... were the holes where the frets were filled in? Or were they left open? If its the latter, you might be able to rescue the playability without the truss rod being adjusted... Fill in the slots with some wood veneer and pva glue, sand it all flat you could use light gauge strings (40-100) as well to ease the amount of work the truss rod needs to do...

A bit of a sanding should even it out if it needs it, not bad fro 20 years of steel on wood though really. As above, get a luthier to do it!

Unfortunately on the VMJ the metal control plate (the one with the knobs on) has a more pointed top so the rounded curve on a regular Fender Jazz bass scratchplate will not fit without modifying it. You could replace both the control plate and scratchplate at the same time though, I think a Fender one will fit ok then (in that the screw holes line up) but I'm not 100% sure on that, its been a while since I looked at a VMJ.

My Sabre doesn't see much use these days actually, it used to be my main bass but since i migrated to Jazz basses I've only used it once or twice. Its really rewarding to play, but every time i get it out I'm reminded that its actually quite a bit more effort to play than my trust JB. I won't part with it though as it was a gift from my dad who bought it new in 1979!

Personally I wouldn't attempt it on a 70s Ric without an expert, they are notorius for truss-rod and other neck twisting issues because the necks were so thin (hence the dual truss-rods that you have to bend yourself) is it a 4003 or 4001? Did you know that even putting a set of Rotosounds on a 4001 in the 70s voided the warranty? A huge disappointment to any Rush/Yes/Deep Purple fans who bought them at the time. Any other bass should be fine though, and a more modern Ric probably OK too. I don't want to scaremonger, it should be OK on any bass (I've done it on lots) but I'd hate for you to follow advice on here that could potentially damage such a valuable bass, no matter how slim the chances of anything going wrong.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1359714300' post='1959090'] Surely only a blinkered bassist sees it as an either/or situation. Sometimes you are going to need to rounds and sometimes you are going to need flats. A truly versatile bassist has basses with flats and basses with rounds to cover all eventualities. What a dumb quote! Who said that originally? I need to ridicule them. [/quote] Actually I think it was the 5th fret, and it was Tommy Tedesco. Although I heard that the bass player who was told this replied "Yeah but it's a hell of a party up there!"

There's no money past the 7th fret. I'm putting flats on one of my basses at the moment, i dont like them, but I'm doing a few unplugged gigs with my Artcore and it just sounds wrong with two acoustic guitars when I'm growling away at the back shaking the room with sustained notes Some music suits flats, some rounds, but rounds definitely suit more rock music, and you can mute them too