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[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1377702625' post='2190572'] But if you used an isolating transformer, then neither side of the output is connected to the raw mains. So its much safer and just a bit more expensive.[/quote]Not necessarily, especially when using multiple items of equipment in a band setting, due to leakage, inductance, neutral faults, etc.:http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/17496/how-is-using-a-transformer-for-isolation-safer-than-just-playing-with-it and [url="http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/5.8.4.htm"]http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/5.8.4.htm[/url]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1377646235' post='2189969']You've just contradicted yourself as well - if a brass nut wears, it'll be advantageous to be able to adjust it.[/quote] No, if a brass nut wears, it usually wears laterally widening the string slot so that the string loses its secure "witness point" and intonation goes wobbly. The adjustable nuts that are really nothing more than height adjustments can't adjust to this, because if it is turned, then the string is at a different height, and that can negatively affect intonation on the first few frets, either by being too low and causing fret buzz, or by being too high and causing core stretch which pulls the intonation sharp on the first few frets.

Instead of blindly picking a bass that is someone else's favorite, I will give some design criteria to look for: 1) At least a three-piece neck for stability and damping of resonances (dead notes). 2) 2 (B&E) + 3 (ADG) tuner arrangement so the B string doesn't bind over the nut or around the tuner, but has enough space for the string leader to tune the B string smoothly. 3) Lightweight Hipshot, Gotoh or Schaller tuners. 4) The "neck" pickup in proportionally the same position as the D-G segment of a Precision bass pickup to get the proper balance of fundamental and overtones on the B string. This is counter-intuitive, but having good overtones and intonation actually help a B string sound "fuller" and "clearer" together. 5) Longer upper horn to balance the bass against neck dive. 6) Clean broad-band hum-cancelling electronics, whether active or passive, because Jazz growl doesn't necessarily equal clean when it gets to the B string and P thump doesn't necessarily mean solid fundamental and sustain. There are many basses on the market that meet these criteria, from my US$279 on sale Ibanez SRA305 to the bespoke offerings of Dingwall and Little. Shop a lot. Play a lot. If you see one you like, put it down and walk away from it and come back a couple of days later to see if you feel the same way about it then. Notice I did not say anything about nut width, bridge spacing, scaling, neck contour or body wood. This is because these are all personal preferences and good basses are out there with all variations on these themes.

There is nothing new in the world except what a player doesn't know. This entire debate was first entered into in the late '70's as folks looked for more ways to increase sustain of an instrument. The bottom line is this: does a player want more sustain or a different tone out of his open string notes than out of fretted notes? For me, the answer is, "No," so I retain the traditional bone nut. For those that say, "Yes," then are you willing to keep either shining up the brass or touching it up with clear enamel, like finger nail polish, to retain its shine, or are you willing to let it dull down over time? That is the bottom line to the brass nut debate, as discussed thirty-five to forty years ago. Unless a player frequently changes brand and gauge of strings, in over thirty-eight years of playing bass I have never found the occasion to need an adjustable nut. Moreover, one important down side is that brass is softer than the steel strings sitting in the slots, and it can wear faster than a traditional bone nut placed and set up by an experienced luthier, as indicated by the number of vintage instruments that retain their original nuts after decades of play.

When Johnny is done, may I have a go? I'd be prepared to pay postage both ways across the pond and back.

Grounding and earthing issues. Old American amplifiers can have the white or neutral side of the mains plug wired across the amplifier chassis, dually functioning as the ground or earth. This is not usually a problem with modern wiring codes in either country, but older American amplifiers have two-prong plugs that are not necessarily polarized for what we call the "hot" (black mains wiring) and "neutral" (white mains wiring), and they can be reversed, sending the voltage to the chassis making a touch-shock hazard. Modern amplifer plugs have a three prong plug, which the third plug is green for direct to earth and is usually bolted by a lug onto the chassis, so if anything happens internally to the amplifier, it is earthed or grounded directly. I have an older Fender Bassman Export head of the same model that Macca used on the Beatles Apple Corp. Saville Row rooftop concert, which I have had to have the mains rewired for a modern three prong plug to address this issue. Unfortunaltely, in spite of safety, the three-prong scheme does cause its own problems with audio equipment with possible ground or earth loops that can induce hum and noise. But it is a small price to pay for the added safety of the third prong direct to earth. Here in the USA, I have a rack mounted tuner that I use a three-to-two prong adaptor on its plug so that ground or earth loop noise is eliminated. It is not a hazard, because it is eventually grounded to the chassis anyway through the daisy chain between the instrument and the amplifier. Now, all the above is compounded by the UK scheme which is just as complicated, if not more so. Worse, the colours of the wires are different, so a do-it-yourself-er cannot simply rewire point-to-point. Even if there is a universal mains transformer in the amplifier, as with many Marshall amplifiers, including my 1975 2203, so that all that needs to be done is change the primary mains tap, the correct colours and configuration of the mains wiring must be attended to with the proper plug wiring to make it work. And it must be "Good British plugs" at that. Some newer amplifiers, like my Carvin MB12, have automatic voltage sensing input circuitry, so it is not the issue it used to be, but on older amplifiers, it can mean the difference between working properly and electrocuting something or someone. I don't necessarily like Wiki, but it can provide a good starting point for more in-depth discussion and resource links, so with that in mind, compare USA wiring: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_wiring_in_North_America"]http://en.wikipedia....n_North_America[/url] to UK wiring: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_wiring_in_the_United_Kingdom"]http://en.wikipedia...._United_Kingdom[/url] Because, we must have "Up, Up Up!" with the voltage, with "Good British Plugs," because Algernon: "It's green there in America." [but] Macca: "In some places, it's brown, you know...." [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOkjQjkEjzo[/media]

Since the battery lead to the side finger of the bass jack is usually a separate finger, I'm wondering if something is bent that is making contact and shorting out the battery somewhere between the battery connection and the jack. Is the battery connection a separate connection that might have had a wire become crossed, or is it of internal integral flanges that the battery just sits in. Every few years, in spite of being careful, I occasionally have to replace battery connections and take small needle nosed pliers and realign jack fingers to make sure clean connections are made and not shorting out across to other connections.

Have you tried the "for sale - strings and accessories" section of talkbass.com ?

Stepdown transformers are not recommended, especially with running with other gear. There are numerous noise, hum and shock hazard reasons why. I recommend you contact Ampeg to obtain a replacement transformer at UK mains voltage.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1376900946' post='2180396'] I can't remember which value I've got in there at the moment, but it's probably a .0047 as I got the idea from a rickenbacker diagram. I like it because it reduces the interaction between the two pickups in the lows and low mids, so I can run the neck pickup on full then use the thinned-out bridge pickup to dial in some extra highs without getting the usual scooped mid jazz sound. [/quote] Yes! Exactly! If a player can accept the Bridge pickup volume being effectively dropped a number, then this is the way to go to solve the impedance drop/thin/scooped tone of both Jazz pickups full on.

I read the linked thread. I would sum up by saying that new preamps and active pickups draw so little current, that if the instrument has a proper, accessible battery box, I would stick with the battery because stability is not an issue any more with low-current draw op-amp chips, which get in the thousands of hours out of a standard 9-volt alkaline battery, and the risks of inducing noise and hum from potential earth loops outweighs what is a negligible chance of failure -- after all, who doesn't carry extra batteries to gigs now? And one more point occurred as I was typing this: EMG, for example, do not ground their pickups and circuits to the bridge plate as with conventional passive. This provides a further element of isolation and protection from electric shock. This is lost when using the outboard power supply.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1376854115' post='2180031'] I've got a similar series capacitor on a push-pull pot on the bridge pickup of my bass, even though it has Jazz pickups and wiring. I really like what it does to the two pickup sound, though it's kind of useless with the bridge pickup on its own. [/quote] Indeed. But because a Jazz bridge pickup is closer to the bridge than it is on a Rickenbacker, there is even less string excursion, and therefore even less fundamental. So on a Jazz bass, I use a .01 inline on the bridge pickup of a Jazz bass instead of the .0047 on a Rickenbacker to let a little more low end through. Other values, even though they are less common and may need to be sourced differently (Sprague orange are relatively inexpensive while retaining consistency and availability in the odd values) are the .0068 which is used as the "choke" capacitor on a Fender Jaguar, or a .015 or even a guitar .022, depending on how much low end you want through. And it really does clean up the volume drop from the impedance drop of having both pickups full on. The only down side is that the output may be cut slightly, like the volume knob is rolled off a number.

Above about Duck Dunn and putting a Jazz neck on a Precision. The tuners would have been the old-fashioned large "elephant ear" tuners. But why? They are so heavy and cause neck dive. Even with the rest of your setup, I'd go with lightweight tuners to save about a quarter kilogram of weight. That doesn't sound like much until it pulls on your shoulder for three hours. The bridge would be a simple stamped-steel bridge with either the bolt stock saddles or grooved saddles.

No, on the older basses the capacitor is between the hot lead of the bridge pickup from where it is first wired to the selector switch, then instead of a jumper from the other lug of the selector switch to the bridge pickup volume control, there is the .0047 capacitor which functions as a high pass filter. New Rickenbacker basses do have a bypass switch incorporated to one of the controls.

If you want a Steinberger, get a Steinberger. The problem with all the copies and derivatives is that the actual Steinberger is designed with an integral graphite reinforced neck to take care of unwanted resonances and provide rigidity and even response. Without a headstock, a wooden or ill-designed headless neck will just whip in the breeze like a ruler flapped over the edge of a desk. So if it is not a Steinberger, look at it to see if it the neck is made integrally to the rest of the instrument to give the appropriate damping to avoid tone-sapping resonances.

First, I must respectfully disagree with a post above: for every Rick that sounds great, there are fifty more that sound even better. Now, that said, the problem is setup. Most Fender-derived luthiers do not know how to set up a Rick for best results. Download the owners manual from the RIC corporate website so you know how to take care of it, and have a qualified luthier set it up properly for you. Granted, setting up a post-1984 bass is not the issue that it was with the old basses, but there are still items that need attention, just like you don't feed cattle hay to a thoroughbred horse.

A capacitor is a capacitor. If you spend more than a couple of quid on a tone capacitor, you're kidding yourself. About as far as I will go is a Sprague orange drop, simply because Sprague is a reputable company that has quality consistent products.

A P/J is a bad design for a 5-string bass: 1) the extra tuner and thicker, heavier neck makes it neck heavy, since the upper horn is only long enough to balance 4; 2) the B string binds around the tuner post, risking breakage and rough tuning; 3) the one-piece neck is prone to dead notes; 4) The pickups can be unbalanced both in tone and from string-to-string - P thump does not necessarily equal solid fundamental on a B string, and J growl does not necessarily equal clarity. Now, I say this, owning a custom half-fanned P/J style bass as my 4-string (which there is a thread about on this forum). Instead, here are the criteria for a good 5-string bass: 1) At least a three-piece neck for stability and damping of resonances (dead notes). 2) 2 (B&E) + 3 (ADG) tuner arrangement so the B string doesn't bind over the nut or around the tuner, but has enough space between the nut and the tuner for the string leader to wrap and tune the B string smoothly. 3) Lightweight Hipshot, Gotoh or Schaller tuners. 4) The "neck" pickup in proportionally the same position as the D-G segment of a Precision bass pickup to get the proper balance of fundamental and overtones on the B string. 5) Longer upper horn to balance the bass against neck dive. 6) Clean broad-band hum-cancelling electronics, whether active or passive, because Jazz growl doesn't necessarily equal clean when it gets to the B string and P thump doesn't necessarily mean solid fundamental and sustain. Notice I did not say anything about nut width, bridge spacing, scaling, neck contour or body wood. This is because these are all personal preferences and good basses are out there with all variations on these themes.

Good replacement pickups will cost more than the bass is now worth. Please save your money for a real Rickenbacker.

GREAT BRIDGE!!! FINALLY! No more binding of the E string!

Reversing the saddle may or may not be an option depending on how the pickup is mounted. But ideally, the slope of the saddle should be with the G string a little lower than the E string, so the E string has more room to vibrate Sometimes, it is just a bad piezo. What brand of pickup is being used? The slot in the bridge could appear flat, but be milled on a bias that may prevent the saddle from seating properly. Also, the slot could be a hair narrow, which also prevents the saddle from seating properly. I had that happen on an acoustic guitar. Widening the slot ever so slightly (probably for a luthier to do) will provide just a hair of side-to-side "float" on the saddle that will help it seat securely on the piezo strip. ...after all the above is tried.

[quote name='Sharkfinger' timestamp='1374604186' post='2150829']You haven't explicitly said so but I take it that also deals with the slight mid scoop?[/quote] Yes. I'm not a "scooped" kind of player. I play very little music with my bands that needs that tone, so I usually deal with it on the amp instead, or onboard my most recent 5-stringer, an inexpensive 2011 Ibanez model SRA305. In addition to being wired like a Jazz bass, V-V-T, albeit with EMG passive HZ pickups, it also has the Ibby version of the EMG EXB variable scoop control, which is a great unit. Ibby calls it a "Phat II." It raises bass and treble while simultaneously dropping mids at @ 1kHz.

Unless you are really adverse to it, I'd keep it as is and let it tell its story. Say it's "Rocky's Evil Twin" or something like that! After all, if it needs a fret job, then it's not going to be that collectible anyway. Great score!

SGD Lutherie makes sidewinder pickups.

Impedance loading. This is common for almost all passive Jazz basses and derivatives. When both pickups are full on, the impedance drops in half and the output drops slightly. Either roll off one of the pickups to about 8, or install (like I have done) a .01 capacitor between the hot lead of the bridge pickup and its volume control. This will clear up the bass and you won't have the drop when both pickups are full on. The bridge pickup may have slightly less output as a result, but it can be adjusted closer. The EMG active pickups don't have this problem because their output is already buffered low impedance.