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I am also frustrated that Fender stopped the 45-105 CL set. Through experimentation, I found that an Ernie Ball 105 has a similar tone and feel when my Fender 105 finally thumped out. I was so frustrated I gave up on all of them and switched to La Bella black tapewounds, regular gauge. I had to adjust my nut slots and go with EMG actives to eliminate noise (the black tape prevented the strings from making the metal-to-metal contact necessary to properly ground the strings to the bridge plate to kill hum, noise and buzz; EMG actives don't utilize bridge grounding). But it was so worth it!

The two halves of any conventional P-bass pickup are RWRP so that when wired together they make a humbucker. It should not matter whether it is the SD or the Wizard. I would review to make sure the Wizard leads are wired correctly and more importantly, that the solder joints are clean and neat, with enough flux to make sure metal to metal contact is not oxidized. Then check to make sure the bridge wire is soldered correctly. Especially under flourescent lights, electric instrument strings act like antennae for all sorts of noise, buzz and hum. It may just be that the SD pickup is a better shielded pickup.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1393191993' post='2377259']Thinking about some nice chrome flats.[/quote] Then you will have silks to match the Azure-Glo! You can get chromes in light gauge, 45 - 95, ECB80, to lighten the load. Nice bass. Congrats.

Whew! I thought you were going to finish with, "...but good intonation."

If you want a round tone, the regular La Bella black tapes are great. If you want a little less tension, either the D'Addario or the light gauge of the La Bellas are great. If you want more top end, the La Bella white tapes are available. If you want more an "acoustic-y" tone, then La Bella also makes copper tapes (clear nylon cover, copper windings internally). If you want a more "upright" tone, and don't mind the tension, the Rotosound 77's are the ticket.

Yes. I have one for emergencies. Switchcraft brand. Durable.

Occasionally used pickups of various brands or models in great shape pop up for sale on the forum.

[quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1403162418' post='2480278'] I've bought some but now can't decide which bass to put them on :-D [/quote] How about the 2012 Am Std Cherry/Maple? The black dots on the maple, along with the black stripe on the bevel of the pickguard, will set off the La Bella black tapes really, really well. If they are the standard gauge, you might have to adjust the nut slots, but Oh, it is worth it!

[quote name='ash' timestamp='1403432703' post='2482562'] La Bellas have quite a high tension compared to D'Addario - I have D'Addario flats on my Precision and they sound and feel great. [/quote] Depends on the gauge. La Bella now make a lighter gauge to go with their traditional gauges.

Thanks. I didn't know there was that much difference in the pickups between the Gibson and the Epi T-bird basses.

To those who would say why not just roll off the the active treble, the Precision passive circuit doesn't just cut the treble. It also changes the resonant frequency peak in rather a sweep mode, that really cannot be emulated by an active circuit. Question: is the Precision pickup in the bass a standard Precision pickup that could be used in any other P-bass on its own passive circuit? If so, you may be able to wire a a standard tone control pot and cap off the side of the hot lead of the pickup going into the preamp so that it does its thing before the signal is processed, possibly emulating the passive Precision tone characteristic without having to go to a full active/passive switch. I say that, because I have an Ibby SRA305. It has EMG Hz passives in a standard configuration before going to an EMG EXB, (which Ibby calls a "Phat II") and I can do the tone rolloff on my tone knob upstream of the EXB to get that characteristic tone without it being affected by the active control downstream between the pickup wiring and output jack.

Seriously, ask for the serial number. Then you can check it on the factory website serial number aplet to make sure it is genuine.

[url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/tapewound-club-anyone.1073984/"]http://www.talkbass....anyone.1073984/[/url] I am member #9. (#9...#9...#9...) I play in a horn/party band that literally plays everything from '50's to present. These are my #1 strings on my Ibby SRA305 5-string. A little darker than rounds with the nylon damping the overtones slightly, but only to get the harsh edge off. I have good articulation and tone with them, and I get numerous compliments on everything, even from non-bass players! (Makes me wonder if I'm sticking out of the mix, but my sound guy takes care of that.) Interesting effect on sustain: first, loads of sustain. These are not your, "All the thump, all the time," strings. I don't know how they do this, although it is probably due to the greater diameter of the string means more nylon tape wrap on the string, but here goes: you know on a conventional set the G string tends to lose sustain first, and the E string holds on the most, due to the relative mass of each string. But with the La Bella Black Nylons standard gauge, the sustain is roughly equal from string-to-string, and a goodly amount of sustain at that. The white tapes are brighter; the copper tapes are more "upright-ish." The major drawback: because the nylon outer wrap isolates the string from the bridge saddle, unless you have a pickup with a metal pickup cover that is also grounded that you can anchor your thumb, then depending on the bass, it may be prone to electrostatic noise, like what happens when you are turned on, plugged in, turned up, but take both hands off the bass. On my bass I had to upgrade to full EMG actives to get rid of the noise, since EMG actives are not bridge grounded. But it was worth it. After almost 40 years of playing bass, I have the most quiet, most consistent (yes, even over Fender Flats), most even tension feel of strings I have played. The minor drawback: due to the nylon tape having the effect of making the strings larger diameter, you may have to widen your nut slots for the regular gauge strings. But it is worth it. The "light" gauge feel more like a conventional set of 40-95 rounds, so if you like light strings, the light gauge will work without having to widen the nut slots.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1402176476' post='2470818']Stainless is non ferrous, so probably would make a good pole piece.[/quote] Um, I think you said that backwards - "ferrous," of course, means iron, and the primary element in stainless steel is iron. The problem is that the other metals that are added to the alloy to make it stainless, besides nickel, can actually lessen a stainless steel's magnetic reactiveness. The optimal would be nickel plated or chrome plated mild steel which has the most magnetic interaction so they can be adjusted to suit the player.

I have found the fDeck works best with a piezo pickup, like a Fishman Full Circle. Other pickups with different characteristics may give different results.

One item overlooked: I used to own a '75 (yes, actual 1975, not a '75 model') J-bass. Sounded great. I wore it out: frets went buzzy and a pickup died. Back then I lived where there were no good luthiers, so I sold it. (Don't worry - I know where it is; it has now been repaired and I can borrow it any time I would like to play it) But I digress: Look at how the strings pass over the pole pieces of the pickups of any standard J-bass. The strings are over the inside poles of the E & G strings, not between the pairs of polepieces as they should be. The prototype and development mules used the P-bass 1 3/4 inch neck with wider string spacing. When the nut width was narrowed to 1 1/2 inch as the standard, the neck pickup polepiece spacing was not adjusted accordingly.

For studio work, I use either/or/all, depending on what the song needs and the preferred bass tone for the track. For stage. I use humbucking pickups to get as noise-free signal as possible. To my ears, very few aspects are worse than constant hum or buzz in the sound system, especially if I may be the person causing it.

This is so a bass player can play "Paint It Black."

Take a regular 5-string or 6-string, 34-inch scale bass. Lower the tuning one-half step from conventional to Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb. Then capo the 1st fret. Then you will see how the bass will feel, sound and react on the strings at the shorter 32-inch scale. I didn't like it: too floppy and indistinct. Going up in gauge of string to compensate only made the B string thump worse. YMMV

This happens as the string tension equalizes between the playing length and the afterlength. A well-tuned bass that has been that way for awhile should not have this issue. Mine has been sitting for months on the same stand in a closet with no shift, after my old band folded and I'm looking for a new band to play.

CHEAP?! You pay how many hundreds of quid on a nice bass and you want CHEAP?! That's about as bad as the historical area in East London that traditionally had the butcher chops that gave rise to the word "cheap" as an adjective. Using cheap polish will turn the finish of your bass into a bloody shambles, especially if it has silicone in the mix. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Zymol. The standard. Save your gig money, buy a decent bottle, and use it sparingly. It will last forever, and your instrument will always look great. I use Zymol on my collectible guitars and basses, and if you want any more of an endorsement, Mr. JH of Rickenbacker recommends it. [url="http://www.zymol.co.uk/zymolcreamewax8oz.aspx"]http://www.zymol.co....eamewax8oz.aspx[/url] In the USA, Zymol is now marketing the original in another container that is actually labeled guitar polish. But it is the same product.

How about mounting the bottle opener on the side of the amplifier so you can appear to have comraderie with your band mates, and being the bassist, open a beer for the drummer occasionally?

EMG pickups can take 27 volts safely. The factory website has a section on mods and powering tips. Hmm. Not wanting to cut any on my instrument, and seeing that EMG active pickups only take milliamps which results in extended battery life, I might have to look into this mod for my bass.

Recently, I had volume problems as well in my active bass. It turned out the substandard jack fingers wore prematurely and were not making proper contact with the cord plug end. A new, proper Switchcraft jack, and I was back in business.

If after opening up the tone circuit and running the pickup open it is still dark, it may be the pickups, since T-bird pickups are notorious for being so overwound. EMG makes a variety of drop-in aftermarket replacement pickups. [url="http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/thunderbird.html"]http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/thunderbird.html[/url] . The Hz, or passive version is not overwound, works well with both 250 & 500 kohm pots. For the most top end, EMG makes a DC version of the pickup if you want to change to actives.