blablas

the hum cancelling design of the DiMarzio has some obvious advantages, but will never be 100% faithful to the single coil sound (asuming that's something you're striving for!)

Nothing sounds like a single coil!
It's a sound I really like, that's why I use all kinds of switching possibilities with most of the humbuckers I use - for dual coils series/single/parallel and for split coils series/parallel.
On this bass I was not especially after the single coil sound, the bridge pickup was placed there to add bite and growl to the P pickup.

Another update:
The old J humbucker was seriously microphonic which made me decide to replace it. I replaced it with a DiMarzio DP148.

Experienced some problems with the wiring while replacing the old pickup, it also took a while to adjust the two pickups to get an even sound from both together.

In the end I'm glad I did replace this pickup, the new one sounds better and is dead quiet, no microphonic noise and no hum.

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1431970241' post='2776777']Hope blablas doesn't mind me inverting his work in progress!
[/quote]
No problem.

Neck is now attached to the body.




Even more pictures to invert.

Been doodling with my standard(ish) PB-Shorty.
Finally came to the conclusion I don't really like this bass without a bridge pickup. I had an old (unbranded) bridge position J style dual coil pickup floating around in my parts box, decided to put this one in. The controls are volume/balance/tone and a series/parallel switch for the bridge pickup.

Now that I can dial in the bite of a bridge pickup it sounds exactly the way I want it to.
The only thing still wrong is that this old pickup is seriously microphonic, a DiMarzio DP148 is on it's way to solve this problem.

12 string... I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Tough one to answer, probably the one I've got in my hands at that time.

They all feel same, which is not that strange given all three started out as being more or less identical (HB PB-Shorty). pickup preference is up to my mood and what I feel is needed. If I could only keep one I think would go for the MM version, mainly because I prefer the versatility of active basses.

Some final finished product photo's.

The big picture:


And a few detail shots:

Decided to modify the controls a bit more.
Normally I'm not a big fan of two volume controls, this was also the case on this little bas, replaced one of the volume controls with a balance pot, this also means the resistor is not needed anymore so I removed it again.

maybe..... later.....

One resistor for the P pickup was enough to make it behave the way I want it to, phase on the J was okay.

Built in and wired.
going to check it more serious tonight, during quick & dirty testing I noticed the pickups were influencing each others volume, probably need to solder in some resistors, also need to take a better listen to the phase of the Jazz pickup.

Applied conducting paint again.

I am roughly at the point where I was before I discovered the pickup didn't fit.

And now it fits!

With the right amount of space around it.

 
The Pickup with its housing doesn't fit inside the cavity!
When I fit the housing without the pickup in it it did fit, once the pickup was inside it it didn't. Apparently the pickup pushes out the bottom-side of the housing by half a millimeter.
Back to the workshop (at work) again tomorrow to mill it out a little bit more.

Drilled the holes for the neck screws and ferules.

Routed the cavity for the Jazz pickup, also drilled the hole to move the jack to the side.

It is clean and solid.

Before gluing I properly squared and leveled all the surfaces that were going to be glued, I glued them together with the right amount of clamping (read: Lots of clamps ).
It might be more work to do all this preparing of the separate parts but when you do it this way you get a much better end-result.

Finished shaping the neck.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vqjJHfT.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/r1H0nix.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KHqdGYl.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/QZeCwYj.jpg[/IMG]
Completely sanded up to grain 400.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BQWvunb.jpg[/IMG]
Rough shaped the rest of the neck, the shape I want is almost there and will be refined at a later date.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/sdxDoe2.jpg[/IMG]
Heel detail.

Today I've been busy with doing my favourite thing, volute shaping.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wwmWy7I.jpg[/IMG]
Almost halfway.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GyLFkml.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/khfKZD9.jpg[/IMG]
And (rough) finished.

Thanks, it means a lot to me to get these kind of compliments from a fellow builder.

The modifying itch is here again!

I just can't get used to the one that only has the P pickup, I really miss the bite a bridge pickup gives me.
Time to start on a PJ, or to be more specific - I am going to add a J pickup (dual coil with a parallel/series switch) to my PB-Shorty....
Which will turn it into a PJB-Shorty.

I've already got the pickup, a couple of small but essential parts are on order for this modification, once these are in I'll be doing some updates here.

This realization also means I need to rethink the plan I had for the 51-P conversion.
For the time being this one will be on hold.

[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1430125433' post='2758083']
Are they really bad basses?[/quote]
See below, it's only a sample of one bass but it gives an indication of the things you can run in to with these deko's.

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1429271273' post='2749873']
There is minimal hump in the fingerboard between fret 10 and 17, in this same area there are also some high frets, there are also quiet a few sharp fret ends. Maybe the bridge nut is too low, but I can only be certain of that once I've fixed the fingerboard.
In principle there are no problems I can't fix!
For the rest the bass looks nice, it tunes up okay, haven't tested the electronics yet.
[/quote]

And the final result:

First thing I did was level out the hump in the fretboard by leveling the frets, it's alive and plays (the hump was not that high but rather long).
Next step was removing the sharp fret ends and giving all the frets one final level session, after that I crowned and polished them.
Also put a shim (half a millimeter thick) under the bridge saddle, as I already suspected it was set up too low, while I was busy working on the bass I gave the nut some tweaking as well.
Another thing I needed to do was tightening all the tuner screws and nuts, they were all loose.

Put a set of D'addario ETB92 Nylon Tape Wound strings and a 'de afwerking' thumbrest on it and gave it a final setup.
The action is a little under two millimeters at the 12th fret, precisely what I like.
The electronics work without any problems and the sound possibilities are plenty.

Edit: The sticker on the inside also has the famous mistake "5 string fretless bass", I did check the photo's on the Thomann site for these lefty basses and there you can see the same misprint as well.

One more. [size=1](somehow I can't hold back)[/size]

Harley Benton B30 NT Acoustic Bass Series 'Deko'

Sold for decoration only..... We'll see about that.
It came with a hump between fret 10 and 17 and had quiet a few sharp fret ends, the bridge saddle seemed to be too low, it was truly unplayable.

First thing I did was level out the hump in the fretboard by leveling the frets, it's alive and plays (the hump was not that high but rather long).
Next step was Removing the sharp fret ends and giving all the frets one final level session, after that I crowned and polished them.
Also put a shim (half a millimeter thick) under the bridge saddle, as I already suspected it was set up too low, while I was busy working on the bass I gave the nut some tweaking as well.
Another thing I needed to do was tightening all the tuner screws and nuts, they were all loose.

Put a set of D'addario ETB92 Nylon Tape Wound strings and a 'de afwerking' thumbrest on it and gave it a final setup.
The action is a little under two millimeters at the 12th fret, precisely what I like.

Given the fact I bought this bass as a 'Deko' for only 45 euros I can't really complain it needed some TLC.

Exactly that. But the hump on this bass is probably small enough to be fixed with a full fret leveling and crowning job.

I did a more thorough check on what is wrong and for the time being the 12th fret is the major cause of the problem, once I leveled that one I hope I know in more detail where I need to go to get this bass set up to my liking.

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1429171945' post='2748664']
One that has been there for a long time has disappeared - the lefty acoustic bass - should be in my hands tomorrow.
[/quote]
And it is!

There is minimal hump in the fingerboard between fret 10 and 17, in this same area there are also some high frets, there are also quiet a few sharp fret ends. Maybe the bridge nut is too low, but I can only be certain of that once I've fixed the fingerboard.
In principle there are no problems I can't fix!
For the rest the bass looks nice, it tunes up okay, haven't tested the electronics yet.