solo4652

[attachment=225249:100_0883.JPG] Here's the HB wiring. The yellow wire from the front pup goes to the volume pot. The black wire runs between the two pups, and is the only wire connected to the rear pup. In my naivety, I was rather hoping I'd be able to snip some wires, drop the new pickups in and reconnect using those little wire connector thingies without any soldering. Given that the HB wiring looks a bit different to the "standard P wiring" diagrams I can find online, I've already given up on that idea - could well be a trip to an instrument tech. tomorrow,

I'm replacing stock pickups on my new Harley Benton Shorty with some Entwistle PBXN's. The stock pickups have one wire to the volume pot and one wire connecting the two pickups and nothing else.The Entwistleshave an extra wire which, from the diagram supplied, looks like it may be an earth wire from the neck pickup. Is that correct? Where would I anchor this extra earth wire, please? Apologies - this is my first pickup swap and I was expecting to find exactly the same wiring.

Well - good grief! The HB Shorty arrived this morning. I cut down some used half-rounds and slapped them on. Tightened up the truss rod a half-turn, and re-set the intonation. I'm very confused - it cost under £70, complete with an instrument lead, and it plays unbelievably well. For under £70. What!? Neck pocket looks good and tight, just a couple of slightly sharp fret ends. Pickups sound better than I was expecting - not as muddy as some have suggested. Bridge looks pretty thick, and it feels solid enough. Tuners are doing their job, but are not the smoothest operators I've come across. Pots aren't scratchy, jack socket seems secure. All screws are tight. Back of neck is as smooth as any other bass I've had, so no need for wire-wool there, much to my surprise. There is a smidge of neck dive when playing. No problem, i thought - my weight-bearing waist strap will hold it up, like it does with the Yamaha BB's. Nope - the smaller body of the HBS means that no matter how much I lengthen the lower bout support strap, the strap actually drags the bass downwards. So, I'll try it without the waist strap. I've just been told that the band's meeting tonight for a short rehearsal and I already feel comfy enough with the short scale to take it along. I have £800 worth of basses sitting in the corner of the dining room, and the HBS feels easier to play. For £67. Bonkers. We'll see how we get on tonight.

@blablas. Thanks for your advice. If anybody knows their way round these basses, it's you. Remembering that I'm ideally looking for high-volume, punchy mids-forward tone and not old-school muddy-thuddy, anybody know about these pickups? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/232010487717?lpid=122&chn=ps&googleloc=1006559&poi=&campaignid=628859225&device=c&adgroupid=28306099746&rlsatarget=pla-184492187826&adtype=pla&crdt=0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...type=pla&crdt=0[/url] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Wilkinson-P-Bass-Black-Pickup-For-Bass-Guitars-MWPB-Model-/371675355411?hash=item568993d913:g:T1YAAOSwzJ5XfS8g"]http://www.ebay.co.u...1YAAOSwzJ5XfS8g[/url]

I've just ordered an HB Shorty from Thomann to see how I get on with short scale and to give me a bit of a project while I wait for my neck operation. I've been reading various threads about modding these basses - Blablas' projects look really nicely done: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/253875-turning-a-harley-benton-pb-shorty-into-a-jb-shorty/page__hl__harley%20benton%20shorty Looks like the stock strings and P pickup will need to be changed. I'm aiming at a mids-forward, punchy tone, and I like halfwound strings. So, couple of questions; Dimarzio model P 122 pickup would be great, but is expensive new. What would be a cheap-but-good alternative? Any suggestions for halfwound strings to fit the short scale? I have some standard scale Status Hotwires here - shall I just trim off the ends for a first go? Any other string suggestions? Steve

@Martthebass Thank you for your understanding, and for your offer of a go on your Status Streamline. One of those would do very nicely, thank you. However, as you say, it's beyond my budget! @naxos10. Those SWB-1's do look smart. I'm not sure whether their scale length and string spacing would be just too tight, however. The 32" M[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]aruzyczk basses are pretty close to what I'm after. Isn't there anybody who offers a similar hand-built service in this country for similar prices? Can't seem to find anybody.[/font][/color]

Oooh, now then. Looks very interesting. Close look in the morning.

Folks, My medical woes continue, but I've been experimenting with different basses to find a way forward. I've found that: As suggested by many B/Cers, a well-balanced bass is just as important as a light one. Holding up a neck-heavy bass while playing very quickly leads to arm and neck pains. I've cobbled together a waist strap that takes a lot of the weight of a bass off my shoulder. I've discovered that the key thing is to have an extra strap running from the waist to an extra strap pin close to the tip of the lower bout. With my Yamaha BB's, this also really helps with the overall balance. 32" scale helps. So, my revised shopping list for a bass is: 32" scale Lightweight. Doesn't have to be as mad/creative/different as I was originally thinking. Just light, that's all. 3 Kgs would be good It[i] has[/i] to be nicely balanced on a conventional strap with no neck dive. P/J, or maybe P/MM pickup configuration. I've never really been a J-bass fan but, you never know... Budget is £500 max I thought about starting a new thread, but decided that slightly re-orienting this existing one would be a better option. Mods - please do advise if you think otherwise. Steve

Gone, unsurprisingly.

[url="https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/for-sale-very-rare-80-s-bass-collection-fretless-bass-guitar-japanese-sgc-nanyo-/1179221480"]https://www.gumtree....nyo-/1179221480[/url]

I do feel for drummers at rehearsals when, as usual, most of the people there haven't learned their parts. Guitarist and keys player (and to a lesser extent, bassist) have endless conversations about chords, diminished 7ths and such like. The inevitable result is a seriously fed-up drummer (and singer) who then mentally goes AWOL. Same thing happens regarding the same song and same chords the following week. Quite often, I'm not surprised that the drummer decides they can't be bothered any more.

I played classical guitar as a teenager and hated it. I sill have the guitar, and haven't touched it for 40 years. Started playing bass aged 50 and it's certainly my main instrument. I also dabble on the cajon and have been the "house cajonista" at a few open mic evenings, accompanying anybody who came along and wanted a bit of percussion behind them. That feeling of comfortable improvisation is something I'll never have with my bass-playing, since I can only play basslines I have spent hours practising. So, in terms of hours spent, I'm a bass player first and cajon player second.

Quick update, for anybody interested. This afternoon, I played a nice Bass Collection SB301, hoping its light weight would be the snake oil I've been looking for to enable me to play more than 5 songs. I'm afraid not. The SB 301 is about 1.2 Kgs lighter than my Yamaha BB1024, but I could feel my left arm and hand, and my neck getting tired and painful after only 5 minutes or so of noodling. I was using my own strap, and the SB301 was balancing nicely. I didn't feel I was holding up the neck, and it was pretty easy to play. Nothing wrong with the bass - for the money, I was very impressed with it. Driving home, my left arm was pretty numb and I was losing some strength and coordination at times. My thinking is that if I'm struggling to play a light, nicely balanced little bass like the BC SB301, then there's not much point trying to find something much lighter or easier to play. Just holding a cup of tea up with my left hand causes problems. Time for a re-think about what I'm going to do next in terms of playing bass. Bit fed up now.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1465894070' post='3071839'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/697-obscure-musical-backwaters/page__hl__obscure"]http://basschat.co.u...ge__hl__obscure[/url] [/quote] Thanks for the link

Hi Stuart. How kind you are. The Bass Collection basses have been mentioned quite a few times. I'll do some research and then get back to you if a try-out seems in order. What do you do with that extra string? Steve

I had a Vintage V4 some while ago. It was OK, but nothing special. Sold it on fairly quickly. The Sinsonido is the front runner at the moment. Anybody got one they want to sell, or lend me?

I suppose it's because I'v always played 34". Better the devil you know, and all that. *Quickly Googles scale length of Yamaha BB424 to save later embarrassment*

@Wilco. Hmmmm - 8Lbs is perhaps still a little heavier than I'm looking for. Quite surprising, given that it has a carbon neck. Cardboard bass! Westone Rail - Now we're talking! @HappyJack - What's the weight of that Westone, please? How's the balance for playing when standing up? @Number6 - I had a look at the Chowny basses. For me, they do look a bit dated with that Eddie Cochran/1950's style. Sorry, not for me. @Neephied - Similar reaction to the Epiphone Jack Casady. It weighs 8lbs/3.6 Kgs. I'm trying to find something under 3 Kgs, hence the "let's be creative and unusual" request. I keep looking at the Sinsonido and this cheap copy: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anygig-AGB-Full-Scale-Length-Travel-Bass-Guitar-Backpacker-Portable-Bag/321884540505?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3Dada28af155334dcd8a6f8b7c51978cb0%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D222028132975"]http://www.ebay.co.u...%3D222028132975[/url] How easy would it be to upgrade the pickup? Any other full-scale, decent quality 4-string stick-type basses out there? Thanks again for everybody's suggestions. Steve

@ Wilco. Thank you. What's the weight, please?

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1465670594' post='3070145'] [/quote] Nah - too prone to temperature changes!

Folks, I think I'm looking for a somewhat more radical solution. I'm looking for something seriously lightweight, but giggable. Something like the Sinsonido, or similar. So - get radical - step outside of the "normal" bass shape....Go on, be creative...

Folks, Apologies for this post which may well overlap with lots of others. Here goes; Because of Arthritis in my neck, I need to find a lightweight full scale bass that's giggable through a standard head/cab rig in a pub covers band. I've searched the web and come up with some ideas, but I may well have missed something obvious. Don't mind any "left field" suggestions - don't hold back! Here's the shopping list; Full-scale The lighter, the better Fretted Plays through a GKMB500/Tecamp rig Sounds good enough to be an honest bass for, errrm, Dr Feelgood, Fleetwood Mac... Active or passive - I don't mind Budget; £400 - £500 I'm aware of the Sinsonido, and that's a possibility How about an electro-acoustic? All suggestions greatfully received. Steve