Mod_Machine

Cheers, Bass Doc, Not keen on ordering from USA as had a number of bad experiences recently including products going missing and of course the import costs making what seem quite good deals to begin with seem a tad high. The delivery cost on the mustang bass pickup is $27 which is gutting as it means the total for the pickup is $66 dollars and a tad above my budget, so ideally looking for something uk based...or with a uk distribution office or network.

Anyone have any experience of these - any good? Any other type of P bass or mustang bullet style pick up round the £30 mark that compares or exceeds? This is to replace stock bronco pickup on a bronco to mustang conversion, so if anyone knows of anywhere that does mustang sized replacement pickups at similar price also advise? cheers Mod

Im glad someone else noticed this. Thought it was my fault 'breaking' them with my rampant thumb pick approach! I bought an ibanez jetking with them on as standard/recommended about 2 years ago. After a gig or two they were shredding little white 'pulls' everywhere. It looked horrid and i vowed to stick with ernies Then went into a studio end of the summer 2010 and thought id treat myself just for the recording and got some new nanowebs, though a slightly higher guage. Ok ive been rotating my basses this year but last year it was gigged twice a month min from August plus 4 hours rehearsal every week plus any play time i could afford on top of that at home. They are still on there now and havent gone dead yet. Ive even got a spare set of new strings i ordered to replace them but havent found a need to yet ...and in fact by Jan id got a lovely even mid tone that id been searching for since i started playing!

Cheers Jon, Thats cool and nicely rounds off all the angles to go in the Bass 'project file' ive compiled just in case my little girl ever gets REALLY bored some time in her future years and wonders what i did to the poor Jedson! Love some of those descritptions - especially about the pick up poles.....i can gurantee that the pickup works excatly the same with or with out the 2 mm pick up pole as the one i removed was missing it one and the other was loose...no change in sound!! I actually thought they were little 'fakes' to give it the classic look. Speaking of sound - i still wasnt happy with the overall feel on the neck so tightened up the truss rod a bit and raised the strings. This erradicated any buzzing i had though meant the pickguard needed to be raised a couple of mm using little black rubbers cut to shape under the pick up cover screw down arms. I was also unhappy about an intermittent fault so re-soldered all of the pickup electrics running to the slide selector screws. Finally i wasnt happy with the feeling of tension on the E string so having read a little about string tension, especially on short scales replace the E and A string with a much heavier guage. I dont know what guage or brand as i took a chance on a £2.20 set of private sale wrapped but unknown brand bass strings off ebay. Turns out they are lush and i probably should have saved them for my ibanez but too late now as cut down for the short scale (ironically even short scale strings are too long for the Jedson so little point me in worrying about size specific) This has greatly altered the feel of tension on the strings and the E and A now feel less slappy than before when running the XL set. recording wise its actually a much more even sound and on the same settings the difference between the ibanez and the jedson is now truly undetacable to the untrained ear (eg my girlfriend!) Gigging it this Saturday - cant wait....its also going to be featured in our forthcoming video shoot and 'possibly' when we headline the O2 acad at the end of the month....although i am looking at doing an all black bronco mustang bass thats gathering a little steam!

Hello all that are interested. The jedson is now all complete.From start to finish i have done the following:- 1. stripped and resprayed in arctic white. 2. replaced jack socket 3. replaced machine heads 4. restored exisiting screws 5. re soldered electrics 6. stripped headstock and new custom badge made 7. restored all chrome 8. replaced bridge 9. replaced bridge pickup with J bass pickup 10. eteched 'j' on string holder 11. fitted string/pickup cover 12. 'fed' fret board 13. full set up 14. Fender short scale strings I now, quite possibly have the only 'tele' style Jedson Bass which tunes, intonates AND stays in tune in the country! In total (including price of the bass + delivery, cleaners, fretboard feed, chrome restorer, coke for screw recovery (!), sand paper, primer, undercoat, spray, pick up, tuners, strings, bridge and custom stickers plus delivery of all ordered parts ) i have spent ....... £121.28 (pease bear in mind that many things ordered have a longer term value...eg sandpaper, chrome cleaner, fast fret, and coke plus we all know how expensive fender strings are for what they are!) This is now how it looks.... [attachment=73335:Image0541.jpg] To give a better sense of size against standard bass here it is against my ibanez jetking [attachment=73336:Image0542.jpg] So im sure the biggest question is ...was it worth it for what was originally a short scale 'beginner model'. Well to give a better idea ive recorded the following two extracts, both of the same riff and both with the same settings. One is of the jetking at bridge pickup and one is of the jedson 'avalon' at the bridge pickup (the one i replaced) Ive recorded both using the IPOD PEAVEY AMPKIT. The setting for both is identical, at pretty much central eq centings for the amp (peavey Valveking) except the resonance and reverb (set to off). Nothing else. Its not the sound i woud normally set a bass at and doesnt use any of my hartke bass attack pedal, compression or big muff but i wanted to give the closest to the bass natural sound i could and give a comparrison against a near £300 full scale bass. Please excuse the loosness of the playing, it was more about a riff that covered both highs and lows across the fretboard for a good comparrison! First the £280 ibanez jet king - a great full scale bass with a humbucker at the bridge and nanoweb strings (mid/heavy guage) [attachment=73337:Jetking_Soundbyte.wav] Now the Jedson, sporting a fleabay £4 Cort pickup at the bridge with fender extra light strings.... [attachment=73338:Jedson__...oundbyte.wav] I hope you have found this thread both informative and interesting. I set out to make a bass that took the looks of the classic telecaster guitar and actually worked as a bass..it was my first attempt with no previous experience of any music restoration projects, and yet i hope to have proved that with a little concentration, effort and a bit of reading (plus some useful help from members on this site) it is possible to produce a bass that doesnt cost the earth and doesnt require extortionate charging from 'experts' just to accurately set up or correctly place a bridge....If it even encourages one person to try and understand their instrument and set it up themselves then im more than happy! Please dont be shy, let me know what you think..positive or constructive, without peoples input my next project (hopefull a bronco to mustang conversion) will run the risk of not being any better! cheers for all comments so far! Mod

Cheers - just emailed WDmusic.co.uk to see what they say. If i hear nothing ill give them a call as the available black bronco donor isnt available for very long! Anyone know if the chrome plate where the jack socket and tone knobs go is a standard mustang guitar piece?

Cheers for all the responses as good to know its of interest to a few other than me! (p.s. still looking forward to seeing the catalogue) I spoke to the store selling the bridge and as always Jon you are the ultimate fountain of knowledge in these things - its a side grub screw with a manual move for intonation of each string. Not ideal, but still a lot better than the floating bridge thats on there currently with only the ability to accuarately get good intonation on the E and G strings (though the A and D are barely out anyway) I looked around and couldnt find anything with a best value price tag and smaller span than the 54mm , and though the Schaller 3d bridge is the perfect piece of equipment its smallest setting is still only approx 53.5mm and new is around £60. I thought long and hard and in the end based on the asthetic '50s futurism' appeal the b14 should have when in the context of the bass went for it. Im also hoping that the chunkyness of it wil help beef up the look of what is basically a piece of marine ply thats half the depth of a telecaster guitar! I know its going to be a bugger to set up but will (with a lot of time and concentration) allow me to set up the intonation on each string and keep it nice and solid-my ultimate holygrail. It was also the only bridge i could find with both the max 18mm string spacing and the 17mm+ height needed to clear the pickups without going down the root of a tune o matic style bridge. I seem to have again ended up with a U turn towards my original brief and im actively keen to :- 'get it gig ready whilst maintaining a sympathetic nod towards its original design'. This ultimately means alot of the design flaws that cant be effectively ironed out need to be addressed in the most asthetically pleasing way - and ultimately it is really individualising the bass. The new set bridge means the other minor issue of reattaching the earth each time i move the bridge is sorted and i no longer need to worry about accidental wammy' effect. I have also got my self a jazz bass pickup for the bridge taken from a Cort Bass. God knows what it sounds like, all i know is it looks in 'new' condition and it works without any noise! It didnt cost me enough to warrant worrying too much as its still got to be an improvement over the original! Ive got a really good but quite qordy guide from this site on masking up the bass up to measure exact position for the bridge (which also takes into consideration possible curviture of the body) which ill do tonight in prep for the arrival of the bass. Ill take a few photos as i go and re-post the guide with my experiences and the photos once fitted as may prove useful for others who are learning as they are going like me.

Hi, Cheers for the quick response but they are for the Fender Jaguar guitar with the 2 single coil pickups. Im really after a black-white-black 3 ply bass version. Anywhere else?

Hi, Just putting the feelers out as contemplating a future project converting a Squire Bronco to mustang (well in style and part upgrades anyway!) Before I take my thoughts any further Ive done a bit of google work, but cant find anywhere that does the mustang Bass pickguards, let alone in various colours! Anyone know of anywhere? cheers karl

Very cool pieces of kit However i cant really warrant the extra £50 when the the smallest they can go is only 0.6 of a mm smaller than the spacing of the one in the above link.

Measured at the heel of the neck its coming in at 56mm, where the strings come out of the mock bridge cover thingy also 56mm which equates to 18mm spacing MAX (total 54mm span) Every bridge ive looked at has 20mm spacing and a few have 19mm spacing (57mm span) Except for B14 in the following link which has 18mm spacing, and also the height needed to clear the bridge pick up. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-String-Chrome-Bass-guitar-Bridge-B10-B13-or-B14_W0QQitemZ140307803644QQcategoryZ42455QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7171217838612113007"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-String-Chrome-Bass...217838612113007[/url] Need to call the co. though as i cant see how the intonation can be set unless the cradles are manualy moved by hand rather than by a spring system! Good thing about the roller bridge fitted was that last night i measured up where the bridge should be based on neck length, and then spent an age rolling the strings out to exactly 18mm spaces between each, then tightened up to full tuning and had a good few measures down the neck. Although its starts at the top with a 4.5mm space either side of the E/G sting to the edge of the neck, by time it gets to the 21st and final fret that has reduced to just under 2.5mm either side of the E/G. Not perfect but its something i can live with, and will have to learn to if i want it play it! Perhaps a new nut in future will help to even it out slightly. The problem this now presents is that although the strings pass perfectly over the neck pick ups 'poles' the bridge pick up seems to have been fitted a couple of mm to one side of centre at factory. This coupled with the strings still fanning out to meet the outer string cradles means the E now misses its pole considerably which presents a noticable drop in volume on that string when using that pickup only. A new bridge it definately is....meaning a new pick up aswell. Im thinking a Jazz bass copy with the 8 poles which will then give me a constant tone and still be hidden by the string/pick guard so not be too out of place with the asthetics. Im sad that so much of the original character is getting lost but it is turning it into something much more unique and still cheaper than buying a competition mustang or other preferable 3/4 scale. (the jedson is already far superior to the epiphone EBs and though the jet king is lush its just too big and im getting pretty bad cramp. I cant imagine some of the cheaper j bass pickups can be any worse than the ones currently (factory) fitted but if you know of any good value brands worth having a gander at please let me know!

You are indeed correct again Jon, ruddy titchy little neck! Measured at the heel of the neck its coming in at 56mm, where the strings come out of the mock bridge cover thingy also 56mm which equates to 18mm spacing MAX (total 54mm span) Every bridge ive looked at has 20mm spacing and a few have 19mm spacing (57mm span) Except for B14 in the following link which has 18mm spacing, and also the height needed to clear the bridge pick up. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-String-Chrome-Bass-guitar-Bridge-B10-B13-or-B14_W0QQitemZ140307803644QQcategoryZ42455QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7171217838612113007"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-String-Chrome-Bass...217838612113007[/url] Need to call the co. though as i cant see how the intonation can be set unless the cradles are manualy moved by hand rather than by a spring system! Good thing about the roller bridge fitted was that last night i measured up where the bridge should be based on neck length, and then spent an age rolling the strings out to exactly 18mm spaces between each, then tightened up to full tuning and had a good few measures down the neck. Although its starts at the top with a 4.5mm space either side of the E/G sting to the edge of the neck, by time it gets to the 21st and final fret that has reduced to just under 2.5mm either side of the E/G. Not perfect but its something i can live with, and will have to learn to if i want it play it! The problem this now presents is that although the strings pass perfectly over the neck pick ups mock 'poles' the bridge pick up seems to have been fitted a couple of mm to one side of centre. This coupled with the strings still fanning out to meet the outer string cradles means the E now misses its pole which presents a noticable drop in volume on that string when using that pickup. A new bridge it definately is....meaning a new pick up aswell. Im thinking a Jazz bass copy with the 8 poles which will then give me a constant tone and still be hidden by the string/pick guard so not be too out of place with the asthetics. Still sad that so much of the original character is getting lost but it is turning it into something much more unique and still cheaper than buying a competition fender mustang or other suitable 3/4 scale. I cant imagine some of the cheaper j bass pickups can be any worse than the ones currently (factory) fitted but if you know of any good value brands worth having a gander at please let me know! Mod

Pretty much what the title says. What should it be, what do i need to look at to find out - currently has a roller bridge on there so thats no guage for me! What would be the pros/cons of putting on a bridge of normal string spacing of 20mm?

Hi this relates directly to my Jedson Tele style short scale restoration/project. For greater context please go to :- [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=119103&st=20"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=119103&st=20[/url] Somewhere on page 1 gives details on why i believe these basses had intonation problems and how i have rectified this using the original floating style roller bridge. ADVICE WANTED Although its getting through rehearsal OK and the concept of the floating bridge is good in that it works and intonation is OK accross the bass im still not confident enough in it to use it live just yet....so a new bridge is definately the way forward. The floating one works but too many variables can cause even minor movement to it..eg heavy movement, resting my hand upon it by mistake, and i dont really want this make shift mock 'tremelo' approach in my playing! This is how the bridge looks currently :- [attachment=72423:body.jpg] [attachment=72424:etched_J.jpg] [attachment=72425:bridge_final.jpg] Please can someone advise on what would be good to ensure definition and tone yet not ruin the asthetics of the bass. As far as i can tell i have a few choices 1. keep the small etched mock bridge cover which holds the strings and replace the bridge with a tune o matic style one [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] Although bolted in it will give me the scope to move around the intonation and height on each string 2. Replace the bridge part onnly with one of the attached style contemporary bridges (i think one of them has a little 50s futism about it so would fit in nicely) [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] and still maintain the original string holder. 3. Replace the bridge part only with one of the attached style classic bridges [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] and still maintain the original string holder. 4. Remove original mock bridge cover/string holder and bridge, replace the whole shebang with the classic fender style bridge and then purchase fender style bridge cover to maintain that classic look. (only draw back to this is once i move that bridge back i have to fill in the whole the current earth is coming out of (under the floating bridge) and try to make a new one through the guitar to come out under the new bridge placement. So what is general concenus on best way forward? What are the pros and cons to each one from a technical view point? where and what else needs to be considered when fitting a new bridge? What sort of distance between strings should i be looking at for a short scale bass? Please keep in mind that this is budgetted restoration and more about me discovering more about the instrument i now play. This is not something i originally budgeted and as a bass i doubt this is worth a great deal to anyone other than me so the solution still needs to represent best value. Also - although not a huge issue i would like the strings to feel just a little more 'tense' - any ideas? Cheers Mod

Hi all, For those interested i have now used the jedson for nearly 8 hours of rehearsal. Sound wise had a few issues when i initially found it to be WAY bassy..and a bit muddy to boot. This was finally tracked down to my pedal set up which was previously all set for my ibanez jet king. I took a much more back to basics approach with the jedson and have eneded up with a 50/50 mix between the bass natural sound and the hartke bass attack - predominantly its 'shape' setting knob backing off the low side slightly. then finally adding a little compression (via Marshal The Compressor). Agaian this is tweaked considerably twoards the HI level and a little more compression than i would normally use! Ive been running it through a hartke bass amp but with everything set to '0' or '12' depending which way you look at it...basically everything at middle. I bypassed the EQ on the amp to get the sound as close as possible as to the way i want it before reaching amp so if i do use it the DI sound should be much closer. Got a video shoot comming up and will be using the Jedson for that so got the a headstock badge made up :- [attachment=72418:headstock_badge.jpg] The Jedson badge is NOT a replica of the original, but a cross between the Jedson logo and the Fender logo used on the Tele guitars from the early 70's. The 'AVALON' model name is again a nod to the telecaster font used by Fender, with AVALON being in honour of my little girl Ava...finally the des. number is of course not a real one but the little ones Birthday in the Fender tele style - cheesy i know but i really couldnt help myself. Also added the 'J' etching to the mock bridge cover that actually holds the strings in place! [attachment=72419:etched_J.jpg] ADVICE WANTED Although its getting through rehearsal OK and the concept of the floating bridge is good in that it works and intonation is OK accross the bass im still not confident enough in it to use it live just yet....so a new bridge is definately the way forward. The floating one works but too many variables can cause even minor movement to it..eg heavy movement, resting my hand upon it by mistake, and i dont really want this make shift mock 'tremelo' approach in my playing! This is how the bridge looks currently :- [attachment=72420:body.jpg] [attachment=72421:bridge_final.jpg] Please can someone advise on what would be good to ensure definition and tone yet not ruin the asthetics of the bass. As far as i can tell i have a few choices 1. keep the small etched mock bridge cover which holds the strings and replace the bridge with a tune o matic style one [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130393162361&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] Although bolted in it will give me the scope to move around the intonation and height on each string 2. Replace the bridge part onnly with one of the attached style contemporary bridges (i think one of them has a little 50s futism about it so would fit in nicely) [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140307803644&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] and still maintain the original string holder. 3. Replace the bridge part only with one of the attached style classic bridges [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130283831565&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] and still maintain the original string holder. 4. Remove original mock bridge cover/string holder and bridge, replace the whole shebang with the classic fender style bridge and then purchase fender style bridge cover to maintain that classic look. (only draw back to this is once i move that bridge back i have to fill in the whole the current earth is coming out of (under the floating bridge) and try to make a new one through the guitar to come out under the new bridge placement. So what is general concenus on best way forward (where and what else needs to be considered when fitting a new bridge) Also although not a huge issue i would like the strings to feel just a little more 'tense' - any ideas?

My first bass about 4.5 years ago was the eb-0. Got it as i loved the Gibson SG look. I sold it to our guitarist for £25 about a year ago as needed the wall hanging space. I agree the neck dive was shocking but didnt know what it was back then and learned to compensate for it!!?? in hindsight that was never going to be good. Also really found the noise too boomy and struggled to EVER get defintion out of the notes...always thought that was bizarre as being a short scale it was much easier to shred. Tried compression pedals and everything. I had always put that down to the rubbish amp i was using at the time (erm behringer 300w beast that had a graphic equlaiser that didnt seem to make a difference and the lows were always entirely at bottom but still till boomy/muddy) As for intonation it wasnt great from store, BUT i found out that the intonation would get really effected by the strings - better quality and nice and new then no probs, however as soon as they started to deaden the intonation went all over the place and dead spots appeared really quick. The final straw for me was after about the 3rd gig the bridge actually semi popped out when i was abusing it on stage. I pushed it back in , retuned and even though paid a pro to get it all sorted I never trusted it again! A sad story as i always thought its small scale offered so much potential for a small player like myself. On the flip side i seem to remember it was really well crafted asthetically and the neck was solid and smooth. I really loved that neck.

UPDATE Have now given the bass a couple of high resin polish coats - not for shine but to protect the paint work a little. I got some short scale Fender strings (light) and got them on last night. Had to pull the neck a bit with the truss rod which i admit scared me even though i have read a shed load on how to do it. Changed the bridge slightly and removed the rubber feet and replaced with a length of textured rubber to help it stick in place:- [attachment=70633:bridge_final.jpg] Prior to this the rubber feet raised it a little too much and made it unstable - i could see it would tip over potentially as the strings were tightened. Took me about 3 hours to get it in tune and get the inotnation close (mostly spot on) - intonation seemed at first to set perfectly but would be slightly out at about the 16th fret and took me ages to sort it...in the end i got really bored. I felt uneasy about the position of the bridge when i was playing standing up as i kept resting my hand against it. Was going to fit a string guard eventually anyway over the bridge pick up so did it last night, thus my hand rest on that rather than the floating bridge so should help it keep tune. Plus really looks cool! [attachment=70634:final_full.jpg] I picked it up this morning and all seems well and in tune up to and including the 16th fret on onwards but based on playing rather than against a digital tuner so we will see. Im still also weary of the bridge as although the design works fine..i find it a little vulgar and wonder if it could keep its intonation once ive hammered a set out of it for 30-45 mins. Plus moving it back and forward by only very small amounts by hand is really difficult and realistically requires you to loosen all strings first! Thinking about replacing for a tune o matic style bridge. ANY ONE GOT A TUNE O MATIC STYLE BASS BRIDGE IN CHROME THEY WANT TO GET RID OF CHEAP? EARLY SOUND OPINIONS Ran the bass through my normal set up and did direct comparrisons with my ibanez jet king. This is still first tests and is at low volume in my lounge! Running through a hartke bass attack DI pedal - 3/4 mix no pre shaping and with a little tube emulation just before the point where it distorts, and Marshall Compression pedal - everything only slightly one way or the other from 12 aclock. The amp was a fender amp on clean setting with bass, treble and mid set to 7. The jedson is a little more trebly though mostly noticable on the G string. (in fact i had to turn the bridge pickup off to get the nicest sound) No warm 60s here which the jet king is perfect for. The jedson is agressive. I play with a thumb pick as get real sweaty during a gig and move around a huge amount so tendancy to loose normal picks straight away. The pick also gives the jet king more definition between the notes. The jedson responds better to finger playing though and just gets too harsh when picked. The was most apparent where i was dual stringing or chording - the jet king needs the pick to stop it sounding 'mulchy'. However the 3/4 scale and closer strings make the whole process of playing these same notes much more organic with the fingers-a lot less effort is needed to get that same sound of 'attack'. HOWEVER the Jedson really came into its own when i turned on the Electro Harmonix big muff. It sits on my pedal board but live i rarely use it as find that the Jetking just cant take it - the notes become less defined when its on and with any riffs that string alot of notes together everything just gets lost. The jedson on the other hand responds perfectly. The high treble and middle that make it harsh sounding normally give the distortion definition. Very quickly i got the sound very close to Kasabians FastFuse and i definately have a use for that! Im going to take the bass to rehearsal on thus, running the Jedson for the first half and he Jetking for the second so will feed back more then...depending how it sits in the band mix may even use it as the main bass for Mondays gig with Phantom Band.

Thats terrible!

Update I have cleaned up the switches using some NATO electrical cleaner and lube a freind of mine had 'aquired' in the past, re-soldered a loose connection and replaced the most dodgy looking solders with some nice clean sparkly ones and attached the earth to the under neath of the bridge leaving it both floating and hidden. Lovely job if i do say so myself. This has resulted in elimnating about 95% of the noise getting through when both the pickups are moved to 'OFF' position. When one or both are on ive got no noise at all. A new set of fender light short scale strings have been ordered though i stupidly gave the wrong postcode, which over typed my real address with my street name. I tried to explain this error to the company who said they couldnt change the delivery address as was sent out but tried via the courrier and then told me to wait a week even though a three day delivery period to see if its delivered to the right address but it will be probably be delivered to the wrong address as thats whats on the package. Now been four days and nothing. Turns out i luckily know the guy who lives at the wrong address its being delivered to and he hasnt received them yet either so im going to have to wait to see if i ever get them! No more work can be done til they arrive unfortunately!

thankyou - thats an extremely helpfull and informative answer. Im going to try cleanng the switches, and will resolder all exisiting with new wiring when i solder the bridge earth on. Ill then see what its like and change the switches for new ones in a couple of months when i change the bridge pickup. Cheers for all you help

Cheers - its good to know people are having a read though its more about me getting down everything in a chronological order as i hope it will ultimately someday be my little girls first bass (hence why i would prefer it works!) Still lots more to do though - this is just the cosmetic side at the moment- 1. Custom jedson badge made in white for the headstock plus the model name. (As there isnt an official name for it ill be ripping off the fender tele font and calling it the Jedson avalon, after my little girl Ava. ) 2. my mate is knocking up a relacment mock pole for the bridge pickup cover. 3. A large italic scroll J is also going to be etched into the bridge cover 4. Finally a nice chrome string and pick guard over the bridge pickup. However before thats done i still need to:- 1. run the new earth to the floating bridge using a custom made 3.5 nut and bolt 2. re-solder all joins into nice covering shiny ones 3. clean switches and knobs 4. re-string with fender short scale lights (should arrive tom) 5. Set up the intonation (yay!) Once all that has been achieved and i know the intonation can succesfully be set with the floating bridge and the tuning holds, i can start looking at how much noise is getting through. At the moment im only aware of noise when both pickups are off. If the clean up and resolder is not succesful then will be time for a new pair of slider switches. THEN, AND ONLY THEN...i can decide whether to replace the bridge pickup - maybe with a humbucker-but ultimately will have to be a cheap second hand jobbie. It will be nicely hidden under the string plate so wont ruin the retro looks no matter what style it is, but till i play i dont know how this bass is going to sound and what exactly i can do to it using the Hartke Bass attacke DI pedal i run. Also need to consider that the pickups are bolted straight onto the scratch plate, with no height adjusting screws, springs or tubing to take out the vibrations. Not sure how much of a difference it will really make but will surely find myself on here asking about solutions in the future!