Hi All,
I have been gassing after the New Ibanez Affirma but can’t afford one and I am not sure my stubby fingers could manage the wider string spacing. However, I love the idea of having both a piezo and magnetic pickup in one lightweight bass. It would be ideal for the 50-70s cover band I am playing in: no more bass changes; one bass all night.
it happens I have an Ibanez SRH 500 aerium, which I love. It is light weight, comfortable to play and makes a passable upright bass tone through the AeroSilk piezo bridge. Could I turn it onto an Affirma substitute by a adding a magnetic pup? Has anybody tried this? What was your experience and did it sound OK afterwards?
i was thinking of adding a split precision pickup, like a Bartolini and possibly a preamp, although I might just leave it passive. I imagine there would need to be quite a lot of routing out the centre block to accommodate the precision pickup. Would this compromise the stability of the bass and is the centre block wide enough to match the width of the pup? There seems to be plenty of space in the cavity for additional controls and preamp. I could either add a separate output socket or blend into the existing socket. The blended idea could add quite a few different tones, so worth a try but is this a wiring challenge?
i guess the final question is: will this mod affect the resale value? Will I end up with a worthless bass?
Thoughts and experiences would be very welcome.
