Velarian

I’ve just discovered this thread and love the approach; simple clear explanations of useful phrases. Just what I need🙂 Thanks

I totally agree. This is sadly the big flaw in modern retail. Business rates are crippling and not driven by market conditions. Even before Covid many small town high streets were awash with empty shop units and post-Covid even cities are now the same. Little niche shops, especially those selling low cost items have to shift a lot of stock before they can cover rent, rates, insurance, taxes etc., just to break even, let alone earn a decent income.

However, the pickup covers fit snugly in the holes so I think that will be ok for the purposes of aligning the bridge.

I was going to mount the pickups today before working on the bridge position but it turns out the shielding plate on the back is too large for the routing. I’ll need to trim the plate to fit.

So, with a bit of image manipulation and an educated guess about how to scale the picture, I came up with this version of the two pot MM control plate, which I think looks ok. In fact the eBay seller has just confirmed the sizing and if anything, it’s a bit bigger so I think I’ll take a punt on it! 😬

Great job, I bet you’re pleased with how it turned out. It’s distinctive and unique looking. How does it feel/play/sound ?

Awesome! 👏 That headstock graphic looks great, at first glance I thought it was the real deal. Very authentic 70s look.

I’ve tried a full scale paper cut out of a Mustang control plate but unfortunately it’s too small and not curved enough to cover the routing. Thanks for your kind offer though, it’s appreciated.

I may end up with the two pot MM style one if it will fit, just because it will be the easiest to get hold of. I’ve had a quick look online for sheet metal fabricators and chrome plating services and there are some firms locally that might be able to make what I need, but I’ve no idea what the cost would be and it’s just another level of pain to arrange. We shall see 🤔

I’ve tried to mock up what the Music Man plate would look like with two holes and it’s not too bad. If the dimensions of the eBay one turn out to be right it would be the easiest solution. I agree that the P ’comma’ looks the best but I’ve no idea how to achieve that, especially if it would have to be custom made. Is that even possible?

I had a look for a two pot version of the MusicMan and found this on eBay: - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-guitar-control-plate-loaded-wired-panel-music-man-2-pot-type-choose-colour-/194264507947?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 If this is a similar size to the three pot plate It looks like it would work but there are no dimensions. I’ll contact the seller to try and confirm the size and if it’s close I might take a punt on it.

Next up is a MusicMan, again for 3 pots as you would expect: -

I cut the precision one down to suit two pots and it looks like it would be ideal. It would probably have to custom made though: -

I downloaded some control plate templates and printed them at full scale to see how they would would look on the bass. The Mustang one was too small and not curved enough. The others were for three pots +Jack socket so not really ideal but give a reasonable idea. First up is one supposedly for a precision but I couldn’t see any on sale anywhere: -

Definitely not in Lao/Isaan. Everything blows your head off 😂

It’s coming along nicely and the finish looks great. Hope things work out with the screws.

I’ve just had mi breakfast. Im lai der.

Will definitely do that.

Thanks for adding the schematic with the sizes. I’ll be able to scale that up and print it out to see if it works with the routing.

Sorry, my ‘confused’ response earlier was due to me not understanding why the photos didn’t embed inline with the text. The polystyrene idea gave me the best solution with what I had to work with so thanks for that. 🙂 If anyone can tell me how to post multiple photos in a single post in line with the content that would be good. 🤔

That’s certainly worth a look. I’m totally convinced this is the way to go now. I didn’t really fancy drilling 13 pickguard holes in that pristine body TBH 😉

I think you might have a point there actually. It would compliment my fretless Jazz Bass which has a similar look.