octavedoctor

[quote name='OldGit' post='447345' date='Mar 27 2009, 02:56 PM']Didn't know thw Bailey's did guitars .. Simon Kinkade is good too and Will at DrumBank on Gloucester Rd but Eltham's in a different league, IME.[/quote] Thanks Si. The cheque's in the post... (j/k)

[quote name='Hamster' post='446747' date='Mar 26 2009, 11:45 PM']Ah, I've often wondered about where the many times recommended Eltham sits and sips his tea! - I'll update the luthiers section with his complete contact details [/quote] Thanks for that! i have to say that I don't do that much sitting down. The tea bit I can't deny, however...

Anyone know where I can get parts for import Tobias basses? I've got contacts with several distributors and retailers but no-one seems to know where to get them.

[quote name='josh3184' post='428267' date='Mar 7 2009, 10:06 PM']thats quite odd, if its intonated on the 12th fret then I'd have thought it would be fine up to the 24th unless there are some fret placement issues. Perhaps a bend in the neck due to the new string tension? I have no idea btw, but those are my thought [/quote] You shouldn't intonate using the 12th fret, or using a meter. The reason for not using a meter is explained here [url="http://www.edgeguitarservices.co.uk/int/index.htm"]why you shouldn't use a digital tuner to set intonation[/url] Arc relief causes quite a few problems for intonation. If you start with a straight neck, you have to set the action quite high or the curvature of the string's arc would cause it to crash the frets in the first quarter of the fingerboard. The displacement of the saddle introduced to compensate for the stretch induced in the string when it is fretted represents a percentage lengthening of the string, and it's this lengthening of the string's sounding length that offsets the pitch increase which is approximately proportional to the string's stretch. This percentage is not constant however, as the displacement is a fixed value for each string; as the string gets shorter the displacement represents an increasing percentage lengthening of the string. If the neck is straight then the increasing gap between the string and the fret and the increasing percentage lengthening of the string created by the saddle displacement are approximately equivalent. The moment arc relief is introduced however, the picture changes. Arc relief allows the string to sit closer to the fretboard in the higher register. What this means in practice is that the aspect angle presented to the fingerboard levels out as you proceed up the fingerboard, being at its steepest at the first fret and shallowest above the 12th. In most well set up instruments the string is virtually parallel to the fingerboard above the 12th fret so from the 12th fret on there is very little difference in the amount of stretch, but the string is still receiving an increasing percentage lengthening leading to the inevitable conclusion that it is being overcompensated. The problem you are experiencing however is that the strings are sounding sharp; this suggests to me that perhaps you are using a meter which can't take account of the presence of inharmonicity. The trick to compensate for this is to temper the intonation by ear and use harmonic comparison between the higher harmonics and the higher frets. Tune the strings in pairs first by comparing the harmonic at the fifth fret with the harmonic at the seventh on the next string up. Then compare the harmonic at the fifth fret with the fretted note at the nineteenth fret on the next string up. They should sound the same. If the fretted note is sharp, draw the saddle back and repeat the process. When the two are the same retune the string pair by using the harmonic at the 12th as a reference tone for the fretted note at the 7th fret on the next string up. This is a more accurate method of tuning to equal temperament but in the initial stages when the accuracy of fretted notes can't be relied upon harmonic comparison is more useful. Continue the process until you are satisfied with the intonation. As a final check, check the harmonic at the 12th fret against the fretted note at the 17th fret on the next string down. They should be approximately the same. You can continue to refine it by comparing fretted notes on neighbouring strings, e.g the sixteenth on the A string against the 21st on the E. It's actually a lot easier to do than to explain...

Whoo! My brain hurts now... GFS do Neodymium pickups, but I don't know if they do them for bass. I heard some guitar neodymiums and they sounded sh*te. Who says you don't want leakage and eddy currents anyway? Like the different hysteresis characteristics of various core materials (which is bound to have an effect on the cancelation spectrum in the higher harmonic range), these may be what makes the difference between a good and a bad sounding pickup. It's all subjective anyway. Fishman Rare Earths and Neo-D use neodynium and they sound good because the more diffuse and wider footprint of the flux picks up a wider range of harmonics, increasing the acoustic presence. You don't necessarily want that for an electric guitar...

[quote name='owen' post='390397' date='Jan 24 2009, 02:25 PM']Have you categorically eliminated the fact that the wiring and/or the pots are fully functional and everything is soldered where it should be? I have not been able to ascertain whether all the kit is fully functional, because for me basses are like cars. When they work I use them. When they do not I pay someone to make them work. The guy who has been working on it has confirmed that the bridge pick-up is fine and dandy, but that the neck one is dodgy - he is guessing at some sort of damage to the earth. However he has had it for a LONG time and is fed up of looking at it so I am now turning to the oracles of all things tech I don't know the EMG range that well but a way to check this might be to insert and wire the pups in the other way around If I did this myself, the only guaranteed info I could come up with is that soldering irons hurt when you touch them with your fingers. I cuould just buy a new neck pick up. I could get Wizard to make me a pair of something lovely. I am just too tight to spend if I can mend.[/quote] I was the EMG warranty support tech for several years back in the eighties. Internal faults are not unknown but very rare. The likelihood is that there is a problem with the installation, not the pickup. If you are up for a trip to Bridgend or Bristol I could take a look for you. Eltham

[quote name='funkygreega' post='391140' date='Jan 25 2009, 07:25 PM']Hie All, I have a problem with my Marcus Miller Jazz Bass IV. When plugged into the amp, it has a certain degree of noise and when the cable moves theres a crackling noise as well. Its not a cheap cable but it has created some concern for me. Does anyone know what the prob could be, I read a post in the other topic to do with hum and buzzing and it explained that Fender guitars will, because of the single coil have some tolerable level of noise. But I wonder whether this in normal. Thanks in advance, Greg[/quote] This could be two things; you could have a crap cable or there could be dirt and/or corrosion on the plating of the jack socket. The Marcus Miller uses a PJ configuration i believe. The P pickup should be relatively noise free but the J type won't be as it is a standard single coil (the P typ has its two halves reverse wound and reverse polarity), however the noise will be a low level hum rather than a a crackle or buzz. There may also be some high frequency inductive buzz resulting from a lack of internal screening. See my website [url="http://www.edgeguitarservices.co.uk/electric/screen_1.htm"]here[/url] for a more detailed explanation of this. I can't remember whether the MM has actives; if it does then the socket will be using something called negative leg switching to control the supply to the actives. This uses a stereo socket to switch the circuit on and off when a jack is inserted, avoiding the need to toggle the power supply manually. The ring and sleeve terminas are employed for this purpose but wear or a build up of corrosion on the sleeve terminal of the jack socket can cause a bad earth which not only interrrupts the signal, but causes intermittent supply outage as well. The good news is that all of this can be fixed, although unless you want to change the J pickup for a humbucker then you are stuck with the 50 Hz hum...

[quote name='gafbass02' post='363769' date='Dec 26 2008, 04:30 PM']Heh yeh I really do suck at this stuff! Luckily it as just the johnny Brooke jazz copy.[/quote] Why don't you just bring it down to me I'll sort it out for you.

[quote name='alexbartman' post='365624' date='Dec 29 2008, 05:42 PM']Ok - Ive done it now - I have managed to break the wires that connect to the jack....can anyopne recommend a good (and hopefully reasonable) guitar repairer in Hertfordshire or N London (UK of course!!) ..Now Im desperate!![/quote] I used to be the guitar tech for Hohner from 1983 to 1989. I may still have some bits for these; active circuit boxes, etc. Contact me if I can be of any help.. If you are in Herts you aren't far from Northants, I think. Try Dave Farmiloe in Wellingborough. I can PM you his e-mail address.

[quote name='uptonmark' post='368555' date='Jan 2 2009, 03:40 PM']just drop it on the floor, then the rest of the bass will rattle so you wont be so aware of the E string [/quote] My rule number 1. Always change the string first before assuming it's the Guitar/Bass My rule number 2. Don't attempt to diagnose anything yourself, even with the help of a forum such as this. Even the very knowledgeable members are shooting in the dark if they can't see the thing. You did exactly the right thing taking it to Ged. Guy knows his stuff. Bet he didn't charge you much for sorting it either...

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='370669' date='Jan 5 2009, 10:09 AM']The B string on my P5 is worse than that. It plays fine but i guess being .132" and coming in from the back of the bridge there is a lot of pressure against the saddle. I do have my action low and found that the D and G saddle posts were digging in to my hand as i tend to rest it on the bridge (i play with a pick). I got some shorter posts and now its a lot more comfortable.[/quote] It's not normal on a J. The likeliest cause is that you have too much arc relief in the neck and the nut is too high. In an attempt to reduce the action someone will have made a beeline for the saddles, which is [i]exactly[/i] the [i][b]wrong[/b][/i] approach. Buzzing and choking in the higher reaches of the fret board will be the most obvious symptoms and a stiff feel to the action around the middle of the neck and close to the nut.

[quote name='Raving_camel' post='374735' date='Jan 9 2009, 02:58 AM']Is it really this simple? I am a complete noob to building and modifying. I would post on another forum I use, but i'd get ripped to shreds by elitists and you guys seem a lot more respectable and nicer.[/quote] In theory, yes, although you need to consider things like wire tension and winding speed. You can't wind coils very quickly or you get something called "looping". I reckon about 300rpm is the max so 5000 winds will take you about 15-20 hard minutes. I usually take a break every few minutes or I develop a squint because it takes a lot of concentration. What are you using as a winder? I did my first rewind using a drill in a vice but I wouldn't recommend it. i know others who've used home made faceplates mounted in lathes. I currently use a geared electric motor mounted on a bracket and the bobbins are held in place with No More Nails tape. Sounds primitive but it works! I wind by weight rather than number of turns, using the feed spool on a very accurate balance. It's extremely accurate; I had to rewind a TV Jones pickup the other week that the owner had trashed.. i had no idea of the spec or number of turns so I just measured the wire diameter and wound the coils with the exact same weight of wire. I finished up with two coils each of 2.4k, global impedance 4.8k. That didn't seem right to me so i went online to check the spec. Eventually found it and it was spot on... Also, i didn't understand your magnet configuration You may run into problems with 50 micron wire and NeoD magnets. NeoD is VERY powerful and creates a lot of magnetic weighting which can affect tone, sustain and intonation. 50 micron wire is generally used for humbuckers and 8000 turns will create a very high impedance which won't necessarily sound more powerful but will have and attenuated top end response and a fat middle. Most bass players want a bit of sparkle at the top end and an expanded bass spectrum but he only way to find out is to suck it and see... Good luck!

It wouldn't work and there would be no point in doing it. The strings impedance would be so low (effectively shorting the input of the amplifier) and the voltage generated so small that it would be impossible to amplify it effectively. The existing arrangement of search coil + magnetic core interacting with the mass of the string is far more efficient and that's why it works and why we use it in preference to the idea you propose.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='360360' date='Dec 21 2008, 05:51 PM']1. no hum 2. replace battery connector 3. hum 4. replace light switches 5. no hum again. Logic dictates that you did not fix the actual fault. If you use the bass on stage where there's loads of stray electrical noise you might be disappointed. Just saying [/quote] =1 to that. All you have done is remove the source of the noise, not fix what ever is broken that was protecting the basses electrics from the noise.

[quote name='stevie' post='360464' date='Dec 21 2008, 08:34 PM']Do you know a way to get to the inside wire of the coil if it has snapped off and disappeared under the bobbin? I'd be interested to know if you do.[/quote] No I don't although I have been able to effect repairs by bleeding conductive silver paint into the bobbin, but it's a hit and miss effort. a rewind is the only sure fire way. [quote name='stevie' post='360464' date='Dec 21 2008, 08:34 PM']My problem with vintage style pickups is that they are, as you say, inherently fragile. So there should be some means of protecting the wire, even if it's only tape - or the cover should be fixed. Strict vintage specifications preclude this, however. I have more of an issue with the way the leadout wires on vintage-style pickups are basically connected to a blob of solder on an eyelet. Move the leadout wire slightly and the bobbin wire snaps. More modern pickups have improved on this, of course, but the vintage-style ones have to be true to the original design, which is not brilliant.[/quote] You are correct, of course but I find that modern pickups with plastic bobbins are worse; at least the fibre bobbins of vintage pickups can cope with the heat of soldering, which makes them superior, in my opinion. If the ferrules are stable, I don't usually have a problem handling the lead wires when soldering them and I fix dozens of these every year and rarely have any die on me... If I'm winding a pickup from scratch, and authenticity is not a requirement, then I usually bind the coil wire to a heavier gauge. This will take rougher handling. Given that the requirements of a pickup are that one is working with a very fine gauge of wire which is inherently fragile it's hard to see how these designs can be improved upon other than in areas of construction finesse. It sounds as though the pickup featured in this thread needs rebuildiing...

you can use wire wool and ordinary masking tape offers the best protection for the fingerboard but you need to be aware that many instrument have very poor lacquer adhesion on maple fingerboards and that this can be pulled off by the masking tape. i de-tack the masking tape on my jumper first but it doesn't always work. A better way is to get a leather pad, glue it to a piece of 1/4" ply with the coarse side outwards and charge it with a fine abrasive like jeweller's rouge or burnishing cream. Brasso or duraglit works as well. as a further refinement you can cut a series of grooves in it which wrap across the fret bead. This is what I use to finish off all fret dressing and recrowning.

[quote name='neepheid' post='361514' date='Dec 22 2008, 10:40 PM']+1 on cocktail sticks here too[/quote] Do it properly for god's sake. Drill the hole out and plug it with dowel. Use a very slightly larger diameter of dowel and spin it in the hole using a cordless drill in to compress the wood fibres. glue it in and trim it flush then re-drill when the glue has set using the [i]correct[/i] diameter of drill (slightly larger than the thread core but smaller than the diameter across the thread crests). Even better, replace them with a set of Jim Dunlop flush mounted straplock ferrules. These transfer the weight of the bass directly to the the strap and take it off the screw which is fragile and unstable. [url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/strap-lock-dunlop-flush-mount-p-3920.html?p=product"]Flush mounted strap locks[/url]

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='363910' date='Dec 26 2008, 09:42 PM']Hold the strings down at the 1st fret with a finger of your left hand, and at the end of the neck with your right elbow. Check to see how much space there is under the strings at the 12th fret. If there is a lot of space, then adjust tighten the truss rod a quarter turn at a time, try to get the neck almost flat, just the smallest amount of relief. Then adjust the string height at the bridge until you're happy with it. I have my strings all the same height from the fingerboard to the top of the string, I find this facilitates faster and easier right hand playing.[/quote] Adjusting the action for optimum playability is [i]much[/i] more complex an issue than most people believe, involving adjustments to the nut, arc relief and saddles. It's not simply an issue of heading straight for the saddles and cranking them down; if you do this without due diligence to the other parameters you will cause more problems than you solve. There is a rough guide to DIY set up on my website here. It is aimed at guitarists but the principle is the same for basses. [url="http://www.edgeguitarservices.co.uk/quickfix.htm"]quick fix set up[/url]

[quote name='King Tut' post='364321' date='Dec 27 2008, 05:49 PM'][url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33334"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33334[/url] OK -so the refret is done, the trussrod issues are sorted and the cosmetic magic has been applied. When I touch the polepieces, the bass buzzes badly. I've checked the earth continuity and it's all fine, however I also noticed that the two outside polepieces on the bridge pickup also seem to be connected to earth - one at either end of the pickup - and just on the bridge pickup. Anyone got any ideas what's going on here and a possible solution? Cheers in advance, Col[/quote] This is not really a fault but is caused by inductive coupling between the signal path and the pole pieces. Each coil has an "open" side and a "blind" side. The blind side of the coil has the windings running very close to the pole pieces and in vintage style pickups are separated only by a thin wall of (usually) paper tape. The open side comes from the outer coils and the earth path and signal path can be connected to either. From the viewpoint of noise reduction however, taking the signal wire from the blind side of the coil is very much better as the outer coils become part of the earth path and therefore help to screen the inner windings against inductive noise. Also, if screening foil is fitted, the capacitance effect of this is non existent if the signal path is connected to the blind side. In a J bass with a noise cancelling pair of pickups one pickup should be reverse wound/reverse polarity however few pickups other than custom designed and calibrated sets are genuinely reverse wound these days and if it's a genuine '76 your pickups are probably wound with the same rotation but different magnetic polarities. In order to achieve noise cancellation with these, one coil will have the signal path emerging from the blind side and one from the open side. The former of these will experience noise when the pole pieces are touched but should have an attenuated high frequency inductive buzz response when in circuit on its own. You should find that all the pole pieces buzz if you touch them. but if this isn't happening then it could simply be that because the coils are bound to the core more tightly at the bobbin ends on a long J pickup this is just pushing the coupling over the threshold at these points. Either way, unless you routinely rest your fingers on the pole pieces while playing it shouldn't be a problem and is really nothing to worry about. Does that make sense? Eltham

[quote name='stevie' post='360276' date='Dec 21 2008, 03:41 PM']That's a shame. It is sometimes possible to repair the internal wire, but it's not a job for the unpracticed, as wire that thin will 'melt' and disappear under the bobbin. Vintage-style pickups are basically unfit for purpose because they are so easily damaged, but everybody wants vintage, so that's how they make them. It's another of the downsides of this vintage nonsense.[/quote] As long as the coil wires themselves are not damaged this should be a very routine op, but I'm not sure what you mean wne you say "the top of the pickup came away". If you mean the coil bobbin base then that's a bit of a problem... I'm not sure I agree with Stevie that vintage style pickups are "unfit for purpose" although he's right that there is a lot of nonsense talked about "vintage" stuff. In my experience older is not necessarily better but a pickup coil is inherently fragile whichever way you make it. As long as people don't go poking them with screwdrivers they have a high survival rate and are easy to fix when they die...

[quote name='Mickeyboro' post='358637' date='Dec 19 2008, 11:05 AM']I have an EG512C and when bought one of the clips that makes sure the electronics panel fits snugly was broken. The other has now gone and I am reduced to sticking Rizla 'shims' in to keep it secure and crossing my fingers. My question is - how easy is it to get a replacement, how much and can I do the fixing myself? Any guidance welcome.[/quote] Try e-mailing Fender who are the current distributors [[email protected]]Fender[/email] Or ring them and ask for the guitar spares dept. You might get lucky... 01342 331700

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='352879' date='Dec 12 2008, 04:34 PM']I've solved the problem. I replaced all the dimmer switches in the house with standard on/off light switches. The first clue was when I noticed that my other basses were developing ground loops too. And all my amps. And it didn't make a difference which wall socket I plugged them into. I thought that this was a bit fishy. S.P.[/quote] What you were describing was not a ground loop hum, this only occurs if you chain multiple mains powered units whose earth paths may be at varying potentials. What you had was inductive hum and I would suspect that you broke a screening link to the earth pathway when replacing the battery clip.

Quite a common complaint this; it seems to be worse with some strings than others. It's possible that one of the pole pieces is demagnetising slightly. If you can, try turning the lower half of the pickup around to see if the problem transfers to the A string. This is a bit fiddly and you can't always do it but it's better than guesswork.

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='355801' date='Dec 16 2008, 11:39 AM']Thank you for the link. This has been saved to my favourites. I have just been talking to a friend who gave me very similar advice. It may be that I just need to dress one of the frets. Will assess the relief of the neck fist. cheers.[/quote] There is a simple DIY set up guide on my website [url="http://www.edgeguitarservices.co.uk/quickfix.htm"]here[/url] It's aimed at guitarists but it applies equally to basses. There is no point checking arc relief until you know whether there are irregular frets or not. This will allow you to find the optimal adjustment for the neck in its present condition. If you can't hit the sweet spot where it feels just right, chances are yo need a fret dress. Why do I call it arc relief, I hear you ask? I once gave a talk to a bunch of young lads from one of the, er, [i]less sought after[/i] residential areas of the town. "Can anyone tell me what neck relief is?" I asked innocently "i think my sister charges fifty quid extra!" came the response I've called it arc relief ever since...