cameltoe

I'm undergoing some mods of an Aria J-bass copy I picked up, and one thing that interests me is to add a switch to allow the pickups to be switched to series wiring. Can anyone talk me through how to do this? Or direct me to an easy-to-follow guide? I'm fairly handy with a soldering iron, can get my mitts on a switch, and have a few lengths of wire left over from a previous project. Cheers

I'm wanting to brush up my technique, have someone assess my left and right hand positions, and generally make me a better player all round! A lot of teachers near me are guitar players who also teach bass. I'm not suggesting I won't learn anything off them, but for fear of being taught theory by someone who seldom picks up a bass I'd like an actual bass player, one with experience I can draw from, who can push my playing on a bit. Any ideas?

I think this is the route i'll go down. I've never had anyone assess my playing so......

I might take a few lessons at some point, however I think the majority of teachers near me who teach bass are primarily guitar teachers. Thats not to say I won't learn something from them, but they may approach it from more of a 'theory' point of view when it comes to teaching bass. I'm fairly comfortable with the technique I use, but it's only once i try and do it correctly I realise how much easier it gets to reach all the frets without moving my left hand- with my technique, I slide my hand around more than I should have to, and any kind of big stretches are a pain. At the moment though, the 'correct' technique (apologies Will Lee and Randy Jackson) feels unsecure. And the thought of doing it WITHOUT gripping the neck with my thumb seems completely unrealistic for me at this point!

I've noticed recently that I tend to hold the neck in the palm of my left hand whilst playing, especially while hitting the D and G strings. Almost how you would hold a guitar whilst playing chords, the bottom of the neck sitting right in my palm. I think it started because it feels more secure in my hand than the correct technique, which would obviously be to have my thumb pressing off the back of the neck, with my fingers more 'square on' to the fret board. The way I play I often lead with my ring finger (if I'm not going to be subsequently going up the fretboard, in which case I'd lead with the index). I noticed recently as I've started to find indexing the 1st fret a bit of a unnecessary stretch. It feels a tad uncomfortable. But then again, so does the 'correct' technique. Obviously I want to be as good a player as I can, and be as comfortable as I can, so I wondered if this is something I should nip in the bud now? I've only been playing 18 months or so, and I blame many years of guitar playing and a neck-heavy Epiphone EB-O as a first bass as the culprits. Interestingly enough, I tend to use a more conventional technique when I'm playing sat down, so maybe I am doing it subconciously to prevent neck drop? My P bass doesn't suffer from that thank god. Does anyone else do this? Should I learn the correct technique or is it not a problem?

I figured I'd probably be advised to sell! I may try and trade first- I'd rather that than try and sell it all. Those two Hartke cabs look really good- just what I'm after. That and a head and I'd be sorted. Cheers guys!

I've got a Hartke VX3500 combo that I hardly ever use, purely because the majority of gigs we play just aren't big enough to warrant me lugging the thing around, plus I have a much smaller AC Euro amp, 200w, that does the job for everything but the biggest venues. I bought the Hartke from new, and I love the way it sounds. I like a nice, punchy sound so with my precision the 4x10 speakers do the job nicely. This is hard to replicate on my AC Euro that has just the 1x15" driver. Although loud enough, I'm not crazy about the sound I get from it. It was a fairly cheap second hand purchase. Ideally, and looking back now, I should probably have bought a seperate amp head, with maybe 2 2x10 cabs, that way I could just bring the extra cab when I needed to really crank it, and the rest of the time I'd be using the head I like, with a 2x10 combo. There was a good deal on at the time with the combo though and it was a good price. It was my first bass amp, so I just kinda rushed into buying one without thinking it through. A solution would be to sell the combo, and the AC Euro, and buy the stuff I need, but that's an awful lot of hassle, plus potentially lost money. A trade would be good, but that could take ages to find someone willing, and I may still end up worse off. Being a fan of finding a DIY solution, and realising I have all the components I need, I wondered if it would be advisable to basically hack my combo to pieces, and buy (if possible) or make new enclosures for the drivers to create the 2 cabs, and also to box the head seperately, thus allowing me to use the amp I like! Has anyone done this before, would you advise it? All suggestions welcome.

[quote name='JackLondon' post='756219' date='Feb 24 2010, 04:23 PM']Right chaps, Seems like there's a lot of people on here building their own effects so it might be a good idea to have one thread where we can have all of the hard work in one place. Hopefully one of the mods will sticky this for us. What got me into effects was 2 separate things. 1st was a request from my guitarist to build him a loop pedal and 2nd was all the recent threads about the effects which made me think ''I can do that'' and of course the fact that I'm unemployed until 11th of April and have loads of time on my hands. My first project is a double bypass loop kit which can be found here [url="http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p380_Double-Bypass-Looper.html/XTCsid/39234f691992d87833cb450a8ffe5743"]http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/i...3cb450a8ffe5743[/url] It's a very simple thing for the first project so I'm happy with it. Progress so far : The box has been pre-drilled [attachment=43460:IMG_0119.JPG] There's another little box on there about which you can find out a little bit down. The second stage will be to apply the decal of which the template is this, not that it has the position of LEDs and switches on it as a reference point. [attachment=43461:Loop.jpg] The second project is a fuzz face pedal which can be found here : [url="http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p1619_The-Face-Silicon---Fuzz-kit.html/XTCsid/39234f691992d87833cb450a8ffe5743"]http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/i...3cb450a8ffe5743[/url] I believe that it's a good project to be my 2nd attempt, you saw the pre-drilled box for it in one of the pics above and here is a template for a decal : [attachment=43462:Fuzz.jpg] I am waiting on some toners for my printer as well as some paint so as soon as it arrives I can start putting it together. For now I'm going to put my mind into making myself a proper workbench as I think that my Mrs does not aprecaite me using kitchen worktops Expect a build report on a workstation tomorrow.[/quote] A step by step would be awesome if you're feeling up to it! I've always fancied building my own pedals, and as I'm in the market for a fuzz the idea of making my own on the cheap is even better. Unfortunately the only electronics work i've done is a basic wiring upgrade. I can handle soldering wires, but how to all the little resistors, capacitors, chips and whatever else, attach themselves to the circuit board? Witchcraft? I've got a Behringer DC9 compression pedal and it's got a fake stomp switch. It annoys me a bit so I bought a real switch thinking it wouldn't be too hard to change over. I gave up just looking at it.

I wondered about this with my MIM precision, as I heard it can also give a bass more thump, as the full weight of the wood is behind the strings, if you will. I was quoted £100 by a local luthier and while I thought that was quite good, I decided against as I figured I could get replacement pickups and bridge for that price. I also figured it's probably better to leave the mexican as a mexican, as in time i'll probably get an American Precision.

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='754995' date='Feb 23 2010, 01:38 PM']I'm very happy with my Thumper.[/quote] That's good to know. The description of the pickup sounds what I'm after, but I think sometimes Pickup manufacturers have just as hard a time describing the sound the pickup will give, as I have describing what I want it to do. Did you upgrade the pots and wiring with it?

This is what it says on the Cort website about the C4H pickups: MBA4( B )-Alnico (F/R) No idea whether that means series or parallel. I'm also a bit chuffed off to realise both humbuckers are exactly the same. I had an inkling they were, seeing as I got the same sound but 'twangier' when I switched to the bridge pickup.

Ok guys good advice! I was always skeptical how much difference a bridge would make but sooooo many people seem to change them.... plus the Badasses sell so well new, second hand, etc etc. I'm (usually) pretty good at changing my strings regularly, but because it's such a gradual thing with bass strings I often go a few weeks longer than I should. Worn strings kinda creep up on me by surprise! Going to be going down the Wizard Thumper route by the looks of it too, so hopefully that'll add some colour to the sound.

Cheers for the help guys, I think I'll end up giving wizard a call. The series/parallel thing is definitely something I'm gonna look into though. I thought twin humbuckers would give me all the punch and depth I needed, but it hasn't worked out like that. With my precision, I need to EQ to make it sound clearer and less 'big' at gigs- this I need to EQ to make it sound fuller and more 'big', if that makes sense. Cheers

Are there any recommended bridge conversions for a precision that don't cost a lot? I can see a lot of cheap replacement bridges on eBay, but I've no idea what's good and what's chaff. I play with my fingers mainly, so ideally I'd like a bit more attack. The badass bridge has sharp angled saddles which it claims increases attack and tone, and that sounds like what I'm after, but they're £80-odd if you can find them. I had heard Gotoh mentioned, but really there's that many £10-15 bridges on eBay I'm hoping I can find something to do the job on the cheap. I would like a bit more mass in the bridge, as it's Mexican hence thru bridge stringing, and (if I listen to Leo quan) I guess I'm after a sharper surface for the strings than the rounded barrels of the fender bridge. Any suggestions? Cheers!

[quote name='7string' post='745447' date='Feb 15 2010, 12:47 AM']Try [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk"]Wizard Pickups[/url] They've have a good reputation and they'll custom wind something to suit your needs if necessary. Prices are great as well. Definitely worth a phone call.[/quote] Nice one, I'll try them out. There don't seem to be a lot of aftermarket relacement pickups out there. I see Seymour Duncan and EMG do replacements, but they keep banging on about recreating the 'original musicman tone'. That might be a good thing, but it might not! Like I said, I don't really know what a musicman sounds like. I know I don't like my bass to lack low-end punch, and this one does. Sounds very thin.

I recently got myself a Cort Artisan C4H, and while I'm very happy with the way the bass feels and plays, I'm not overly keen on the way it sounds. It has two Musicman style humbuckers, so they should be easy enough to replace, but the question is, with what? The problem with the Cort is that it sounds way too 'middy' for me. With either pickup, or even both on together, I can't escape the strong high mids. I can fiddle with the EQ on the amp, and the bass/treble EQ on the guitar, but still it's the high mids that cut through. This bass also has active/passive switching, and while that's a great feature, it kinda just allows me to switch between really middy, and a bit cleaner really middy. I've no idea if this is Cort's attempt to replicate the sound of a Musicman, I've never played one so I'm not too sure how they sound, but I remember being told in the past that they can have strong high mids. My regular gigging bass is a Mexican P, and I love the way that sounds. While I don't want to replicate the sound of a precision, as I don't want two guitars that sound alike, it's the punchyness of the P that the cort really lacks. I could do with clearer, tighter lows, with nice low mids, way less high mids, and nice bright trebles but nothing too twangy. I know I'm kinda describing a P! I'd honestly like it to sound different to a precision, but I've got to get it sounding better, I'm just unsure which way to go with it. I don't mind it being a bit more middy than the precision, so I can get a bit clearer note definition, to then use it to gig at places where the precision can sound a little wooly, but at the moment it's really lacking some growl and thump, whereas the high mids are off the chart. It's not easy reading descriptions of pickups either, most Seymour Duncan ones all get described the same way on their website.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='743945' date='Feb 13 2010, 01:13 PM']If i had my fretless here i could check for ya as i have a mighty mite neck on that and an Aria STB Jazz here, unfortunately it's at my tech's house being upgraded at the moment. If i get it back soon i'll let ya know! I replaced the pickguard recently with a generic one and only needed to do a little filing if that's any help They're really nice basses IMO, i love the neck on mine![/quote] I take it the mighty mite's are all standard Fender measurements? I know some copies of guitars are quite close to the real things in terms of measurements, and some are way off. No idea which category the Aria falls into. Should make a good bass with a decent neck. Pickups sound quite good but a bit low output.

Before I spend my hard earned on a neck for my project I better check it will fit. The original guitar is an Aria STB Jbass, body from solid Alder, so seemed like a good place to start. Have tracked down a Mighty Mite neck from a seller on here, any ideas if it will fit? Are the Aria's made to Fender measurements? Cheers if you can help.