LeftyJ

New pickup arrived today, I installed it this evening and it sounds great. The bass is in perfect working order again. Thanks!

That guide is nice, and very useful if you're talking volume or regular tone pots. However, the C4H has an active EQ, and 100k audio taper pots are perfectly normal for an EQ knob because your on-board preamp alters the impedance of your signal, so the rating of your pots will need to match it. I wouldn't change the value, because it will either not work, or sound different.

Pretty ill-prepared

As a lefty, this is extra funny to me and something I've never given any thought! I have only once bought a bass from stock, because there usually simply weren't any. On the rare occasion I bought something totally new in a shop, it always had to be ordered for me and arrived untouched and boxed, at the risk of not liking it and having to sell it at a loss (or not buying it and losing my deposit). The one exception was an Esh Stinger I that I bought in a shop where the Lefty Bass Day was held. I had been coming there for 4 consecutive years and that very same bass had been there for all those years and it had intrigued me from the very first time I laid eyes (and hands!) on it. The last time the price had dropped by a lot because the shop was clearing stock to focus on amp building (CMS Music in Duisburg, Germany is no more, and is now Rheingold amplification). That said, I've never really thought of shop models as used or even secondhand. I think it's important to be able to try a bass out first, and pick the one that suits you best because it's something so personal! You just can't say "I like this one, so get me an identical one from your storage that hasn't been touched" because the new one could very well feel and sound different. I buy all my instruments used these days, often having them shipped to me without being able to try them out first. The lefty community is fairly small, so I often know the seller or other previous owners from different forums like this one. This will sometimes only add to how I feel about an instrument, and it builds trust

Wow, I wonder if those rules apply with shippers here as well. I received a Warwick Streamer LX just over a week ago from a private seller that was shipped in just its original gigbag, with a DHL label directly on the gigbag. The only form of additional protection added were two old t-shirts around the headstock to protect the tuning machines. I certainly wasn't expecting it shipped like that! But more importantly, I guess I (or the seller) got really lucky nothing happened to it during shipping, with all the steps involved in its logistics! According to DHL's track and trace site, tt was picked up by DHL at the seller's home address in the north of the Netherlands, then transported to DHL's central sorting hub on Zaventem airport in Brussels, Belgium before heading back to DHL's delivery hub in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and from there on in a delivery van to my work address in Gouda. DHL's proof of delivery claims it was delivered to me and that I signed for it in Amsterdam, strangely. Due to the current covid-19 measures, they don't take a signature and just ask for confirmation of your name (but to make it easy they just ask "Are you [add your name here]?" so anyone can say yes and accept your package).

That has to be one of the most beautiful Thumbs I've ever seen! That bubinga pommelé looks superb, and the dark ebony fingerboard really sets it off. Does it have matching ebony tuning knobs too?

I'll be watching this. I own a lovely Streamer LX5 (with two active MEC J pickups and 2-band EQ) that I've had for some 10 years now, and I love the lows but always felt the highs sound thin and overly agressive and the bass has a huge natural low mid scoop that I can't remedy with the onboard 2-band. It sounded great in my metal band where it had to punch through a very full mix with two 7-string guitars and quite a bit of keys, but it's pretty much useless for anything else. I also just bought a Streamer LX 4-string (with the regular MEC PJ pickups and 2-band) but have yet to find out how it sounds because I'm waiting on a new neck pickup for it that will be delivered to me later this week because the original one didn't work. I'm familiar with the OBP-3, I have one in an Ellio Martina Forza (basically a modern active 5-string Jazz) running on 18V. I agree with @acidbass about the bass frequency, it's only useful for cutting. The moment you boost the bass even slightly you're lost in the mix, especially on the low B-string.

Let's make it more fun by marking the ones we still own in bold More or less in alphabetical order: Aria Pro II SB-1000 (with two extra pickups added) Carvin B4 Carvin LB75 (flamed walnut) Carvin LB75 (all black - bought back out of sellers' remorse) Condor Jazz Bass Condor Jazz Bass (bought one back after regretting selling my first bass. The second one was awful) Cort Artisan B4 Cort NTL-B fretless acoustic Ellio Martina Forza 5 (The One Bass. I'll never sell this one) Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray5 Esh Stinger Fender Japan 57 Precision reissue Fender Japan 75 Jazz Bass reissue G&L USA SB-2 Hohner B2A Ibanez ATK300 Ibanez ATK300 tuned to D Ibanez ATK305 Ibanez RS924 Ibanez MC924 (1981) Ibanez MC924 (1983) Ibanez SR800LE Jan Bak Precision Bass Kydd Big Kydd EUB Longbow 2-string fretless Mr Bassman No Sweat (Human Base) Rickenbacker 4003 Sandberg Bullet 5 fretless Status S2 Classic bolt-on 4-string Status S2 Classic bolt-on 5-string Warwick Streamer LX4 Warwick Streamer LX5 Yamaha TRB5II amber Yamaha TRB5II trans blue All lefties obviously

Probably still better than Stevie Wonder's selfies with others.

For me the Amethyst Sparkle, but with chrome hardware. And I would have loved that Smoked Chrome if it had been a plain finish instead of a burst. I don't like the black edges.

Wingbass half-scale 5: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wing-Bass-5-Left-Handed-with-Strap-and-Gig-Bag/265015740750?hash=item3db42b494e:g:PYcAAOSwMa9gAijb

The cables go straight into the epoxy. The signal wire is a hot (core) with the ground as a sleeve around it, so I can't reach the core wire closer to the pickup. The red wire is the 9V +. I ordered a new one today through the Warwick webshop.

Wal Mk1.

I would like to hear some finger noise This may sound odd, but I feel that it gives a fairly good impression of how coarse a string (or the string material) is, and it gives an impression of how forgiving the strings are when your playing technique isn't as refined. I know some strings can sound really scratchy when you move around, because the material "sticks" to your fingers. I've been playing Elixirs for so long that I'm no longer used to the more coarse feel of uncoated strings, and there's a sloppiness in my fretting technique that you won't hear with softer coated strings but which is very much present on the Status Hotwires on my headless S2's which require double ball strings. So this is definitely a personal thing, and I must admit there's a bit of laziness involved (hey Elixir, how about some double ball Nanowebs? )

My longest-owned bass is my Ellio Martina Forza 5-string, that I bought used in 2006 for €1300 (which also firmly made it my most expensive bass for a long time, until I bought a brand new Rick 4003 in 2009) and is still The One that I would keep if I was forced to sell all but one. I barely play it at the moment because my 5-string Status has stolen its limelight, but it fits me like a glove and the range of sounds is huge, from passive Jazz Bass to modern boutique tones.

250k would definitely not be suitible for low-impedance pickups. The stock MEC blend pot is 25k. As you can read in my first post, I already measured with a digital multimeter. The pots are fine, and all the wiring is connected and looks fine. I have already isolated the culprit, I know it's the neck pickup. I'm just hoping to find out what's wrong with it, and if it's fixable. Thanks @BigRedX, I feared as much 🙁

There's a few companies out there that replicate the original Sure Grip knobs, and the smaller EQ knobs too. Ibanez themselves still use (!) the Sure Grip III, which was on the Musician and Roadster ranges from 1982-1983. These are also sold separately for roughly €7,50-€8,00 a piece. They're not the period correct model for the RS924, but close. Thomann stocks them, and the UK distributor for Ibanez (Headstock distribution?) may also be helpful. Meinl shop in Germany appears to be the official parts supplier for Ibanez parts in Germany, but their site says they're not allowed to ship to the UK.

Last week I acquired a German-made 2001 Warwick Streamer LX for a great price. It has the stock MEC PJ active pickups and 2-band electronics with push-pull volume for EQ bypass and a balance pot. The pickups are sealed with black epoxy and the insides can't be reached without breaking the cover or the epoxy seal. The pickups are 3-conductor: a hot, a combined ground/- for the 9V power, and the + for the 9V power. The wiring disappears straight into the epoxy. The splitcoil does not produce any signal whatsoever. I have tried isolating it and using a multimeter to measure it, but I'm a little lost. With regular passive pickups, I can just unsolder them and measure on the hot and the ground and I'll roughly know what kind of resistance to expect and what to look for. The MEC pickups constantly require 9V though, and are very low-impedance. The bridge pickup appears to give 1.1kOhm with the 9V connected (and goes all over the place with the battery detached), the neck pickup none. It appears the signal is interrupted somewhere, but I can't find the source. What do I look for, and what possible problems could there be? I really don't know where to look. Thanks!

The stock pickups on the RS924 appear to be DiMarzio's. They use the same hex screw pole pieces, and to my knowledge no other manufacturer uses cream covers. I have owned an RS924 for over 10 years, but recently sold it because I prefer lighter basses and thinner necks these days. If your Roadster still has its stock electronics, active pickups aren't a requirement. EMG's will work because they have their own built-in preamp which boosts their output level to the same level as that of a passive pickup. If you originally intended to restore it as close to stock as possible, you could look at the DiMarzio's and maybe cleaning or replacing some pots - a likely culprit for the crackle you describe.

Yes Plug the BDDI into one of the XLR's, set operation to mono, and you're all set.

Looks cute, and fun! Would be cool if it holds up to the tension Laugh all you want, but that is exactly what Gibson and Moog did with the Gibson RD series

Wow, they're doing shortscale and short multiscale models now? Awesome, and pretty unique! Hey Ibanez, how about some lefties?

What model of Status pickups are you looking at? I have two Status S2 Classic basses, one older model with Status Hyperactive soapbars and a fairly recent one with the current "2003 Status soapbar" pickups. The Hyperactives are not available new, but the 2003 pickup is still the stock soapbar pickup for the S2 Classic and the S3 and is a drop-in replacement for EMG DC soapbars and Bartolini M3/4/5 soapbars. They're passive pickups, and Status claims they will work with most onboard preamps.

Cool stuff! Those were the final evolutionary step between the Roadstar II series in its many shapes and the Soundgear series that was introduced in 1987 (with the final version of the Roadstar II being the RB800, which basically is a Soundgear with a different headstock). The RB835 is pretty rare, and it seems it wasn't available worldwide. Google searches of the model nearly all appear to lead towards Russian and South-American websites. They're cool basses, but they have no real value as collector's items and they're a bit outdated unlike older, more Fender-like, models like the RB630 and RB650 that have become somewhat of a classic, and the beautiful RB924 and RB824. The one @TheGreek posted is currently on eBay for $349.99 in Japan, but IMO not worth it when you add in shipping costs and import duties. It looks good at first glance, but the back sides are badly worn. There's little logic in the naming of the Roadstar II Bass series. Models were updated regularly and sometimes changed dramatically while maintaining the same model name and number. The RB835 had some near-identical twins in the form of the RB850/851 and RB950, which in their last years of production had the same body shape but slightly different versions of the same pickups and different controls. Some models were Japan domestic market only, as Ibanez still does sometimes today. Some were only for specific other markets.

Our previous queen was driven around in one of these, until she had it replaced with a stretched Volvo S80 of the first generation: