carlsim

Hi all... I have picked up a very nice Xotic XJ ProVintage 5 string recently (the build in Indonesia and assembled in USA ones...). I bought it from Bass Direct knowing it had damage to the finish in the bottom corner where the knobs are and luckily, it is just damage to the finish - not the wood beneath. Some of you may have seen it on their website - i took a risk as I got it at a good price. Not good enough for me to hand it over and pay for a complete strip and repaint, but good enough that I can treat it as a project and get it better than how it is now. It's the lake placid blue finish which I really like: So the idea would be to speak to Xotic, see if I can get some paint, strip the damage and repaint probably doing the prep myself and taking it somewhere to get it painted. Alternatively, do the prep work myself and key the rest of the body, get some lake placid blue from somewhere and paint the damage and blow over the rest of the guitar to a good finish. I assume it will need a lacquer as well. Alternatively, as it has the same body wood as the natural finish version, do I strip and oil / finish the wood so it's a natural finish. I'm aware that guitar builders use the 'best' bodies for natural finish, so it will be pot luck as to the grain / look of the wood but I am hoping for the best on this front. The plus side is that I enjoy a good bit of woodwork, could do it all myself and would aim to sand flat, get rid of all the paint and get it nice and smooth. Then possibly oil or probably wax and wax then buff to a satin kind of look. What do people think? I don't have the dosh for a complete re-finish professionally and I am aware of it looking like a bodge so the strip may be the way to go. Can anyone offer any advice or personal experiences? Thanks for any advice!

Then I see they have another HB listed for just shy of £900... oh my days!

This has been on here a while I think, and may have been posted about before but it does make me chuckle... Markup must be down to the cost of living crisis... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265742496058?hash=item3ddf7cb13a:g:BeAAAOSwx49hUEeW

Hi everyone... I love a 70s jazz look. Natural body, black blocks and binding... But i don't really gig 4 string basses at all but would like a cheap one sitting around when I fancy having a noodle... I am liking the HB JB-75 vintage series and I know people have played around with re-shaping the headstocks to make them look like the early 50s p basses... anyone tried it with the normal fender headstocks? Are all the HB headstocks the same? I have a SR5 clone and i can print a template and check it against that... Anyone got any ideas or tried it? Much love to the BC community!

So... here is my modified HB - MB5... My aim was to try and create a unlined (almost) looking fretless 5 - plus I also wanted a bit of a project. So, ripped the frets out, filled with a dark veneer, sanded flat and laquered the fingerboard. I was going to do an Epoxy coat but ran out of patience... plus I already had the lacquer from North West Guitars - although I forget this was a tinted one which is why the inlay dots look yellow! Used a vinyl wrap on the headstock and added a MM SR5 decal. Added the same wrap to the scratchplate. Routed out a battery box on the back and added a Warman MM5 pup with the Artec SE2a volume, blend and stacked treble and bass controls. Bit of a bugger to fit but did go in eventually! I am using the blend to select individual coils or both together in parallel - no series on this unfortunately but something I may try and add at a later date! As a fretless it play great - plenty of mwah. Not the most precise finish (I would have liked a better finish on the fretboard) but hey - it's strung with flats and even they soon start eating away at the finish. I like the active system, gives a lot more control than the VVT passive loom it came with and the Warman is a big improvement on the original pup for not much cash. Oh, and I also found a cheap set of chrome sire tuners I chucked on as well. Eventually, I will change the bridge to chrome and possibly the control plate but who knows. I see this as a long term mod! I like it though - some may not, some may prefer the stealth look but I like the white breaking up the matt black. I do wish I had used a non tinted lacquer though - maybe when it gets a bit work I will re-sand and re-finish.

Eureka moment… I think I see the issue - I thought the jack would short to the output, but as you say, it shorts to ground. DOH!! Probably the root of the issues…. Will get it sorted hopefully with a new output jack! thanks again…

Cool…. Will get that sorted and hopefully, all will be good in the world! thanks for all your help, will report back when I have sorted it hopefully!

Thanks for your reply @itu I was aware that I needed to replace the jack for a TRS jack, I figured I could test it first to make sure all was working, but will get that sorted as a matter of course… the battery is ok, the box I ordered was wired black positive and red negative for some reason and I double checked this with a multimeter. I have re-done the solder contacts on the blend pot, hopefully making better contact. can I ask what you meant by “the green wire may be a bit cold”? And are you talking about lead free solder? hopefully sorting the jack end will fix things otherwise I am running out of ideas… to clarify, is it just a standard TRS jack I need? That will short the out and sw connections together when a jack plug is plugged in?

Thank you will get some pics uploaded today… will sketch a rough diagram as well.

Hi... I am modding a Harley benton MM style bass and changing out electronics and pups. The electronics are the Artec SE2: http://artecsound.com/pickups/electronics/se2.html and I have the Warman MM5 pickup installed. The SE2 system is active with volume, blend, treble and bass tone controls. The blend is not normally integrated in this kind of setup I know, but I figure, what the hell! Leave it in... Anyway... The Warman pup wiring is: Black = start / negative of coil 1 White = finish / positive of coil 1 Red = start / negative of coil 2 Green = finish / positive of coil 2 The pickup comes pre-wired in series with the red and white wires, that link the two coil banks, ready joined. So... On the Artec blend PCB there is a front pup hot(1), rear pup hot(2) and combined ground. I wired is the White to hot(1) and the green to hot(2) and combined the red, black and shield to the ground connection. It is working but there is a horrible sound which sounds a lot like a grounding issue. Have I ballsed this up? I did a continuity test across all ground connections and all seems fine there and looked around and can't see anything untoward... can someone help? I hate being beaten but I really need some help here... Thanks! Carl.

It isn’t really a question of not liking it, it’s more from a practical angle of live use. I just find it too much for use on stage, fine tune adjustments I find are difficult. I like the passive tone, but I find when I adjust it live I inevitably affect the volume control which is stacked on top… small changes admitted, but live it’s like - where is my volume gone!? it is a versatile piece of kit, and if I change it I will probably sell it to recoup some cash and considering it is a drop in option and people seem to like them, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone snaps it up as a viable cheaper alternative to an east or Sadowsky drop in option…

I have a gig tomorrow night and I’m going to use the sire… that will determine if I pull the plug. If I walk away frustrated, I’m on thomann’s website in the morning!

It states on their website that the stacked treble and bass doesn’t have a passive tone, but the one with the separate bass and treble pots, the treble acts as a passive HF roll off which I suppose is a tone control. am I wrong in that one then? Would rather confirm before buying as a passive tone would be desirable…