hooky_lowdown

My friends little lad recently got into bass, he has a gear4music la precision bass, however the headstock struck me as it’s the same shape as Peavey, so this got me to wonder if these cheap la p basses are made in the same factory as Peavey’s international range, or its just coincidence?

Finally got round to installing the new hotrails pup, however I've done something wrong because when I plug in my electronic tuner, as soon as I turn it on the needle move towards B and remains in a fixed position, when I pluck a string (EADG) the needle moves but doesn't register anything and reverts back to the fixed postion towards the B. I'm a utter novice at soldering and electrics, so please don't laugh at my poor attempt, any idea's what I've done wrong? Update: tried the bass through an amp last night and the pickup works, however if I move the pickup the sound cuts out. I have to gently wiggle it for sound to come back. Also found if I turn the tone knob the sound intermittently cuts out. Any theories why the pickup seems to short as I can’t see any wires touching and everything is taped up with electrical tape, or why if I plug the bass into an electronic tuner the needle stays fixed towards B?

My PJs were replaced with Alpha pots and wilkinson pups, cheap upgrades but massive improvement on stock.

Well done @Grangur brilliant work.

@The59Sound I've owned a few Standard Squire PJ's. Some are better than others. Every time I had to change the pups and electrics as they are by far the weakest part of the bass. The last one I had I managed to set the action super low, with flats, and was a dream to play and nailed the p sound. My goto bass now is a 57 style bitsa V4 p bass. Its light, neck plays like butter and the parts from a V4 are solid and sound great. I prefer it over any Fender I've played.

Do your flats have silks on them? I'm hoping they bring out some 34in flats sometime soon.

Just thought, if you ever wanted a bass to play varied musical styles, then a Burns with tri-sonic pups would be ideal. I used to have a Burns Bison, it nailed the Precison, Jazz, Rickenbacker and upright bass sounds all at the flick of a switch. Great basses, just weighed an anchor.

The SD SPB3's are a middy pup. I believe most 50s P basses had PIO 0.1 caps, basically the higher the value the more high's are cut from your signal, these include middy high's as well. As you play varied musical styles, then the SPB3's is probably a good choice for pup, to cut some of the mid's I suggest you play with the eq of your amp. AFAIK no pup is ideal for all styles of music, you need a good amp with a good eq to dial in the different tones you want. Otherwise your tone knob is your friend.

What sort of music do you play donslow? If you decide to solder pots I highly recommend full size Alpha pots, similar to CTS only a lot cheaper. As for a cap, if you are into vintage/Motown stuff I suggest a paper in oil (PIO) 0.1 cap.

Wired in series.

Picked up a hot rails pickup to put in a squier bronco bass. The stock (guitar) pup in the bronco has just two wires which are black and white, however the hot rails pup has three wires (Bare and Black twisted together / White and Green twisted together / and a single Red) - see pic below. Can someone tell me which wires I need to solder and where to solder them? I think the White and Green twisted wires need to be insulated with electric tape. And the other two (Bare and Black twisted and the Red) get soldered to the volume pot, but I'm not sure where on the volume pot these go?

Tonewise I've not found much difference in bridges - remember the material of the nut can also influence the sound from the strings. However, I did find using a high mass bridge over BBOT did give much greater sustain, also I found brass saddles also give better sustain.

Nice @fender73 I do like white with maple. What year is your MIM?

Both are nice. Always have a place in my heart for the 51slab body. The V4's are very tempting.

Have gas for a white on white/cream bass, will be something like a precision, so show me your white on white/cream basses to help me pull the trigger? Like this...

Fender make an “urban” gigbag for short scale basses.