ikay

59 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

For an alternative look at isolating the string from the rest of the instrument have a look at the Born To Rock bass. In this case the design was conceived to do any with the need for a truss rod. 

That's the sort of thing! Sustain for days and harmonics you never knew existed 🙂

4 hours ago, Ruarl said:

This experiment suggests that the stiffer the bass is, the longer vibrations will sustain in the strings (and in the output), because energy that is transmitted into the wood doesn't come out as sound.

 

... you could say that any bass that absorbed less energy from the strings, whether because it was stiff or heavy, would play louder, longer-lasting harmonics.

The science here is borne out by 'dead spots' which occur where a particular point on the neck happens to resonate at the exact frequency of a note that is fretted at that same point. A lot of the energy from the string is absorbed into the neck, resulting in a short, dead-sounding note.

Which raises an interesting question. A lot of bass design features are notionally aimed at improving energy transferrence and increasing sustain (eg. hi-mass bridges, through-body stringing, mitred neck joints etc). But surely this goes against the science? Wouldn't it be better to isolate the entire speaking length of every string from the neck/body structure to minimise energy transferrence? A sort of super rigid frame including tuners, nut, fretboard and bridge which 'floats' on the neck body structure. The neck and body merely being a convenient device to enable the instrument to be handled and played and having no bearing whatsoever on the sound.

Of course, all the above, only if you want more ringing sustain and clinically pure harmonic content.

Update:  http://stashstainlessbass.com/shop  🤫

https://www.hotoneaudio.com/products/omni/omni-ac

Would be interested to know if anyone has used this with a bass and how it sounded? Although it's mainly aimed at simulating acoustic guitars, the final two presets are for bass (a fretless and a double bass). I've scoured youtube but can't find any demos of the bass presets using a bass guitar, they just play all the presets with a guitar and pretty much skip over the bass ones. Somewhat annoying!

Here's how, if you're feeling brave!

My old GK 200MB has developed a curious fault - a temporary loss of high-end response when the combo is first turned on. For the first 15 mins or so the upper frequencies are lacking and everything sounds a little muddy. After playing for about 15 mins, the top frequencies come back and everything then sounds fine for the rest of the session.

I contacted GK who were very helpful but say it could be any of many things from a leaky capacitor to a dry solder joint. The fact that it rectifies itself when it's warmed up makes me think probably more a leaky cap than a bad connection. Before I send it to an amp tech, I thought I'd post on here in case anyone else has experienced something similar.

Wiring schematic for the input stage of the preamp below for ref.

Any input welcome. Cheers!

Using this as a reference (https://shop.warwick.de/en/pickups/accessories-parts/bass-electronics/19979/mec-warwick-streamer-fna-jazzman-3-way-electronics), I'd deduce the following:

Pot B is treble

Pot A is mid

Pot D is bass (the brown wire goes to the spare tag on the pot)

The red and black wires from the white connector go to battery +/- (not sure what the other red wire is)

The loose purple/black/white wires go the jack

The MEC 3-band pic below has a different preamp board to yours, but the wiring colours are most likely the same.

Wiring schematic here - https://shop.warwick.de/media/pdf/2a/93/05/M_60055_Schematic_Drawing.pdf

PMd

According to this thread on TB it had  "... a layer of graphite fiber under the fingerboard. The graphite layer extended across the headstock so the fibers were visible under the clearcoat."

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/active-power-jazz-bass-special-fender.192864/

This extract from Seymour Duncan may help:

A tone pot is a simple filter. Because it has just one filtering component, it can be called a first order filter. Because of its construction it allows only low frequencies to pass, so the full name is first order low pass filter. The ‘unusual’ part of the tone pot is that it allows you to change the resistor part of the entire filter. In other words, a tone pot with a 500k ohm pot will give you the same sound rolled half way down as a 250k pot in the same circuit. The amount of highs that can actually be rolled off depends on the capacitor and resistor. The resistor will cut off an initial amount of highs but the final outcome when rolled down depends on the capacitor too. So, using a higher value capacitor will roll off more highs than a lower value one

23 hours ago, Maude said:

A lovely looking '85 fretless BB1100S has just popped up on facebook marketplace. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/167660810099231/permalink/1856217261243569/?sale_post_id=1856217261243569

That link didn't work for me so here' an alternative link if needed - https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1057346094837121

I collected some info on eq freq centres a few years ago for the same reason as you mention. I don't have freqs for the Schecter but here's a spreadsheet with what I collected for info. I put the fundamental freqs of standard bass tuning and the first harmonic (which is usually dominant) in rows 3-4 for ref. Below this are the ISO standard freqs for a 31-band graphic eq. The centre freqs for various devices are shown below this, mapped out against the 31-band freqs.

Bass EQ Freqs.xlsx

This bass is on the Rickenbacker Register and looks to be a lovely example of an original '88 mapleglo 4003. 

http://www.rickresource.com/register/viewitem.php?id=34710

Just bought a Vintage Microtubes pedal from Adam. Pristine condition, well wrapped, super speedy delivery and great comms. A credit to BC. Many thanks!

Here are some links to 51-54 pickguard templates (3 variants):

https://www.greasygroove.com/mwdownloads/download/link/id/86/

https://www.greasygroove.com/mwdownloads/download/link/id/85/

https://www.greasygroove.com/mwdownloads/download/link/id/84/

According to http://www.guitarhq.com/fender.html the original material was 0.06" thick (1.5mm). Here's the extract:

Pickguard Material

Black pickguards: black pickguards were used from 1950 to mid-1954 on the Telecaster, Esquire and Precision bass. This material consisted of a fiberous bakelite, and was about .060 (inches) thick. The fiberous material was added to the bakelite to add strength (bakelite is too brittle and would crack at that thickness without it). Finally the black pickguards were clear-coated with clear nitrocellulose lacquer (top side only) to give them depth and shine.

White pickguards (single layer): starting in mid-1954 on the Telecaster/Esquire and Precision bass, and from the start on Strats in 1954. Fender used a single layer white pickguard material made from ABS or vinyl about .060 (inches) thick. This relatively new material for the time was cheap, easy to work with, and somewhat flexible. Note bakelite was never used for white Fender pickguards on any model (though many people refer to white pickguards as such; but it's not bakelite). Fender stopped using the white material in mid-1959 except on the Telecaster, Esquire and DuoSonic/MusicMaster. In this case the single layer thickness increased to .080 (inches), and was used till about 1965 (Esquires till about 1967, when all old stock was depleted).

Pmd

Don't see why not. Would be similar to the 45 degree angle Yamaha use on their new BBs. Much better geometry than vertical IMO. Drilling accurately at an angle might be a bit tricky though! 

Looking at how close the saddles were to the pickup with the original bridge, I think the new bridge needs to be positioned quite a bit further north than you currently have it. Looks like the ferrules will need to be redrilled to get the scale length and intonation right.

Prob the most important thing when installing a new bridge is to make sure it's set correctly for the scale length of the bass with enough room for +/- saddle adjustment. It might be an idea to mark a line 34" from the front edge of the nut (or whatever the scale length is) and use that as a guide. Position the bridge where you think it needs to be for the ferrules, then place the G and E saddles on the plate with the break point on the scale length line. The G will need some room for forward and back adjustment. The E will need more room to adjust back (towards the tail end). Do you have a pic of the bass wearing the original bridge? That would also be a useful point of reference.

Sounds pretty sweet as a fretless to me

This is the final book in the 'Beginning / Intermediate / Mastering' series by David Overthrow. 95 pages plus CD. Loads of useful information and exercises covering a range of different musical styles. No longer needed so passing along to another lucky BCer in the spirit of bottom-end comradeship for the cost of postage (£2.50 first class mail - UK only).

Thanks for confirming!

The NJ4 seems to come in several different specs - standard or vintage fingerboard/pole radius, 60s or 70s winding, alnico III or V magnets - do you know the spec of this set?

4 hours ago, gary mac said:

I do use them myself and have a couple of different sizes. 2.5mm would probably be the best choice for you. He would, I'm sure advise you. 

He is offering 10% off at the moment , so I ordered another diamond fret levelling file yesterday and it arrived this morning. 

 

Thanks for that, I'll follow up with Chris A.

1 hour ago, pfretrock said:

Once you've straightened the neck, surley you need to level the frets (or at least check them) before crowning?

Yes, frets will be levelled before crowning, this thread is just about suggestions or tips for the crowning bit.

9 hours ago, gary mac said:

I would treat yourself to the proper thing from Chris Allsop 

I saw the Chris Allsop fret crowning file and did wonder about that. I guess it would be a quicker job with one of these and more consistent.  Do you use one of these yourself and how do you find it? My frets are 2.7mm medium jumbo so assume I'd need the 2.5mm file, would that be right?

In the meantime I'm playing around with a simple block of wood as bpc suggested above. I haven't even bothered with the chamfer. Just added some guide lines to help set the angle and rounded off the bottom edge which makes it easy to adjust the tilt. It works remarkably well although a bit more practice needed before I risk using it in anger!