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A no-load tone pot when maxed will be exactly the same as a VV setup without a tone pot. Taking the tone pot out of circuit will be noticeably brighter. By how much is a bit hard to quantify. Instead of a VV setup you could have a single vol control and a three way switch (neck/both/bridge). That would be brighter still. Or you could dispense with pots altogether and just have a three-way pickup selector switch and an on/off kill-switch. That would be even brighter. Removing all of the pots might sound a bit brittle though. Depends what sort of sound you're after. Best way to find out is experiment with a few different wiring configs. The Fender Mark Hoppus model just has a single vol control (no tone) so that might be a useful benchmark for sound.

A loose tuning key? Hold the E tuning paddle when you play the string, see if that makes any difference.

They're still showing a pic of the original 34" hollowbody in the scrolling picture bar near the top of the Skyline Series page. It is discontinued though I think. I've played one of these and really liked it. It had a nice semi-acoustic vibe but was still tight and punchy.

In case you haven't already seen this..

They're not intended to be adjustable but it may be possible. Depends on the construction of the pickup. If the coils are wound directly round the magnets then it's risky, but if the magnet is in a plastic sleeve then it's doable. The fact that your A pole has already dropped but the pickup is still working suggests that it will tolerate some movement so I'd be tempted to remove the pickup and see if you can push it up with your fingers.

My very first thought but I didn't want to be the first to say it! The 1930s is the only one that's remotely got something different, and even then the blurb ( "until now the market has not offered a true high end example of a 30-inch design") is a bit disingenuous. Has he not heard of Serek basses?

The G and E poles should be flush and D and A poles should be slightly raised. Pic of my USA SUB below. These are great basses. The pickup and 2-band EQ on the SUB is the same as a USA Stingray.

Rule of thumb for setting nut height/slot depth is string clearance above the first fret of .003" (top of the first fret to the bottom of the string) while fretting the string at the third fret. That's about the thickness of a piece of paper. It basically just needs to clear the first fret by the tiniest smidge when fretted at the third fret.

It's a Sentell 'Big Sis' pickup, a 4-pole replacement for a Musicmaster bass. They also do a 'Lil Sis' with smaller diameter magnets. See pics below. Website is here - https://sentellpickups.net/bass.html. Scroll about halfway down for the Musicmaster pickups.

The Hipshot Vintage bridge (18mm spacing version) is a good replacement. You'll need to drill new mounting holes but it's pretty straightforward to install. Pic of it installed on my Bronco below. https://hipshotproducts.com/products/4-string-vintage-bass-bridge?variant=35112332296

The 200pf cap across the vol is a treble bleed to preserve higher freqs when you turn the vol down. It has no effect when vol is fully up. The 6.8k resistor on the treble prevents the cap going directly to ground and gives a smooth treble roll off with no resonant peak when fully down. Without the resistor (ie. normal Fender config) you get a bump when the tone is fully down.

I expect it has internal circuitry to step up the voltage. My Dave Hall VT1-Pro valve pedal is very effective in adding tube warmth and harmonic richness to a solid state amp and that runs on a 12v power supply stepped up to 24v.

Here's an interesting video showing the difference in sound between the HCT and German made models, before and after swapping the HCT pots from 500k to 250k.

Ah, thanks for that!

Do you know what pot values are in the HCT vs the German made models?

Would be interested to hear more about the Bricks-O or Bricks-A, has anyone tried one yet?

Instead of winding the string in a neat downward spiral, if you run the first wind on top of the anchor point and then cross it over and continue down on the next wind that should help to lock it in place.

Can you post a pic?

Be warned that the holes in most 'Stingray style' control plates on the web don't line up with the genuine MM fitting. The holes in the copies are evenly spaced but the holes in the MM one (particularly on the inner curve of the banana) aren't. DV247 list the genuine MM control plate on their site for £26 but have no stock at the moment. https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Music-Man-StingRay-Control-Plate-Chrome-The-Banana-/art-GIT0008768-000

A higher value cap will cut more highs. Eg. a 0.1uf cap will give a darker sound than a 0.47Uf cap with the tone turned down. What's in your bass at the moment? If you also want a brighter sound with the tone fully open you could use a no-load tone pot which effectively removes the pot from the circuit when fully open.

It's straightforward enough but obviously needs to be done with care. A few things to watch out for: 1. If the neck is shimmed the shim will fall out and need to be replaced in the same position (providing you were happy with how the neck was set in the first place). 2. When re-assembling, gently turn the fixing screw counter-clockwise first and you should detect a point where it 'clicks' into the hole. This indicates that it is lined up with the existing thread in the hole in the pocket. Then screw in as normal. If you don't do this the screw may tap a new thread in the hole which chews up the wood. Better if it can screw back into exactly the same threaded hole. 3. Before tightening the neck screws, put the strings on at very low tension and check that the neck is properly aligned from the front. If the pocket has any wiggle room it's easy for the neck to become slightly misaligned so best to check before tightening. 4. Don't overtighten the neck screws. Tighten gently but firmly. When they just feel tight stop, don't be tempted to try and make them super-tight which will just risk stripping the threaded hole.