ikay

Just bought an SM58 from Harry, very straightforward transaction and a pleasure to deal with, many thanks!

Parallel wiring gives a slightly more open sound and is a good starting point for tweaking with EQ to taste. You can easily EQ a bit more mid grunt into parallel if desired. Standard Stingray wiring is parallel if you're looking for a rationale. It all depends what sort of sound you're looking for. If you want serious grunt as your starting point go for series but it will be fiddlier to dial out the grunt and get back the more open and extended range of parallel.

The mention of a warped neck and being sold as a project?

There's a vintage colour chart for the 1960s at this link (about 2/3 down the page) - [url="http://www.guitarhq.com/fenderc.html"]http://www.guitarhq.com/fenderc.html[/url] It looks like the attached pic. According to this the only dark green custom finish available in '69 would have been Teal Green metallic. Old nitro finishes tend to go dark with age so it might be this. Although I agree in your pics it looks dark blue!

This site has all sorts of Hofner vintage bits [url="http://www.tourmanager.it/tourmanager/Hofner-Eko-Klira-Vintage.html"]http://www.tourmanager.it/tourmanager/Hofner-Eko-Klira-Vintage.html[/url] I bought a plastic headstock logo from here and transaction was very straightforward

"I want one of these..." Me too! Here's another interesting variation of a sliding pickup bass - [url="http://www.spaltinstruments.com/instruments/vviper/"]http://www.spaltinstruments.com/instruments/vviper/[/url]

Hard to see. Is this pic (below) as good as it gets?

Demo here - [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=molxHHbKqbA"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=molxHHbKqbA[/url]

Ah OK, with a VVT setup of course that makes sense I've never had a problem backing off one of the pups a touch with either of my passive Js though. Maybe they both have log pots.

I generally play with the volume on the bass maxed so, while I can see the irritation, does it really matter? Unlike guitarists who use the vol pot for fine adjustments of tone and character etc. I wonder how many bass players use a volume in this way? I expect I'll now find out the error of my ways!

Warmoth do a 24 fret option for their 38mm jazz necks, or are you after something more cheap and cheerful?

Not normal no (whatever that means for a 70s Fender ), but here's another 1976 P with a similarly placed logo - [url="https://reverb.com/item/823510-fender-precision-bass-1976-black"]https://reverb.com/i...bass-1976-black[/url] Normal would be more like this - [url="http://www.vintageandrare.com/product/Fender-Precision-Bass-Fretless-1976-Natural-46183"]http://www.vintagean...6-Natural-46183[/url]

Ah. ok thanks for explaining that. The plot in your chart shows an incredibly flat response up to the resonance point which I guess is down to it being a simulation. I think that in most practical cases (with all the other various loads and capacitance etc) there would be a peak just before the cut-off point which is what gives a pickup it's distinctive tonal character. What this really tells me is that I don't understand enough about the science here and that there's a good amount of voodoo involved in pickup design and electronics!

This thread from the Warwick forum says steel neck reinforcement introduced in 1996 for BO and 1998 for NT basses - [url="http://forum.warwick.de/archive/index.php/t-291.html"]http://forum.warwick.de/archive/index.php/t-291.html[/url]

pfretrock, can you clarify the point you make above about the resonance point? I always thought that this referred to the resonant peak of the pickup which is a distinct peak in output, not where it drops to it's lowest (as on the frequency chart below which shows the peak for various different loads). Thanks

This thread from TB has a link (in the first post) to some audio clips comparing different pot values and types - [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/pot-shootout-250k-vs-500k-audio-vs-linear.671456/"]http://www.talkbass.com/threads/pot-shootout-250k-vs-500k-audio-vs-linear.671456/[/url]

Pressure-wound or half-round strings usually have slightly higher tension than regular roundwounds of the same gauge. They are also a bit less bright/zingy than rounds (which you may or may not like).

OK, a couple of other options. If you want a genuine replacement then try contacting a few vintage guitar parts specialists (eg. [url="http://www.musicmansteve.com/parts/parts.htm"]http://www.musicmansteve.com/parts/parts.htm[/url]) and ask them to look out for one for you. Be prepared for a long wait! Or how about talking to a luthier who does vintage guitar restoration and see if they can make one for you? A quick google in your area brought up Tom Anfield Guitars in Saltash ([url="http://www.tomanfieldguitars.com/about.html"]http://www.tomanfieldguitars.com/about.html[/url]). May be worth having a chat. If he can't help he may know someone who can.

The original looks like an injection moulding but you could cut and shape a replacement from a solid acrylic sheet. Looks to be about 5mm thick which is.readily available on ebay such as here - [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Acrylic-Sheet-Perspex-Plastic-Panel-Material-A6-A5-A4-A3-/390782580358?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=660214772610&hash=item5afc74f686"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5afc74f686[/url]