ikay

"I would have said the exact opposite..." What I mean by dynamic range is the sensitivity of the pickup to respond from the very lightest touch through to really digging in (ie. the range of its output from lowest to highest in terms of volume and harmonic content). This is generally greater with a passive pickup as active circuitry compresses the signal at various stages along the signal path (compression = less dynamic range). I can see what you're saying though. Active pickups often have an extended frequency range so you can hear more harmonic detail. These extended frequencies can make them sound/feel more 'sensitive'. In a technical sense though the dynamic range of an active pickup will generally be somewhat compressed compared with passive.

Active doesn't (necessarily) = better. Passive pickups have greater dynamic range and are more responsive to playing touch. After years of playing active basses I've recently rediscovered the simple joys of my old passive Fenders. They just sound more open and expressive to me. But then I am getting old and steadily regressing to my 60s roots when of course everything sounded better

Wind the treble down a bit on your amp, turn down any tweeters in your cabs?

Just bought an SM58 from Stu. Pleasant chap to deal with, responded quickly to messages and posted the following day. Very pleased with the mic. Many thanks! Ian

It does however appear to be a rather nice BB1000. Probably a genuine mistake as the owners manual covers the 800-1200 series.

What you need is one of these - [url="http://www.simscustom.com/pickups/4string.html"]http://www.simscustom.com/pickups/4string.html[/url]

This article on setup by Sadowsky gives some examples of string heights - [url="http://img.guitarchina.com/img2010/0901gc/01.pdf"]http://img.guitarchina.com/img2010/0901gc/01.pdf[/url]. In the end though it's all down to personal preference and what works for you. Neck relief, levelness of frets, string height, string type/gauge, height of pickups, how you play (finger, pick slap, light touch/digging in etc) all work together when setting up. Every bass responds differently and finessing each of these elements is the trick to finding the optimum setup for your particular bass.

The Korean license adjustment screw takes a 2mm hex wench, the US version takes a 1/16".

Crikey, haven't a clue! I would expect metric. Just off out but will check my JO4 and post tomorrow unless someone (else does first)

The licensed ones on Korean Laklands are excellent. I also have a US set and can't see much difference except for the logo. In fact I prefer the licensed ones as they have a tapered shaft (although this may be specific to Lakland)

These look to be 1982 Fender pups (middle two digits refer to week, last two digits to year)

If it's a dual action trussrod then it should just pull out and be fairly easy to replace, But if it's a standard rod (which it looks like) it will be anchored at the headstock end and replacement is a major job. One option would be to cut a recess in the neck heel as in the pic below. This might give the spoke wheel some fresh threads to grip.

Definitely a zero fret if you zoom in. Maybe it's been defretted? Either way an adjustable nut is a bit pointless with a zero fret (or vice versa)

Can you describe the sound from the 'dead' notes or post some clips? For example, is the fundamental note missing (or weak) but some of the higher harmonics still present? This is a common symptom of a dead spot where the resonant frequency of the neck at that exact spot happens to coincide with the fretted note - this sucks the life out of the fundamental but leaves some of the higher harmonics intact. Or is the note full bodied but just lacks sustain? The fact that increasing the effective mass of the headstock doesn't improve matters suggests it's something other than a dead spot.

Did it work before? If you turn the neck vol full up and then slowly turn up the bridge pickup does the overall vol progressively reduce to zero? If it does then it sounds like the hot wire from the bridge pickup is being shorted to earth somewhere. If you have a multimeter that should be pretty easy to trace. Posting a few pics of the wiring might also help.

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