ikay

Don't we now also have to pay VAT on all imports from the EU? I've been mentally adding 20% to EU prices on that assumption. I'd love this to be wrong!

This looks like a Lightwave bass which uses an optical pickup in the bridge - https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Lightwave_VL_5_SH.html John Giblin also played fretless on a lot of KB songs (Babooshka and Breathing among others). For many of these he used a Zon Legacy custom with a single Bartolini pickup. I bought the actual bass from him some years ago, see pic below (I no longer have it unfortunately). The pickup centreline was 345mm from the 12th fret marker which is exactly the same as the Stingray position.

The single (switchable) humbucker on my ACG is about 10mm closer to the bridge than a Stingray and sounds mighty. Scale is 34" and the pickup centreline measures 355mm from the 12th fret.

The standard US SR pickup is passive and works fine without a preamp. This video gives an interesting comparison of how it sounds passive vs active.

Here's another link to a youtube vid. Info on the builder seems to be somewhat scarce!

Here's an old listing for a Graham Pollard 'PRS custom' guitar which has the same swallow logo (see 5th pic down). No other info but may offer a clue in your search. https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/171392/graham-pollard-prs-custom-22-style-guitar-600-ono-sold

Mmm, matte black. Here's my Ric.

I found the white nylons to be a bit slippery compared to blacks. They also felt lower tension although that could have been because they weren't on the bass long enough to stretch and bed in. I tried them on a bass which had been fitted with blacks and decided I preferred the blacks.

I wouldn't mess with a 5, the original design works perfectly in my view! The pickguard+control plate layout on an SR4 looks a bit messy to me but I've been playing one for the last couple of years and have grown used to it. In fact, I now almost like it! it's just part of the unique character of an SR4.

It almost works, but a '5-shaped' plate wouldn't quite cover the control cavity which curves round closer to the bridge on a 4. You might also end up with a couple of exposed screw holes.

Shielding is to prevent electromagnetic interference from nearby devices such as lighting etc. A guitar acts like an antenna and extraneous EM interference can cause humming and buzzing without shielding. Shielding such as conductive paint and copper tape is intended to form a continuous cage (called a Faraday cage) surrounding all the electronics to keep this interference out. The shield itself also needs to be grounded, so that's something to check.

Thanks for replying Darren. I've done a bit more measuring/fiddling around and the standard chrome surround provides about 6mm more headroom for the spring than a flush mounted perspex surround. This means that, when the pickup is raised to the height I usually set it at, the spring is much more compressed with a flush surround. The spring is quite stiff and adds a lot of resistance to adjustment when it's so heavily compressed. I've now ordered some shorter springs which will be a better fit with a flush surround and make adjustment easier.

Here's a pic of my '72 Precision decal. Getting an exact measurement is a bit tricky as it's an italic script but I make it 7.5mm.

Yes, good idea. If the spring doesn't fit (or allow enough adjustment) I was thinking about something like that, or maybe a wad of pickup mounting foam between the caddy and the face plate.

I'm thinking of getting a flush mounting plate/bezel for the bridge pickup on my 4003, like the Pickguardian one or similar (may make my own). But a flush mounting plate will have 1cm less headroom for the height adjustment spring. See pic below. The dotted red line indicates the approx level of the underside of the flush mounting plate which appears to leave hardly any room for a spring. The existing spring is quite long and, even it can compress into that space, it leaves very little wiggle room for raising the pickup height. Can someone who has installed a flush plate like this tell me if the original spring still works or did you need to use shorter springs? Thanks for any input.