max_overdrive

13 hours ago, badger said:

can I hijack the thread slightly & ask what copper tape people would recommend & where to buy it?

 

many thanks  🙂

Make sure to buy copper tape that has conductive adhesive

3 hours ago, Obrienp said:

Where the cavity is really tight, I put a bit of insulating tape over any areas of shielding that could possibly make contact with any live part of the electronics.

You mean live wires and the live lugs of the pots?

45 minutes ago, JPJ said:

The quietest passive bass I own is the one where I shielded the pickup cavities and the control cavity with copper tape and connected all the shields together with the bridge earth and to the earth lug of the output jack. Not even a badly wired fluorescent light will affect it.

Yup, that's what I'll do. Thanks everyone 🙏

Opinions differ about whether, after shielding the pickups and pickup cavities, it is diminishing returns to also shield the control cavity.

At 10:10 in this video Dylan of DylanTalksTone says it's counterproductive as "the wires in the control cavity are not an effective antenna and something is gonna end up touching something it shouldn't" resulting in issues.

Has anyone here noticed a reduction in noise from shielding the control cavity?

I came across a youtube video in which a guy asserts that since stainless steel is harder than nickel, stainless steel strings will eventually damage nickel frets. Is this true?

I understand that some of us have dozens of guitars which they cycle so for them fret wear is going to be extremely slow, but I currently own only 1 bass guitar which I play frequently so I want to know if what this youtuber is saying is a fact. The last thing I want is to have to re-fret the neck.

Thanks in advance.

Players refer to that P-bass sound, and how sound engineers in a studio will often try to bring a tone from a different guitar closer to that P-bass sound because supposedly that's what listeners are used to listening to on records. Which isn't hard to believe since they were the first electric basses and to this day (I was told) over half the bass guitars produced/sold worldwide are P-basses.

But what people really mean is the sound from a Fender split pickup, right? There's a thousand different types of P-basses, and the only common denominator is a P pickup. Couldn't you simply put a P pickup on any guitar to achieve that P bass sound?

2 minutes ago, Smanth said:

In the video he suggests that it might not bring much benefit ... he is also talking about pickups which are totally encased in a grounded metal housing ... not just a plastic one.

Right, he pretty much says that shielding pickups only makes sense when the pickups are totally encased in grounded metal.

Does it make sense to shield the pickups and pickup cavities with conductive copper foil tape if the pickups are encased in plastic without holes for the magnets? Image attached. Asking because this guy says not to.

The band's beat-up rusty old van is parked right in front of the popular bar in which you're gigging in one hour. You've been excited about this gig for months.
You thought you brought all your gear, but after unloading your bass guitar and amp you realize that you left ALL effects pedals at home... and you just so happen to be the effects-loving type of bass player. 
ARGH, talent scouts are going to be in the audience, this is your one shot, your chance to blow, the opportunity that comes once in a lifetime.

You're about to throw up mom's spaghetti when you realize that, much like a desert oasis, there's a massive music store right across the road, it's open, and it stocks all effects pedals known to mankind.

Thankfully, the other members of the band give you the go-ahead to spend £300 from the band's kitty.
What do you get?

Just looking for a 0.1uf 100v 104J capacitor for my tone pot. Why do polyesters cost 50-100 times as much as polypropylenes? What do they do better?

8 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

I've never heard of South Korean Alpha pots before, Alpha is a Taiwanese company.

 

Opened their factory in 1970, specifically to make potentiometers. Paid off as they're a massive now.

 

Bourns' factory is about half hour from them, CTS plant 4 hour drive south.

I've seen many Alpha pots that have Made In Korea written on them.

Which is the logo of the known Alpha brand that makes potentiometers in South Korea? Is the other one a Chinese knock-off?

5 minutes ago, Paul S said:

 

This.  Most bridges, even cheap eBay jobs, have the relevant measurements on the listing.  But a Gotoh 201, for example, will be as good a bridge as you could ever want and costs £35 from Thomann.

I'm concerned about existing screw holes being too close to the new ones I'd have to drill. Also, the existing bridge isn't very small, the plate measures 85x57mm.

4 hours ago, bobbass4k said:

I might have the original bridge from my old rebel 4k somewhere if you just want a cheap option and aren't bothered about upgrading - yours for postage, assuming I can find it.

 

Thanks Does your bridge look identical to mine? Asking because mine is the 4 string Rebel from before they started calling it "4K".

4 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

The two back screws in tis pic look like they came from B&Q rather than being the type used on instruments, so maybe the bridge isn't original to the bass?

It's the original bridge. I had swapped the original small screws with larger ones years ago because they wouldn't tighten all the way.

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Did you first check if the body isn't warped?

 

That bridge looks to be made out of bloody zamac to me, the worst alloy ever.

It left marks on the body (photo attached) but not in a way that would affect the setup. Just goes to show how soft that allow is... and why I feel so uncomfortable spending £48 to get an identical bridge if it sucks so badly.

I purchased my first beginner bass guitar back in 1998. At the time, my options were very limited because I'm left-handed, so I had to settle for a Tanglewood Rebel 4 string (British company that at the time made cheapo basses in Korea). After 25 years under tension, the bridge has bent, and it started pulling one of the screws out of its hole, stripping it. I guess this is one of the many drawbacks of a guitar made on the cheap using an extremely lightweight basswood body.

I'll fill the the hole with Titebond and slivers of wood, that's not a problem. Luckily this mass produced model is still in production, but they want €55 / £48 / $60 for an exact replacement. In normal circumstances dropping in an exact replacement is the sensible thing to do, but I assume Tanglewood still uses the same metal that warped over time. Plus, I always felt the old bridge was one of the main reasons why this bass always had a high action, so I'm considering spending a bit more to upgrade the bridge instead. 

1. I'm concerned about existing screw holes being too close to the new ones I'd have to drill. It's not easy to get a bigger plate because the existing bridge is quite large measuring 85x57mm. What are the chances of me finding a better bridge that lines up perfectly with the scew holes? 
2. Unfortunately I didn't measure the spacing between strings before removing the bridge, but the saddle width is 19mm. What would a bridge with a different spacing change?