thebigclunk48

I am building a replica of the Audiovox 736 and have got it to the roughly to shape stage, whilst I test set up and get the pickup to fit properly. It is a through neck with side wings glued on in Sapele Mahogany with a side wheel type truss rod and an Indian Ebony fretboard with stainless steel frets. Machine heads are Hofner violin bass type and the unorthodox arrangement takes a bit of getting used to whilst tuning. The graphite nut is 38mm wide and the strings are only 13mm apart at the bridge like the original. This is wider than the Fender Bass 6 do not impossible to get used to. At the moment, the pickup is an Artec 30k mudbucker under the scratchplate which will eventually be fitted with a bar type polepiece through the scratchplate like the ones Paul Tutmarc used. Action at the 12th fret is 2mm at the moment and it plays very nicely although quietly with the big string/pickup spacing. I fitted a jack socket where the cable comes out on the original and fitted strap hangers, so there is no neck dive and with a right angle jack plug, the cable is no problem. Still needs final sanding and finishing with tung oil.

Mine gave me great service for many years, until I got too old to lift it. Not quite as much bass as my Ampeg Portaflex but 10 times the weight!

My BQ500 is exactly what I want - through two Ampeg Portaflex PF-115HE's it is an enormous sound and handles the mudbucker on my 1959 EB-0 with no problems. I cannot get it to distort so it is nice and clean for me! I keep my Ampeg B2-RE amplifier as a spare because the BQ500 is better for me. I run it flat out and it is loud enough for a full band with 2 guitars and keyboards playing rock,

Just bought an SG bass with the same problem - I put extra felt pads on the corners under the pickup then some thin PTFE washers round the pole screws. Good as gold now. Because the pickup cover rested on the pole piece, it acted as a transducer with the slight movement between the two. Poor design that could easily have been sorted at quality control.