nollaig

Awaiting some pearls of wisdom from MrJim and also the loan of my neighbour's Dremel before DAY TWO can commence!!

Hey folks I've searched through but can't find a definitive thread on this - pin me somewhere else if you can! I'm looking for a set of "Elephat Ear" machine heads for a 1999 Squier Affinity remodelling. The headstock is a beast so although the stock tuners have a rectangular base there's room to drill and fit the more common trapezoid bases. I've looked at various options and I've narrowed it down to these: Schaller BML Vintage - £58 Hipshot HB2 - £53 Grover 142C - £48 (although they're 2L + 2R but you can change the direction, can't you?...) Gotoh GB-4N - £47 Kluson MF4LN - £39 or Fender - £55 Votes, comments, help?

DAY ONE 1. Disassemble the bass - one screwdriver... and Strip the body - I'm using a heat gun as suggested on [url="http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm"]http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm[/url] Easy enough to start but I've run into a layer of manky filler which i'll spend tomorrow morning getting shot of. Anybody trying this first time like me this is a great method of taking the paint off a cheapo body but not advisable for anything too pricey. The variety of wood scrapers I had made life easy - especially the triangular number with the rounded edge. Under the paint was a rotten lacquer-y coating and as I said I'm now down to a layer of filler which will sand off easy enough - I've already had 3 hours at it so I'll finish it tomorrow. 2. Fill any larger dings Not required 3. Sand cavities Done

DAY ONE 1. Disassemble the bass - one screwdriver... and Strip the body - I'm using a heat gun as suggested on [url="http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm"]http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm[/url] 2. Fill any larger dings 3. Sand cavities This may be a bit ambitious for today but we'll see how it goes. Tools - Bosch heat gun; assorted screwdrivers; assorted paint scrapers; tile scraper; mask and gloves; 60/80/120 grit sandpaper

The project is essentially to turn this 1999 Squier Affinity shell into something resembling a quality Precision Bass, Olympic White, black pickguard. I expect it to take up to ten days as I'm waiting on parts. We'll see. With the electrics I'm going to try out a simplified circuit - Pickup wired to volume pot direct to input. I don't need a tone control, it's always up full anyway and I want huge nasty brassiness (Volume is always up full too but if i fitted a killswitch instead of a pot i'd probably keep knocking it off in the important bits). I intend to use a Gotoh 203 bridge; Kluson 'Elephant ear' tuners (or similar); CTS 500k pot; Switchcraft jack; Kent Armstrong Hot P Bass-Style Pickup - Ceramic; black stock pickguard (if it comes with a tone pot hole i'll fit a dummy tone pot so as not to take the look off it...) Jobs list +++++ 1. Strip the body 2. Fill extra holes, large dings 3. Sand cavities 4. Paint and lacquer body 5. Shield cavities 6. Fit Gotoh 203 bridge and strap buttons 7. Wire pickup to single volume pot and input jack, fit to black pickguard and install 8. Fit tuners (not decided on exact type, looking for a set if anyone has any) and string retainer (need one of these too) 9. Send to 7 String to have camel bone nut fitted, neck aligned and general set up. 10. Attach 5' strap and bash the bejesus out of it.

Got some nice bits and pieces off Steve tonight, hopefully I'll do his old Squier justice when it goes under the heat gun and gets kitted out with shiny new things. A sound fella (that's Irish for nice chap, top bloke etc...) and genuine BassHead Cheers mate, watch for the build diary!!

[quote name='Bottle' post='791634' date='Mar 31 2010, 10:32 AM']No worries. Hope it works for you. OK - I noticed the EB0 doesn't have a coil-tap option, so I'm going out on a limb here, guessing that the there's only the hot wire and the ground brought out of the pickup (piccies would help!). If it's four-wires (plus ground), or four-wires-with-two-soldered-together, then you have an option for including a coil-tap (at a later date if you wish). Had a quick Google for the pickup wiring but nothing popped up immediately. Yep, that'll work. As long as they're in the same ballpark - when they're in parallel the volume should be balanced-ish HTH, Ian[/quote] Ian I'm modding a late 80s/early 90s Epiphone "by Gibson" Rock Bass (Jazz pickup configuration) and I wonder if you could help. What I'm attempting is the following series 2 single coil pickups > DPDT "on-on-on" switch > 1x master volume > input (bypassing tone entirely). Pickups are stock EMG Select (passive). Your diagram appears to be exactly what I'm looking for - but i'll just go from the volume pot straight to the output and miss out the tone pot junction. I wonder if you could elaborate a bit further on your diagram - specifically where/to what do you ground the DPDT switch - do both ground wires go straight to the volume pot? Also in your schematic the bottom right and top left terminals of the DPDT which are tagged as HOT TO VOL/TONE are linked after the switch. How is this done? Is it simply a case of soldering both wires to the input leg of the volume pot or do they need to join before this? Thanks for your time, Noel

[quote name='pete.young' post='806728' date='Apr 14 2010, 11:53 PM']You did the right thing dude, those old Bulgin plugs were a lethal accident waiting to happen.[/quote] How do you mean Pete? Mine still has the old plug......

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='806791' date='Apr 15 2010, 07:59 AM']Arf! [/quote] There's no "hump" anywhere 'Doc! It sounds like a different guitar - thankfully. I had the bass set up by a member on here called 7String who lowered the pickup, re-set the bridge and carved the camel bone nut specifically for my low C# tuning. I wouldn't say it completely resolves any pickup issues, I think I'll still look at replacing it with a Wizard or a Kent but it really sounds ridiculously better. Apparently the camel bone absolutely stinks when you cut it so 7string recommends not doing this inside your house as he did! From the moment I saw the thing it smelled of death anyway... So to answer the question - Camel bone is the winner for an OLP but get someone reliable to fit it. If you're in or around Glasgow 7string is your man. Next OLP mods 1. New Hipshot string tree/retainer to replace rotten silver plastic thing (cheers Neepheid) 2. CTS pots etc 3. Learn how to wire up a MM pickup with a DPDT switch I might also redo the headstock - i.e. strip the silver and logo down to natural wood and lacquer it. The silver body is one thing, the crappy silver headstock is something else entirely. I hate the way they do that matching headstock thing. It's vile.

[quote name='ogri' post='409773' date='Feb 14 2009, 11:09 PM']technically neither is standard thinking about it, i converted them both to use kettle plug leads [/quote] Dunno if you'll get this Ogri but anyway - I've got one of these in mint condition and my local shop did a onceover but nothing had to be replaced (it's a 70/72 also), fella there reckons the last one they sold went for £249. Did you eventually get yours shifted?

[quote name='mark54' post='774665' date='Mar 14 2010, 09:39 PM']the volume knob is up, my tuner wont recognise it which i think is strange thanks for the ideas guys will give em a try[/quote] I'm looking at replacing the terrible OLP MM2 pickup with either a Kent Armstrong or a Wizard "Magicmaster" - anybody have any ideas which is better - I'm looking for a bright, brassy tone and might even look at a dummy second coil and go for a single coil version as in the NOrdstrand (only cheaper hopefully). Which Artec did you go for V4lve? I can't see an MM replacement in their line. I'll update when I eventually change the pickup - but the output is murder on the OLP, if it didn't feel so perfect to play it would be gone.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='795562' date='Apr 4 2010, 10:58 AM']Both are 43mm wide at the nut but you might run into problems with the slot width and depth. Most new nuts will need a bit of sanding to bed in right, get the right height, etc., so maybe worth a try if you're not happy, a new nut is only a few quid.[/quote] I'm in the process of having an antique camel(!) bone nut fitted to my OLP MM2. I'll update you when I get it back - the plastic stock one was a crime against humanity.