pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Hi all, Just a quick one for any techies out there! I'm currently working my own 62 precision project. When I say project, I mean I'm buying all the parts and just assembling a reissue of sorts really. This probably isn't the most cost effective way to do things, but I want something that's my own and that's a keeper! Anyway the first question is in relation to the tone capacitor. I've purchased a set of "vintage style" Fender pots that have a .022uf cap. I've been trawling through the net and it seem that 62 p basses used a .1uf capacitor. Would anybody out there be able to confirm which I should use? I'm useless with this side of things, and although I'm sure I wouldn't hear the difference, I'm being anal about this "project". I plan to get it wired as per the AVRI 62 schematic on the Fender site. Now that I mention wiring....as I said above I'm useless at all things technical, so I rang my local guitar shop. The guy said it's a very complicated job and would have to be done by a specialist and that it would be pretty costly. To me, the wiring for the P bass looks fairly basic. It looks like access to a soldering iron and half an idea about what to do with it would get the job done. Am I underestimating this? Any help / suggestions welcome! Thanks, Paddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I wouldn't want to deal with your 'local guitar shop' if he thinks that's a complicated job God help us! The .022uF cap is probably meant for a guitar circuit but you can use it & listen - if you don't like the tone change it for the .1uF or a .047. What pots have you got? They're more important Cheerz, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 [quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1334304719' post='1613987'] I wouldn't want to deal with your 'local guitar shop' if he thinks that's a complicated job God help us! The .022uF cap is probably meant for a guitar circuit but you can use it & listen - if you don't like the tone change it for the .1uF or a .047. What pots have you got? They're more important Cheerz, John [/quote] Thanks John. Yeah I was very surprised that he thought it a big job, considering he said he could wire the pickups for me no problem! The pots are CTS 250k. Am I on the right track with these? ...it's amazing how little I know about electronics Paddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Yes CTS 250k are the best pots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Thanks, I appreciate the help! When I start moving on this I'll set up a thread in the bass builds section, so I don't completey feck the bass up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Wouldn't you think that local guitar shops would be offering a better level of service? what with the internet competion and so on. I do like the idea of supporting the local high street establishments but have to draw the line when they are staffed/owned by total knobs who dish out that kind of advice. Very short sighted to lie to your potential customers. Or did he think you might be a danger to yourself wielding a soldering iron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I recently rewired a Classic 50's P bass and played around with caps, here are my findings: - .1uF : it rolls off lots of treble, think dub, pretty cool! - .047uF : the "standard" P-bass tone; - .022uF : rollf of just a little treble, keeps your bass with some nice mids; The choice its a matter of personal taste, i ended up going with the .1uF cap because i added a Deluxe Humbucker on the bridge position and loved the mix of that with the P rolled of (i wired the bass with the '62 Jazz diagram, with stacked vol/tone for each pickup). In the end of the day you'll have tho get some caps (orange drops are great) and try them to find the one that suits you best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 [quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1334309136' post='1614097'] Wouldn't you think that local guitar shops would be offering a better level of service? what with the internet competion and so on. I do like the idea of supporting the local high street establishments but have to draw the line when they are staffed/owned by total knobs who dish out that kind of advice. Very short sighted to lie to your potential customers. Or did he think you might be a danger to yourself wielding a soldering iron [/quote] I know. When I saw the wiring diagrams on the net I felt like an idiot for even ringing him But really DIY isn't my thing, so I though it best to ask the "professionals". The shop in question contract all their electrical work to an "engineer", but the owner obviously didn't deem this guy fit to do the job for some reason. A guitartist friend had used him to get jobs done on his beloved Les Pauls before and said they do a reasonable job. The funny thing is I was due to leave my amp (TE Twin Valve Combo) into them for a service shortly. If they can't do the basics I'd be very hesitant to send in something like this that they've never seen before. Unfortunately in Ireland there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of options for this kind of work. I could well be wrong on this, but I've been a couple of weeks trying to find a luthier and someone to service an amp, and all roads point to the local guitar shop I've only two guitar shops in my area and neither seems to know their arse from their elbow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 [quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1334312754' post='1614212'] I recently rewired a Classic 50's P bass and played around with caps, here are my findings: - .1uF : it rolls off lots of treble, think dub, pretty cool! - .047uF : the "standard" P-bass tone; - .022uF : rollf of just a little treble, keeps your bass with some nice mids; The choice its a matter of personal taste, i ended up going with the .1uF cap because i added a Deluxe Humbucker on the bridge position and loved the mix of that with the P rolled of (i wired the bass with the '62 Jazz diagram, with stacked vol/tone for each pickup). In the end of the day you'll have tho get some caps (orange drops are great) and try them to find the one that suits you best. [/quote] Thanks Ghost_Bass, very informative. With this bass I'm really looking for the Motown sound, i.e. the Jamerson sound. My guess is the .1uf is the one for this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 You're probably right, but the way the bass will sound won't depende solely on the cap, the combo pickup/bass also has something to do with the final sound that's why i told you that the best way to know for sure is to try various caps, who knows if you end up with one even bigger than .1uf!!! Also, if you're aiming for Jamerson's sound you could get away with it by simply stucking a piece of foam or cloth beneath the stringas, close to the bridge, so you can get a mute on your bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Yeah I'll get the foam mute as well to replicate that sound. Will be using the Fender "62 original" pickups which should also help. My problem is, due to my lack of DIY skills, that once a cap goes in it's staying in, good, bad or indifferent!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I think if I were you and given the lack of a decent shop/luthier, I would be determined to go down the DIY route. There are plenty of resources available to you, along with a lot of knowledgable, helpful people on this site. It's well worth learning a few basics. Being able to carry out running repairs and set ups can be very satisfying and save a whole load of dosh. Maybe it would be worth considering buying a cheapo instrument to act as your guinea pig, rather than risking your p bass project. You never know you might become the luthier that your neck of the woods is lacking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 KiOgon has kindly agreed to help me with this part of the project. You're dead right though, I'd love to know a bit more about the inner workings of my basses. While I do try to increase my knowledge as much as I can, I haven't been blessed with good DIY skills. Having said that, give me some flat pack furniture and I'm a legend Also, in the 2 weeks I've been on BC I've learned loads from some very helpful members. As I said when I joined..I wanted to be enlightened... and I feel I have been a bit already. Thanks all for the help with this, I know the best direction for me now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 on the soldering front a P bass wiring loon is the equivalent to flatpack furniture! Shocked at the shop saying it's a big job! it's two pots, one jack, one cap and the wires between them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1334325646' post='1614601'] on the soldering front a P bass wiring loon is the equivalent to flatpack furniture! Shocked at the shop saying it's a big job! it's two pots, one jack, one cap and the wires between them! [/quote] Embarrassingly enough that definitely seems to be the general consensus alright I'll get there yet, but on this occasion I'll take the help. I'll definitely follow-up on the suggestion of getting something cheap to learn the ropes on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennysFord Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 KiOgon helped with my P Bass wiring too. I have a 57ri and John very kindly sorted me out with a fully wired set up. In the end tho' I much preferred the sound with the original 1uf cap rather than the .47 but it was an easy job to change them over. I was very surprised by how much the .47 altered the tone of my Bass and I thought the 1uf sounded a lot more old school which I prefer. Horses for courses and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Get yourself a couple of cheapo pots, find a few scraps of wire and a couple of cheap capacitors (value unimportant). Lay the whole lot out on a scrap of plywood and have a couple of practice runs before starting on the important (and more expensive) stuff. There's a pretty comprehensive thread about soldering [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/110170-dull-solder-joint-why"]here[/url] - it rambles on a bit but there's some good tips amongst it for getting good joints onto the back of pots (the bit that always causes problems until you know the way to do it). It's a bit of a distance from Athlone, but I'm going to be in Portstewart for a couple of days next month if the soldering part of the project is causing you problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 [quote name='kennyrodg' timestamp='1334343154' post='1615006'] KiOgon helped with my P Bass wiring too. I have a 57ri and John very kindly sorted me out with a fully wired set up. In the end tho' I much preferred the sound with the original 1uf cap rather than the .47 but it was an easy job to change them over. I was very surprised by how much the .47 altered the tone of my Bass and I thought the 1uf sounded a lot more old school which I prefer. Horses for courses and all that. [/quote] Yeah I'm looking forward to the finished product...still waiting on parts to arrive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 [quote name='icastle' timestamp='1334351328' post='1615178'] Get yourself a couple of cheapo pots, find a few scraps of wire and a couple of cheap capacitors (value unimportant). Lay the whole lot out on a scrap of plywood and have a couple of practice runs before starting on the important (and more expensive) stuff. There's a pretty comprehensive thread about soldering [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/110170-dull-solder-joint-why"]here[/url] - it rambles on a bit but there's some good tips amongst it for getting good joints onto the back of pots (the bit that always causes problems until you know the way to do it). It's a bit of a distance from Athlone, but I'm going to be in Portstewart for a couple of days next month if the soldering part of the project is causing you problems. [/quote] Definitely going to explore the DIY option....but for the next project! Thanks for the advice, much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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