Fitting ultralites

[giblett123]

Afternoon Everyone,

A question for all the luthier minded bods out there.... I have a jazz bass with a touch of neck dive and I'm looking at having some hipshot ultralites put on it, it currently has the classic style big fender elephant ear jobbies,

1. Will it make any difference?
2. Are ultralites the way to go or is there a better alternative?
3. The screw holes will be in a different place, I.e. I'll be left with some holes, can these be filled or am I looking at codsing up an expensive bass?

Any experiences or info gratefully received.
Cheers
Chris.

[stevie]

1. Yes, Ultralites make a big difference to neck dive - and to the overall weight of the bass. They are also very good tuners, irrespective of their weight.
2. I believe Schaller have a similar product, but installing lightweight tuners is the best way of solving neck dive IMO.
3. Yes, you will be left with some holes showing - but who cares? If you plan to sell the bass at any time, just put the original machineheads back and they will hide the hole you need to drill for the Ultralites.
I'd never consider a bass without lightweight tuners again. They should be fitted as a standard to everything.

[giblett123]

Cheers for the info, hadn't occurred to me to keep the old machineheads and put them back on if I ever wanted to sell it, doh!

[rmorris]

well I guess if you sell it you might be able to find out if the buyer would prefer the original tuners or the lightweight tuners ?
Would seem a waste of effort to refit the elephant ears if the new owner is going to replace them with lightweights again.

[giblett123]

Yup, true.

[Twigman]

is the ream for the bushings the same?

I thought Ultralites needed GB7 (14mm) holes while std tuners use BML (17.5mm)........or am I mistaken?

[giblett123]

Ahhh..... I have no knowledge! Anyone know?

[neepheid]

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1334572922' post='1617694']
is the ream for the bushings the same?

I thought Ultralites needed GB7 (14mm) holes while std tuners use BML (17.5mm)........or am I mistaken?
[/quote]

You get both sizes of Ultralites, 3/8" post (~14mm hole) and 1/2" post (~17mm hole)

[Mr. Foxen]

But bear in mind there are several sizes of hole. Ran across that issue when assembling Shockwave's antigua bass, Hipshot were pretty unhelpful on the matter: [url="http://ampstack.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/shimming-undersized-machine-head-bushings/"]http://ampstack.word...-head-bushings/[/url]

Edit: Note best shim material in the world. shame about the beer.

Edited April 16, 2012 by Mr. Foxen

[giblett123]

Cheers, will have a look.

[Muzz]

I put a set of 1/2" post Ultralights (and the Ultralight Xtender) on my Fenderbird, which had pretty bad (Thunderbird-standard) neck dive, and they fitted fine on the MM P-neck, which I believe is modern Fender standard. The difference is very apparent - the head of the bass feels lovely and light, the neck sits nicely in the hand, and the bass balances very well now, too. If I had the cash, I'd fit them to everything, they're just the way forward for tuners.

[giblett123]

Think it has to be done.