randythoades Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Hi All, I have a new project that I am finally getting round to (New Year Resolution) and I would like to know if anyone has tried anything similar and has any advice on pitfalls... Background: Effectively, I like to play bass more as a rhythm guitar than a true bass (a bit like Lemmy but without the distortion) and always turn the bass right down on my PBass and up the mids to get a slightly growly voice. I also like old MIJ Aria Pros, especially the medium scale ones. I have done several guitar builds and bass builds but mainly from standard parts and am not scared of getting the router out! The project: I have a spare early 80s Aria CSB380 bass neck and bridge, 32" medium scale neck which doesn't flare out at the end like a fender bass and has a very convenient 56mm heel. I also have a spare homebuilt Tele / Esquire body. My idea is to marry the two and create my own single pickup 'Telecaster' bass, but medium scale and use a spare vintage style strat or tele pickup for that 70s Musicmaster feel but use Esquire wiring and have 3 way switch with different tone cap and tone bypass, volume and tone. I will have to rout a new placement for the bridge, pickup and a new pickguard but hoping to create something individual, quirky and relatively vintage sounding. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Nice sounding project mate, look forward to seeing it come together. No actually useful input from me, bar a moan about Fender not making any mainstream medium scale versions of their basses... Good luck with the build! Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 [quote name='eude' timestamp='1389102730' post='2329929'] Nice sounding project mate, look forward to seeing it come together. No actually useful input from me, bar a moan about Fender not making any mainstream medium scale versions of their basses... Good luck with the build! Eude [/quote] Cheers, that is exactly my reason for doing it! I have a fondness for the Medium scale and bar importing a Jazz bass from japan or one of the new (really ugly in my opinion) Pawn shop jagar basses there doesn't seem much available! I would stick with the Aria stock except that the body shapes scream "rock" and I want something a bit more vintage looking... I will probably start stripping and measuring this weekend so will post my progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 [quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1389104388' post='2329972'] Cheers, that is exactly my reason for doing it! I have a fondness for the Medium scale and bar importing a Jazz bass from japan or one of the new (really ugly in my opinion) Pawn shop jagar basses there doesn't seem much available! I would stick with the Aria stock except that the body shapes scream "rock" and I want something a bit more vintage looking... I will probably start stripping and measuring this weekend so will post my progress. [/quote] Good man! Yup, the costs of importing what is technically an overpriced instrument make it silly. And yes, that Pawn Shop Jag really isn't to my tastes either. If they had made it "non-reverse" I might have even bought one, but not in its current guise. Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 [quote name='eude' timestamp='1389104612' post='2329982'] Good man! Yup, the costs of importing what is technically an overpriced instrument make it silly. And yes, that Pawn Shop Jag really isn't to my tastes either. If they had made it "non-reverse" I might have even bought one, but not in its current guise. Eude [/quote] Same as me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Project all well underway. Laid everything out and took some measurements. Intend to strip the body and neck and either paint or tru oil but figure I had better see if it all works before I put in the elbow grease to take off the poly laquer... Pots and wiring done just waiting for pickup, ground from bridge and output jack. Finished the measuring then started routing out a recess for the bridge and for the new pickup... Checked the position so need to finish the cavities. [url="http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0402_zpscac2cde4.jpg"]http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0402_zpscac2cde4.jpg[/url] [url="http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0413_zpsabfa11c8.jpg"]http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0413_zpsabfa11c8.jpg[/url] [url="http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0405_zps94710fde.jpg"]http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0405_zps94710fde.jpg[/url] [url="http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0414_zps1614817a.jpg"]http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/IMAG0414_zps1614817a.jpg[/url] Still got to worry about a new pickguard shape now but that is further down the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Very nice matey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Update; Routing all done, old cavities filled and stared fine sanding. Decided that as grain was so attractive both on headstock and body that I would just use a maple tint Briwax wax coating to keep it tactile and smooth rather than paint. my inspiration was keeping with the Aria theme and the old SB1000 Arias of the 80s. Ready to start wiring and do a scratchplate to hide the old filled cavities which came up a bit darker than I liked with the wax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Great idea! Any pickup lined up yet? My guess is that an overwound job would work well, unless you want to get really twangy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1389631164' post='2336327'] Great idea! Any pickup lined up yet? My guess is that an overwound job would work well, unless you want to get really twangy with it. [/quote] Cheers for that, it is coming together! My first choice pickup is a handwound strat bridge pickup from Catswhisker pickups that I used in my strat until I converted that into a Stratotele... (another cut apart and "improve" project) It is a slightly overwound bridge pickup but with fatter polepieces and a whacking great magnet on the base so that it acts more as a P90 and a much fatter tone but not distorted compared to a standard strat pickup. I don't want super twangy but I am looking for that kind of slightly hollow, more vintage tone. Beauty is that being a standard rout, I can try all sorts of pickups until I get where I want to be! Hopefully wire it up tonight but only got roundwounds to test it on, need to get a fresh set of flats to give it a roadtest... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Forgot to say that I also routed the pickup cavity to be slight angle, more neck orientated on the D and G strings to try and balance the tone better across the strongs, particularly with a guitar pickup. not sure if that is going to work, but it seemed like a good idea at the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 [quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1389633062' post='2336360'] Cheers for that, it is coming together! My first choice pickup is a handwound strat bridge pickup from Catswhisker pickups that I used in my strat until I converted that into a Stratotele... (another cut apart and "improve" project) It is a slightly overwound bridge pickup but with fatter polepieces and a whacking great magnet on the base so that it acts more as a P90 and a much fatter tone but not distorted compared to a standard strat pickup. I don't want super twangy but I am looking for that kind of slightly hollow, more vintage tone. Beauty is that being a standard rout, I can try all sorts of pickups until I get where I want to be! Hopefully wire it up tonight but only got roundwounds to test it on, need to get a fresh set of flats to give it a roadtest... [/quote] Hope there will be sound clips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Right, all wired and put together. I think it looks great, feels balanced on and plays nicely (although it is flipping heavy).... Problem: must have a ground loose or a dodgy solder because it buzzes like a complete B%&*^%. Need to take it apart and redo the joints. Everything works as it should so I have wires in correct places but it is just massively noisy so can't really hear the tone yet! Not sure how to post sound clips either but when I get it sorted will record some onto my soundcloud or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Wiring corrected and sounding good (almost hum free). Like a dork i wired the output jack the wrong way round... Doh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randythoades Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 [quote][/quote]Just an update for anyone interested... First the positives: Sounds great, actually better than I expected. The 'bass' selection on the Esquire wiring sounds really good but output is low compared to the other settings to make it unuseable without some form of boost pedal so I probably won't use that setting often. The middle selection (normal wiring with tone) is great. A bit smoother and not as honky as my PBass, output is lower than the PBass but a lovely vintage type sound that I have been using for rock, pop and blues to great effect. Sounds especially good with a pick rather than fingers. I was expecting a really twangy sound but not at all. The 3rd setting bypasses the tone stack so it is volume only. With volume full open it gives the sound I was expecting, honky, slightly hollw and slightly twangy tone (similar to my PBass full on) and is good for the rock stuff. Very pleased with the results so far. The negatives: The body is really heavy compared to the ash body I have on my PBass so i may rout under the pickguard to relieve a bit of weight. I also managed to mismeasure the scale length and consequently the bridge is about 15mm too close to the neck and I can't get it to quite intonate on the higher frets and needs a bit of re-routing to correct. With the longer neck, the strap doesn't hang [i]quite[/i] right as the Telecaster doesn't have a top horn. All pretty minor at the moment. I may try to source a strat body blank and have another go using the neck and bridge from my remaining Aria CSB! Otherwise, I will keep playing this one (which is the main thing). A very useful and positive project overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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