Dimavery MM-505

[Rumple]

You'll have to post some pics when it's done, I believe Nitro takes a month or so to harden properly once all the coats are done.

I'm still thinking over what route to take, I've been watching a lot of videos by [url="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl5TLlEtAHzMUsXyEmbmw-w"]Brad Angove[/url] on YouTube which are proving interesting and informative viewing.

I have a build diary for the bass I'm working on [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/253154-frankenfanny-jazz-bass/"]HERE[/url]

[miles'tone]

Very interested to see what you think of these basses...

[Rumple]

[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1426364311' post='2717423']
Very interested to see what you think of these basses...
[/quote]

It should arrive by Tuesday, I had a look at the tracking info and it's in the country.

I'll post my thoughts on here when it arrives.

[miles'tone]

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1426436726' post='2718007']


It should arrive by Tuesday, I had a look at the tracking info and it's in the country.

I'll post my thoughts on here when it arrives.
[/quote]
Cheers!

[synthaside]

Burning questions from me

How does it play with the electrics it has , and what kind of dimensions are we talking for the neck pocket and Pickup ?

[Rumple]

It's here!

1st impression is how the hell do they make something like this for the money! it even came with a cheap gig bag, 3 picks, strap, lead and an extra set of (4 ) strings.

Fit and finish are great, as stated above I'm not really a fan of sunburst but it's done well and the wood appears to be one piece rather then the usual 2 or 3 bits, I'll double check that though.

Weight is just over 10lbs which is a bit on the weighty side for me but not terribly heavy for a 5er.

Quickly measured the neck pocket and it's 70mm thereabouts I think MM/OLP is 68mm? so neck swapping and Status necks should work but possibly with a tiny gap, I'll check this properly when I get time. Obviously the body and scratchplate would need modifying the take the pin wheel truss rod adjuster on a MM/OLP neck. Talking of necks the 505 one plays very well, intonation is out at the moment but the action is set nice and low and the frets seem well finished with no sharp edges. I don't like the idea of the t-bar string retainer and the way the string are routed to the tuners, it all looks a bit awkward.

So to sound, tuned it up plugged it in and E-G sound nice and bright with some punch but the B string is so dead I actually thought there was something wrong with the pup but tapping the pole pieces confirms the pup is working fine it must just be a rubbish B string, I'll change the strings if I can find a five string set in the 'bass bits box' under the bed and see if that helps.

Stock electronics are a tad odd as it seems to have two tone controls and one volume?? my passive OLP has two volumes (one for each coil) and a single tone which makes far more sense to me.

Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1426502465' post='2718476']
It's here!

1st impression is how the hell do they make something like this for the money! it even came with a cheap gig bag, 3 picks, strap, lead and an extra set of (4 ) strings.

Fit and finish are great, as stated above I'm not really a fan of sunburst but it's done well and the wood appears to be one piece rather then the usual 2 or 3 bits, I'll double check that though.

Weight is just over 10lbs which is a bit on the weighty side for me but not terribly heavy for a 5er.

Quickly measured the neck pocket and it's 70mm thereabouts I think MM/OLP is 68mm? so neck swapping and Status necks should work but possibly with a tiny gap, I'll check this properly when I get time. Obviously the body and scratchplate would need modifying the take the pin wheel truss rod adjuster on a MM/OLP neck. Talking of necks the 505 one plays very well, intonation is out at the moment but the action is set nice and low and the frets seem well finished with no sharp edges. I don't like the idea of the t-bar string retainer and the way the string are routed to the tuners, it all looks a bit awkward.

So to sound, tuned it up plugged it in and E-G sound nice and bright with some punch but the B string is so dead I actually thought there was something wrong with the pup but tapping the pole pieces confirms the pup is working fine it must just be a rubbish B string, I'll change the strings if I can find a five string set in the 'bass bits box' under the bed and see if that helps.

Stock electronics are a tad odd as it seems to have two tone controls and one volume?? my passive OLP has two volumes (one for each coil) and a single tone which makes far more sense to me.

Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.
[/quote]

Ooh! Shiny

This is making me seriously consider taking a punt on a 4 string fretless one. I'd love a fretless to mess with, and as much as I'd like one of the Squier P's, this seems like a nice find!

How's the general construction, fit, and finish? Hardwear seem decent enough?

[synthaside]

An extra Set of four strings well i guess I've never managed to break a low string .. but this seems like a missed steak ;-)
Would you say that it was a playable instrument if the B String issues gets sorted, I worry if they have that issue that some manufacturers were putting 4 string PU's under 5 string covers.

We can hope a good setup and restring would do it the world of good.Mind you i cant say i'd want to take it into my local place i feel a bit embarrassed lugging my EPI tbird in for setups charlie chandlers is a cave of vintage wonderment and i usually find the guy bent over some piece of vintage porn.

Would you say the pickup was pretty much MM5 sized .

Also Photo's please , before i get frustrated and pull the trigger on my own.

[Rumple]

Quickly swapped the strings for the only set I had and that was some Status Half Round, strings I know pretty well and the bass now has even output, the B might be a tad duller and quieter but that could be the Status strings as they have been known to suffer from that in the past, also adjusting the pup a tad might help.

I need to live with it for a wee while but I'd say it's a perfectly usable bass, I do feel that the string spacing is even narrower then a MM but I'll have to check that.

I have to do some work now but I'll sort some pics and pup measurements soon.

[Rumple]

16.5mm string spacing at the bridge so it is narrower than a MM or OLP.

Pup approx 102mm x 46mm not including the lugs so more or less the same size as my OLP pick-up, I don't have a Classic SR5 any more to compare with.

Nut width is 45mm and the heal 71mm, according to the Status site a SR5 is 69.8 so one of their necks would probably fit if that's your bag, a black one with a Status neck would look very nice indeed.

The T-bar string tree isn't on straight and to me seems to arch the B string over the nut, I loosened it so it wasn't so extreme but the screws were too short so it just came out, I've removed it and that helps the B string sit better but obviously the A & D string would need a traditional string tree to keep them in the nut grooves.

[Rumple]

[attachment=186654:P1010397 lr.jpg] [attachment=186655:P1010398 lr.jpg] [attachment=186656:P1010399 lr.jpg] [attachment=186657:P1010402 lr.jpg][attachment=186658:P1010403 lr.jpg] [attachment=186665:P1010404 lr.jpg] [attachment=186666:P1010405 lr.jpg]

[synthaside]

That looks mighty fine indeed . * looks at online banking *

[Rumple]

I've owned a Musicman Classic SR5 before and this isn't going to play or sound like that out of the box but at a couple of grand less then the MM it's a great starting point for a pimping project

Go for it!

[Rumple]

Some gut shots

As you can see from the photos and the fact that I've offered up the Dimavery neck to the OLP body there is a slight difference in neck/pocket size the 505 is slightly bigger by a couple of mm's. you might also notice that the Dimavery routing on the straight edge on the lower side of the neck neck pocket is a bit wavy.

Last night I was thinking that it sounds more like a Jazz then a MM and on removing the control plate I discovered that only 3 of the five wires from the pup are attached to the volume pot! I'm no expert on MM pick-ups but could it be wired with only one coil working? certainly seems odd to me and needs investigating further.

The neck pocket was already shimmed with some cardboard which is strange for a new bass.

There's a pic of the body with an OLP neck laid in the neck pocket.

[attachment=186707:IMAG0744 lr.jpg] [attachment=186708:IMAG0742 lr.jpg] [attachment=186709:IMAG0741 lr.jpg] [attachment=186710:IMAG0738 lr.jpg]

[synthaside]

I'm certainly no expert on electronics either perhaps someone much more knowledgeable can dime in .
in other news I was in getting my car resprayed ( insurance job ,some numpty rammed me while on their phone)

Chatting to the respray guy about me making a pigs ear of refinishing my bass .... and how I was worried at the Nitro lacquer wasn't ever going to set in these cold conditions .... turns out ... bass player and guitar re-finisher hobbyist .... says'd he's gonna lacquer spray it for me at lunch using their spray booth and some hard lacquer which will sit nicely on the Nitro paint.

Edited March 17, 2015 by synthaside

[Rumple]

Blimey that's a stroke of luck! best keep him sweet as he may come in handy if you do any more refinishing - I suggest plain chocolate Hob Nobs

[Ghost_Bass]

You have both coils working, can't say for sure from the pics if in series or paralel, the two "missing" wires on the vol pot are curled together so they are making contact.

[Ghost_Bass]

BTW, what do those controls do? from the pic looks like volume and passive tone but what about the other one?

[Rumple]

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1426596891' post='2719637']
You have both coils working, can't say for sure from the pics if in series or paralel, the two "missing" wires on the vol pot are curled together so they are making contact.
[/quote]

Excellent! thank you for that info.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1426596988' post='2719639']
BTW, what do those controls do? from the pic looks like volume and passive tone but what about the other one?
[/quote]

Weirdly it has two tone controls it would have made a whole lot more sense to have two volumes (one for each coil) and a single tone, like my passive OLP, nothing that can't be easily remedied but more then a little odd.

[Rumple]

I had another look to see if maybe the two tone knobs had different capacitors but they are unbranded ones with no details printed on them, I'll assume they are identical.
The pick below is a bit larger but still taken with my phone so not great.

[attachment=186742:IMAG0754.jpg]

incidentally you can just see (bottom left of pic) where one of the screws for the control plate was so close to the edge of the cavity the wood split and a bit fell off.

[Ghost_Bass]

I can´t see a point for having two tone controls except for mimicking the SR 2-EQ control plate. A nice single .100uf cap would give you all the tone you'll need, from dub to clank.

[Rumple]

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1426602460' post='2719733']
I can´t see a point for having two tone controls except for mimicking the SR 2-EQ control plate. A nice single .100uf cap would give you all the tone you'll need, from dub to clank.
[/quote]

As you say it was probably a cheap but ineffective way to mimic the tone controls of a 2EQ 'Ray.

[Rumple]

Been a bit busy with work recently but having another look at my pile of bits today I've now realised the OLP actually has more frets then the Dimavery, the neck is physically longer on the OLP so to put that neck, a Status or MM on as it stands would throw out the 34" scale meaning the bridge would need to move up the body or the neck pocket needs to be routed further into the body

[synthaside]

Essh that's a bit of a blow back to the drawing board i guess.

[Rumple]

[quote name='synthaside' timestamp='1426696866' post='2720951']
Essh that's a bit of a blow back to the drawing board i guess.
[/quote]

Yeah gutted, it could still be worth doing though but it would mean paying a Luthier to route the neck pocket a bit deeper into the body, I'll have to do some sums.