Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

New Bass restoration project Day! And diary


uk_lefty

Recommended Posts

On 23/04/2020 at 10:56, uk_lefty said:

OK so lockdown is making me reluctant to make the non essential trip to get this professionally looked at or even posted. So, if I want to find out what's going on under that lacquer crack is 80grit sandpaper a good way to get through this sensibly? It's all I've got at the moment... Another view of the neck crack... 

 

15876357160953499350630948513865.jpg

That's a cracking neck!

(...gets coat...)

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

So some progress... Replacement knobs arrived from the USA. Brilliant. I just couldn't get the old pickup out so again had to go to the tech. He had to break it to get it out. Brand new Armstrong replacement pickup in, great. 

I've collected the bass today, and plugged in. Everything works.... But. The A and D strings are just so quiet. E and G strings are loud and punchy. I tuned it. I tried two different amps. It's not the pickup height, that's really low on the E side and high on the G side, and it's hump shaped towards the middle anyway. I'm at a bit of a loss. Got loads on with work today but will have to investigate more later... Really wanted to be playing this at rehearsal on Thurs. 

Learning a lot through this process... Sadly not exactly what I set out to! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The frustration continues.... I got nowhere trying to contact the luthier or the pickup maker about the issue so I took matters in to my own hands. The jack would be cheap and easy to replace, surely?! So I did. My soldering skills are poor and my soldering equipment is budget range to say the least. Had a friend who knows what he's doing, and has built a bass before, help me out. He's my drummer so we did it in a break at rehearsal. Even less output now, including with the original jack. He commented that the solder joints look poor throughout. I might look in to ripping out the original guts and replacing in full... 

This bass will be resurrected. It will. I hope. 

IMG_20200820_201741.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Have tried different strings. It's definitely an electronics issue. 

Thinking about it, the pickup looks the same as the one that was in my old 1980 Ibanez RS900 - and I seem to recall that had a similair issue with the E and A being oddly quieter than the D and G. Never did get to the bottom of it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nibody said:

Thinking about it, the pickup looks the same as the one that was in my old 1980 Ibanez RS900 - and I seem to recall that had a similair issue with the E and A being oddly quieter than the D and G. Never did get to the bottom of it.

 

This pickup is a brand new Kent Armstrong replica of the original Aria, should be fine 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

This pickup is a brand new Kent Armstrong replica of the original Aria, should be fine 

Is the bass active or passive? If it has a preamp but the pickup itself is passive it might be an idea to just jerryrig a small circuit (volume/tone/output) to see if the issue is the pickup or the wiring inside the bass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Nibody said:

Is the bass active or passive? If it has a preamp but the pickup itself is passive it might be an idea to just jerryrig a small circuit (volume/tone/output) to see if the issue is the pickup or the wiring inside the bass.

Passive

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Right, hopefully an end to the saga. Armstrong suggested I take it to a chap at my local music store, Music Department in St Albans. I figured that if it definitely is an issue with the pickup then they would accept that as an explanation from the people they recommend... So the bass went in and a few hrs later I was asked to collect. There was some loose wiring and poor soldering, probably through age, so they neatened it up and tested it. I've given it a quick test at home and I now have a working 1984 Aria Pro II SB-Elite 1. The Armstrong pickup is great in dual coil, really throaty deep lows and quite percussive too. Very thin on the single coil but I need to play with EQ a bit more. I haven't thoroughly given it a bash yet but plan to in the next few days to really see where this bass has its strengths. Overall I'm just pleased to have it working. It's number 4 out of 4 basses, but I'm hopeful that it will do the job for bashing out covers. With what I've had to spend on it I'd probably break even selling it, but actually hoping it finds a place and earns it's keep. 

It's been a frustrating journey but one that has led me to a few good lessons learned. 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Well, the bass has been through the mill a bit. I decided to sell it, it went on Reverb almost immediately, DPD lost it for a month, then it turned up for the buyer who had already been refunded, and I got it back minus the knobs and with the electrics fubar'd. So, considering the pickup was new I thought this has to be the wiring, so I got a Kiogon loom, took it in for a set up and I got the bass back today. 

It sounds amazing, I was never fully happy with the sound before. Though the new pickup was in for a while I never felt I was getting the best from it until now. 

Hers the dilemma... When I had it sold a few months back I kinda spent the proceeds.... But I've started an 80s band and having 6 basses is ridiculous... 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...