Jazz Bass wiring shot! What would you do?

[Duarte]

Hi all,

Just got my hands on a beautiful CIJ Jazz bass at a local music store in Bangkok. Plays great, cosmetically great and (I thought due to the pandemic) a suuuper low price. They "didn't have" a bass amp in the shop to plug it in to, no problem, took it home anyway. 

Turns out the pots are all broken, and turning them causes buzzing sounds, silence, unwanted pickup combinations etc.

So, I'm in the process of deciding what to do with the electronics, I'll be re-wiring them myself and would like to strip it all back a little bit. 

My original idea is 2 on/off switches for the pickups (I have never used the volume controls to blend pickups), NO volume control and possibly NO tone knob. 

I only want to do something wacky for the sake of it, since I have to re-wire everything anyway.

My question is... what would YOU do? and what WOULDN'T you do. Inspire me!

Nice one!

z

[Reggaebass]

It’s not really wacky but Have you thought about concentric stacked knobs, I’ve got them on 2 of my jazzes, you can control both pickups individually and they look really cool 

[Trueno]

+1 for the stacked knobs.

Have you thought about turning it into an active bass? If you want to do something different, how about ditching bass and treble and having a semi-parametric mid? I think I might go for that one myself.

Or a boost switch?

I'd have a look at some fancy expensive basses that have loads of knobs and switches and see what they all do. Eg... series/parallel switches.

[Duarte]

36 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

It’s not really wacky but Have you thought about concentric stacked knobs, I’ve got them on 2 of my jazzes, you can control both pickups individually and they look really cool 

That is something I've considered. It would certainly look really cool on this particular bass. 

 

28 minutes ago, Trueno said:

Have you thought about turning it into an active bass? If you want to do something different, how about ditching bass and treble and having a semi-parametric mid? I think I might go for that one myself.

Or a boost switch?

I'd have a look at some fancy expensive basses that have loads of knobs and switches and see what they all do. Eg... series/parallel switches.

Not sure I want to go down the active route - I have an EB Sterling which covers active duties. However, some kind of switching has also crossed my mind - a rotary neck/series/parallel/bridge/kill switch could be cool. Would just need to figure out how to wire the damn thing!

[linear]

You have three holes on the control plate, correct?  So, I would go for

1. three position pickup switch;
2. series/parallel switch;
3. not a tone knob, but a three position tone switch with one position being fully open ofc.

[yorks5stringer]

3 minutes ago, linear said:

You have three holes on the control plate, correct?  So, I would go for

1. three position pickup switch;
2. series/parallel switch;
3. not a tone knob, but a three position tone switch with one position being fully open ofc.

Would that not mean routing a jack socket into the body then?

[Duarte]

Good idea, I have a 4 hole plate, so that would work! (with no woodwork)

[linear]

Yea, I meant three holes available for pots/switches. Should have been clearer there.

I've never seen as bass with only switches and no pots.  There's probably a very good reason for this but I think it would look cool.

Edited April 16, 2020 by linear

[Hellzero]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

It’s not really wacky but Have you thought about concentric stacked knobs, I’ve got them on 2 of my jazzes, you can control both pickups individually and they look really cool 

That ramp on the Flea Bass looks really cool. I like it ! 👍

[Hellzero]

Check this bass wiring bible for ideas. It's in German, but the drawings are in any language you want. 😉

http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Hellzero
Spelling

[Reggaebass]

3 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

That ramp on the Flea Bass looks really cool. I like it ! 👍

Thanks hellzero, I fitted it just to try one out and I like it so much, I’ve left it on 🙂

[Duarte]

28 minutes ago, linear said:

I've never seen as bass with only switches and no pots.  There's probably a very good reason for this but I think it would look cool.

It certainly would look cool. There probably IS a reason for not having only switches, I can't think of one however. If there's an on/off switch, that would make up for not having a volume knob, right!?

[linear]

Yup, or you could have a series/off/parallel switch.

[Trueno]

Personally, I can see a huge chicken-head knob (in cream) with all the options you mentioned. Gawd knows how you wire it, though.

[linear]

That would be the conventional solution, rather than having separate switches for pickup selection and series/parallel, but then you'd have a spare hole in the control plate

[Hellzero]

@Duarte : Did you download the wiring bible I talked about a bit earlier ?

The Fodera Anthony Jackson has only an output jack (XLR on the new version), nothing else between it and the pickup.

I had an excellent Langowski copy and always loved this simplicity.

Should you be worried about problems linked to this straight signal, put a volume pedal in your path...

[linear]

37 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

 

The Fodera Anthony Jackson has only an output jack (XLR on the new version), nothing else between it and the pickup.

 

I think I could probably manage the non-xlr version without a wiring diagram

That wiring bible is seriously amazing though.

[Hellzero]

9 minutes ago, linear said:

I think I could probably manage the non-xlr version without a wiring diagram

Who couldn't ? 😉

[Trueno]

2 hours ago, linear said:

That would be the conventional solution, rather than having separate switches for pickup selection and series/parallel, but then you'd have a spare hole in the control plate

1) Stick in a switch that isn't connected... call it an "add talent" switch.

1) Stick in a switch that bypasses everything (if possible), straight from pickup to jack.

[linear]

 

For when you need to nip out of the practice room.

 

[Duarte]

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

@Duarte : Did you download the wiring bible I talked about a bit earlier ?

The Fodera Anthony Jackson has only an output jack (XLR on the new version), nothing else between it and the pickup.

I had an excellent Langowski copy and always loved this simplicity.

Should you be worried about problems linked to this straight signal, put a volume pedal in your path...

Yeah that's quite an incredible resource! Had a little flick through but I'll delve deeper tonight

[Duarte]

16 hours ago, Hellzero said:

@Duarte : Did you download the wiring bible I talked about a bit earlier ?

The Fodera Anthony Jackson has only an output jack (XLR on the new version), nothing else between it and the pickup.

I had an excellent Langowski copy and always loved this simplicity.

Should you be worried about problems linked to this straight signal, put a volume pedal in your path...

This is looking very attractive. Certainly within my limited capabilities...

Anyone know of anywhere to get a Jazz control plate with just 1 hole in it?? haha!

[Hellzero]

Check this : https://dragonfireguitars.com/Custom-Designed-Jazz-Bass-Control-Plate-Build-Your-Own-Plate-10408.htm

But they seem to deliver almost everywhere near their door. 🤣

[itu]

23 hours ago, linear said:

I've never seen as bass with only switches and no pots.  There's probably a very good reason for this but I think it would look cool.

I have. I do not remember his name, but there was an article in BP years ago of a studio bassist. His P (that's how I faintly remember it) had probably two switches: on/off, and tone, and the output jack. I think he talked about sound quality and simplicity, not forgetting the reliability.

I did something similar to my Washburn in the 90's. Functional and simple.

A comment on series/parallel/single -switch: one of these three tends to be unnecessary. It is better to leave one off and use the series/parallel or series/single option only. Everyone that has tried this can support the idea. The latter has also output difference (boost, anyone?) that should be taken into account.

[Duarte]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Check this : https://dragonfireguitars.com/Custom-Designed-Jazz-Bass-Control-Plate-Build-Your-Own-Plate-10408.htm

But they seem to deliver almost everywhere near their door. 🤣

Very interesting. They don't mention that they don't ship to Thailand, however that might be because it's never come up.

New possibilities of control plate bring new ideas... one knob. Rotary switch: off/neck/both/bridge/off

Maybe I'm overthinking the "simplicity" aspect to the point where it's actually becoming quite complicated!