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Pit Bull MMB-5 build


Lord Sausage
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A month ago I ordered a MMB-5 kit from Pit Bull guitars in Australia. I customised the order though. I asked for an Ash body as opposed to basswood and I ordered a Babicz bridge to replace the normal one.

 

Today I received an e mail saying it had been finished and if I was happy they would send it. So once it arrives I will document the build on here.

 

The first thing I will be doing is ordering all new hardware and pick up. I haven't decided on what yet though.

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Edited by Lord Sausage
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Had an email off DHL to pay import duty. Should be arriving on Tuesday (11th).

 

Quite excited now, but I'm already bricking it about getting the bridge position right. I thought it would come pre drilled for the bridge but it doesn't. This is the type of thing I could easily mess up. I'm pretty easy with everything else.

I've only done refinish and mods before. 

 

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It's arrived.

Its mostly good. The nut is pretty poor and there is a slight hole in fretboard which you can see in the pic. The neck seems ok though.

 

A piece of metal snapped off the jack socket instantly but I was going to get all new pots, pick up and Jack anyway.

 

The body is good too. There are one or two tiny, tiny holes where it's been glued. But I can live with it.

 

The bridge is beautiful.

 

Overall, quite happy

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John will sort you out a new jack socket and quality pots for volume and tone with values to suit the type of tone you are after, push/pull pot to single coil tap, the pickup if you want, or other rotary switching for tonal options etc...

All wired up and ready to fit to your plate, just connect ya pickup wires...

Many happy customers and users of KiOgon wiring kits on Basschat.

Drop him a line for MM type options... Reasonable prices...

Edited by PaulThePlug
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1 minute ago, PaulThePlug said:

John will sort you out a new jack socket and quality pots for volume and tone with values to suit the type of tone you are after, pull pot to single coil the pickup if you want, or other rotary switching for tonal options etc...

All wired up and ready to fit to your plate, just connect ya pickup wires...

Many happy customers and users of KiOgon wiring kits on Basschat.

Drop him a line for MM type options...

Sound, that's what I meant by not knowing what that means.

Obviously I knew what pots were etc. 

 

I used to be a regular on Basschat a few years ago but drifted away. So I'm behind on who's who and what they do etc.

 

Once I've found a pick up I'll drop him a line.

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39 minutes ago, Lord Sausage said:

Once I've found a pick up I'll drop him a line.

I can highly recommend a SimS pick up system - gives you the benefit of P/J/H combinations or solo'd if you only want one. I think that @Andyjr1515 is planning on using one of the 5ers on his latest build for @Matt P.

Edited by TheGreek
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22 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

How much duty, taxes and fees do they skin you for, (over and above the purchase price) importing these from Oz then ?

Well a mate got a kit as well so we split the delivery. So delivery was about £45 each.

 

Then import is really just VAT and about 14 quid on top

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I'm not sure I'd bother. Hole in the fretboard, bad nut and the neck doesn't fit the pocket properly? 

Once it's been sent from Australia you're a bit knacked sending it back but I'd be certainly writing a very stern email to get onto the QC bod.

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13 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I'm not sure I'd bother. Hole in the fretboard, bad nut and the neck doesn't fit the pocket properly? 

Once it's been sent from Australia you're a bit knacked sending it back but I'd be certainly writing a very stern email to get onto the QC bod.

See the thing is, it's relatively cheap. I wasn't expecting it to be the best quality ever. The nut is easily sorted. The neck is tight in the pocket. The hole is tiny and not deep. I've got decent basses with chunks missing out of the side edges of fretboards after years of use.

It's just a project. It will be decent once it's finished. Once I get good at doing these things I'll use better part. 

 

 

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I've just been to their website to have a look, they aren't reasonably cheap, they are cheap! €116 for a strat with all the hardware and scratchpad is a steal. Fair enough for ignoring the slight flaws.

I was expecting a kit to be somewhere in the £300 range. Or I've been looking at Warmouth custom options too often ;)

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String and bridge alignment is easy 
take another bass and measure the E and G string lengths,

set the saddles to roughly same place on the base plate of the bridge 

position the bridge so each outer saddle sits the same distance from The nut as on the other bass. Put masking tape in front and behind the bridge (on the body) in case you move the bridge 

Attach old strings to tuners (or tuner holes) and thread over the saddles and use the strings to get alignment correct over pole pieces - mark the screw holes through the bridge onto the body once you’re happy 

Rough and ready, but it works 

Edited by Geek99
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33 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I've just been to their website to have a look, they aren't reasonably cheap, they are cheap! €116 for a strat with all the hardware and scratchpad is a steal. Fair enough for ignoring the slight flaws.

I was expecting a kit to be somewhere in the £300 range. Or I've been looking at Warmouth custom options too often ;)

These kits are direct from China though so they would be cheap 

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Just checked out the Sims pick up thing. Seems really cool but way above my ability to install it.

Does anyone know anything about the Nordstrand MM-5 pups.

Do they work in passive basses, do they sound good, need shielding etc?

Or maybe even the Aguilar MM ones?

Edited by Lord Sausage
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  • 2 weeks later...

After exchanging emails with and a phone call to BassDirect, first time i've used them, I've ordered the Nordstrand MM5.2 pick up. (hopefully i selected the right one).

Next up will be ordering new machine heads/tuning pegs, whatever you want to call them. I will probably order the Schaller BM or BMF series. Not really sure what the difference is.

Also, i will drop in with @KiOgon as some point and discuss the pot/loom thing with him.

 

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