New Bitsa Day

[ead]

I'm sure there's a picture of this somewhere.

 

Wouldn't you want the pickup under the part of the string that has the most lateral movement to get the best output?  To take an extreme example, if the p/up was under the 12th fret and you played a harmonic note over that 12th fret then the string at that point would be all but stationary and the pickup wouldn't hear much of it at all.

[Woodinblack]

6 hours ago, Ralf1e said:

It doesn't remove the harmonic. It picks it up and gives a thicker fuller sound not denying it but enhancing its contribution.

 

Literally if you have a harmonic directly over the pickup you will not have any of that harmonic in the final output, the string at that point will be effectively static. At the point of a harmonic, there is a zero input from that harmonic. 

[bloke_zero]

 

It's not pretty, but I do like it.

 

I need to dig another 2-3mm out of the cavities as the pickups are a bit close to the strings for me. And the neck pickup is way too loud compared to the bridge. The EA half is too 'high' on both PU's I think a bit more hacking and a pickguard will neaten it up.

 

And a custom pickguard - my efforts so far indicate I need professional help there!

Sounds good - doesn't have the real growl of a P, but it does have a lot of presence and clarity. I mean a lot of presence - the neck pickup is very rich and in your face. I'll see if I can get it recorded.

[ead]

Nice.  I think the plate was an old Stingray item but not 100% on that tbh.  Certainly has the look of one.

 

Pickup-wise my neck one is a good couple of mm lower than the bridge item and that does balance out the sound nicely.

[bloke_zero]

That makes sense. I think, given the over enthusiastic chiseling I might just get a p-bass style pickguard made that fits the pickups. It'll probably just be a notch out for the bridge pickup, but I think it'll tidy it up a lot visually.

[bloke_zero]

Forgot to say that the string to string balance is really amazing - much better than on my other P-basses where the DG side feels weak. That was half the point of the excercise!

[Hellzero]

Don't forget the producer switch even if there is none on his Frankenstein Bass.

 

I like your raw finish, which is close to Lee Sklar original Frankenstein Bass.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Hellzero

[Hellzero]

In fact, the batteries (18 Volts on the Frankenstein Bass) are in the original P-Bass routing, so all you have to do is make a cover and screw it there.

 

Check the video below where Lee Sklar explains everything about his Frankenstein Bass.

 

Skip the intro and start at 1:03.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Hellzero

[bloke_zero]

I've watched that about 10 times! The thing for me was the amazing bell like tone. Also, my chiseling is ugly to the point I don't know if I can ignore it and a scrtach plate will cover a multitude of sins.

Edited December 14, 2022 by bloke_zero

[Ralf1e]

1 hour ago, bloke_zero said:

I've watched that about 10 times! The thing for me was the amazing bell like tone. Also, my chiseling is ugly to the point I don't know if I can ignore it and a scrtach plate will cover a multitude of sins.

That needs to be cut with a router really

[bloke_zero]

1 hour ago, Ralf1e said:

That needs to be cut with a router really

You mean don't do it with a hand held drill, a cheap forstner bit and chisel on the kitchen table?! I agree! A pillar drill would have been a good start - there is quite a bit of slop in the pickup cavity depth just to pick one!

 

Originally I was just doing it with a cheap body with a view to maybe getting something custom made if it worked. But then a cheap guitar and bass body came up on ebay and it seemed rude not to jump in.

Next time I'm going to swallow my impatience and find a maker space or something where I can do it with the proper tools. I don't feel great about having hacked up a great alder body, but it's not too bad, I'm having a lot of fun and getting results.

[LukeFRC]

46 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

You mean don't do it with a hand held drill, a cheap forstner bit and chisel on the kitchen table?! I agree! A pillar drill would have been a good start - there is quite a bit of slop in the pickup cavity depth just to pick one!

 

Originally I was just doing it with a cheap body with a view to maybe getting something custom made if it worked. But then a cheap guitar and bass body came up on ebay and it seemed rude not to jump in.

Next time I'm going to swallow my impatience and find a maker space or something where I can do it with the proper tools. I don't feel great about having hacked up a great alder body, but it's not too bad, I'm having a lot of fun and getting results.

it's not that bad, and it's a learning experience. 

[Ralf1e]

1 hour ago, bloke_zero said:

You mean don't do it with a hand held drill, a cheap forstner bit and chisel on the kitchen table?! I agree! A pillar drill would have been a good start - there is quite a bit of slop in the pickup cavity depth just to pick one!

 

Originally I was just doing it with a cheap body with a view to maybe getting something custom made if it worked. But then a cheap guitar and bass body came up on ebay and it seemed rude not to jump in.

Next time I'm going to swallow my impatience and find a maker space or something where I can do it with the proper tools. I don't feel great about having hacked up a great alder body, but it's not too bad, I'm having a lot of fun and getting results.

It looks OK Ive seen far worse on factory built guitars. I am looking forward to seeing the finished item.

I had a nicely equipped workshop until about 4 years ago. planer, router table, 14" throat Startrite ceramic guide bandsaw, table saw, compound mitre saw, bench drill, 150 litre tank twin cylinder compressor, mig welder, lathes one for wood one for metal. Took me years to have that lot. We had to downsize to a bungalow so had to let it all go.

Now I work on the conservatory table so I know how you feel.🥲

I did keep my routers, drills, hand planes and saws etc.

That bass in the Vid sounds awesome! Hopefully yours will to.

[PaulThePlug]

It's what scratchplates were invented for... to cover scratches made during routing...

Edited December 14, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[jd56hawk]

On 29/11/2022 at 17:15, bloke_zero said:

A new day a new body. I feel sorry for what this will go through. It's a 2 piece alder Guitar and Bass Builds body from ebay in a rather fetching copper leaf (no, it's NOT rose gold, no matter what my wife says!). It's very nice feeling, well finished

 

Waiting for the pickup routing template before doing anything too drastic to the wood work, hence the bulge in the pickguard where the battery is.

 

 

For a bonus round anyone care to guess which badly played eight bars is the alder and which the merenti?

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l7567zasojgkwco/bassbodies.wav?dl=0

 

They feel pretty distinct to me, though maybe not as much difference as I'd thought. Recorded straight into a UAD Arrow interface through the HI Z input with the vol and tone on max.

 

We'd be supposing that the hi mass bridge would abstract out most of the body effect (yes, yes, I know, tone wood schmone wood).

Dare to be different...beats most finishes Fender's doing. Looks like something from Bacchus.

[bloke_zero]

 

Protype pickguard. Need to think about running the EMG's at 18V. Worth it?

[Hellzero]

Better low end definition and overall (faster) attack thanks to the added headroom to the preamp, always worth giving a try.

 

In short, the preamp won't be pushed to its limits too fast.

[Woodinblack]

Is that true? I know people say it but 9v is a hell of a headroom for a signal that rarely goes past 1v peak to peak, hard to imagine such a poor design for a preamp if that is taking it anywhere near its limits. The original SR5005 preamp I had was 3V and it didn't have a problem with bass (replaced it as the treble control had failed).

[ead]

My bass runs at 9V and sounds just dandy (to my cloth ears at any rate).

[ead]

Bass looks great BTW, congratulations.  Are you liking the results?

[Woodinblack]

I would also say that Lee Sklar has 18V on his as he has a separate battery for each pickup.

 

I do like the 2 P pickup format, especially this way (the right way) round.

[bloke_zero]

 

4 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Better low end definition and overall (faster) attack thanks to the added headroom to the preamp, always worth giving a try.

 

In short, the preamp won't be pushed to its limits too fast.

If you listen to this (9 minutes in) you can clearly hear that 18V sounds better, clearer and more defined (or do I just mean LOUDER 😉 ) Going to try it out later

[Hellzero]

8 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Is that true? I know people say it but 9v is a hell of a headroom for a signal that rarely goes past 1v peak to peak, hard to imagine such a poor design for a preamp if that is taking it anywhere near its limits. The original SR5005 preamp I had was 3V and it didn't have a problem with bass (replaced it as the treble control had failed).

You are mismatching a lot of things.

 

If a preamp was designed to work at 18 Volts, the lower the voltage, the higher the distortion and also the lower the headroom, also meaning more compression and less dynamic with lower voltage.

 

The Ibanez preamp you are talking about was designed around discrete circuits needing less voltage and also less current, so I don't see the point in what you're stating...

 

And a lot of passive bass pickups are having a signal higher than 1 Volt peak to peak, except if you only hardly touch the strings.

[bloke_zero]

4 hours ago, ead said:

My bass runs at 9V and sounds just dandy (to my cloth ears at any rate).

I like how it sounds right now. But it doesn't feel as clear as the video, but who knows what the signal chain is there?

 

It feels like it records well. I need a month or so to really get into the details!

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

If a preamp was designed to work at 18 Volts, the lower the voltage, the higher the distortion and also the lower the headroom, also meaning more compression and less dynamic with lower voltage.

 

Well, yes, if a preamp was designed to run at 18v then it won't be working properly at 9. in the same way as if it was designed to run at 9 it wouldn't be working well at 18, so not sure what the point there is. If it was designed to run at everything from 9 to 18 then unless it sounded exactly the same at 9 as it did at 18 it would be non functional or faulty.

 

And sorry - but why would distortion increase if you are running a preamp at 9v? and why would a linear amplifier be compressing in the first place? what kind of a crazy preamp are we talking here, or am I missing something? There wouldn't be any compression (if it was a fet based circuit) or distotortion (if it was a transistor based circuit) unless you are getting close to its headroom.  If most preamps are using something akin to an tl081/2/4 they can work up to within .6v of their supply rails, so on a 9v battery that is 3.9Vp/p, or on a 18V circuit 8.4Vp/p. 

what kind of pickups are you putting into this?

 

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

The Ibanez preamp you are talking about was designed around discrete circuits needing less voltage and also less current, so I don't see the point in what you're stating...

 

ok, I had missed the point where you said it was an 18V only circuit, so fair enough if that is the case, yes it will need 9V. Its just something I hear very often about people having a 18V circuit for 'headroom'

 

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

And a lot of passive bass pickups are having a signal higher than 1 Volt peak to peak, except if you only hardly touch the strings.

 

Are they? Which pickups are these? Passive pickups straight into an active circuit with almost no loading I guess could get higher. Maybe a big humbucker with big magnets and a lot of turns (like the old super distortion plus pickups). I guess the G&L MFD pickups go higher, and maybe the warman pickups if you really hit them.