Grangur Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 This is a bass owned by @TheGreek Its a Kawai Alembic copy from the 1980s. This is, I suspect, from the Matsomoku factory on Japan. Certainly its well made and the headstock is the right shape for one of theirs. Mick came to me with this, asking if I had seen his thread on here discussing new pickups and electrics for this bass. I hadn't. In the past 3 years I've scarcely picked up a bass, let alone fixed one. Work has me pretty busy, but I've taken this on because it's a beauty of bass. I'd like to have if working and playable. Plus I need to stop working 7-days a week. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 Mick had the bass working originally. He loved the tone, but the bridge pickup was more quiet than the neck pup. The original pickups in the bass are a little different to normal pickups. They each contain a pre-amp circuit, with connections out to allow for the connection to a volume and tone control to each pickup. All this circuitry is then potted into a black resin to protect the circuit, both from damage, but also from people wanting to know how this circuit works. Mick tells me bass was, sent to someone who investigated this and in doing so, they attacked the original pickup with a Dremel to investigate the connections. Sadly this has left the bridge pickup circuit with no connections and nothing much now to allow us to know where each of the cable connections should go! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 To resolve the problem with the lost pickup, Mick has gone to Martin Herrick of Herrick Pickups to get custom made pups made. https://www.herrickpickups.com/ We have the pickups and I'm sure they will work fine. They do, however lack the pre-amp circuit that was in originals. So what we have now are passive pups. Not only are they passive, but they're wired with the 2 coils wired in series. In the original bass the coils were connected to a 3-way switch. This, I'm guessing would be to switch the coils into series, parallel and something else. This could be "off". But why do this? We have a volume control for that. I have an idea for this. The bass has 2 humbuckers. What would seem sensible would be to do, what I think is on the Warwick $$ basses: Series, Parallel and 1 coil. When using the single coil, this would be connected so the bass becomes, in effect a jazz bass. So it would use the coils nearest to bridge and nearest the neck. I need to sort out how to wire the switch for this. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 In addition to the pickups, Mick has supplied the bass with a new G201 circuit which is powered by a battery. The general idea for wiring the pups to the coil switching, then to the volume for each, the tone control and the output then fed to the G201. To get started I ordered new pots, tone capacitor and cable. Then I waited... and waited... The pots and cable arrived through the postal strike. Then I started taking the electrical components out. Then it happened! My soldering iron that has served me faithfully for 40+ years gave up!! Why now?! So I ordered a new soldering iron. Soldering iron arrived, by which time I have managed to pull some ligaments in my back.... oh deep joy. This is going to be fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 In the things Mick supplied, is a circuit diagram. This contains 2 tone controls and a 3-way toggle switch for pickup selection. The circuit here is, in effect, a 2 pickup passive circuit, fed into the G201. In my experience, in circuits like this I've always found the 2 tone controls don't work as we want them to work. While we think in terms of 1 tone control adjusts the tone of each pickup, the electronic circuit doesn't "think" like this. Granted, if the toggle has just 1 pup connection you're in a good place. When you have 2 pups connected, what you actually have is 2 tone controls controlling the tone of whatever pickup(s) are in the circuit. For this reason I'm more inclined towards having a well tried and successful VVT circuit. The volume for each pickup can be dialed in and 1 tone control for both pickups. Besides, when are you likely to have full bass on pickup 1 and treble on pickup 2 while BOTH are switched in? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Loving this 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Thanks for the update Richard. I had the single pickup model previously so when this became available I just had to have it. As Richard says, the volume on the bridge pickup was significantly lower but had I known what a rigmarole it would turn into I would have lived with it. I'm confident that when it's done it will have been worth it, however at the moment it's not a priority with my family issues taking priority for now. I'm sure that BCers will enjoy following the renovation of the electronics and life being breathed back into this beauty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 That is definitely a Matsumoku. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lidl e Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Absolute classic bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 Day 2 of getting down to fixing up the Kawai bass. I got down my Warwick $$ and checked out the pickup coil switching. It is, as I remembered: series/parallel/single coil. So I worked out the wiring connections to the switches. Then I set to work to change the wiring to the new pickups to separate the coils. Then to install them in the bass. The first disappointment: the nice new chrome mounting screws with springs are exactly that: screws. The bass has captive nut inserts in the body. Furthermore the springs would be too long. So I found the old black bolts and some good squidgy foam to fit in the cavities. The holes for the bolts aren't a great alignment with the captive inserts, but with a bit of jiggling around, I managed to fit the pickups. After this I've started to connect the new 4-core pickup wires to the first switch. I'll post more pictures of these when they are both connected. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 I feel your woes Richard....😪😪 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 47 minutes ago, TheGreek said: I feel your woes Richard....😪😪 Thankyou, but things could have been a load worse. It'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 Excellent work, Richard. Nice bass too, Mick 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 I like that bass a lot. A guitar player in a band I was in had a Kawai. Beautifully made LP/PRS style instrument with 2 humbuckers. Sounded great. He loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 First thing I thought when I saw the first picture? Ooh a pair Sims would fit in there lovely. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 I have a pair in one of the projects @Andyjr1515 did for me. I could swap them over but really have no desire to ruin that bass. A bit of patience and both will be playable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 I know, I think it was subconsciously your bass that made me think it. Then I realised it was your bass with the Sims in. Is it your orange bass with them? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 Rickenbacker knobs there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 14 hours ago, Maude said: I know, I think it was subconsciously your bass that made me think it. Then I realised it was your bass with the Sims in. Is it your orange bass with them? Yes...TBH it does virtually everything that you could want from a bass ( and perfectly balanced and lovely neck) but that shouldn't stop a boy wanting more. As my friend Eric says " Everything is nice, but more is better ". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 Ha ha completely agree. If I got rid of everything I didn't need I could downsize the house too. 😄 This Kawai looks great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 Over the last few days I've been working on the circuit. The bass looks much better now with the pots fitted to the body. I've also wired the new cables from the pups to the switches. This was really fiddly work with the very fine core cables that needed baring and soldering using the wiring I worked out from the MEC2 circuit from the Warwick $$. With the old soldering iron having packed up I bought a replacement. Nothing special but something I thought would "do the job". The old one was 25w. I read something saying, get a more powerful one for better results. I bought a Draper 60w iron. What a complete load of bologna that turned out to be! Totally useless heap of junk! The tip has burned out already! I didn't expect much, but it was less than not much. Anyway, somehow I plodded on and just about got through. All connected just as a passive bass. My thinking was to check out the core switches before I get the G201 into the circuit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 OK, so all connected and I plug!ged if in.... The bridge pickup works for the Series/parallel. Not working for having 1 of the coils being live on its own. The neck pickup works on 1 coil only. A quick glance in the back and I found the red core from the pickup cable has come away from the toggle switch!!! Aaggghhh!! I could do without this. To get access to reterminate the red core, I need to unsolder some parts. What I'm not going to do is inflict the Draper heap of garbage on anything more. So, I ordered another iron. This time it's back to having an Antex soldering iron. What bugs me is the single core not working. Think I'll investigate this further. I need to disconnect the cores, test the switch and think through the logic of the switching the circuit. Must do this, before ordering anything more: Like I need to find out if the switches work as I would expect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 You have to beware of Draper - there's a cheapo product line and a pro-level one. I'm intending at some point to get a better soldering iron than the one I've had since the 80s; temperature-controlled ones don't seem to be cheap, though! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted December 29, 2022 Author Share Posted December 29, 2022 1 hour ago, prowla said: You have to beware of Draper - there's a cheapo product line and a pro-level one. I'm intending at some point to get a better soldering iron than the one I've had since the 80s; temperature-controlled ones don't seem to be cheap, though! Me too. I've had my Antex since the late 70s. I guess we see those as being great for lasting so long. If you're selling soldering irons, I guess they'd see it as a mistake that they lasted this long after we paid so little for them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted December 29, 2022 Share Posted December 29, 2022 1 hour ago, Grangur said: Me too. I've had my Antex since the late 70s. I guess we see those as being great for lasting so long. If you're selling soldering irons, I guess they'd see it as a mistake that they lasted this long after we paid so little for them. I’m thinking about a Hakko. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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