Jack Casady mod project

[Hazza2004]

Hi all, 

I have just bought one of the fretless epiphone jack casadys and it is absolutely incredible, my first fretless bass and I have fallen in love!  I have decided that I want to use it as my main bass creatively (at least for a little while) and will do some mods to it to make it more fitting to the music I play.   I am thinking of adding a bridge pickup but have no idea where to start. I think I know how I would go about installing it but I am unsure what pickups to consider.  does anyone have any advice?   Also if their are any luthiers based in Suffolk/Cambs/Norfolk/London who would be interested in taking on this sort if project please reach out!

 

 

Cheers, 

Harry

 

[neepheid]

Your main trouble is the nature of the electronics in a JC. The pickup is low impedance, it uses a transformer tapped at various points to make the signal up to the levels required (that's what the rotary switch is controlling) and the pots are weird values like 2.5k - you can't just stick any old pickup in there because it won't work, or at least won't work properly. Coupled with the fact that mounting pickups in a hollow body bass is a lot trickier than a solid body or even a seml-hollow bass (because you are limited to pickups which can be suspended from a pickup ring) and you will perhaps understand why you don't see a lot of JCs out there with added pickups.

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, but you're either going to have to source a second JC pickup (good luck with that) or some other low impedance pickup, or have completely separate electronics for the second pickup from pickup to jack, or you'd have to gut the whole bass and start from scratch. To that end, Mama pickups in Italy make a drop in replacement pickup for the JC, a traditional high impedance pickup which could be a starting point for a complete, ground up rewiring and at least mean you don't have to worry about finding something to fit the existing hole.

 

Good luck whatever you decide to do, but for most people, changing the bridge or tuners on a JC is as brave as they're willing to go.

[neepheid]

Or, in meme terms

 

[lemmywinks]

You could try a Lace USAB and blend it externally, can be stuck on with tape so no need to get the router out:

https://www.thomann.co.uk/lace_pickups_ultra_slim_bass_pickup_usab.htm

[neepheid]

40 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

You could try a Lace USAB and blend it externally, can be stuck on with tape so no need to get the router out:

https://www.thomann.co.uk/lace_pickups_ultra_slim_bass_pickup_usab.htm

 

Might not sit nicely on a carved top though...

[miles'tone]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

Or, in meme terms

 

No, they already have all the Mordor you need at just the turn of a dial 😄

[lemmywinks]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

Might not sit nicely on a carved top though...

 

 

 

Could 3D print a surround for it or something like that. I would be very reluctant to do irreversible work on a bass without knowing the results would be al least satisfactory beforehand. I'd probably put the money towards a fretless Rockbass Star, Skyline HB10 or something like that.

[Burns-bass]

I’d work with the bass as it is for a while.