DeArmond Jet Star - mod time

[neepheid]

Some of you might recall that I recently bought a DeArmond Jet Star bass for the simple and highly frivolous reason that it made me laugh.  Those who are familiar with the single pickup, long scale variant will also be aware of the decidedly bridgeward location of the pickup, leaving vast tracts of empty space on the body between the pickup and the neck.

 

I think you know where this is heading.

 

Well, a very nice chap in the States who makes YouTube videos (and occasionally posts on here - @Rib13Bass - shout out to you, bass brother) sent me a gift which arrived today...

 

 

As Ozzy used to sing - what is this that stands before me?  You gathered bass cognoscenti don't need me to tell you this is a pickup from a Peavey T-40/T-45.  What is a person supposed to do with such a behemoth of a pickup?  Oh, maybe something like this:



So, the plan is to move the jack socket (currently front mounted) to the side to create a hole for the pickup selector switch.  Will have to make a wee hole for a coil selector switch for the T-40 pickup.  Oh and a big eff off hole for the T-40 pickup.  T-40 pickup goes through the coil select switch, then onto the pickup selector switch, original pickup goes to the pickup selector switch, then the output of the pickup selector switch will be wired up to the existing harness at the volume pot.
 

Easy as that!  Now, where's my router...

[AndyTravis]

Nice!

 

Another one of these has come up on eBay.

 

i’m not buying it though.

 

https://ebay.us/m/qFzPx3

[Richard R]

5 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

 

https://ebay.us/m/qFzPx3

 

That's horrible!

As if someone thought : "How can I make something that's a bit like a child's drawing of her father's  Ovation Magnum I?" 

[AndyTravis]

4 minutes ago, Richard R said:

 

That's horrible!

As if someone thought : "How can I make something that's a bit like a child's drawing of her father's  Ovation Magnum I?" 

Ooft, hang on Richard…tell us what you really think

[JohnDaBass]

22 hours ago, neepheid said:

Some of you might recall that I recently bought a DeArmond Jet Star bass for the simple and highly frivolous reason that it made me laugh.  Those who are familiar with the single pickup, long scale variant will also be aware of the decidedly bridgeward location of the pickup, leaving vast tracts of empty space on the body between the pickup and the neck.

 

I think you know where this is heading.

 

Well, a very nice chap in the States who makes YouTube videos (and occasionally posts on here - @Rib13Bass - shout out to you, bass brother) sent me a gift which arrived today...

 

 

As Ozzy used to sing - what is this that stands before me?  You gathered bass cognoscenti don't need me to tell you this is a pickup from a Peavey T-40/T-45.  What is a person supposed to do with such a behemoth of a pickup?  Oh, maybe something like this:



So, the plan is to move the jack socket (currently front mounted) to the side to create a hole for the pickup selector switch.  Will have to make a wee hole for a coil selector switch for the T-40 pickup.  Oh and a big eff off hole for the T-40 pickup.  T-40 pickup goes through the coil select switch, then onto the pickup selector switch, original pickup goes to the pickup selector switch, then the output of the pickup selector switch will be wired up to the existing harness at the volume pot.
 

Easy as that!  Now, where's my router...

WOW, that is going to have some deep and meaningful Attitude 😮

[PaulThePlug]

Toaster!

[neepheid]

One of the benefits of working in an Engineering school - ready access to 3D printing. Replacement pickup ring for the Peavey T-40 pickup - the original one is a little bent and won't sit flat on the deck so I thought I'd give a homespun replacement a go.

 

 

Top surface is dimpled - I could sand/polish this shiny, but it might match the top surface of the P pickup, so I'll leave that decision for when it's all mounted up.

[neepheid]

Busy evening.  Got home and fitted the new pickup ring to the pickup - fit great first time, except the pickup height screw holes were a bit tight but they pushed though OK with a little persuasion.

 

 

I decided to get stuck in and make some more progress, so I got down to dismantling the bass.  Found some interesting things:

 

 

The channels which the bridge saddle grub screws sit in are actually stamped into the bridge plate, proud and so there are shallow channels routed into the body to accommodate them.

 

#

 

Wonderful documentation - separate date stamps for body (Sept 1998) and neck (Oct 1998).

 

Anyway, after unearthing some hidden treasure, I made my plan:

 

 

That's a lot of wood to get through (about 47mm)!

 

 

Body clamped securely in the bench vice.  But I wasn't ready just to gung ho so I grabbed a scrap bit of wood for a test run.  I deliberately picked one which wasn't much bigger than the 20mm bit so I could see how good my aim was.

 

 

Turns out my aim is pretty good.  Also checked that 20mm was indeed big enough to accommodate a jack socket.  It is.  Time to take a deep breath and drill for real this time.

 

 

As you can see I did deviate a bit from the original pilot hole, but not in either of the directions which would matter.  The drill did wander a little at the beginning when it was trying to break through the finish, hence the white mark on the bottom edge.  But by the time I got to this depth, my drill wasn't making much progress.  So I decided to stop there (about 10mm short of breaking through into the control cavity) and simply enlarged the old pilot hole a little to allow space for wires to come through.  Jack socket loads in from the outside.  A tad unorthodox, but hey, it's an unorthodox bass!

 

 

Done.

 

 

As luck would have it, I found a "football" jack plate in my spares box.  So that saved me ordering one.  Made a couple of pilot holes (using the hand drill this time - had quite enough of power tools for one day!) and fitted the plate to the side of the body.

 

 

Last of all, I moved the jack socket properly (as in desoldered it, moved it to the side and reconnected it - which would not have been necessary if I had gone all the way through with the forstner bit but it's a small price to pay for sanity etc.  Now there's a hole free in the top of the body for a pickup selector switch.  But that's for another time.