Mabrothrax Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I have had for some time a cheap 'precision bass' copy which cost about £60 from ebay via Hong Kong. It actually sounds pretty good, and has been defretted, cos I like fretless I do For some time I've hankered after doing more to it, so I've decided to add a second pickup and some active electronics. The second pickup will be a musicman style humbucker. The basic plan is in two stages. Stage one is complete. The bass now has a p pickup (flipped to get the MM as close to the sweetspoy as possible), passive volume & tone, pickup selector switch and parallel/series/single coil switch for the MM. Needs a bit of work on the scratchplate, but I'm really pleased how it's turned out so far. Sounds beastly! Stage two of the build is: 1 - to replace the neck with a fretted maple neck with stingray style shaped headstock, possibly painted black to match. 2 - get a preamp, if possible a stingray or sabre clone 3 - more hardware? Stingray style bridge, pbass pickup cover, perhaps one of those chrome control plates as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenitram Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Did you cut that scratchplate yourself? What did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Sweet. Here's my take on this idea. I notice our pickups are not the same distance appart though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I have a P with a MM pickup, pretty much the same spacing as yours. Sounds good in a way that a PJ doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabrothrax Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 [quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1344270492' post='1762035'] Did you cut that scratchplate yourself? What did you use? [/quote] Yes, I used a whole bundle of very unprofessional tools - fret saw, hacksaw, lots of files and glasspaper... Still rough around the edges, needs more time and work. Also, I'm questing for a control plate... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/183660-left-handed-precisionraysabre-control-plate/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/183660-left-handed-precisionraysabre-control-plate/[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapscallion Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Preamp wise speak to Tommorichards(?) he's looking to make up some Sabre clone preamps for about £15 I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabrothrax Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 [quote name='rapscallion' timestamp='1344889604' post='1770768'] Preamp wise speak to Tommorichards(?) he's looking to make up some Sabre clone preamps for about £15 I think [/quote] Way ahead of you but thanks anyway. The wee beastie is going to evolve over the next few months - I'm still deciding how what ratio of Precision to Sabre it's gonna be. Actually, it needs a name. Claymore? Rapier? Bastard Sword? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabrothrax Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Having sniffed around for replacement necks I've found a distinct lack of lefty maple necks at a relatively low cost. What's more, does no one make replacement necks with musicman style headstocks? So I've realised it's best to make good with what I've got and have decided to re fret the rosewood/maple neck. The machine heads are being replaced because they re worse than awful. Seriously, a conclave of demented lobsters would do a better job. The headstock looks cheap and ugly and needs beautifying. The angle of the cut is making it hard for me to see how to reshape it without ending up with a rather narrow, pointy looking head. The machine heads I have on order are 'reversible' so I can experiment with a 3+1 set up, which I'm pretty sure is what I want. I might go for a paddle head neck from some nasty far eastern ebay store if it doesn't work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabrothrax Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Some progress - an alternative bridge, a refretted neck, musing on a headstock... [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1153.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1152.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1154.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1157-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1158.jpg[/IMG] I decided to get a hot (over 14k) MM pup to mix things up a bit from warman... [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1155.jpg[/IMG] working on a Sabre pickguard template... [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p168/Mabrothrax/101_1159-1.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommorichards Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 looking good dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabrothrax Posted November 17, 2012 Author Share Posted November 17, 2012 Arise like the vile creation you are! Yeah, so life gets in the way and all that jazz... A while back I got the frankly superb Sabre clone preamp from Mr Tommorichards which I had him further od with a push/pull active/passive bypass, and he made a very nice sabre style control plate as well. Whilst I do need to route a little bit of extra space in the control cavity and get the new scratchplate sorted, I couldn't resist wiring it all up and pluging it in, guts hanging out and all just to check it was all working smoothly. Oh my. Even in a semi assembled, partially completed state the bass sounds beastly! The controls I have give me an absurd number of sound combinations which wil take some time to truly get the best of: So that's P & MM pickups with - selector switch for P/P+MM/MM - series/single coil/parallel switch - sabre 'bright' switch (active) - active bass & treble controls - volume with push/pull active/passive bypass. Happy happy joy joy! the last peace of the puzzle is the neck. I'm scouring ebay daily, and the for sale ads here, but nothing yet is coming up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Would a paddle style headstock suit your needs, you could cut your own shape and make it right or left hand quite easily Might need to add side dots and flip the nut though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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