Finally the Precision I've always wanted. Apologies to stingray fans.

[fretmeister]

It sounds brilliant. Ray spacing and neck, with Precision sound.

While I enjoyed the EMGs I had in it (and the abuse for installing them) the Aguilar 60s pickup is lovely.

Unexpected benefit- with the EMGs it weighed 9.2lb. Those are very heavy pickups.

Now it's only 8.4lb !!
 

Edited December 12, 2017 by fretmeister

[ezbass]

I do like to see people messing around with basses to get what they want. Congrats on devising a unique (afaik) bass that suits your needs.

[Bigwan]

Best kind of ray! Not a big fan of them as standard...

[CameronJ]

Very cool. Nice work!

[fretmeister]

It was Paul_C who did the work for me. I only had the idea.

I shouldn't be trusted with soldering irons!

[lojo]

Lovely idea and job , love the simplicity of the p bass

[uncle psychosis]

That's cool. Good work.

[fretmeister]

Been playing it a lot this afternoon.

Bass, Darkglass AO, Cali compressor, Amp.

Really enjoying it. In 2 weeks I'll be back on duty with the local educational trust music group I play with and I'm looking forward to giving it a run with some big band tunes and film themes.

[Paul S]

I have something very similar that Andyjr1515 knocked up for me - a Sterling 5 with one of those Aguilar 60s pickups in the sweet spot. I retained the MM humbucker but don't actually ever use it - that Aguilar pup is umptious.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1503751368' post='3360707']
It sounds brilliant. Ray spacing and neck, with Precision sound.

While I enjoyed the EMGs I had in it (and the abuse for installing them) the Aguilar 60s pickup is lovely.

Unexpected benefit- with the EMGs it weighed 9.2lb. Those are very heavy pickups.

Now it's only 8.4lb !!
[/quote]

Now that I could get on with! Well done. I'd love to hear it!

[stingrayPete1977]

You gotta do what suits you, I've butchered my USA Jazz bass and now I use it all the time as it suits me more now.

[Painy]

So now you have this Ray with a P pickup. Walshy is currently showing off his new Shuker Rockinfreakapotamus (Jazz with a Ray pickup) and a while ago mcnach modded his Matt Freeman precision to a pair of jazz pickups.

Now that's a trio of basses I'd love to gig with!

[TCsBass]

How are you finding the Aguilar 60's split coil? I keep thinking about getting one of those Squier Classic Vibe 70's Precisions and chucking the Aguilar in there, amongst other mods, but I've been distracted with how good my American Professional sounds with the new Fender V-Mod pickup.

[Paul S]

I find it a very mellow organic vintage tone, doesn't really do aggressive. So really what is says on the tin. For a 4 string I actually prefer the Fender Original as it has a bit more variety but on 5ers the choice is not so great.

[fretmeister]

I'm getting tons of clank from mine. Depending on how hard I play. Gentle = round full tone. Hard = proper clank.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1503909348' post='3361403']
I'm getting tons of clank from mine. Depending on how hard I play. Gentle = round full tone. Hard = proper clank.
[/quote]

That is because the sound of a Stingray and especially a Stingray 5 is contributed to heavily by the construction - the bridge especially with those deep seated bolts as well as screws and heavy mass, along with the body resonance (especially if it's an ash body). So you've got all of that as well as your vintage sounding P pickup.

If you look at the bridges on the MM passive basses (Cutlass and Caprice - P and PJ) you'll see the bolts aren't included - when asked about this MM said it was deliberate and is part of the design to get a more vintage sound.

Btw the weight loss may be to do with you having two defunct pick up routs and the pre amp/ multi switch rout - quite a lot of wood missing under that scratch plate now?

Edited August 28, 2017 by drTStingray

[ezbass]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1503911436' post='3361427']


That is because the sound of a Stingray and especially a Stingray 5 is contributed to heavily by the construction - the bridge especially with those deep seated bolts as well as screws and heavy mass, along with the body resonance (especially if it's an ash body). So you've got all of that as well as your vintage sounding P pickup.

[/quote]There was a video of Chris Squire playing a Lakland Bob Glaub on the Lakland website years ago. The bass (a P bass with a much bigger bridge) sounded just like Chris's Ric; clank a plenty. It seems that having a nice big chunk of metal holding the strings down, coupled with the classic split pickup, gives the player a good range of tones from a number of iconic manufacturers.

[fretmeister]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1503911436' post='3361427']


That is because the sound of a Stingray and especially a Stingray 5 is contributed to heavily by the construction - the bridge especially with those deep seated bolts as well as screws and heavy mass, along with the body resonance (especially if it's an ash body). So you've got all of that as well as your vintage sounding P pickup.

If you look at the bridges on the MM passive basses (Cutlass and Caprice - P and PJ) you'll see the bolts aren't included - when asked about this MM said it was deliberate and is part of the design to get a more vintage sound.

Btw the weight loss may be to do with you having two defunct pick up routs and the pre amp/ multi switch rout - quite a lot of wood missing under that scratch plate now?
[/quote]

No more routing since the EMGs went in.

Here is the weight of a 40DC and the MM5CS.

The 2 pickups together weigh 0.8 lb !

[fretmeister]

Stupid upside down picture!

[Misdee]

Don't be surprised if EBMM steal your idea and start marketing this adaptation. They have already committed heresy by introducing a passive Fender- style P and PJ, so what do they have to lose?

[drTStingray]

[quote name='Misdee' timestamp='1503917738' post='3361501']
Don't be surprised if EBMM steal your idea and start marketing this adaptation. They have already committed heresy by introducing a passive Fender- style P and PJ, so what do they have to lose?
[/quote]

They already did create basses with a decent Precision sound (amongst others) - the Classic Sabre has a neck pick up single coil selection which sounds like a Precision (I have one - the setting is quite useful for occasional use) - the Big Al does a passive P sound really well.

As one of the early Stingray prototypes had a P type pick up and more than one modified Stingrays with a P pick up have been featured on here it's hardly a new idea - interesting on a five string though.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1503914225' post='3361462']


No more routing since the EMGs went in.

Here is the weight of a 40DC and the MM5CS.

The 2 pickups together weigh 0.8 lb !
[/quote]

Crikey that's a lot!!

[fretmeister]

I was amazed - it was instantly noticeable when I picked it up.

It's a bit concerning really - I was going to get the routs in my Marleaux enlarged a little bit so I could fit a pair of EMG soapbars in. But I might weigh one of the existing Delanos first to see. I don't want that bass getting any heavier.

[fretmeister]

I've finally been able to use it in anger. On Saturday morning I played in the local educational trust music group in a variety of ensembles.

Very happy with it. It sounds, not surprisingly, like a good P bass should. I've got the pickup quite high so there is plenty of clank available, but when played gently it's really round and plumby (is that a word?) too.

Signal chain was the bass, a smidge of compression, and then my Darkglass M900 and a single Barefaced One10 cab. Don't need more cabs when playing next to woodwind instruments!

[ahpook]

That looks really nice.

I like the way the staggered pickup echoes the shape of the scratchplate.