neepheid

No, I don't.

Great, I was just thinking to myself, "That's what the forum needs - another episode of 'Death to the Capitalist Pigdogs' - where's my popcorn?"

My wife is generally not that bothered about my basses, but she has definite ideas about what [i]shouldn't[/i] come into the house. Basically, anything that's a Flying V or pointier will result in divorce. Also, she bought me a Gibson RD Artist. Therefore, she's great.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1470817561' post='3108612'] Um, need a hollow body for am-dram pit work. Not sure cool feedback stuff is going to work in South Pacific....! [/quote] Heh, fair enough. ASAT semi hollow?

All hatred received will be interpreted as very poorly worded compliments.

Cool bass lines, fundamental to the sound of the band and didn't even like playing bass - what a guy! https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/12/interpol-carlos-d-bass

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1470657330' post='3107350'] Epiphone Jack Cassidy. Totally convinced it would be perfect hollow body territory, but for me it didn't do anything my regular bass can't. Looked cool in blue though. [/quote] You didn't go close enough to your amp to do any cool feedback-y things then

Cool, I'm not famous enough to be a hate figure.

Currently a couple of blue beauties in the stable: Sterling by Musicman SB14 Yamaha SBV500

Yes, looks are important. Otherwise I'd be playing P basses like everyone else.

It's in the condition it's in, how it got there is irrelevant to me. Perhaps back in the day, "never been gigged" was a good indicator that it didn't smell like a foosty ashtray.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1470124219' post='3103330'] If people don't notice or don't care they are likely oblivious-which is also not good, or they really don't care. I can't decide which would be worse... [/quote] Ah come on, you know how it is - they'll notice us when we stop playing

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1469697308' post='3100341'] Very commendable. I should take that attitude. Sadly, when we play, for arguments sake, London's Calling, I try to emulate Paul Simonon's P-bass tone rather than go with 'my tone' [/quote] Ahh, but I'm not playing covers (apart from the ones we do our own take on), so the only bassist I need to sound like is ... me!

I don't have a "beater" bass and I only have basses I actually like the look and sound of. I play whichever bass takes my fancy on the night. I don't care about preserving a certain "tone" - when I'm playing live my preferred tone is "being heard and being able to hear myself"

[quote name='surfguy13' timestamp='1469269808' post='3097047'] What can I say but a BIG thank you for all the info and advice! I think you're right, the EMG makes perfect sense and if it's available in ivory then it will look right too. Great that the width isn't an issue, I guessed this might be the case and 0.025" isn't going to be an issue at all!! The control cavity is huge and with only the two pots there's loads of room to install a battery and accomodate the new active wiring. I think I'd probably go with the EMG stacked tone as the more tonal options the better and I can just lift the two existing pots out complete and put them to one side in case I ever want to revert back. I'm guessing that if I lifted the existing volume and tone pots out, and indeed the jack socket too as I see the EMG kit includes one, then the small electronic box would be bypassed completely? Therefore I guess I could just leave it in situ and install the EMG system around it? I'll look into the TV Jones options as they sound interesting....never played a Gretsch bass but I understand that the TV Jones guitar pickups are really nice. [/quote] You won't be able to use the jack supplied with the EMG kit (without reaming out the hole and having some sort of mounting plate on the front) - it is a standard open jack socket, your bass uses a panel/barrel jack socket. If you're not sure if the barrel jack you have is stereo (and it might be a good idea to get a new one anyway) - Maplin do a suitable stereo replacement as found here: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/neutrik-nys2203-635mm-stereo-long-reach-chassis-socket-n39gb The small electronic box, I presume you mean the switch? There's no coil switching options with EMG-HB pickups so it won't be much use. I would lift the whole wiring loom - disconnect the pickup, the jack socket and the earth wire and lift the lot out as is - will make reverting to stock much easier should the need arise. However you choose to remove the innards - keep notes of where the wires go!

I know the blurb on the page says < 2" but according to the instruction sheet, the max recommended string width for an EMG-HB is 2.1". 2.125" isn't that much different. It's up to you but I wouldn't be overly concerned about overstepping the mark by 0.025". I would guess they are talking about string width as it passes over the pickup. Looks like there's plenty room in the control cavity for a 9V battery You would have to replace the volume pot with a 25k one, and you could either continue to use the pot and cap of your current tone control, or replace that too with an EMG-BTC (stacked bass/treble) for even more control with no physical modifications. The switch wouldn't be much use any more - perhaps use it as a kill switch? Just thought of another plus for the EMG - it's available in an "ivory" casing, which might look better than the traditional black. Other guitar humbucker sized bass specific option which comes to mind is TV Jones pickups (Thunder’Tron / Thunder’Blade / Thunder’Mag). There's not much available off the shelf for bass in that form factor. I guess if you paid a custom maker enough you could have a single coil hiding in a humbucker casing.

Oh, and I'm guessing that the "boost" you speak of will be a series/parallel switch (or a series/single coil - at work just now, no time to go tracing the wires in your photo to confirm) - series mode does tend to beef up the sound versus parallel or single coil wiring.

Are you including the pickup ring in those measurements? Only reason I ask is that there might be a couple of direct replacement options - the Schaller Bassbucker (which to be fair is very similar to what you already have) or go active with the EMG-HB - an active P (rails) inside a guitar humbucker sized package. I used them on this Epiphone Les Paul and I think they sound great.

Ach, 20 is fine. 21 seems more logical to me if only to complete the E to E thing, but it's not necessary for what I play.

There's more to the sound of a Jack Casady than where the pickup is - the body is almost completely hollow, the low-impedance pickup for starters. It's a difficult question the OP poses, one which I fear does not have a 100% satisfactory answer.

Personality stuff, but not between me and anyone - singer and guitarist would argue with each other, even on stage. No thanks.

Consider a banana which costs double what another banana costs - does the more expensive banana taste twice as good?

I bought one, played it for a while, went 'meh' and sold it on.