neepheid

[quote name='spinynorman' post='459372' date='Apr 10 2009, 03:19 PM']I've got an old Spector Rebop, which is a natural oiled finish. It's just a rather grubby lump of alder, which isn't the most exciting wood visually. I'm wondering about a refin and what to use and sources of material. I know about Reranch in the US, but they can't ship anything flammable. Is there an equivalent here?[/quote] Manchester Guitar Tech does cans of nitro lacquer, bit pricey but seems to work well. [url="http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html"]http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/lacquer.html[/url]

Just a wee update to say that the rag tag pot I had lying around has been replaced with a nice CTS one, and it now has the correct length strings on it.

Again, not familiar with alternatives. Yes, great piece of kit, has proven indispensable on many occasions, for headphone practice, slowing down songs, changing pitch, emphasising bass, cutting bass for playing along. Simply a Swiss army knife of a practice tool. Handy hint - if you have a PSP, you can use its power supply, the plug and the voltage/polarity/current supplied are perfect for it. Criticisms - changing key/tempo can sound a bit odd/warbly. If you want a permanent shift, you'd be better loading the MP3 into Audacity and using the tools there to make the change and re-uploading the file to the Tascam.

[quote name='JPAC' post='457148' date='Apr 8 2009, 10:32 AM']OK green added but here's lots of other colours. [/quote] I was only winding you up. I really do want to make a surf green bass though. I have an idea germinating which involves an old Ibanez (allegedly), Hagstrom pickups and surf green nitrocellulose lacquer.

No specific love for Surf Green? Poor show!

P all the way, don't like Jazz necks, and I don't really like the way Jazzes look either, at least not standard ones with the huge "look at me" chrome control plate.

Welcome to the forum

[quote name='Shire' post='456289' date='Apr 7 2009, 12:02 PM']Phew from me too lol I am going to use the original knobs (which I have) which have grub screws in Thanks for your help, its much appreciated Do you think I could use a P=bass wiring diagram and slightly modify it? I can't find any musicmaster diagrams but I assume its the same principle? Actually, considering its a guitar pickup,, I might have problems with its infinite number of wires![/quote] Yeah, the P-bass diagram should work fine. As for your pickup, the diagram you linked to earlier suggests it has 4 wires + shield. The simplest wiring is to join the two ends of the coils in series then the remaining 2 are hot and earth. According to the diagrams, you'd need to join the green and red ones, leaving black (!) as hot and white and shield as earth. Then follow the rest of the diagram from there.

I've only just started recording our practice sessions, and only for band personal reference. To that end (because I'm a stingy git) I've only been using a minidisc recorder and a single microphone placed roughly in the middle of us all. I was pleasantly surprised with the results, not perfect - vocals were a little distant thanks to the PA speakers being situated behind the drummer and there was occasional clipping, not due to volume (if anything I was rather conservative with the recording level) but probably dynamic range limitations - but good enough for reference/mistake highlighting purposes. Can't help you with fancier stuff, sorry.

[quote name='Shire' post='456212' date='Apr 7 2009, 10:27 AM']Thanks for the heads up. I bought these ones: [url="http://www.guitarthings.co.uk/cts-cts-premium-250k-solid-shaft-pot-938-p.asp"]http://www.guitarthings.co.uk/cts-cts-prem...t-pot-938-p.asp[/url] Are they ok? Cheers, Matt[/quote] Yeah, they're audio taper. Phew. Remember that you'll need screw fit knobs for these pots (the ones with grub screws for attaching) - press fit knobs won't work.

[quote name='leschirons' post='456145' date='Apr 7 2009, 09:23 AM']If they have exposed pole peices, you will see 4 on the 4 string pickups and five on the 5 string pickups. Don't these need to be in line with the strings? (directly under each string) This has always been an issue with guitars when I've had pickups changed in the past. The 5 string pickups may also be longer and you wouldn't want to have to rout out the body. I would look in the marketplace section for some good secondhand 4 stringers.[/quote] Yeah Fender - does a Musicmaster bass have 6 strings? In general, to save pain 2 things need to be true for a painless change. 1) physical size of the pickup has to be the same/damn near the same and 2) rail polepieces will make sure that strings are covered, with some provisos - if the rail is straight across the whole pickup, no problem. If it's split like a Precision pickup (like the EMG P soapbars for instance) then you need to make sure the split is in the middle for a 4 string bass.

[quote name='Shire' post='455681' date='Apr 6 2009, 05:26 PM']Ok, I just purchased the following parts. I'll let you know how I get on Switchcraft SWITCHCRAFT JACK 1/4'' Sprague 'Orange Drop' 0.047 Capacitor CTS CTS Premium 250k Solid Shaft Pot x 2 Vintage Wire White - 2 Ft. Here is the wiring diagram that I'm going to use (fig 1b) [url="http://www.kentarmstrong.com/KA_Wiring_Instructions.pdf"]http://www.kentarmstrong.com/KA_Wiring_Instructions.pdf[/url] Thanks in advance, Matt[/quote] Oops, it doesn't look like anyone mentioned the different tapers pots can have. I hope you've bought Audio (Log) taper pots, or your volume control will be rather on/off instead of a smooth progression through the available volume range.

I'd just like to add +1 to the chorus of approval for the Hartke HA3500. I picked one up which needed a little work around this time last year for £140. A resistor had burned out, probably due to a dodgy cap in the power rectification stage for the valve preamp. Replaced the nearby caps and the burned out resistor and it's been great ever since. Was sharing it with some other bands at a gig on Friday and the bass player in one of other bands came to thank me for sharing it and complimented me on my rig, so I guess this is technically a +2 to the chorus of approval

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum Bass a little broken - how? A quick post in the Technical Forum with your problem may help...

Also I believe WD Music have a custom pickguard service where they can generate one from an accurate tracing of your existing one.

Just for everyone's info, I went for the D'addario XL medium scale and they fit very well, even on the E string, with the wraps tapering off between the nut and the E tuner with room to spare - just what I was looking for. According to the Rotosound website, at 35.25" ball end to silks I was worried that their definition of medium scale was maybe just half an inch to an inch too long for my needs (2" between tailpiece and bridge, 31" scale length, leaving approximately 2.25" before the silks, I feared I would be winding full width E string on the post again.)

[quote name='Pookus' post='454223' date='Apr 4 2009, 05:20 PM']Its not really the distance between the strings / pickup thats bothering me. Its the height I've had to adjust the bridge to compensate for the shims I needed to put in the neck pocket to get the angle right (now my neck only has a tiny amount of relief and the action is good with no buzzes etc.) I just feel the whole lot could come down a bit. I want it flatter - its a feel thing.[/quote] Fair enough then. I wasn't trying to be argumentative or anything, just making sure you weren't going to unnecessary lengths to achieve something

[quote name='Pookus' post='454165' date='Apr 4 2009, 03:26 PM']I'm keen on getting the finger board nearer the body. I can then lower the bridge. There is about a cm gap between strings and pole pieces at the moment - which seems too big to me.[/quote] I'm really sorry (my head is all fuzzy with post gig comedown) but I am struggling to understand why you feel you have to make this rather drastic change when you can raise the pole pieces to meet the strings and you state that your beef is with the gap between the pole pieces and the strings. Plus if it doesn't make a difference, you won't have lost anything other than a few moments of your time.

[quote name='Pookus' post='454155' date='Apr 4 2009, 03:11 PM']I think I'll route a couple of mm out of the neck pocket... (carefully!)[/quote] I would advise against it when there's a non-destructive thing you can try first, but it's your call.

The pole pieces of the Model One are adjustable. You can raise/lower them individually with the appropriate allen key.

I survived!