Andyjr1515

So to clarify. Assuming this is a battery-powered system and the black is the battery switch lead: I stress that in terms of the wiring, the above is if your assumptions of the wire conventions are correct. It looks like it is a Switchcraft or copy so I'm pretty sure my tag descriptions are correct. Let us know how you get on.

Don't panic about the preamp yet. I'm not sure quite which wants to go where, but you definitely have some of the wrong wires on the wrong tags. If this is the typical Switchcraft stereo jack, these are the tags: So the earth tag on the socket is where you currently have the black wire soldered (probably correctly) The shielding - and the blue if that is, as you say, an earth too - needs to be soldered onto the same tag. If the red is your hot lead, then is needs to be soldered to the tip tag, not the ring tag. If there is no battery and the lead you use is a mono lead, then - correctly - there will be probably nothing connected to the ring tag. POST SCRIPT - just read the beginning. This does have a battery? Then the BLACK - if that is the switch - goes to the Ring Tag

Just a short one this time - both the thread and the bass A couple of weeks ago @tauzero contacted me to see if I was up for taking on a small job on his beautiful Sei headless: He explained the problem: "Six years ago, I dropped it in a gig bag and it landed on the lower edge of the bottom bout. Because the core is quite thin, there's not a lot of meat around the jack socket area, and the impact cracked the centre core and sheared it away from the front and back laminates" At the time @jayDee did the fix and - wow - FANTASTIC job! It was an invisible mend and, honestly, I STILL can't see the join! But in recent times a second problem has shown itself - a bit like @TheGreek 's Alembic-esque of a few years ago - the top wood had started cupping and had pulled itself away to form an impressive gap! : The lines on the core, by the way are just lacquer cracks - probably from the original impact. The failed glue joint of the top was probably weakened, although not visibly split, at that same time. Two of the challenges were: The cupping is strong. I could only JUST close the gap with both hands pressing as hard as I could. Again - a bit like @TheGreek 's The joint area - the control chamber goes very close to the edge - is very narrow round that curve. We are talking 10mm max - in fact before the curve levels off at the top The glue joint that had failed is actually the bottom of a 2mm wenge demarcation strip which further round you can see the crack has also split the wenge So the challenge, apart from working on such a beautiful and valuable bass, was how to find a glue that was going to be strong enough to hold the continuing considerable force of the top wood trying to pull itself away. And how to try to fill and level any rough and damaged bits of the crack edge. I gave it some thought and also bounced off my ideas on a pro-luthier friend, Rob Hodgson, who gave them the thumbs up. The glue? Old fashioned leave-it-all-night-to-harden Araldite original. This is much stronger than the Rapid version or other shorter set epoxies like ZPoxy, etc.. Filling and smoothing? Wenge sanding dust mixed in with the epoxy Application? Syringe for the main gap, encouraged in with some very thin cellophane, and then re-syringed This was a test mix before I added the wenge dust. I did LOADS of trials of shapes of cauls. The top and back cantilever over the control chamber so you have to be VERY careful not to apply pressure to the edges. There was already a hairline crack at the back, maybe from the original bump. So the back clamping caul needed to be as big as possible to spread the load: The clamping would be on the very edges, with a middle clamp to act as the fulcrum. As such, I could leave the electrics in place: Masked right up to the gap line and epoxy syringed in. I also wicked a couple of drops of CA into the disappearing gap at either side of the main crack to prevent future spread of the glue fail Then clamped, 3 clamps at medium pressure - until the gap closed but not much tighter than that - with the load balancing clamp nearer to the body centre: I removed the bulk of the squeeze-out and then left it the rest of the day and overnight to fully cure. Next morning, I gingerly loosened the clamps - and it had held! To smooth off the joint lines, I just used a single-edged razor as a mini scraper. Quick wipe of the scraped joint with Osmo-dampened cloth, and we have the fix: The top is the repaired one I'm well chuffed (and moderately to majorly relieved)

I agree that USA would normally be #6-32 x 7/16" I'm pretty sure a Japanese Fender would have M3 x 10mm

Wouldn't the Japanese ones be metric thread? Which model have you got - is it USA or Japanese and do you know what year? Also, do you know for sure it's the original bridge.

I like that. You could also stick with a headless bridge and just thread the other ends through the headstock with the clamp at the back like on Mick's Psilos.

Yes - lovely. There's a LOT of work going into this....that's a lot of demarcation going on. Looks great for it.

For my little spiel on designing and building lighter weight guitars and basses, I'll be bringing along a 32" screen to show some supporting photos to go with the physical examples I'll have with me. I will have an HDMI cable and an ipad lightning connector to hdmi adapter. Anyone else very welcome to use the screen during the day. If your tablet is android, though, you will need to bring a suitable hdmi adapter for your particular tablet charge plug type.

Lovely job!

Me too

The other way, used in other Bassbashes I've been to are that raffle tickets are sold in the normal way. The last couple I've been to have set £1 a ticket and you can buy as many or as few as you like (or none, of course) and the winner of each ticket gets to choose what's remaining on the table... Easy to administrate and folks can bring along stuff to pop on the table on the day.

Yes - great suggestion.

Is it the Bison with the rotary selector? https://www.google.com/search?q=burns+bison+bass+wiring&oq=burns+bison+bass+wiring&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.14395j0j8&client=tablet-android-asus-tpin&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=VVRWhFPO0_yC4M:

Wow!

Axesrus have a decent one for not a lot, here https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Alpha-Concentric-Solid-Shaft-Alpha-Pot-Full-Sized-p/concentricsolidshaftfull.htm

If you want both, then go for vol and tone for each pair of knobs...then you are not having to remember which knob does what. The stacked knobs are basically two standard pots on top of each other so, wiring wise, just use the normal v v t t four pot wiring conventions. The nice thing about this arrangement over using a blend knob is that your present switches work completely normally.

The easiest way would be to swop the Master volume with a stacked pot and have a volume control for each pickup in the same knob position. Same number of holes in the scratchplate and only a few wiring changes. If you keep the pot you take out, you can always revert to standard if you ever come to sell it. The original Squier (passive) Jaguar actually uses stacked pots in both positions giving independant volume and tone for each pickup.

You see, there are many ways of getting over the Basschat system automatic filth-catcher! . Pink torpedoles? History, mate

I'd missed @Jabba_the_gut 's reply above and stand corrected. He doesn't use bigger ones than me. I reckon the total pull power of our respective size/thickness/strength is probably similar, then

No - it is much more effective to use magnets on the cover and an opposite pole magnet in the body. Magnet to magnet these tiny things have a huge pull.

I think @Jabba_the_gut uses bigger magnets than me, but the ones I use are 5mm in the body and 4mm on the cover itself. I use first4magnets who have a massive range of sizes, thicknesses, strengths and shapes. However, note that they are sold also by their pulling power. The 5mm I use are a 0.26kg pull and the 4mm ones are 0.36kg pull. I think for a wood cover this is probably the lowest pull to be sure it's going to hold - so maybe go for slightly larger, and/or stronger ones to be sure. However, you don't really want super high strength ones because the neodymium magnets are really stupendously powerful and too large and strong can affect the magnetic field of your pickups. For the truss rod cover I use 3mm at the apex and 2mm at one or both sides in the body, with 2mm magnets on the cover itself. The single apex magnet is strong enough to hold the weight of the cover so the side smaller ones are just to hold it in position.

Sounds a good idea...

Wow! What a transformation!

Not at all! Trust me, having been in a number of raffles at various bass bashes, the thrill of winning a set of allen keys is just as great as the bigger things! And I'm still using them. All contributions, large or small, I am sure will be gratefully received and excitedly won!

OK - I'll start off the raffle prizes. I will contribute this: A number of you have already seen it at previous bass bashes and - until the website wiped all of the avatars - this was my avatar since joining Basschat, so it's only fitting It's a Squier Jaguar - the original full scale version. Great to play; hmmm...Seymour Duncan 'designed' p/ups - not the most exciting but eminently upgradable; passive electrics; stacked volume tone for each pup; D'addario Chromes; one of my early veneering jobs; remodelled scratchplate covered in automotive-go-faster-carbon-fibre matting; natural sides and back: Andy