Andyjr1515

Looking very good.

This above ^ And this might help for us to interpret the problem. It's the nut that's stuck?

There are a few ways of going about this, assuming that you are trying to tighten the hex nut of the jack socket itself against the rugby ball shaped "jack plate", which is then screwed to the body of the bass. - If there is enough length of wire to pull the whole assembly out (which is what you appear to be trying in the photo), then it is usually a case of rotating the jack to relieve any wire twists and you will also probably find a position where the connectors or spring clips of the jack can be eased out of the hole. That allows you to be able to hold the jack while you tighten the nut up. - If there isn't enough wire, then - in that all you are trying to do is stop the jack twisting while you tighten the hex nut - is screw the jack plate back on and hold a screwdriver or similar at the base of the one of the connector lugs of the jack from inside the chamber to stop the jack turning while you tighten the hex nut from the other side. If the wire inside has been twisted too much from the jack turning round in previous attempts, then unscrew the hex nut completely, pull the jack out of the jack plate into the control chamber, untwist the wires and then carry on with one of the two methods above. Where in the country are you? As @PaulThePlug says, there's a sticky thread in this section which is Basschatters happy to help other Basschatters. If you are still stuck, there is likely to be someone on the list within easy travelling distance.

Lovely job

Just looked it up. It was @allighatt0r who originally commissioned it. Over 7 years ago! I was but a lad...

Me too! It's like meeting an old friend

You are right...that can make all the difference

The bax music web site reckons 9.5" I'm pretty sure all modern Squiers are 9.5

Yes - very interested

I love the look of jaguar basses I'm pleased your workshop's done. Lots more goodness to come, I'm sure.

If you want to be able to 'do the whole thing and do it like a pro', then ignore this, @Joe Nation , but if you want to improve a fretboard that has a few high spots - and in the process start to understand the liberties you can and can't take with frets along the way - have a look at the 'quick and dirty' method I outlined in @Geek99 's thread a few months ago: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/455828-12-fret-action-on-p-bass/page/6/#comment-4588058 Andy

We were typing the same thing at the same time

Scotchbright (think panscrub) is better to use than wire wool as there is no danger of fine iron filings stuck to the pickups. It comes in various grades - builders and decorators merchants usually have a wide range, but you can pick up a pack of three grades from most DIY stores nowadays.

The folks above are right to raise the issue of intonation, @mojobass as the intonation adjustment range on bridges can vary enormously. None of the saddle apexes are going have to be set shorter than the scale length but the G will usually be the closest to the scale length (usually around a mm longer). The saddles for thicker strings are usually set at progressively longer positions with the bottom E often 4-5mm longer than scale. So to set the bridge, what I usually do is: - I wind the G saddle fully forward and then back off a mm or two to allow a bit of wiggle room for fitting inaccuracies - I check that the other saddles will adjust at least 4mm further back than this (if they don't, then sometimes that means the bridge will need to be tilted - but this is rare for bass bridges) - I then set bridge so that the forward-wound G saddle apex is at scale length - I pop a piece of easy peel masking tape along the front edge of the bridge so I don't lose that position and then hold a string from the G nut slot to the G saddle and the same between the E nut slot to the E saddle to make sure that the sideways position is central and that the strings are going to be equidistant from the fretboard sides. - I double make sure that the front edge of the bridge is still exactly in line with the masking tape (it's very easy to knock the bridge off position when checking sideways position) and mark my drill hole positions That way, I can be sure that all the saddles are going to be capable of adjusted back far enough to intonate correctly and that the top and bottom strings are equidistant from the fretboard sides

Education is a wonderful thing When I order electrical components like switches from places like mouser/rs components/ etc, there are usually a dozen specifications associated with every item, that I have no idea what they mean. As long as things have the right number of poles and positions then most other stuff is not really relevant and so I don't worry about it. And so - when buying rotary switches in the past - the terms 'shorting' and 'non-shorting' hidden deep in the spec sheets will have gone right over my head. And now I know - through wise folks round here - that 'shorting' is indeed 'make before break'. And I've checked. And, by total toss of a coin luck, the rotary switch I already have in my bits box...just happens to be 'shorting'. And so, theoretically at least, I should be able to sort a pop free solution! Wouldn't have got there without the above wisdom and associated pm's - great forum, this - many thanks, folks

And this too! I knew this was the right forum to ask the question!

I've just had a pm from one of our much-respected... who makes make-before-break rotaries! I'll update after a couple more discussions

Yes - he has a couple of basses with rotaries fitted. That said, I will be sounding him out over using a lever instead...lets face it, it was exactly that issue that they were designed for

Hmmm...that's a thought... Thanks - I'll investigate that

Hi I think I know the answer to this but, just in case I've missed something: I've been asked to set up a VERY simple switching system (no pots at all) - just a three position rotary switch: ON (no capacitor) - OFF - ON (with capacitor) where in both cases, the ON is direct wired pickup-to-jack via the rotary switch But, am I right in assuming that turning to or from the OFF is going to *Pop* through a live amp? I know for, say, a 5 way lever switch, there is a 'make before break' designed into the contact wiper. The question is - if this is a rotary switch, is there anyway of eliminating or at least reducing the *Pop* ? Thanks in advance

Well...it's not for the faint-hearted... The basics are - most of the time - relatively straightforward. But there a lot of things that need to be done for it to be successful and many of those need a bit of practice. One of the big challenges (there are many) is successfully profiling the board. If the bass is 'dispensable' then certainly feasible - but I wouldn't practice on anything important

Yes - I agree with this. Going to thicker strings can be an issue if the nut slots aren't wide enough, but going narrower, within the realms of 'normal' gauges, is very unlikely to give an issue.

Phew!

A small job that @vmaxblues has been patiently waiting for, while I tinkered on the dark side with the ebony 6-string and Happy Jack's Lull necks. The patiently awaited job was the refretting @vmaxblues defretted neck on his lovely Warwick. The neck had, in the past, been de-fretted and the slots lined with maple veneer - a nice job, albeit with the evidence of the tang chips at the slot edges that are unavoidable when removing frets. But well finished and sound. The temptation with fretting a lined board is always to simply use the veneer as the saw markers. The problem with a defretted-lined neck, however, is that the fret slot is usually a teeny bit wider than the veneer used to line it and so you can get slight inaccuracies - not a problem when used as a fretless, but important if it's going to return to a fretted state. So out comes the Stewmac fret calculator, sharp-nosed punch and my long steel rule to mark the fret positions at the treble and bass sides: Usually for a slotted fretboard, I would use my G&W Mitre Block - but that is only usable for unfitted boards. For this one, I had to go back to old-school methods. Using the end face of a radius block to keep the fretting saw blade vertical, I positioned the block and blade so that both punch dots disappeared under the blade width: To check the depth, I frequently checked using a tool I use to clear dust from the fret slots, now marked with a thin pen line at a depth a smidgen deeper than the fret tang: After slotting all of the positions (and yes - some of the veneer strips were indeed a teeny bit out of line) I rechecked both bass and treble sides with the steel rule and fret calculator sheet. And then time for re-fretting. @vmaxblues was happy to have my favourite fretwire - EVO Gold - which was cut to oversize length and detanged at each end. The wire I use comes in a coil and so already has the all important radius. Then - with a teeny line of wood glue along the tang - hammer one side, hammer the other, hammer the middle which, because of the radius, splays out the barbs on the tang underneath the fretboard surface and locks the frets in place. I then clamp a radius block on the fret while I move onto the next: And done, ready for levelling and recrowning: I levelled the frets with my long levelling beam and then recrowned the flattened tops with progressively fine emery and micro-web wrapped round a crowning file: Lastly, rounded the fret ends, filled the edge slots with epoxy mixed with wenge sanding dust and polished it all up: And, at last, sent it back to him

It is a fabulous pickup IMHO. With the right cap on, it can certainly get into the right muddy spectrum