pobrien_ie

Just to briefly resurrect this....does anybody else out there have experience or knowledge of the MIJ Precision 62 RI? I've read in lots of forums that the nut width is 42mm. Jean-Luc Pickguard (just got that by the way ) has measured his and it's 44mm / 1.75 inches at the nut. I know there are a few different levels of the PB62, so perhaps this would lead to the alleged different sizes. However, all the new ones appear to be 42mm on Japanese sites, so perhaps they changed it at some time. Any MIJ experts out there?? I'm leaning towards the Musikraft at the moment due to the sheer breadth of options available, but cost could be a factor and the MIJ might just come in that little bit cheaper.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1339531237' post='1690134'] +1 And did you not listen to the intro to Lounge Act? Flipping great. Also, Mike Dirnt, intro to Longview, also ****ing cool as. And Sid might not have been able to play well, but he could swing the thing at your head better than most of us. [/quote] +1 on this. Of course Novoselic and Dirnt aren't 'trained' musicians, but they play with heart and soul and aren't afraid to express themselves where appropriate. Springing to mind as some of Novoselic's memorable lines for me are Lounge Act, Lithium, Stay Away, Pennyroyal Tea to name but a few. From Dirnt Longview, Welcome to Paradise and When I Come Around are definitely not your bog standard lines. I once saw an interview where Novoselic talks about serving the song..says it all really. Also, surprised to see Jeff Ament on the OP's list. He was really different from the early 90's grunge players. I'm pretty sure there isn't one song on the 'Ten' album that has standard 4 string fretted bass. He tastefully used fretless, 12 string and 8 string basses throughout the album. On Vs, which I think he was fantastic on, he adopts an electric upright for a lot of songs too. Some memorable Ament lines, for me at least, are Jeremy, Breath, Glorfied G, Rats and Present Tense. Each to their own I suppose, but best or worst bass player lists are always going to divide opinion.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' timestamp='1339505574' post='1689415'] Just measured the nut on my '90 MIJ '62 RI with a ruler - it seems to be a gnat's todger over 44mm - which I think equates to about 1.75". No idea of the radius, but front to back it seems shallower then my other basses & has narrow vintage fretwire. [/quote] Thanks for that! I musn't have done my homework properly on this one. It's funny how 2mm can mean so much!! I'm now looking at either the MIJ or Musikraft. The Musikraft necks seem to have a huge amount of options, such as period-correct dimensions, clay dots etc, which as already said will really help it be accurate. Decisions, decisions..... Oh yeah, 'gnatt's todger'..classic

Thanks all for the helpful advice. That's what I love about BC...I came on with two options in mind, and now I'm looking at completely different options!

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1339493442' post='1689121'] Hi Paddy, ain't you got that finished yet? To me it wouldn't be a '62 with anything less than a 1 & 3/4 neck. All the Jap ones I've seen have been 1.5" but I don't know about the 90's ones. Stick out for a proper AV job IMO, they are so good ATB, John Edit: As Mr Fingers has pointed out, it's the 7.25" radius & the Vintage Frets which all combine to give it the right feel, size & shape. The Musikraft neck looks pretty close from the pics I've seen. [/quote] Hi John. A couple of minor hiccups (mostly lack of time on my part), but all is back on track! The bass really sounds great and nails the sound I had in my head. I've a MIM jazz neck on the bass in the meantime, but not liking it at all! I know you're right about getting the 1.75 neck, and I know I'd regret not doing it, so I'll shop around a bit more. The japs I've been looking at seem to be 1.625 (the standard p bass size I think). My 57 has a 1.75 neck and I really love the feel of it. As above, the jazz neck, while nice and fast, just isn't doing it for me. Real men need a 1.75!!!

[quote name='MrFingers' timestamp='1339493381' post='1689119'] The allparts neck is 42mm at the nut with a 9.5" radius (medium frets), and has a thicker C-shape. The "real" 62RI neck (vintage, CIJ and AVRI) is 44.5mm at the nut with a 7.25" radius (narrow vintage frets), and has a bit more shallow C-shape (I guess they are 0.10" apart in depth), so it's not just the nutwidth that's different... I have a neck from musikraft, they make the 1.75" nutwidth necks, with correct radius and stuff, and for a more than decent price (cheaper than warmoth), and it is truly vintage correct... You can read more on it [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176706-64ri-precision-bass-build/"]here[/url]. [/quote] Yeah I know I was being a bit simplistic about the neck dimensions, but I am a bit simple when it comes to these kinds of things . Thanks for the musikraft tip-off. I must check them out. Your thread is great by the way. My "project" is purely just assembly though. I can use a screwdriver and that's about it All parts were bought and the wiring was expertly done by John aka KiOgan.

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1339493061' post='1689108'] I've got a jap maple fret board neck on one of project basses and it is totally superb equally as good as my two USA P basses. I also have an Allparts neck, that I have just attached to my latest project, this one is rosewood f/b. Nothing wrong with it at all, frets all level, truss rod works, I did have to do a spot of filing to the nut but that's not exactly an issue. It is good but not the same quality as the jap one, although I can't tell you exactly why not . [/quote] I know what you mean..it's that little difference you can't quite put your finger on! Thanks for the feedback.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' timestamp='1339492995' post='1689105'] Are you certain the '91 isn't 1.75" wide? My 1990 MIJ '62 RI has a 1.75" nut - did Fender change it that year? [/quote] All the Jap necks I've seen were 42mm at the nut, but I must look into that. Thanks

Hi all, I've been working on an 62 p bass assembly project for a while now and am looking for some advice on the neck. My options are: 1) A used Jap 62 RI neck from an ebay shop. It's from 1991 and looks to be in pretty good shape. 2) An allparts vintage neck. It seems to be identical spec to the above, but at half the price. Although licensed by Fender, this would be the only non-Fender part of the whole assembly. Although I hope to keep the bass forever, my past form tells me that I won't, so quality is important. I realise both necks do not have the 1.75 inch nut, but sourcing such a rosewood findgerboard neck with this size nut width looks to be way out of my budget. I haven't really skimped on prices for parts up until now, but with a weak Euro and the high customs charges in Ireland the assembly is fast becoming economically unviable. Does anybody have any experience of using either or both of these necks? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers, Paddy

For me it was Krist Novoselic's line on the Nirvana song Lounge Act. The reason I bought a bass and the first song I ever learnt (about 2 mins after acquiring said bass!) I've broadened my horizons a bit since, but I'll never forget the original inspiration and still love the bassline.

Following a post by me looking for help on assembling a wiring kit for a 62 precision build, John offered his services, but not before firstly offering his advice and guidance. Not being at all techincally proficient, I jumped at the chance of getting him to do this for me. John expertly put the kit together for me and posted it back to me in a sturdy package. John was a great communicator throughout the process and kept me involved at every step. Overall a joy to deal with and will definitely contact him for the next project. I could not recommend him highly enough!

Hi Mick. Welcome aboard! I'm a newbie too. I'm sure you'll finds lots of useful information on the site, I know have.

Over the years I've owned two fretless basses, a Fender MIM Jazz and a Warwick Corvette Standard. I tried rounds with the Jazz bass and they ate into the fingerboard almost immediately, it was rosewood. The Warwick, which had an ebony fingerboard, actually came strung with rounds when I bought it new. The Jazz lasted a year or two before I had to get rid of it, while after 8 years the Warwick, which I sold only a few weeks ago, had barely a mark on the fingerboard. I prefer fretless basses with rounds, and now fretted basses with flats Bottom line IMO, rounds will eat into a rosewood fingerboard pretty rapidly. If you want to keep using them treat the neck ala Jaco or be prepared to buy a new neck in the not too distant future!

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1334351328' post='1615178'] Get yourself a couple of cheapo pots, find a few scraps of wire and a couple of cheap capacitors (value unimportant). Lay the whole lot out on a scrap of plywood and have a couple of practice runs before starting on the important (and more expensive) stuff. There's a pretty comprehensive thread about soldering [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/110170-dull-solder-joint-why"]here[/url] - it rambles on a bit but there's some good tips amongst it for getting good joints onto the back of pots (the bit that always causes problems until you know the way to do it). It's a bit of a distance from Athlone, but I'm going to be in Portstewart for a couple of days next month if the soldering part of the project is causing you problems. [/quote] Definitely going to explore the DIY option....but for the next project! Thanks for the advice, much appreciated

[quote name='kennyrodg' timestamp='1334343154' post='1615006'] KiOgon helped with my P Bass wiring too. I have a 57ri and John very kindly sorted me out with a fully wired set up. In the end tho' I much preferred the sound with the original 1uf cap rather than the .47 but it was an easy job to change them over. I was very surprised by how much the .47 altered the tone of my Bass and I thought the 1uf sounded a lot more old school which I prefer. Horses for courses and all that. [/quote] Yeah I'm looking forward to the finished product...still waiting on parts to arrive

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1334325646' post='1614601'] on the soldering front a P bass wiring loon is the equivalent to flatpack furniture! Shocked at the shop saying it's a big job! it's two pots, one jack, one cap and the wires between them! [/quote] Embarrassingly enough that definitely seems to be the general consensus alright I'll get there yet, but on this occasion I'll take the help. I'll definitely follow-up on the suggestion of getting something cheap to learn the ropes on!

[quote name='Higgie' timestamp='1334326702' post='1614632'] My first Stingray was Trans Orange and it was gorgeous. I am therefore voting for Orange. [/quote] +1 on the trans orange!

KiOgon has kindly agreed to help me with this part of the project. You're dead right though, I'd love to know a bit more about the inner workings of my basses. While I do try to increase my knowledge as much as I can, I haven't been blessed with good DIY skills. Having said that, give me some flat pack furniture and I'm a legend Also, in the 2 weeks I've been on BC I've learned loads from some very helpful members. As I said when I joined..I wanted to be enlightened... and I feel I have been a bit already. Thanks all for the help with this, I know the best direction for me now.

Yeah I'll get the foam mute as well to replicate that sound. Will be using the Fender "62 original" pickups which should also help. My problem is, due to my lack of DIY skills, that once a cap goes in it's staying in, good, bad or indifferent!!

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1334312754' post='1614212'] I recently rewired a Classic 50's P bass and played around with caps, here are my findings: - .1uF : it rolls off lots of treble, think dub, pretty cool! - .047uF : the "standard" P-bass tone; - .022uF : rollf of just a little treble, keeps your bass with some nice mids; The choice its a matter of personal taste, i ended up going with the .1uF cap because i added a Deluxe Humbucker on the bridge position and loved the mix of that with the P rolled of (i wired the bass with the '62 Jazz diagram, with stacked vol/tone for each pickup). In the end of the day you'll have tho get some caps (orange drops are great) and try them to find the one that suits you best. [/quote] Thanks Ghost_Bass, very informative. With this bass I'm really looking for the Motown sound, i.e. the Jamerson sound. My guess is the .1uf is the one for this, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1334309136' post='1614097'] Wouldn't you think that local guitar shops would be offering a better level of service? what with the internet competion and so on. I do like the idea of supporting the local high street establishments but have to draw the line when they are staffed/owned by total knobs who dish out that kind of advice. Very short sighted to lie to your potential customers. Or did he think you might be a danger to yourself wielding a soldering iron [/quote] I know. When I saw the wiring diagrams on the net I felt like an idiot for even ringing him But really DIY isn't my thing, so I though it best to ask the "professionals". The shop in question contract all their electrical work to an "engineer", but the owner obviously didn't deem this guy fit to do the job for some reason. A guitartist friend had used him to get jobs done on his beloved Les Pauls before and said they do a reasonable job. The funny thing is I was due to leave my amp (TE Twin Valve Combo) into them for a service shortly. If they can't do the basics I'd be very hesitant to send in something like this that they've never seen before. Unfortunately in Ireland there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of options for this kind of work. I could well be wrong on this, but I've been a couple of weeks trying to find a luthier and someone to service an amp, and all roads point to the local guitar shop I've only two guitar shops in my area and neither seems to know their arse from their elbow!

Thanks, I appreciate the help! When I start moving on this I'll set up a thread in the bass builds section, so I don't completey feck the bass up

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1334304719' post='1613987'] I wouldn't want to deal with your 'local guitar shop' if he thinks that's a complicated job God help us! The .022uF cap is probably meant for a guitar circuit but you can use it & listen - if you don't like the tone change it for the .1uF or a .047. What pots have you got? They're more important Cheerz, John [/quote] Thanks John. Yeah I was very surprised that he thought it a big job, considering he said he could wire the pickups for me no problem! The pots are CTS 250k. Am I on the right track with these? ...it's amazing how little I know about electronics Paddy