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The name says it all.

Rickenbacker's own roundwounds have lighter gauges in the middle.

Nice. Macca used nylon tapewounds at one point.

SGD Lutherie makes custom sidewinder pickups. [url="http://www.sgd-lutherie.com/"]http://www.sgd-lutherie.com/[/url]

OK, I confess I didn't read all of the above posts. I only read the OP post. The slight level drop with both pickups full on is an inherent characteristic of all Jazz basses and similarly derived instruments. It's caused by the impedance drop of the pickups when both are full on, and a little bit of comb filtering from the pickups being so far apart. It's not the pots. It's not the wiring. It's not the pickups, per se. It's due to the combination of both pickups, and the electronic explanation would take a little bit of bandwidth. If it bugs you that badly, you can always play with either one or the other pickups rolled off to about 8, or solder in a .01 mfd capacitor to the hot lead of the bridge pickup between it and its volume pot. When I had a '75 Jazz bass in the early '80's, I routinely rolled off the bridge pickup to about 8. With my current custom P/J bass, I soldered in the capacitor, as it will do the same thing. Yes, a good setup and quality parts will minimize the effect, but it will still be there. It is what it is.

I do not use coated strings because to me, they sound like a blanket thrown over them, which, essentially, they are. Strings die as a result of fret wear, finger gunk getting into the windings, and occasionally a mishap at a gig or practice, or flaw in the core of the string. For longetivity, the best bet is to find a string that has tight windings and keep them clean. GHS Pressurewounds do a good job of this. They are a round wound string, but the windings are slightly compressed so that they are tighter. This takes the edge off the tone when new, but that is a small tradeoff for more generally consistent tone and greater longevity.

Just a clarification for a post above: D'Addario Chrome Flatwounds are made with flat ribbon outer wrap. They are not ground, as are the half-wounds. Even then, the diameter or gauge listed for half-wounds is the resulting gauge after being ground down. To me, reading first few posts, the calipers are off, because D'Addario has very tight quality control.

Marshalls - yes, old Marshalls can be used, because they have huge power and output transformers that can handle the amperage even when, or especially when, depending on your preference, they are over-driven. So long as a proper bass speaker cab is used and it is not being pushed to its limit, it is probably alright.

I've used my old bass head for a slave PA head. Yes, go in through the fx loop or the pre-out/post-in loop if it has one; otherwise pad the input and keep the tone controls of the bass amp neutral.

You can consult something like the D'Addario or CircleK string tension guides. Find out how much tension is listed for a given string at a given pitch, then go to the column where the same tension has the lower pitch, and cross reference that to the new string diameter. It doesn't have to be exact; close is good enough since most strings are made basically (pun intended) the same way.

Fender 9050CL Flats do just fine for me. Better, in fact, because the windings just clear the nut, and therefore only the leader wraps around the tuning posts, which keeps the E string from binding up on itself.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1372088706' post='2121406']From experience the 45 and 65 will be much higher tension than the rest, so I've ordered a normal 40 and 60 to replace them. They are normal scale, but as the D & G are both under 35 scale they should fit fine and equalise the tension across the board a bit.[/quote] Tension varies as the [i]square[/i] of the scale length, so the shorter G & D strings should have noticably less tension than the longer E & B strings. I'd try the 45 and 65 first, because I think they will match up just fine on the fanned fret scale. They do on my half-fanned P/J custom bass.

Actives and passives don't mix-and-match. There are good FAQ's on the EMG factory website that explain why. You need to decide whether you want actives or passives and match the pickup you want to keep with one of the same characteristics, or if you really don't like either, then go with a conventional set of either that you like with new wiring.

MIM J-basses do not use the same pickups as MIA J-basses. The length and screw spacing of the MIM pickups may be different. Make sure you measure your pickups and compare them to standard J-pickups.

Yes, I was biased against Ibanez for many years until I played my SRA305 in a music store. Quality and playability is wayyyyy up compared to a few years ago.

Ibanez SRA305. Wired V-V-T and then with the Ibanez "Phat II" version of the EMG EXB. The most versatile 5-string bass out there that is still intuitive to use on stage without having to hunt for a knob. Used should be right in the budget, if not even less expensive. It has all the proper design elements: longer upper horn for balance, 3-piece neck, light body, small tuners set up 2+3 so the B string doesn't bind, good pickups with the EMG HZ's, the "neck" pickup in the proper place (proportionally in the D-G position of a P-bass) in order to get the right balance of B string fundamental and overtones to speak properly, the right nut and bridge spacing: not too narrow, not too wide, etc. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued, but it is still the best 5-string out there value-for-money.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372082081' post='2121317'] The fault isn't with the tuners being 4 in-line it's to do with the headstock not being angled back. A cost-cutting construction measure devised by Fender and one which IMO is not longer relevant or appropriate nowadays. [/quote] That is the cure, not the origin of the problem. And it wasn't exactly cost-cutting, it was just the state of the art of the design for something that had not been invented before. Both Fender and Rickenbacker, which the origins of the 4000, like the P-bass, are also in the '50's, have the straight headstocks. It wasn't until Alembic took a new direction with exotic woods and active electronics that tilted back headstocks on basses, like those on Gibson and Martin guitars, started to come into their own.

I tend to fit the segment that has more wire on the D-G side and the coil with less wire on the E-A side to balance tonally. The E string needs more clarity due to its greater diameter and the pickup segment being closer to the neck. Having lesser wire on the coil helps with that. Conversely, the G string needs more body of tone because of its lesser diameter and the pickup segment being closer to the bridge, and having more wire on the coil can help with that, also.

This is an inherent weakness in Fender and all other 4-in-line tuner basses. The A string has to be cut longer to come down right to the bushing or the A string will thump. My speculation is that this is why over the years A strings have been of strange gauges compared to the other strings in the set (for example, the T-I jazz flat is so loose compared to the E, D & G), and that for awhile Precision pickups had the "high A" polepieces. A much better design is to reverse the headstock, so the G has the most break angle over the nut for sustain and moderate "twang," and that it won't bind like the E string does, then the D string, then the A and E strings under the retainer that can be adjusted for position and height to the optimum afterlength and break angle.

Relax. It was fun being around the music scene when Frankie first hit the charts, MTV, etc.

For guitar, I've had the best luck with D'Addario XL115W blues-jazz with wound 3rd as the most balanced set that still retains consistent tone from string to string. For bass, I've been custom ordering 45-60-80-105 in various makes and models of strings, since the early '90's until Fender (9050CL flats), D'Addario and Circle K came out with their "balanced" sets, as if it were something "new."

Fender 9050CL 45-60-80-105 have great medium light balanced tension. For anything lighter, most companies that make flats make a 45-95 or 100 set.

Yes, Chromes start bright, in a "ping" sort of way. But then they quickly thud out. For longetivity, and some good growl, Fender 9050CL 45-60-80-105 have been the flats that changed me from a rounds player.

Sheldon fretted my "half-fanned" neck. With my old elbow, wrist and thumb injuries, it does great. Very ergonomic for me. I have a thread on the bass. I just can't do the whole fan, either from the directional or from the extended scale perspective.

And back on topic, the lower offset bout of a Jazz bass makes the body larger, originally to do two things: 1) more comfort when sitting down to play and 2) offset neck dive from the weight of the old "elephant ear" tuners. But it also depends on the density of the body wood. All basses made by Fender using "northern" ash instead of "swamp" ash or alder will be more dense and heavy. A Jazz bass I used to own that was made out of swamp ash was actually lighter than some Precision basses I have played. It was a fine piece of ash, easy to pick up.