d-basser

Today's progress. Jack socket drilled out Decided to try out a full contact socket, looks like a nice design. Tuners removed and screw holes filled with bamboo cocktail sticks. Tricky to hide with the roasted neck, used a little acrylic wash to tone them down but may stain them in future. Ready to fit the Ultralites. Cavities copper taped. Now working on cutting a new scratchplate. Taking time as I'm doing it by hand. Used a coping saw and file to get it to shape, now to bevel it with a Stanley blade.

Yeah, I work with piezos on a daily basis so we'll accustomed with Curie temps. Was more concerned with the super glue, it would have burned off 100-120C, that was why I went with a well controlled hot plate.

Was too quick in there with the power tools and didn't get a starting weight. Will weigh it when it's reassembled later in the week. I'd say qualitatively it was a little on the heavy side but not hugely, more that it was head heavy and slightly unbalanced rather than being particularly heavy overall. Should have Hipshot parts arriving tomorrow so hopefully have it all assembled by end of Friday

Don't think I'll get all the way there, and if I want a really light bass I'll grab my D Roc. My hope is that increasing the route in the body and opting for Ultralite tuners will do a little weight relief. Any thoughts on what I could do beyond that? Not sure I could achieve more without somehow chambering the body

Not to influence either of you either way, but I can easier cut spare TBird pup router templates for the price of postage.

Cheers. Yeah, once I get fixated on an idea it kinda has to get done. I am lucky I've accrued a fair number of tools tinkering with things over the years, combined with working for a tech company, hence the access to lasers and hot plates

Side note on the Gemini pickups. When the arrived the bridge pup had a squint base plate. I gave it a little nudge and the whole bobbin wobbled in the casing. Whilst the base plate was firmly glued to the assembly (squint) the bobbin assembly wasn't fully secured. Decided not to try to fix the base plate as it's apparently super glued in place. Felt like I was likely to make it worse rather than better. To re-bond the bobbin assembly I warmed the whole thing on a hotplate to ~80C to soften the potting wax. I was then able to centre the bobbins and let it set firm. Obviously a little frustrating to have issues with a something fresh out the box but Mike from Gemini was super quick to reply to messages and help.

These are the reference basses I want to emulate And this is my budget 4 string precursor, though it is now graced with a John East pre.

More of a mod / assembly job than a true build but thought it may be of interest. This project started with a few questions: - What do you do when you like the look of Mike Lull's PT/JT basses, with TBird pickups on a Fender-esque body, but you can't justify the cost? - How do you make use of your new discovery that Gemini pickups do 5 string chrome thunderbird pickups? - How soon after receiving a new bass is it reasonable to take power tools to it? - Is it more than 2hrs? Seriously though, I have always loved the look of chrome thunderbird pickups on a Fender style bass. A good few years back I put together a 4 string Jazz style from an unknown roadworn body, a Squier neck, and some cheapish chrome pickups from eBay. Unfortunately I'm mostly gigging 5 string so it hasn't got much use lately. When I saw Gemini's pickup range, cog's started turning and I started looking at options for basses to mod. First issue what that 4 string and 5 string TBird pickups use the same sized housing, this ruled out using a jazz bass body, as the preexisting pickup cavities would be too wide to cover with the new pickups. Instead I started looking at 5 string P basses. Covering the pick up could be handled with a new scratch plate. I had to find something without a bridge pick up though to avoid the jazz bass issue. I opted for a Sire P5r, and after reading reviews I reckoned it was worth a pop even at full price. Had a bit of a mare getting it via DHL so pickups (Gemini Devastators) had already arrived. I was therefore keen to go. Quick play of the bass stock confirmed it was a nice player and good starting platform. ~2hrs after getting it out the cardboard, power tools met wood. First decided to open out the existed pickup cavity to a regular shape, rather than cutting the TBird shape through the Precision one and leaving a weird hybrid. Also routed it all down to ~3/4" as the original route was very shallow. Then measured out the bridge pup, basing positioning on a) reference Lull basses, B) TBird pickup position and c) what would actually fit. Went down the route of starting out with a forstner bit then routing to shape with a template I laser cut. This left a pretty decent finish if I do say so myself. Drilled through to the control cavity and that was about me for the night. Tomorrow I'll drill out a side jack. Hand cut a new scratchplate and start on shielding and wiring. Whilst the bass played well stock I am contemplating new hardware. Whilst it would be pricey I'm thinking of going whole hog with Hipshot ultralite tuners and a style A bridge.

Glad we could help

I would agree that losing either a vol or tone would limit the PJ bass config. Personally I prefer to run mine with the P pup full, J rolled back to around 8 or 9 / 10 and the tone tweaked to taste/song. Think I would struggle without all 3 controls.

Best bet if you don't want to drill an extra side hole would probably be to use a stacked knob. I would suggest stacking the two volume pots onto one, then having a single tone as normal. If you wanted you could stack both like the old jazz basses, with vol and tone per pup. Othewise, could you drill an extra hole in a 3 hole plate? Or is the spacing too far off?

Such a good album. Still haven't got to Arctangent, really should since it seems to be Post Metal Mecca. I'll also chuck a cheeky wee link to my band. Heavy Cult of Luna, Isis, Russian Circles influences. https://voidoflight.bandcamp.com/

Would thoroughly recommended Russian Circles to anyone who hasn't come across them before. Saw them twice last week and Brian's bass tones are always brutal

I won't fight you for it 😂 Got a couple of SLA printers at work so could do a nice resin print to look like the original. They look easy enough to model but if not, also have a 3D scanner

I could sort you a 3D print, but would be easiest if you sent one of the other sliders to copy

If for any reason Bassybert can't oblige I can easily sort technical drawings. Just incase you need a backup

Not my normal setup but the I know the bassist in one of the other bands on the bill and he offered to share his cab for the show. Sounded amazing!

210 costs more than a Barefaced! ah well better keep saving for a Barefaced

Love Timmy's set up, have to resist buying more SVT 2 Pros

My BF Compact (and accompanying compact clone) is paired with an old ampeg ~3x as heavy! 😂