Norris

I am happy with what I've got. However GAS is rising for doing my own scratch build...

The BB circuit has arrived from Prostheta. Just waiting for the pickup now

I gigged mine for the first time last night since fitting Prosteels. It sounded immense through the Rumble 500 combo. The old strings were really old and knackered. I usually use EB Slinkys, but the Prosteels had Ric clank in buckets when I wanted it. I think I'm a convert. Let us know how you get on when you gig it. (And there - is your thread firmly dragged back on topic? )

That looks gorgeous ezbass. Hope it sounds as good as it looks

EQ chain is: Bright > Vintage > O/D > Contour > EQ

I had a few minutes so... Bass: +/- 15dB @ 80Hz Low mid: +/- 12dB @ 280Hz High mid: +/- 12dB @ 1.2kHz Treble: +/- 15dB @ 10kHz Bright: +13dB @ 10kHz Contour: +1dB @ 80Hz, -13dB @ 670Hz, +2dB @ 8kHz Vintage: dynamic compression (-9dB max) with low pass (-6dB/oct) @ 400Hz

I'll have a look at my manual tomorrow and let you know. I've got to dash out straight after work in my "weekend warrior" guise

The volume was at about 9 o'clock (about 3/10) too

That's ok - it keeps bobbing near the top of the list

You can contact him through his website. He responded to me within 24 hours

And I'll admit my ignorance, as any knowledge I have has been gained in the last couple of weeks since discovering that the pickup had died. And I owe a lot of that to Prostheta - thanks!

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1431615543' post='2773263'] No, which pickup. [/quote] The MB-1 from Rautia Guitars Edit: If you mean neck or bridge, the mk1 SB-1000 is single pickup. Later ones had two.

I didn't get the footswitch. Again the overdrive is very usable especially in a band situation. Overall I'm very impressed with the sounds available, especially for the price. Real valves would probably sound better to you, but I very much doubt it any of the audience would notice the difference.

The Rumble 500 is big enough for my needs without an extension cab. It is loud. The tone controls produce very usable sounds. The vintage switch makes a big difference and sounds very convincing (to my ears anyway) Edit: I've not tried it with a faker but the real thing sounds sweet

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1431589062' post='2772778'] Which one did you go for? [/quote] A straight replacement of the original MB-1 (3-wire) Edit: Or did you mean Prostheta's "BB" noisekiller circuit? - in which case the one with modern components.

I would have loved to have done that kind of thing in my youth but nowadays I'm knackered the next day after a night down the Dog & Duck. Plus I like my home comforts too much, like decent toilets and showers

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1431548513' post='2772570'] Solely out of curiosity where did you get the replacement pickup from? [/quote] Rautia Guitars (as recommended by Prostheta). I did look at Armstrong but wasn't convinced that they were the most accurate reproductions available.

I wonder what the next thing to be thrown over your fence will be...

A new pickup is on order but will take a few weeks to arrive. I'll also replace the preamp with one of Prostheta's reproduction boxes. There's not much I can do to it in the meantime

I used gaffer tape, tearing lengths into thin strips about 1cm wide, then wrapping enough around the end of the spike inside the cavity until the gaffer tape fitted snugly when the spike was extended. That took a lot of the rattles & squeaks out.

I tried a set of rotos once 30 years ago. They lasted for 2 weeks before they went dead. EBs ever since.

It's got a new set of Ernie Balls on at the moment - which is all I've ever used on it. However I'm trying out some D'Addario Prosteels on my Ric...

Now the issue is, that having re-assembled the bass the electrics need sorting. The output was very quiet... too quiet. So I don't want to post any photos that make it look finished until it is. But to bring you nearly up to date, I got a meter on the pickup and couldn't get a reading. Both coils seem to be open circuit. I fetched it out of the bass to measure again - still no good. Having read a fair bit of the internet, it seems it is not uncommon on these old basses. Anyway that's for a future post

[b]Where There's Muck There's Brass[/b] The hardware that came off the bass was pretty grimy. Andy took his dremmel to the brass bridge, nut and back covers. The chrome tuners were beyond saving. I never really felt that the brass/chrome combination worked, and much as they are derided by many, it was time to [i]bring on the bling[/i] with some new [color=#ff8c00][b]gold-plated[/b][/color] Grover tuners (144G). But you don't get to see them just yet (mwahh-ha-ha) Starting to look a little better - and that last photo even has the original overlay for the controls

[b]Respray Time[/b] Unfortunately I haven't any photos of the glue repairs that Andy had to do. As I mentioned there were a few cracks to deal with. Anyway having spent ages with paint stripper, scrapers and lots of sanding it was time to respray. The lacquer that was stripped off was honey in colour. I'm not sure if it started out that way or was originally clear in the days before the smoking ban! But having seen the gorgeously blonde wood while 'naked' I decided on a clear gloss to try to keep it as light as possible. Some of the photos here make it look a little dark, but it has actually kept a lot of the lightness. Anyone for a bit of Nitrocellulose? (That's Andy ) Who's a shiny bass then?