kodiakblair

@Baloney Balderdash I don't look at graphs, I judge pickups using my ears. The SCPB-3 is not a pickup I'd recommend.

I never got a tone I liked from mine, happily the next owner reported no issues on that front 🙂

Vested interests. Nordstrand's bread & butter is pickups and preamps while the other lot use mystical 'TW' to partly justify price tags.

Lovely.

Nobody shouts his details from the rooftops on FB either. Makes sense as no doubt some deluded little Ric zealot would attempt to gain brownie points from High Command. HW takes on commission work from a select group.

Paisley Tele basses are gorgeous things though I'd go further, all Tele type basses are gorgeous things 😀 You can get those PGs on eBay. I handed the scratchplate from my MIJ Paisley to Brian Pillans in Glasgow, so he could make up a temple and add another option to his range. I'm not seeing them listed ATM but he definitely makes them, I gave his details to Blue Flower owner in the US; 10 days later the boy had photos on Talk Bass. Link to Brian's shop. https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/earlpilanz#tab1

Aye, tools have to earn their keep. One of the young lads asked for my advice regarding a tool costing £1800. It's a great bit of kit from a top notch company, does it's intended task brilliantly. I showed him another method, yielded faster stronger results, using a £100 gizmo he already owned.

@BigRedX We're no longer in the late 70's and Dave is asking what is available in the here and now 😉 I'm a carpenter , I definitely think about 'luthier' tools differently. Folk view the Stew Mac range of toys and say "brilliant, I must get one of those"; I see mostly expensive toys designed to do one task and say "F*** right off" 😁 Every tradesman's shop will have tools adapted for other tasks, it's second nature. We're not the target audience for Stew Mac or others of that ilk 👍

There's a UK eBay seller does them for £22 inc deliver. Or you could use one of these, paint tin lever about £3.

There's some pretty nice stuff available but 99% of it is just for convenience, folk have been building guitars long before Stewmac 🙂 Hosco Groobar nut gauge, right handy at £25. £4 set of feeler gauges does the same thing 😁 90/35 fret end beveling file, £20 . You can knock one up from a bit 3x2 and a flat file ; 2 or 3 passes through the table saw. DIY leveling beam is well documented. Diamond needle files take care of dressing fret ends, they can also do the nut slots. Many jeweller's tools can be safely used, added bonus no mention of guitar or luthier so priced affordable 😉 https://www.eternaltools.com/jewellery-tools?page=1

I'd stick with my trusty pine slab body P-bass.

Can't see anything Ibanez I fancy so that just leaves Fender. The 51 Paisley slab body would do but it's custom shop and some moron thought covering up the wallpaper with ashtrays and a scratchplate was a good idea 🙁 Guess I'm going for the AV II 54 in vintage blonde.

Why mess with a winning formula 🙂

3 in. Epiphone Embassy. Harley Benton left handed PB-50. Harley Benton JB-75. 3 out. Peavey Sarzo. Peavey Dynabass Unity series Koa. Peavey Patriot.

Fine example of how everyone is different 🙂 The SCPB-2 & 3 were not for me though I found the SCPB-1 to be a nice pickup ; bit lacking in output but definitely nice.

Aye, those are ceramic blocks ; nowhere near the strength of neodymium. I'd leave them be and hunt the house for other magnets 😃 Common sources are kitchen cabinets, wall unit doors. Been on a bit of Neo binge recently. A Dirnt type build got an Entwistle split-P, it'll stay for awhile then I'll go opposite direction with alnico 2. One of the PB-50s was poorly mistreated, had tapes + a Herrick neodymium for years; lovely to my ears. Duncan SCPB-2 (hot vintage) went in then promptly out again 🤣 Duncan has been replaced by the new Herrick 4 coil with alnico/neodymium slugs. Still to try an overwound alnico 2. Can barely see daylight this deep in the 51 pickup rabbit hole 😁 BTW I checked the Roswell/Retrovibe 51 sizes. Big 👍if doing that swap.

Whine somewhere about 9810 Hz. Been going on for 7+ years. Wear earplugs folks, tinnitus is 👎

Paul, nothing fancy or hi-tech. Builders use 2 methods to juice up pickups, more wire or stronger magnets. More wire alters tone, the Duncan QP has that happy smiling face as it waves your mids goodbye 🙂 Neodymium are super strong magnets, normal alnico pickups get charged just by passing between a neodymium field. You've saw the Entwistle Neodymiums, well you can do the same with bars from Amazon for £6. I fell quite deep into the 51 single coil rabbit hole. A few things I've took for the experience. Big slugs like the Roswell and Duncan QP give a different initial attack. Stacked/split humbuckers in single coil foot print don't sound like single coils, way too polite. Replacing one for another in the same position will not give you earth shattering changes. Big bucks often = big deal 😒, one of the surprises was an £8 alnico from a Chinese eBay seller 🙂 Your money goes further buying from the UK folk than US brands. Can't promise , FFS don't quote me 😃, but I've an inkling Dave at Bloodstone would do a custom 9.5k overwound single for £50. Retrovibe 51. Another good choice. I was exchanging pleasantries with Mr Konig this very morning 🙂 There's something in the back of my mind regarding the size of them, a wee niggling thought that they're slightly smaller. An email to David would clear that up.

Stick a neodymium bar magnet to the underside of the Roswell , that'll liven things up no end 😃

Have you had a dispatch note or email yet ?

Heart tells me I'd go to £600. Head tells me I'm a lying barstool who wouldn't part with £300 , Head of course is correct 😄 Had a hankering for a Mosrite/Univox quite awhile now, almost bought the Aria version last week, £329. Before hitting the buy button, Head steps in with "Hold on son. You've a cove bit for the German Carve, plenty of timber stacked/stickered under the stairs. Spares drawers are groaning under the weight of tuning pegs/pickups/bridges." Before I knew what hit me the templates were drawn up ready for cutting 🙂

Naw. Had an email from a SBMM manager saying it was preamp related, pretty cool; fella saw my request for advice on Talkbass 😃 London shop it came from were total d**ks. First they said they'd sent a replacement bass, then changed their tune when I thanked them for sending an exact replacement ; even the ID note I'd hidden under the PG came with the the replacement 😄 That had them singing "we just replaced the preamp", b0ll0cks they'd done heehaw bar resend the same bass. Was an Xmas raffle prize so they weren't prepared to ship a 3rd time, told me to pick something else up to B-stock value.

Biggest problem I have with selling is energy. Couple of issues came to light recently where me selling the basses now will save family a whole bunch of hassle later. Trouble is, just the thought of taking photos, weighing the bloody things, answering messages, set ups and packing them is knackering 😃

Disassemble the tuning peg, any stripped material caught between the worm and gear will lead to further damaged. Take them apart, give everything a wee clean and grease the worm gear. Reassemble, making sure the wheel is round the right way and the cogs seat into the worm spiral. Regards your unbalanced E/A strings, had the same issue with a SBMM Sub. Offsetting the pickup height might help.

You can set it for either. Warman comes wired in series, if you want Vol/Vol/Tone just separate the red/white wires. Black would ground on one vol pot with white as hot, Red ground/Green hot for the other pot 👍