Hellzero

You can trust it, it's fully working, no worries.

Your MacGyver tricks are excellent!

Lovely! 😍

Put some real double bass strings first as the ones factory fitted are more or less sounding like a fretless hence the upper mids peak. Try the Thomastik Spirocore 3/4, they are really good and sound like double bass strings should.

By the way, the first run of OLP's was just decent, the second was awful.

It's an excellent bass, absolutely nothing wrong with it and even at the price paid across the pond, it's still a fair one according to the overall quality and tone. Mine is astonishing every body trying it.

Don't forget to ground them otherwise what you did is useless. 😉

I've been through this a few times and if you can't sleep because of it like I did too, then you took the right decision Dave, but don't rush selling all your gear as you may find something more relaxed and pleasant to play without all the hassle. 😉

Here are the weights I measured for the 2 different types. Hipshot HB3 (direct replacement, elephant ears): 87 grams Gotoh Res-O-Lite GB-640 (direct replacement, elephant ears): 67 grams Hipshot HB6Y (3/8 post, Gotoh GB-7 type): 52 grams Gotoh Res-O-Lite GB-350 (3/8 post, Gotoh GB-7 type): 40 grams (all included with screw and washer as they are also lighter than the original parts) Hope this helps.

The Gotoh Res-O-Lite are lighter, I've done the weighting many moons ago.

Sassafras is just between ash and alder tone wise, but way lighter, for those knowing that wood is important, for the others it's just another wood with a fancy name. It's a wood used by Fender in the very early days and, for example, Eric Johnson's favourite Stratocaster, Virginia, from 1954, has a body made out of this excellent wood. https://www.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/stratocaster/stories-collection-eric-johnson-1954-virginia-stratocaster/0117442803.html I had a Jazz Bass made by luthier with this wood for the body and it sounded amazingly good, but I had too many Jazz Basses back then.

Nice way to thank people helping you!

Here are the knobs coming from some Sadowsky MetroExpress basses, and as you can see there are 2 grub screws (on all of them), just like on any American or Japanese Sadowsky. So maybe worth checking instead of being taken for an ... idiot. 😉

@LemonCello, there's an original one in excellent condition, with all the goodies, the invoice and the original case at a super price, in the ads. It's even a very light one. Worth checking this:

Aren't there 2 grub screws on the Sadowsky knobs?

It's still there, go to Account first. 😉

Sounds like funky cold wave, I like it a lot too!

The anti-bleeding capacitors are certainly not 22nF, but more 22pF! Here's another wiring diagram, which seems more accurate:

This one definitely:

In 1978, it was a polyester finish, so a way cheaper car polish will be perfect and better suited. @peteb It's surely something from the Meguiar's range like this compound that works perfectly well with nitro cellulosic, polyester or polyurethane finish : https://www.meguiars.co.uk/product/ultimate-compound-450ml/ It's the one I use for all instruments in need of a real cleaning/shining or to simply make them look better.

My L-Bow V is now, since this morning, with Heiko for a complete check-up, some repairs as there have been some modifications made over the years, and the fitting of the new preamp version. According to him it's one of the very first ever made from 1998 or 99, he's checking his database to find it, but needs to find out some other clues than the obvious lack of truss rod; the fact that the paint is not original is not helping, but I'm confident.