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Obrienp

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Everything posted by Obrienp

  1. Obrienp
    So, I have had my Acononyx for a bit over a week now and have been able to give it a reasonable try out, although not with either of the bands I play in. It really has got a good range of useful tones available from those buttons. That bridge pickup is really usable on its own too. At the moment I think I am going to keep the round wounds on it. I feel it would be too dark with tapes or flats and I like that bit of growl they are giving. All in all, I am very pleased with it so far.
  2. Obrienp
    Yes, the volume drop thing with a P/J set up wired in parallel seems unavoidable. I have no idea of the physics behind it. Every P/J I have had (5) suffered from that whatever pickups I put in them. The only way that I am aware of to avoid that is to wire them in series, in which case you get a few DB volume boost and a sound a bit like a Music Man pickup (I guess it turns them into a big humbucker). I like it but I wouldn’t use it all the time, so I tend to put a push/pull on the volume to switch between parallel and series mode. I have done this in combination with a blend, instead of a second volume: pretty complicated to wire up and as you don’t solder, you would need to get somebody else to do it for you. Somebody is bound to come up with another solution: watch this space. I guess active pickups might not suffer from the volume drop? You can deal with the Jazz pickup hum by shielding the cavities with copper tape. Link the cavities with ground wires and make sure it all goes to ground via the earth terminal on the jack socket. Also make sure the copper tape makes contact with the metal control mounting plate (if it is not metal, put shielding tape on the inside surface). It is not as complicated as I made it sound.
  3. Obrienp
    Thanks for this tip. I have done exactly the same with mine. If only the tuner was a bit quicker and a few cents more accurate.
  4. Obrienp
    NBD. Well finally, here it is, still with the protective plastic. It’s in Lake Placid Blue that turns out to be a bit lighter than I was expecting but still looks good IMO. It got the thumbs up from the other half, so it must be good. After a very quick plug in, I am pleased to report that it seems pretty quiet for dual single coils. Lots of useful tones, although I can’t imagine wanting to use the deep treble cut that often but I’ve only tried it through my practice rig: Warwick Gnome and a Barefaced One10, so it might be more useful at gig volumes. I was surprised to find it pretty much in tune: did it come all the way from the USA without going out of tune? The only QA issue I have spotted is that the jack socket retaining nut was loose.
  5. Obrienp
    How about tone wise? Is the Cat better with flats? Difficult to answer I guess because tone is subjective. UPS are meant to be delivering some time today🤞 But I have to be out for a fair chunk, unfortunately. Sod’s law!
  6. Obrienp
    How are you getting on with the LTFs on the Cat? Fingers crossed I will be getting mine in the next few days; Bass Gallery got it yesterday and I paid the balance, so I am hoping they will send it before the Bank Holiday. I’ll give it a run with the standard round wounds but I suspect I might be wanting to go down the flats route in the not too distant future.
  7. Obrienp
    It shouldn’t be the Babicz bridge, any bridge really, if the string height is set correctly. The Babicz bridge is pretty top stuff. I have one on a shorty and it really is excellent. I would be looking for something else like too much tension in the truss rod making the fretboard convex. There needs to be a little relief in the neck. If that is OK, is the nut cut too low? Are there any high frets? Is the rattle all over the neck on every string, or is it just in certain places, or strings? If it really is bugging you, I would be inclined to get a proper luthier/guitar tech set it up. In my experience it really is worth the cash when you can’t sort it yourself.
  8. Obrienp
    Nice bass. GLWTS!
  9. Obrienp
    Funny the blurb on Project Music website says they give it a setup in their in-house workshop. Obviously forgot on yours, or is it just cursory? This has cured my GAS anyway! Project Music website says they still have a Daphne Blue one in stock, so it might be worth sending yours back now to bag the other one.
  10. Obrienp
    That’s very disappointing because it’s not exactly the cheapest in that general price sector! I am glad I saw your post, as I was having serious GAS for the remaining Daphne Blue one at Project Music. That has cured it, so thanks! I wonder if the general quality of these SS Rays has gone down since they were released. All of the reviews I have seen online, which are all from a couple of years ago, say how well it was made. At that point it was retailing for a couple of hundred quid less I believe. I think I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a secondhand example. It might have had some of the issues ironed out and if it hasn’t, a bit of remedial work on a £400-450 bass is acceptable but not when it’s near £700.
  11. Obrienp
    Thanks. Some more good ideas to follow up on people!
  12. Obrienp
    Thanks for that. I’ll give them a go.👍
  13. Obrienp
    I was just going to place an order until I found out the shipping cost: £12. About 5 times the cost of the pot.
  14. Obrienp
    I wasn’t that impressed with the side markers on my EHB1000S at first but I got used to them and it didn’t cause me problems gigging it. Admittedly I tend to play pub gigs rather than dark stages. I never really tested the effectiveness of the luminous markers. I thought the locking jack socket was great. It was a little tricky to operate when I first got it but after a few weeks I was releasing the cable one handed without even looking at it. Perhaps it eased a bit with use, or I just got used to it. I think it is a great little bass that you can play for hours. It balances well on a strap, is ergonomically contoured and light weight. I only sold mine because I had a long term order for a Nordstrand Acinonyx about to come to fruition (as it happens it still hasn’t arrived) and I am having to operate a one-in, one-out policy.
  15. Obrienp
    Thanks. That looks promising.
  16. Obrienp
    Thanks Mate! That sounds really interesting. Yes, I was wondering about having to enlarge the hole if I sleeved the threaded collar. I really don’t want to have to do that. I have put the project to one side for the while as it is my main gigging bass and I have a few coming up. Once the Acinonyx, that I ordered months ago, finally arrives, I will have an alternative solid bass to use and I will be able to crack on with it. I was kind of resigned to having the control cavity routed out a bit more. It’s got to go back to the luthier anyway because it has some fret sprout. Apparently the woods available to luthiers these days are not what they used to be: not seasoned enough and consequently subject to shrinkage but he thought this was one of the better blanks. Anyway, if there is away of avoiding routing it would be great.
  17. Obrienp
    Wish I had browsed earlier! If per chance it falls through, and I hope it doesn’t, give me a ping. I’m in Fakenham so can do cash on collection.
  18. Obrienp
    Tone is very subjective isn’t it. All my short scale basses have heavier gauges than 40-90/95 and all sound fine to me, wherever I am fretting. My custom P/J has Labella standard tension flats 45-105. It sounds great all the way up the neck and incidentally that is the gauge it came supplied with from the luthier who made it. I have Labella Beatle Bass flats 50-100 on my violin bass and they are perfect for the bass IMO. My fretless acoustic has Labella black nylon flats 50-105 (or is it 110) and they really work on it all over the neck. That came with 45-105, so I assume Guild thought that was the ideal gauge for the instrument. I had 40-95 gauge round wounds on a Squier SS Jaguar and I thought they sounded really boingy. I changed them for 45-105 and it sounded much better IMO. On the other hand I kept the 40-95s on a Bronco, even after I had put a precision pickup in it. They just seemed to suit the bass. I don’t know if fundamentals and harmonics are better or worse with my choice of strings but they work for me, and the instruments concerned. My conclusion has to be that you can’t make a hard and fast rule about string gauges that will suit every instrument and every player.
  19. Obrienp
    Sure, no worries. PM me, if you need them. Thanks for your interest.
  20. Obrienp
    Hi, Yes, these are still available.
  21. Obrienp
    I had a black Jaguar and it was a great bass but as has already been said, it did neck dive badly. I did change the pickups for the D’Addario matched P/J set and it sounded great with those. Although, like every P/J set I have tried, the Jazz bridge sounded weak in comparison to the P and putting both on full volume was like flicking a pad switch. I put a push/pull pot in the neck volume position and wired it to give me both pickups in series when pulled. Now that had cojones! I also took the opportunity to shield the the cavities with copper tape; not really necessary with the D’Addarios as the Jazz has stacked coils to quieten it and Ps are humbucking by their nature. The shielding came in useful when I put the original pickups back in it to sell it. I remember it being a bit noisy out of the box. I also put a high mass bridge on it, which helped a bit with the neck dive and improved tone/sustain. Yours already has that, which is a big plus IMO. Good call to change from the standard 40-95s, they really didn’t do it justice IMO. They were super easy to play but they sounded boingy: a bit like playing with giant rubber bands. Anyway, enjoy it. I regret selling mine because they seem to have become sought after now they are out of production.
  22. Obrienp
    I’ll probably do it myself anyway. I think risk was minimal but I wanted a cheap approach rather than his more thorough but more costly method. No doubts about his ability. He is extremely proficient but also extremely busy. I guess the one follows the other in that trade but it does mean having to wait until he has a slot. I’m just being lazy regarding the shielding. It took a while to get it as quiet as it is now and I don’t want to mess that up.
  23. Obrienp
    The luthier that built it did offer to do this but at my risk. Also the whole thing is shielded to blazes, so it will mean destroying a lot of that in the process and redoing it. However, I think you are right: it is my only option if I want a blend pot. My bad for opting for through body controls. I just assumed there would be long threaded blend pots like there are for standard pots. They do seem to refer to these as long shaft in the catalogues but yes, it is really the depth of threaded portion that is important.
  24. Obrienp
    I have had these thoughts myself. The same with tone/sound of the bass (and the same applies to guitars). We like the look and feel of the “classic” instruments because that is what we have grown up with: the sound of blues, Jazz, rock and roll, etc. The trailblazers played what they could get hold of/was available at the time and that has become the “classic” accepted tone and by extension, the instruments (amps, etc) that produced it.
  25. Obrienp
    Thanks for the referral to higher authority.
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