LITTLEWING

I recently took my jazz knobs off for a good old polish up and wondered where, when refitting, would be best to reposition the white pointers to look the most aesthetically pleasing. I ended up pointing them all full on at the 'V' at the top of the chrome plate where it meets the pickguard.

Ah, now that is one of the things I don't have any software to do. Wish I could. All I can tell you is that in humbucker mode it's bigger, fatter and a smidge louder. Imagine both jazz pups up full on a standard jazz and someone goes up a notch on the bass and middle on your amp?

Just thought I'd share this - if you think (like me) a Jazz is a little tame compared to a thumpy Precision, provided you're reasonably handy with a soldering iron, do this mod. You REALLY want to do this mod. One mini toggle switch and a quiet calm half hour alone and you will have a powerhouse of a bass in humbucker mode. Jeez, I didn't know what to expect but this I'm ashamed to say gave me an actual semi. There are loads of simple wiring diagrams on the wonderweb. If I can do it, anyone can. One way it's normal standard volume/volume/tone, the other is one volume, one redundant knob and then tone along with an incredible kickass earthquake. A 6mm drill will see the switch nicely between the socket and tone knob. The only fiddly bit was realigning the three pots so everything went back into the pit. Unless you want to swap the pots for mini pots while you're at it.

Those pickups have a VERY strong magnetic pull. Anything less than 3/32" from pole to underside of string and it's already tugging it down.

Isn't that a piece of foam you put under the strings near the bridge?......

I'm definitely going to try these bad boys out. I used to have Legacys (actually somehow Rotosounds) but jumping up from £9.99 to £13.99 when even real Roto's are only £12.89 (what??) they can go whistle now. I just wish Elixir Nano's weren't so ridiculously expensive for a bit of plastic coating.

Some great ideas there so far, well done!! The main reason I put this out there is that my E string is always the first to dull down and I'd really love to keep it reasonably fresh for longer and not contemplate buying single strings.

I can definitely say from experience that boiling strings for about 15 minutes brings a good bit of life back into them, but has anyone found a sure solution, home made or otherwise that just sprays or wipes on and gets all the crud out and makes them sound reasonably clear again for a while? I've tried just about everything out there on the market over the years and all they do without fail is kill the string dead rather than actually breathing a little bit of life back into them. The only thing I haven't tried yet is suspending one fairly taut on some sort of frame and using a pressure washer on them on the hottest setting. Hmmmmm........

That's a BBOT on an Aria 'Legend' Jazz I picked up cheap for a project and even found five flat shouldered screws instead of the proper bevelled type. A spare Squier item plus said proper screws and brass saddles changed things dramatically!

There's definitely a whole lot of difference between a cheap and nasty Chinese tin cheapy and a half decent Squier type jobby, but there's 100% massive jump in clarity and sweet tone with brass saddles for instance on a Wilkinson. I don't think there's such a leap in a £150 fancy looking chrome lump to be honest. Personally I think a lot of it is in the mind. So many people on here have swapped out for a hyped up engineer's dream and to their dismay have found no discernible difference in things except for a whole lot of beer vouchers gone west.

I keep seeing posts about people having one string dead in a new packet and wondered, I've personally (maybe just lucky) never had a duff string in my life. But then, I always tune to pitch, do the pull up/stretch, retune and then push each string down hard immediately after the saddle to put effectively a tight bend on the string which gives it life and dynamics which just does not happen if you simply leave it laying on the saddle and tune up. If you want to hear for yourself, go grab your bass now and do the press thing. I guarantee the whole set will sound amazing again and actually ring like they were made to. Might want to check the action after as they've gone down a smidge.

I've definitely moved up a step since I started a side band with our keys player. A new (bloody incredible) drummer, guitarist and female vocals have brought to the table a whole new plethora of songs and somehow I've found myself playing tighter grooves and relaxing more but at the same time actually amazing myself when it all sounds like some house bands on the telly box.

Cheers, G. First time's always full of nerves.

Going to put my first ever water slide decal on a headstock. I've sanded the old name off down to bare wood and stained it back to near original colour. Once the decal is on and dry, what's best to use to seal it? Brush varnish, spray lacquer, water based stuff?

Nice looker. My problem is that although they're excellent in their own right, I just can't get used to the 'nearly but not quite' thin bodies. If they came usual Fender thickness, I'd have half a dozen.

And.....is it Hart-kee?

Love it on sales sites where there are 'symbels', bass speaker 150 watts (actually a whole combo), 38 watt practice amp (read it on the back as power consumption, actually a 15 watt job), and the odd food mixer....

I had a second hand Rumble 100 (one with the inexplicable red light in the bottom vent) for less than two hours. Moved it on again rapidly. God awful sounding piece of horse poo which couldn't keep up at a small pub gig.

The older Hartke B20. Chucked two Maplin bass ports in the two holes and she's plenty for praccy with leccy drums, two keys, guitard and harmony vocals.

I put a Wilkinson jobby in my OLP and for around £20 the vast improvement over the original is incredible. Put some Wilkinson P's in my Precision too. Love 'em for the money.

If that doesn't do the biz, then it may well be simply a dirty pot or two. Dead easy fix, unplug from the mains and undo every screw you can see until the head comes loose from the box. It will come out either forwards or backwards, be aware. Pull it out just far enough to access the back of the pots on the panel and spray a good contact cleaner via the straw into each slot on each pot casing while you turn the knob left and right. As for making a cab more bassy, I've had excellent accidental success more than once with a port tube from eBay. I'm the first to admit it is more than a science to get the formula right for speaker size, internal cab volume, port length, size etc but I've transformed a Fender Rumble 15 1 X 8" with a 4" rear port, a Stagg 40w 2 X 10" with two 3" rear ports and a Hartke B20 1 X 8" with two 2" front ports into incredible huge sounding little beggars for about five quid and half hour with an electric jigsaw. Basically, anywhere in the rear panel is good but I found either dead centre or one (or two) of the corners works a treat. I only put two in the Hartke cos there were already two 2" holes there. In a bigger cab, why not have a go with four 3" one in each corner?

😂

With a bit of luck it'll be a send or return socket, even the headphone socket. Where they sit never used, the contacts stay shut and get corroded. Get any cable plug, spray it with contact cleaner or even a very little wipe with WD40 on a cloth and insert into every socket there is on the front and back (preferably either switched off or with the volume down) a few times. Could be the vibrations are affecting one or more.

I stand corrected. 👍🏻

This is exactly why I don't ever want an active bass. Picture the scenario of finding a great tone, battery dies, grab your spare and suddenly have a crap sound and everything goes tits up and ruins the evening. No thanks, volume and tone and a decent amp are my bag.