Bobby K

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='971204' date='Sep 28 2010, 10:31 PM']Pretty sure a battery wouldn't fit easily under the plate. Besides, trying to undo 13 or so screws to replace it in a hurry ain't gonna be too practical, so I would always advise having a separate battery compartment added at the rear. The one Gotoh make available is the best for ease of access - no screws involved, simply 'fingernail' it open and the battery is replaced in a couple of seconds.[/quote] Cheers Doc and Warwick for the input, all food for thought.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='971154' date='Sep 28 2010, 09:05 PM']I've fitted loads of EMGs since they came out way back. I would say the vast majority of bass players really liked them. I can only recall one guy asking me to reverse the operation - he thought they were too 'hi-fi' for rock as he liked a bit of 'grit' in his sound and they seemed too pure. Strange thing is they are reckoned to 'drive' pedals so well it's a wonder he didn't go down the route of distortion being introduced that way. In the early days, anyone who had problems with background noise used to automatically choose these pickups because they were so quiet until they hit the strings so studio players loved them as well as pros doing theatre work where light faders interfered with their signal. They are actually detached from the earth path and therefore your strings so there is even a safety element involved. So, to some they may appear to be the Rolls Royce of pickups and to others, too clean for rock. I'm neutral. Still confused? Thought so, but I tried to help [/quote] No mate, that's excellent insight you've provided. Up until now, I was considering SD SPB-1's, after reading lots of good stuff about them, even pondering whether 1/4 pounders would be a pickup too far etc etc. I just came across the EMG's by accident today whilst browsing on GAK's website. So it got me pondering... One other thing to consider though, is whether the battery would fit in the existing cavity - any ideas?

Well, I've found that my bass (the Squier CV P bass, the FIESTA red one) is fantastic (especially for the money!!) in all respects other than the electronics, which seem a bit wimpy and characterless. Many other CV owners on here have echoed those sentiments. I use the CV mainly as a backup to my Fender Jap reissue P Bass (the one in my profile pic) and the difference in attack and tone is very noticeable. I play mainly in a tribute to The Smiths, so need lots of punch, poke and clarity from the P bass. Tone on full, light chorusing, almost exclusively played with a pick. You get the idea... I'm just considering various pups at the minute. It's that thing of looking for something suitable for the sound, whilst at the same time wanting to pimp up the bass a bit

Hello Bassists I was just wondering if anyone had ever tried these EMG's in their P Bass and what the results were: [url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/74033"]http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/74033[/url] Cheers Bob

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='965828' date='Sep 23 2010, 05:04 PM']If the orange drop is 0.047pF then I think I see where the issue is...but I'm guessing you mean microfarads? In any case try the old cap first as suggested[/quote] Yeah, sorry, the Orange drop is actually a 047mfd 100volt cap The old cap is a green one (has the digits 2G473 on it, so not sure of the values of it) and was wired in differently. I wired the orange drop in according to this diagram: [url="http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/basses/0136000B/SD0136000BPg2.pdf"]http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf...0136000BPg2.pdf[/url] But with the original green capacitor, one leg was attached to the left lug of the volume pot (where the pickup hot wire is attached) and the other leg attached to the centre lug of the tone pot. I was under the impression that P basses were all wired the same, but hey ho - maybe I should try putting the green one back in as it was, or even try the orange drop wired as the green one was..... My head is battered with it all

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='965438' date='Sep 23 2010, 11:40 AM']That's a very interesting link. Cheers. What the link is saying is that in an overly cautious shielding job (which the you have carried out on the advice of someone here) you add approximately 90 pF of capacitance. To compensate for this you need to put in a cap with a value 90 pF less than that of the one installed. Yes earth that wire.[/quote] Overly cautious to a degree maybe, but I didn't shield the pickups themselves, or even do a star grounding job, just bog standard shielding I think. I've read a little about whether shielding adds capacitance and there seems to be a debate as to whether this is true. Who knows. Certainly has changed my sound. The orange drop is 0.047 pF, so will maybe look into a lesser value version, maybe the 0.022 pF one. When you say [i]"yes earth that wire."[/i] I'm assuming you mean run a wire from the copper to a ground point such as the jack ground?

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='965301' date='Sep 23 2010, 09:40 AM']If you are experiencing an altered sound it may be that you have a wire or something (perhaps a pickup terminal) inadvertently shorting back to earth somewhere. Your capacitor is in charge of tone. Does everything capacitor related look ok?[/quote] Well, I was convinced that I'd knackered my tone pot with too much solder iron heat after first doing the job. This was after trying to unsolder the blob on top of it, having the iron on the pot for ages before realising it wasn't hot enough (but still heating up the pot!) The tone pot was having very little effect on the sound and it was pretty woolly. Turning the tone from 0 up to 10, there was little change in tone until about 8, when the sound would brighten a little, then die off again. So, thinking I knew best, I got some CTS solid shaft pots and an orange drop cap and put those in. By the way, the old cap, a green one, looked ok (even though it was wired different to the fender diagrams) - My old pots were 250 k by the way. Now the CTS pots and orange drop are in, things have improved a little; the tone now goes from wooly at 0 to a noticeable increase in tone at 10, but definitely not as bright as before (pre shielding job attempt) - Does it matter which way around the orange drop legs get soldered in? I did left leg (as you look at the writing on cap) to top of tone pot and right leg to middle pot lug. A little background info as to exactly what I did in the shielding job. All cavities copper lined and tested for continuity, Pickguard underside copper foiled too and in contact with copper lipping over edge of body cavities. tunnel between cavities also copper shielded using copper tube soldered at both ends. Bridge ground wire was soldered to copper wall in cavity, right by the hole it comes out of. One thing to mention now is that my pickup has a brass plate underneath, with an earth wire coming from the bottom of it. I soldered this to the volume pot, as it was before shielding. One thing I haven't done though is solder a wire from the copper to a particular earth point, such as the jack ground lug. I wasn't sure if this was essential. Maybe this is my problem...? By the way, I'm not getting any noise problems, just the tone isn't what it was.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='958343' date='Sep 16 2010, 02:16 PM']Haha classic. [/quote] After playing this bass for a few days, I'm pretty certain that the shielding job has muddied the sound a little. There is a definite loss of [i]crispness[/i] in the sound. Is this possible, or is it more likely that I've damaged something? Very frustrating. I'm now getting the words [i]"if it ain't broke don't fix it!"[/i] going round my head. This bass was never very noisy to begin with; just at certain gigs with dodgy lights etc, there would be noise. So just thought shielding it wouldn't do any harm. Not so sure I should've bothered now

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='964136' date='Sep 22 2010, 09:36 AM']CTS pots do have wider shafts than cheaper alternatives, go to WD music website, they have loads of knobs that will fit high quality pots. I drilled out the middle of a knob for a CTS pot on a strat once, it now spins uselessly round the shaft, doh! (edited cos I can't spell strat)[/quote] Yeah, it seems the shafts on the pots I took out are Jap with metric sizes, whereas the CTS ones are imperial sizes. I had considered drilling my existing ones but don't think I'll bother. Will have a look at WD, cheers Dave. As for the ebay kit, yeah, great stuff and arrived pretty damn quick. I'm gonna buy the kit again soon for when I upgrade my Squier CV P bass's electronics

[quote name='gary mac' post='964038' date='Sep 22 2010, 05:34 AM']That's a bummer, guess you needed the split shaft pots then. So I suppose you must now need the type of knobs that utilise a grub screw. Don't think I'm the right person to offer advice though, I've just installed new pups in my daughters jazz and now getting problems with the pots [/quote] Well, my old pots used a screw too; but they were split shaft pots and those shafts were much narrower. I feel like these are definitely an upgrade though, so I'm happy. Just need some knobs to fit the new girth

Ok, so I worked out the Orange drop thing and have finished the job. All is well, apart from the fact that the knurled chrome knobs that I had on the old pots don't fit on these new CTS solid shafts The CTS are much wider. Can anyone suggest some replacements that will fit these shafts? I was of the opinion that all shafts were the same thickness but I've been proved wrong, so new knobs needed!

[quote name='Bobby K' post='963309' date='Sep 21 2010, 01:56 PM']Yes, a nicely soldered joint is most pleasing. A knackered pot, through overheating, is a ball ache!!! As I found out recently, hence the new kit [/quote] One more question guys. Looking at the Orange Drop from the side which has the writing on, which leg goes to ground (back of pot), left or right?

[quote name='King Tut' post='963702' date='Sep 21 2010, 07:54 PM']The switch is active/passive and I think the dual concentric knob is bass cut and boost (big wheel) treble cut and boost (little wheel).[/quote] King Tut is correct. I have one of these; converted it to a fretless a few years back. Still love it after all these years

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='963291' date='Sep 21 2010, 01:39 PM']That's just what most folks would do. Enjoy the soldering - I sometimes solder things just for the therapy it provides.[/quote] Yes, a nicely soldered joint is most pleasing. A knackered pot, through overheating, is a ball ache!!! As I found out recently, hence the new kit

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='963276' date='Sep 21 2010, 01:32 PM']They will be the same - it's how you wire them that makes the difference.[/quote] Ahh, I see. Cheers Doc. I'm just gonna be following the standard P bass wiring diagram from Fender, if that matters...

Ok guys, apologies in advance for the complete rewire noob that I am :blush: I've just purchased a rewiring kit for my P bass, as seen here: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270635847621&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1070wt_930"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...T#ht_1070wt_930[/url] The kit contains (from what I can see) two identical CTS pots, for tone and volume. Should they be the same, or should they be markedly different? Or does it not matter which one I use for tone and vice versa....? Cheers

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='958326' date='Sep 16 2010, 02:05 PM']Sounds like a dodgy connection, you've got a +ve going to earth somewhere. Trace the route from your hot line from your pup all the way up to and including the jack socket. Luckily the wiring on a P is pretty simple.[/quote] Cheers mate, but it was a false alarm I was testing the bass through a guitar amp which unknown to me was cranked up to max volume!! All is normal now the amp has been adjusted, sorry for the panic

I finished the shielding job. Managed to sort out some braided wire to go through the hole. Soldered it all neatly to the copper. Passed the pickup wires through, resoldered to the pots etc and put the bass back together. Seems to be fine. Thanks to all who gave their advice

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='957222' date='Sep 15 2010, 02:24 PM']Re the braiding - yes use some braiding out of a good cable ('Woven' rather than wrapped around) - something out of a good microphone cabel etc would be good. After removing the braiding you'll find that it will narrow down as you stretch it, so you can poke it through the hole (depends how big the hole is), and then compress it end to end again to make it expand width ways again, against the sides of the hole. Then splay out the ends and solder to the copper foil. It is fiddly and a lot depends on the length and diameter of th hole. I've also considered using thin walled copper tube (like you get from modelling shops) to pass down the holes, but never actually don this.[/quote] Cheers Clive, your advice is much appreciated! Right, I'm pretty sure the pickup wires aren't screened. They're very thin and after all this is a re-issue of a 60's Precision, which I'm guessing wouldn't have screened wires?? So, I pretty much need to create a copper [i]tunnel[/i] from cavity to cavity I suppose. I'm not sure if I've got any cables handy that I can butcher to get the brading, but i've been considering some other ideas. I've had the crazy notion to cover a small plastic tube in the copper tape and cut it so it's just the right length for the hole and pass the wires through. I've also considered just wrapping the copper tape around the three wires and passing them through the hole, tacking more tape at both ends (in both cavities) and soldering to the copper cavity floor. What do you think of these ideas? Furthermore, is it feasible to join the cavities with tape over the top, as suggested by johnnylager? I've fully lined each cavity with the copper now; just need to drop some solder on the joins between the tape, then I'll be good to go with tackling the [i]copper tunnel[/i] to link the cavities. Any further guidance you can give on the above suggestions would be most appreciated

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='955635' date='Sep 14 2010, 01:27 AM']You could pass a bit of braided cable screen through the holes and expand it to fit, and then solder it to the copper screen at both ends if you wanted.[/quote] Is this the same as the outer mesh stuff you get on coaxial cable? When you say [i]expand it to fit[/i] how do I do that? Could I not just link the two cavities through the hole using a normal bit of insulated wire, soldered to the copper screen on both sides? Sorry for all the questions, we're nearly there now.... :blush:

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='955635' date='Sep 14 2010, 01:27 AM']and if possible line the drilled holes between cavities[/quote] What about the drilled hole for the ground wire that attaches to the underside of the bridge....? Do i simply just carefully apply the foil around this hole?

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='955061' date='Sep 13 2010, 05:19 PM']so you can leave an overhang out the top of the cavity and make sure that the copper on the underside of you p/g touches it. Simples.[/quote] Good man, that's exactly what I was thinking of doing; just needed somebody to confirm it was ok to do

[quote name='Hamster' post='955020' date='Sep 13 2010, 04:47 PM']You can take the ground from the back of one the pots or at the jack connector - but just make one earth connection, just use a bit of wire and solder onto the copper tape.[/quote] So just connect a bit of wire to the existing solder blob on top of one of the pots then? I assume you mean not to connect to [b]both[/b] back of pot and the jack connector..? (just do one or the other) Just wondering what sort of wire to use... Also, should the copper under the pickguard connect to the copper in the body cavities? (actually, just read your post again and I think I've got it) Cheers for your help by the way