Jedson Telecaster Bass 'Avalon'

[Mod_Machine]

Hello,
This is my first rebuild/project and i have no previous experience of anything similar and have no friends who have attempted to restore an old instrument which can be used as a reference point. I am therefore been guided pretty much from one book, the internet and of course this sites friendly members!

The aim of this rebuild is for me to get a better idea of the instrument i actually play and a better understanding of how to upkeep the 'real' bass i have been gigging and recording with (Ibanez Jetking). The hope is to be able to get it back to a condition where it at least offers me a back up should i have a problem with the jetking i cant quickly get sorted.

Even though i have heard nothing other than how horrendous the Jedson telecaster bass is, and even though i know they are approx 35 years old, dont hold their tuning particualrly well AND are pretty much seen as the worst of some of the jap imports i have been totally swayed by the fact its such a rip off of the telecaster shape (my fav of the guitars at the moment). I love all the over the top chrome pickups and strange bridge. the fact that its small scale also means that although my little girl is only 11 months - when she does finally get big enough to want to learn to play - i have something small enough to give her and even more (cheesy i know) it will be something i built with her in mind.

I started lookign for a jedson about christmas and though looked at a few (which im sure you can imagine were in varying states of decay) i settled on one sold through this site by a very good member. Everything was exactly as described, and the seller was very honest and fair so not unhappy!

Photos to follow!

Edited February 26, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[Mod_Machine]

[attachment=69252:P1020595.jpg]
This was the bass before purchase- pics are what i bought it on and a (thankfully accurate and honest) description from seller on basschat. However as the old saying goes 'you get what you pay for'!


The following were the main areas of concern/initial concentration (body wise)

1. Headstock missing tuner (one also bent)
[attachment=69257:P1020596.jpg]

2.damage to underneath corner
[attachment=69258:P1020598.jpg]

3.damage to side corner near strap pin
[attachment=69259:P1020600.jpg]

However he overall plan is as follows
1.strip, fill holes/dinks and repaint in classic 'butterscotch' cream.
2.replace knobs for metal tele style
3.replace all machine heads
4.replace chrome bridge 'cover' for larger version and fit matching string/pickup cover
5.replace jack socket
6.replace 1 (maybe 2 pickups) as one of the small poles was missing from bridge pickupbut any new item would be hidden by pick up cover to maintain period 'flavour'
7.strip and revarnish neck and headstock
8.re-string and set playable action and intonation.

Easy.
But then nothing really ever goes to plan and so if all else fails i have a good bit of firewood or a nice blunt instrument for hitting myself with for wasting money.

Although this project is not being done for re-sale and can therefore allow me with some freedom in what i purchase i have set a limit of £60 to get it up to giggable condition!

[GarethFlatlands]

Could be a unique and interesting bass if you can iron its flaws out. Best of luck, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

[Mod_Machine]

(Sorry for loads of posts in succession but this is to show all the work attributable to the last 7 days)
Within a couple of days the jedson showed up and i got my girlf who was at home to take delivery.
I got her to run over it with a fine toothcomb and relay every scratch and dink to me over the phone.

Eventually i got bored, left work early to see what i had (it was a personal present for my b'day after all and i was anxious to start stripping! erm....i mean the wood not the girlf)

Pleasantly surprised as the neck looks good and straight, truss rod is good (well there!) and all parts as described. Screws were pretty rusty as was the jack socket and the neck fret board looked pretty thirsty but other than a random fret right next to nut all the other frets looked untouched but like all the metal dull. nice thick layer of dust finished it all off.
I thus carefully undid everything and was especially careful as expecting wiring to be brittle.
[attachment=69264:Image0470.jpg]

All the wiring was soft and although cheap (length of solder used to run through body popping out underneath the bridge as the earth for example!) all seemed in good condition. Knobs turned nicely and no cracks in the plastic casing.
I took a couple of photos of the wiring just to be on the safe side incase any wiring came away so i knew where to put it back-though as a passive guitar not alot to forget. I was also armed with a hand drawn wiring diagram i found somewhere on the internet which looks about as useful as a ships biscuit and a rusty nail.
[attachment=69265:Image0472.jpg][attachment=69266:Image0473.jpg][attachment=69267:Image0471.jpg] (boring pics i know - but evidence of my approach)

The electrics are to be dealt with later though. By this stage (Jan 13th) part of me wanted to 'restore' this to a more factory look and keep everything as original as possible. As i was now swaying in my original plans when i removed each seperate part i took count of the old rusty screws, kept them, taped them up and segregated every part into a seperate small box labeled with contents and number of screws/parts etc. This ranged from the bridge, string holder and headstock string tree down to the fake truss rod access badge off the head!

All quite anal i agree but is really helping me stay focussed on small jobs and not loose anything important!

HOWEVER the one thing i did feel sure about was the machine heads. As one was gone, one bent and the other two had debatable usability i decided to replace with the first and last item that wasnt like for like. As the ones used on my ibanez jetking had proved so robust and i knew that everything i could do to get this to stay in tune would help i ordered 4 new ones to use on my jedson. Although not a straight swap they were still in keeping with the 'pawn shop' look of these old jap imports and ultimately i want it to be usable.

[Mod_Machine]

Next up was to strip the paint.

Had a nice big tin of nitromors so coated the top of the now accessory-less body. Approach was to coat top first, nice and thick and let it fall over the edge, then scrape back with a plastic scraper. I used a plastic one to try and reduce the chances of it gouging the wood. Turn over and do the same across the back of the body, again letting it fall over the edge so by time i came to strip the sides the nitromors already applied should have taken full effect.

I left it on an hour and went to scrape it back however found it really hadnt caused any blistering and hadnt marked the poly gloss finish.
Not to be deterred i re-applied and left on for 6 hours!

Much better and left a few glossy bits which were easily sanded off. I think some of this refusal to budge may have been down to using a plastic scraper but i felt better to be safe rather than sorry - especially as the painting technique im going to use will rely on the quality of the surface its being applied to in order to appear of a specific quality. Im going to be using a technique ive used on my Vespa for some 'Small Faces' artwork. It is duarable but takes on the feel of a 40 year old mirror finish that has faded to a glossy feel (though not shabby chic or road worn). Idea is for it to appear unplayed and untouched but its age rather than brand new.
[attachment=69273:Image0191.jpg][attachment=69274:Image0200.jpg]

i had the same problem with the rear of the body which proved to be even more stubborn:-
[attachment=69270:Image0475.jpg][attachment=69269:Image0474.jpg]
In the end the back required me to carefully attack with a razor blade! But needs must.

I finally sanded the whole thing down using first a coarse, then medium and finally a fine grade sandpaper to get it nice and smooth. The best treatment this bass has ever had - in fact its probably the best treatment a piece of marine plywood has ever got....but should be well worth it in the end.

[attachment=69271:Image0477.jpg][attachment=69272:Image0478.jpg]

Fortunately none of the damage had made its way down to the wood so all the cracked paint and missing 'lumps' were superficial and no filling required.

Dead chuffed and amazing to think such a cheap bass has held up so well when its old enough to have been the instrument my own dad would have learnt to play along to beatles tracks on!

[3below]

At age 14 I was playing Bass and Sax when these were (along with columbus, kay and other stuff I have forgotten) a starter bass. Usually from a catalogue. One of my mates had one. Seem to remember the neck was OK apart from being a very short scale. The machine heads I clearly remember being absolute crap. No loss by replacing them. Be interesting to hear clips through a good (or even OK) modern bass amp & cab. I remember two colours, sunburst and a solid cream colour, rather like my 1980s USA Telecaster.

Also think the pickups may be very noisy at volume - sensitive to taps / hand noise / plectrum etc on body. Might be worth isolating pickups from body e.g. squashy plastic tubing rather than springs on the pickup screws - Fender again. You may even need to wax pot the pickups to prevent squeal. I was glad at 15 to buy a 58 Gibson EB2. A world apart from a Columbus at that time. Paid for from gigs, not rich parents.

Sounds as if I am old enough to be your dad.

Enjoy the project.

Edited January 18, 2011 by 3below

[Mod_Machine]

Following the sanding of the body i wiped over with white spirit. I used this as less likely to cause swelling like water will if it gets into the grain when clearing out all that exess dust.


NECK/FRETBOARD/HEAD

I decided to use a little spit (not much) and polish (a little amount) on the frets and find out their true condition. After this i gave the fretboard a look and a little research on the internet later, gave it a good going over with mineral oil. it absorbed the first light coating like a recovering alchoholic bonzai tree so i re applied three coats. Last coat left i small bit of residue so i used a fast fret cloth to wipe up the excess. Im amazed as it looks like brand new and this sentiment was echoed when my mate came over to lend me his soldering iron. Really happy.

However having removed the machine heads i found the new ones used a slightly larger enclosed mech and the holes needed enlargening by a couple of mil . To lend more control to this process i am conducting this by hand using a very small knife - ive got the time and find it a little like stress relief! As part of this process i have also decided to strip the varnish and little dinks and knicks off the head down to the angles so the neck, which has only a couple of very very small line dinks, retains its gloss finish which i find speeds up my playing also.

When i did this it highlighted the join between the main piece of wood flowing from the neck to the end of the head, and the more 'scroll' bottom 1/4 which is from a joined piece. sanded back again from coarse, to medium, to fine and given a nice coating of mineral oil the head looks lush. It celebrates what this bass is all about for me, the 40 year old approach to design and build and encapsulates some of its history. But mostly it looks less cheap than a really heavily varnished glossy head, especially with the new chrome machine heads, and polished string tree.

I have spent a night or two polishing up all the chrome that comes as standard on the bass, and soldered in a brand new socket jack. The chrome has all come up in better condition than that on my 18 month old ibanez jetking so im again both chuffed AND surprised.

Finally i re-offered everything up to make sure there had been no unnoticed swelling or lost products before setting up the shed for body primering.

[attachment=69275:Image0483.jpg]

Edited January 18, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[Mod_Machine]

lol -im sure your not!

My old man was born and bought up in Liverpool so had little choice who to play along to...and was a guitarist.
not very succesful though - many years later when i was born my mum was so sick of hearing him play 12 bar blues she cut the strings off his guitar and banned it from the house!

Yeah, i did a lot of research (well background reading available all over the internet) into Jedson - there is even an american fan site set up to them.
The general concenus is that everyones first bass was a jedson and if they didnt turn you off the bass most players have spent their lives trying to forget about them.
Biggest complaints seem to be inconsistent build quality resulting in:-
[list=1]

[/list]noisy electrics
[list=1]

[/list]Poor or complete in ability to tune, stay in tune or get into tune higher up the neck

My next post (probably in a minute) will discuss my findings on both of these. However on the subject of the pickups i did my first 'contact' test with the pick ups plugged into a small 10 what fender amp. Picks up the noise me tapping the 'mock' poles nice and evenly. no exceess noise when one or both pick ups selected,which is better than expected. HOWEVER very noisey when both pick ups but to the OFF position. Any ideas?
Also the pick ups have no springs keeping them from the body!! just nut and bolted straight onto the scratch plate. So could you give me more info on what you mean by isolating using rubber tubing (ie how and what!??) and also what wax potting the pick ups is? im afraid it means nothing to me! sorry!

Cheers for the comments and interst guys, nice to know people are reading even though a really cheap almost pointles rebuild and certainly against the grain of the more interesting or worthy threads in this section.

Its also helping me get everything into context and see what ive achieved since i took delivery Jan 12th!

Edited January 18, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[3below]

Well I might add here I was born in Liverpool !

I guess with modern strings and our understanding of bass technology / setup you will be able to make it pretty good.

It's just fun to see these things surface and being used.

Edited January 18, 2011 by 3below

[Mod_Machine]

ISSUES/SOLUTIONS/QUERIES

INTONATION

Ok so i unscrewed the bridge and know that once repainted that the bridge has to go back on. I have set the action and intonation on about 4 different guitars including a Gretsch Jet so happy about doing this. HOWEVER my understanding (in a brief synopsis) is that a bridge is set up so that up and down alters action, backwards and forwards allows you to get the note in tune when fretted on the 12th. Its nice and easy though frustrating and time consuming.

So the first thing that hit me was the bridge fitted to the jedson doesnt have any springs etc to move each indvidual string backwards and forwards or even as a group/pair etc - only up and down. (have a quick look at original pick to see bridge as factory fitted) This would certainly explain the probs people have historically encountered with intonation on jedsons.

I was going to bin this factory fitted bridge and get a standard fender style, after all if i cant use the bridge to get intonation correct what use is it. However im also commited now to using original parts as much as is viable so on a whim started doing a little internet research to see if there was anything else out there similar....maybe it was even possibly missing a part?!!

After a few hours on friday morning i come across a picture of a Gretsch space control roller bridge (link below to a photo if interested)
[url="http://www.gretschguitars.org/vintage-gretsch-roller-control-bridge/"]http://www.gretschguitars.org/vintage-gret...control-bridge/[/url]

Look familiar?
[attachment=69286:Image0480.jpg]

A little more digging on the gretsch websites gave me the details on how these work. Its basically a floating bridge used by Gretsch in the 50s and upto mid/late 60s before being superseded. You manually move the high and low string ends of the whole bridge to get the intonation correct for those two strings, and then the rest of the strings should fall into place! Chet Atkins was a massive follower and fan of these and used them on all his recordings apparantly. Certainly hear no intonation probs there!

The little rollers allow you to move the distance between strings which is both to help you play and also to further aid the intonation slightly if needed. The wooden lower arch helps it stay in place once strings tghtened due to the tension. All sounds cool if its a gretsch.

So i got to assuming the jedson bridge is a cheap but direct knock off of this simplistic approach to intonation. (is it possible they even had old parts laying around from excess stock following gretsch moving away from this bridge?)

Its a cheap design with a proven track record of working but at some point the methodolgy of the bridge has got lost and the factory have screwed these directly into the body so they stay straight, look like they are supposed to (even alot of the gretsch promo shots show them perfectly level though in reality they sit on an angle). Some are placed close enough for the intonation to be bearable, some are way off - leading to real inconsistencies in tuning between exactly the same model.

My first ambition now is to see if this bridge can therefore be used in the way the design it has stolen is used. If you look closer at my jedson bridge above i have now added two very small rubber feet on to the metal base. Between these and the tension caused by the strings it should help stop it from moving around once in place but let me set the intonation each time i change the strings/guage etc.

I believe the theory works but interested in what others think?

Edited January 18, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[ezbass]

Wowsers! I remember those.

[ShergoldSnickers]

A friend of mine I was at school with in the 70s had a cream Jedson Tele Bass. Yep, dire, but at the time we thought it was brilliant.

[TheRev]

This almost makes me feel all nostalgic for my old Jedson. Almost.

The first picture of the bass with just two strings put me in mind of Morphine's Mark Sandman who played crappy basses with two strings and a slide. Great sound.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M34iZH4-qkI"]Buena[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=985JGeGq_tc&feature=related"]Cure for pain[/url]

Edited January 19, 2011 by TheRev

[namke]

Nice to see the progress you're making on this. From another thread you posted, I think that I may have sent you pictures of my Jedson (which was for sale on Gumtree & Preloved)!! As was:
[attachment=69723:1.jpg]

Following some discussion with possible buyers (who decided not to purchase it), I decided that I may as well make mine usable - the knobs and controls were non-original on mine, one of the switches was non-functional, and the intonation was miles out. Fortunately I had replacement pots left over from my re-jig of a Jedson 6-string, and I managed to find a pair of appropriate knobs on ebay; so yesterday I stripped the bass back, rewired it and re-strung it. Sounds alright now - and looks more 'authentic' too. (I had to fabricate new 'pointers' for the controls out of plastic, but they'll do for the moment)
[attachment=69724:n2.jpg]
Pity about the dings and the great big hole in the edge of the body, but never mind!
[attachment=69725:n3.jpg]

Just for interest, here's a picture of the 6-string. The paint-job was a disaster before (repainted badly), so I left it raw in all it's plywood glory - just a few applications of 'Danish Finishing Oil'
[attachment=69721:g1.jpg]

Yours looks like a much more involved project; I'll be interested to see how it turns out! Especially the bridge...

I'm also interested in what strings you'll put on it - even 'short scale' strings are too long! Edited January 23, 2011 by namke

[Mod_Machine]

Hi,
Good to see you on the site. Ive found it really useful over the last couple of years.

I looked at a couple with a great deal more body damage than the new jack socket seat drilled into yours. They really do seem to sell on ebay - just recently one guy even listed the body and neck seperately.

Edited January 24, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[Mod_Machine]

RESPRAYING

Ok after stripping i began the arduous task of repainting. I started by giving the whole thing a couple of coats of primer, sanded back with coarse then medium sandpaper.
I then added three coats of undercoat, again sanded bewteen each coat. This was more to help with the leveling process.
I then finished this off with another coat of primer, sanded back - this time to a fine level, and one last coat of primer.
The last coat i sanded back with medium, then fine and then turtle scratch remover from halfords. I did this to give the primer a little pit of a satin sheen and ensure everything looked pretty level.

I had originally set out to respray in the butterscotch cream colour, had over the last week or so decided that as i was now keeping it alot more oirginal than originally anticpated i would choose a non standard colour. I eventually settled on a TWEED GREY, as seen on classic minis that was both keeping in period for the bass and look very cool with all the chrome and white scratch plate.

However on a whim i put everything back up against the bass and even though in primer could see the new wave flavour of a white bass, especially as the scrathc plate and nicely warmed over the years to a slightly off white.

I therefore chose ARCTIC WHITE by NISSAN!! This was down purely to a nissan Juke being outside my house and the slightly less 'appliance' white glow appealed and made me think of the coulour a white would go after about 30 years if well looked after - just want im going for.

I applied layer afer layer of the stuff and between each coat used an extra fine, super extra fine and then scratch removing paste to get each layer nice a buff and level for the next coat. all in all i must have applied 5 or 6 coats.

I wanted it to show a little wear, along the contours where it would be expected after 30 odd years so looked at a 'pristine' japanese tele from the late sixties and copied the wear pattern...very very minimal and i havent been able to catch it in photos due to it looking like shine! To stop the paint sitting in these areas i had used a little wax.

After a non stop day of polishing with extra fine sandpaper and scratch removing paste i was able to put everything back together.

[attachment=69849:restore_full.jpg]

Im sure you will agree it now looks lush, but the next important thing is set up.

I didnt have a short scale set available though due to pick up some tom. Therefore i strung up with a set of standard spare nanowebs. Unfortuanately i had forgotten that all i had left were an old set that i kept in case of emergencies but i only wanted to see if the bridge would sit so i strung it up!

[attachment=69850:restore_bridge.jpg]

As you can see the rubber foot bridge system allows the bridge to shift around, and allows it to also angle towards the bridge pickup.
I tuned yesterday and can confirm that the intonation can be altered using the manual back and forth bridge set up. However i havent set it up perfectly yet as the earth has to run out of a small hole under the bridge and attach to a very small nut and bolt design knocked up by mate who is a sheet metal engineer. This will allow the bridge to still move freely and maintain the earth. Til thats done im not keen to plug in! However no fret buzz and a really quick smooth playing feel which as a small bloke i really quite liked-more fun than professional feeling. Even the girlf was pretty surprised.

This photo also gives an indication of the deep mirror shine i achieved-very happy.

The other things i decided to do were to restore the original rusty scratch plate screws as i couldnt find any similar to hand that had a nice 30 year old feel - ie too chromy!
I did this by soaking each one in autosol chrome restorer, then emptying into a cap full of the cheapest full fat Coke audi had to offer. Three hours later they were perfect!
[attachment=69852:restore_screws.jpg]

Certainly getting there now.

[Mod_Machine]

Meant to say - i picked her up off the wall hanger this mornin and still in tune! very surprised.

I do however have a question - every other photo of a jedson bass i have seen shows the back strap pin dead centre. However mine is up towards the curveture of the body.
I originally thought this has been moved at some point but having stripped back to wood can see its been like this since factory! (Sorry photo taken on a bit of an angle) You can also see ive replaced the orginal bridge plate screws as the original ones were flat head and one had snapped off in the body at some point in the past. Therefore the whole bridge plate where the strings sit has been moved up appro 3 mil.

[attachment=69854:restore_strap_pin.jpg]


Im think about re-locating it more central.

HOWEVER - is there any need to do so - will i put uncessary strain in the wrong area by leaving it where it is?


ANY ADVICE WELCOME!??

[namke]

Wow - that finish looks fantastic... thanks for detailing what you went through. I've now half a mind to repaint the 6-string 'properly'!

Nice work (and I think I may copy the 'adjustable bridge' mod - the intonation is still out on mine!)

john..

(Oh, and as you can see, the strap lugs are dead centre on both of my Jedsons - not sure what difference it might make, unless it changes the way the guitar hangs?)

Edited January 24, 2011 by namke

[gary mac]

Very nice job and a good read.

[Mod_Machine]

Cheers - its good to know people are having a read though its more about me getting down everything in a chronological order as i hope it will ultimately someday be my little girls first bass (hence why i would prefer it works!)

Still lots more to do though - this is just the cosmetic side at the moment-

1. Custom jedson badge made in white for the headstock plus the model name. (As there isnt an official name for it ill be ripping off the fender tele font and calling it the Jedson avalon, after my little girl Ava. )
2. my mate is knocking up a relacment mock pole for the bridge pickup cover.
3. A large italic scroll J is also going to be etched into the bridge cover
4. Finally a nice chrome string and pick guard over the bridge pickup.

However before thats done i still need to:-

1. run the new earth to the floating bridge using a custom made 3.5 nut and bolt
2. re-solder all joins into nice covering shiny ones
3. clean switches and knobs
4. re-string with fender short scale lights (should arrive tom)
5. Set up the intonation (yay!)

Once all that has been achieved and i know the intonation can succesfully be set with the floating bridge and the tuning holds, i can start looking at how much noise is getting through. At the moment im only aware of noise when both pickups are off. If the clean up and resolder is not succesful then will be time for a new pair of slider switches.

THEN, AND ONLY THEN...i can decide whether to replace the bridge pickup - maybe with a humbucker-but ultimately will have to be a cheap second hand jobbie. It will be nicely hidden under the string plate so wont ruin the retro looks no matter what style it is, but till i play i dont know how this bass is going to sound and what exactly i can do to it using the Hartke Bass attacke DI pedal i run.

Also need to consider that the pickups are bolted straight onto the scratch plate, with no height adjusting screws, springs or tubing to take out the vibrations. Not sure how much of a difference it will really make but will surely find myself on here asking about solutions in the future!

[Mod_Machine]

Update
I have cleaned up the switches using some NATO electrical cleaner and lube a freind of mine had 'aquired' in the past, re-soldered a loose connection and replaced the most dodgy looking solders with some nice clean sparkly ones and attached the earth to the under neath of the bridge leaving it both floating and hidden. Lovely job if i do say so myself.

This has resulted in elimnating about 95% of the noise getting through when both the pickups are moved to 'OFF' position. When one or both are on ive got no noise at all.

A new set of fender light short scale strings have been ordered though i stupidly gave the wrong postcode, which over typed my real address with my street name. I tried to explain this error to the company who said they couldnt change the delivery address as was sent out but tried via the courrier and then told me to wait a week even though a three day delivery period to see if its delivered to the right address but it will be probably be delivered to the wrong address as thats whats on the package. Now been four days and nothing. Turns out i luckily know the guy who lives at the wrong address its being delivered to and he hasnt received them yet either so im going to have to wait to see if i ever get them!
No more work can be done til they arrive unfortunately!

[Gust0o]

[quote]lube a freind of mine had 'aquired' in the past[/quote]

I wish we had a :seedy: smiley,

[Mod_Machine]

Thats terrible!

[Mod_Machine]

UPDATE
Have now given the bass a couple of high resin polish coats - not for shine but to protect the paint work a little.

I got some short scale Fender strings (light) and got them on last night. Had to pull the neck a bit with the truss rod which i admit scared me even though i have read a shed load on how to do it.

Changed the bridge slightly and removed the rubber feet and replaced with a length of textured rubber to help it stick in place:-

[attachment=70633:bridge_final.jpg]

Prior to this the rubber feet raised it a little too much and made it unstable - i could see it would tip over potentially as the strings were tightened.

Took me about 3 hours to get it in tune and get the inotnation close (mostly spot on) - intonation seemed at first to set perfectly but would be slightly out at about the 16th fret and took me ages to sort it...in the end i got really bored.

I felt uneasy about the position of the bridge when i was playing standing up as i kept resting my hand against it. Was going to fit a string guard eventually anyway over the bridge pick up so did it last night, thus my hand rest on that rather than the floating bridge so should help it keep tune. Plus really looks cool!

[attachment=70634:final_full.jpg]


I picked it up this morning and all seems well and in tune up to and including the 16th fret on onwards but based on playing rather than against a digital tuner so we will see.

Im still also weary of the bridge as although the design works fine..i find it a little vulgar and wonder if it could keep its intonation once ive hammered a set out of it for 30-45 mins. Plus moving it back and forward by only very small amounts by hand is really difficult and realistically requires you to loosen all strings first!
Thinking about replacing for a tune o matic style bridge.
ANY ONE GOT A TUNE O MATIC STYLE BASS BRIDGE IN CHROME THEY WANT TO GET RID OF CHEAP?

EARLY SOUND OPINIONS

Ran the bass through my normal set up and did direct comparrisons with my ibanez jet king.
This is still first tests and is at low volume in my lounge! Running through a hartke bass attack DI pedal - 3/4 mix no pre shaping and with a little tube emulation just before the point where it distorts, and Marshall Compression pedal - everything only slightly one way or the other from 12 aclock. The amp was a fender amp on clean setting with bass, treble and mid set to 7.

The jedson is a little more trebly though mostly noticable on the G string. (in fact i had to turn the bridge pickup off to get the nicest sound) No warm 60s here which the jet king is perfect for. The jedson is agressive.
I play with a thumb pick as get real sweaty during a gig and move around a huge amount so tendancy to loose normal picks straight away. The pick also gives the jet king more definition between the notes.
The jedson responds better to finger playing though and just gets too harsh when picked. The was most apparent where i was dual stringing or chording - the jet king needs the pick to stop it sounding 'mulchy'.
However the 3/4 scale and closer strings make the whole process of playing these same notes much more organic with the fingers-a lot less effort is needed to get that same sound of 'attack'.
HOWEVER the Jedson really came into its own when i turned on the Electro Harmonix big muff. It sits on my pedal board but live i rarely use it as find that the Jetking just cant take it - the notes become less defined when its on and with any riffs that string alot of notes together everything just gets lost. The jedson on the other hand responds perfectly. The high treble and middle that make it harsh sounding normally give the distortion definition. Very quickly i got the sound very close to Kasabians FastFuse and i definately have a use for that!
Im going to take the bass to rehearsal on thus, running the Jedson for the first half and he Jetking for the second so will feed back more then...depending how it sits in the band mix may even use it as the main bass for Mondays gig with Phantom Band.

[Mod_Machine]

Hi all,
For those interested i have now used the jedson for nearly 8 hours of rehearsal.

Sound wise had a few issues when i initially found it to be WAY bassy..and a bit muddy to boot. This was finally tracked down to my pedal set up which was previously all set for my ibanez jet king.

I took a much more back to basics approach with the jedson and have eneded up with a 50/50 mix between the bass natural sound and the hartke bass attack - predominantly its 'shape' setting knob backing off the low side slightly. then finally adding a little compression (via Marshal The Compressor). Agaian this is tweaked considerably twoards the HI level and a little more compression than i would normally use!
Ive been running it through a hartke bass amp but with everything set to '0' or '12' depending which way you look at it...basically everything at middle. I bypassed the EQ on the amp to get the sound as close as possible as to the way i want it before reaching amp so if i do use it the DI sound should be much closer.

Got a video shoot comming up and will be using the Jedson for that so got the a headstock badge made up :-
[attachment=72418:headstock_badge.jpg]

The Jedson badge is NOT a replica of the original, but a cross between the Jedson logo and the Fender logo used on the Tele guitars from the early 70's. The 'AVALON' model name is again a nod to the telecaster font used by Fender, with AVALON being in honour of my little girl Ava...finally the des. number is of course not a real one but the little ones Birthday in the Fender tele style - cheesy i know but i really couldnt help myself.

Also added the 'J' etching to the mock bridge cover that actually holds the strings in place!
[attachment=72419:etched_J.jpg]


ADVICE WANTED
Although its getting through rehearsal OK and the concept of the floating bridge is good in that it works and intonation is OK accross the bass im still not confident enough in it to use it live just yet....so a new bridge is definately the way forward. The floating one works but too many variables can cause even minor movement to it..eg heavy movement, resting my hand upon it by mistake, and i dont really want this make shift mock 'tremelo' approach in my playing!

This is how the bridge looks currently :-
[attachment=72420:body.jpg]

[attachment=72421:bridge_final.jpg]

Please can someone advise on what would be good to ensure definition and tone yet not ruin the asthetics of the bass.
As far as i can tell i have a few choices

1. keep the small etched mock bridge cover which holds the strings and replace the bridge with a tune o matic style one

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Although bolted in it will give me the scope to move around the intonation and height on each string


2. Replace the bridge part onnly with one of the attached style contemporary bridges (i think one of them has a little 50s futism about it so would fit in nicely)

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140307803644&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url]

and still maintain the original string holder.


3. Replace the bridge part only with one of the attached style classic bridges

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130283831565&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url]

and still maintain the original string holder.

4. Remove original mock bridge cover/string holder and bridge, replace the whole shebang with the classic fender style bridge and then purchase fender style bridge cover to maintain that classic look.
(only draw back to this is once i move that bridge back i have to fill in the whole the current earth is coming out of (under the floating bridge) and try to make a new one through the guitar to come out under the new bridge placement.

So what is general concenus on best way forward (where and what else needs to be considered when fitting a new bridge)
Also although not a huge issue i would like the strings to feel just a little more 'tense' - any ideas?