Jedson Telecaster Bass 'Avalon'

[Soloshchenko]

I'd go option 2. You have such an original and individual looking bass there, who the hell is going to know what the bridge should/shouldn't look like?

The "floating bridge" thing would do my head in as well so I'd go for the most solid & sturdy contemporary bridge you can get for your money. Those ones look nice.

[Bassassin]

Before you do anything - check your string spacing and fretboard width at the heel. These weird old JapCraps tend to have very narrow string spacing & you may end up with strings hanging over the fretboard edges. All of these modern bridges will tend to have 19mm spacing centre-to-centre, I'll bet yours is a fair bit less.

And I'll do that Jedson catalogue scan soon - honest!

Jon.

[Mod_Machine]

You are indeed correct again Jon, ruddy titchy little neck!
Measured at the heel of the neck its coming in at 56mm, where the strings come out of the mock bridge cover thingy also 56mm which equates to 18mm spacing MAX (total 54mm span)

Every bridge ive looked at has 20mm spacing and a few have 19mm spacing (57mm span)

Except for B14 in the following link which has 18mm spacing, and also the height needed to clear the bridge pick up.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-String-Chrome-Bass-guitar-Bridge-B10-B13-or-B14_W0QQitemZ140307803644QQcategoryZ42455QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7171217838612113007"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-String-Chrome-Bass...217838612113007[/url]

Need to call the co. though as i cant see how the intonation can be set unless the cradles are manualy moved by hand rather than by a spring system!

Good thing about the roller bridge fitted was that last night i measured up where the bridge should be based on neck length, and then spent an age rolling the strings out to exactly 18mm spaces between each, then tightened up to full tuning and had a good few measures down the neck.

Although its starts at the top with a 4.5mm space either side of the E/G sting to the edge of the neck, by time it gets to the 21st and final fret that has reduced to just under 2.5mm either side of the E/G. Not perfect but its something i can live with, and will have to learn to if i want it play it!

The problem this now presents is that although the strings pass perfectly over the neck pick ups mock 'poles' the bridge pick up seems to have been fitted a couple of mm to one side of centre. This coupled with the strings still fanning out to meet the outer string cradles means the E now misses its pole which presents a noticable drop in volume on that string when using that pickup.

A new bridge it definately is....meaning a new pick up aswell. Im thinking a Jazz bass copy with the 8 poles which will then give me a constant tone and still be hidden by the string/pick guard so not be too out of place with the asthetics. Still sad that so much of the original character is getting lost but it is turning it into something much more unique and still cheaper than buying a competition fender mustang or other suitable 3/4 scale.

I cant imagine some of the cheaper j bass pickups can be any worse than the ones currently (factory) fitted but if you know of any good value brands worth having a gander at please let me know!

Mod

Edited February 18, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[alyctes]

Great project!

And, bookmarked for future reference

[Bassassin]

That B14 bridge will almost certainly have a grub screw on the side (out of shot) to lock the saddles in place once intonation's set - and you're right, you do move the saddles by hand. I've got a Hohner B2A headless & the saddle arrangement is identical on that, to be honest it can be something of a pain in the arse.

Looks like all of the bridges on that page use a similar principle of not having intonation adjuster screws. Actually though, the B10 technically has string spacing adjustment - the black saddle inserts should allow a small amount of lateral movement.

Might be worth keeping your eyes open for a Schaller 3D - these have roller saddles with spacing adjustment which works the same as the original bridge on your bass. Superb bridges, but curiously unpopular, meaning used ones can go for as little as £20.

J.

[Mod_Machine]

Cheers for all the responses as good to know its of interest to a few other than me!
(p.s. still looking forward to seeing the catalogue)

I spoke to the store selling the bridge and as always Jon you are the ultimate fountain of knowledge in these things - its a side grub screw with a manual move for intonation of each string.
Not ideal, but still a lot better than the floating bridge thats on there currently with only the ability to accuarately get good intonation on the E and G strings (though the A and D are barely out anyway)

I looked around and couldnt find anything with a best value price tag and smaller span than the 54mm , and though the Schaller 3d bridge is the perfect piece of equipment its smallest setting is still only approx 53.5mm and new is around £60.

I thought long and hard and in the end based on the asthetic '50s futurism' appeal the b14 should have when in the context of the bass went for it. Im also hoping that the chunkyness of it wil help beef up the look of what is basically a piece of marine ply thats half the depth of a telecaster guitar!

I know its going to be a bugger to set up but will (with a lot of time and concentration) allow me to set up the intonation on each string and keep it nice and solid-my ultimate holygrail.

It was also the only bridge i could find with both the max 18mm string spacing and the 17mm+ height needed to clear the pickups without going down the root of a tune o matic style bridge.

I seem to have again ended up with a U turn towards my original brief and im actively keen to :-

'get it gig ready whilst maintaining a sympathetic nod towards its original design'.

This ultimately means alot of the design flaws that cant be effectively ironed out need to be addressed in the most asthetically pleasing way - and ultimately it is really individualising the bass. The new set bridge means the other minor issue of reattaching the earth each time i move the bridge is sorted and i no longer need to worry about accidental wammy' effect.

I have also got my self a jazz bass pickup for the bridge taken from a Cort Bass. God knows what it sounds like, all i know is it looks in 'new' condition and it works without any noise!
It didnt cost me enough to warrant worrying too much as its still got to be an improvement over the original!

Ive got a really good but quite qordy guide from this site on masking up the bass up to measure exact position for the bridge (which also takes into consideration possible curviture of the body) which ill do tonight in prep for the arrival of the bass. Ill take a few photos as i go and re-post the guide with my experiences and the photos once fitted as may prove useful for others who are learning as they are going like me.

[Mod_Machine]

Hello all that are interested.
The jedson is now all complete.From start to finish i have done the following:-

1. stripped and resprayed in arctic white.
2. replaced jack socket
3. replaced machine heads
4. restored exisiting screws
5. re soldered electrics
6. stripped headstock and new custom badge made
7. restored all chrome
8. replaced bridge
9. replaced bridge pickup with J bass pickup
10. eteched 'j' on string holder
11. fitted string/pickup cover
12. 'fed' fret board
13. full set up
14. Fender short scale strings

I now, quite possibly have the only 'tele' style Jedson Bass which tunes, intonates AND stays in tune in the country!
In total (including price of the bass + delivery, cleaners, fretboard feed, chrome restorer, coke for screw recovery (!), sand paper, primer, undercoat, spray, pick up, tuners, strings, bridge and custom stickers plus delivery of all ordered parts ) i have spent .......


£121.28 (pease bear in mind that many things ordered have a longer term value...eg sandpaper, chrome cleaner, fast fret, and coke plus we all know how expensive fender strings are for what they are!)

This is now how it looks....

[attachment=73335:Image0541.jpg]

To give a better sense of size against standard bass here it is against my ibanez jetking

[attachment=73336:Image0542.jpg]


So im sure the biggest question is ...was it worth it for what was originally a short scale 'beginner model'.

Well to give a better idea ive recorded the following two extracts, both of the same riff and both with the same settings. One is of the jetking at bridge pickup and one is of the jedson 'avalon' at the bridge pickup (the one i replaced)
Ive recorded both using the IPOD PEAVEY AMPKIT. The setting for both is identical, at pretty much central eq centings for the amp (peavey Valveking) except the resonance and reverb (set to off). Nothing else.
Its not the sound i woud normally set a bass at and doesnt use any of my hartke bass attack pedal, compression or big muff but i wanted to give the closest to the bass natural sound i could and give a comparrison against a near £300 full scale bass.

Please excuse the loosness of the playing, it was more about a riff that covered both highs and lows across the fretboard for a good comparrison!


First the £280 ibanez jet king - a great full scale bass with a humbucker at the bridge and nanoweb strings (mid/heavy guage)
[attachment=73337:Jetking_Soundbyte.wav]

Now the Jedson, sporting a fleabay £4 Cort pickup at the bridge with fender extra light strings....
[attachment=73338:Jedson__...oundbyte.wav]


I hope you have found this thread both informative and interesting.
I set out to make a bass that took the looks of the classic telecaster guitar and actually worked as a bass..it was my first attempt with no previous experience of any music restoration projects, and yet i hope to have proved that with a little concentration, effort and a bit of reading (plus some useful help from members on this site) it is possible to produce a bass that doesnt cost the earth and doesnt require extortionate charging from 'experts' just to accurately set up or correctly place a bridge....If it even encourages one person to try and understand their instrument and set it up themselves then im more than happy!

Please dont be shy, let me know what you think..positive or constructive, without peoples input my next project (hopefull a bronco to mustang conversion) will run the risk of not being any better!

cheers for all comments so far!

Mod

[Bassassin]

Great to see it finished, will have a listen to the clips in a bit.

Anyway, finally got the scanner & PC on speaking terms:

[attachment=73552:4457_bass.jpg]

No date on the catalogue, but I think it's from 71/72, based on the specs of some of the "proper" copies also in it. It's no earlier than that, or the handwritten prices would be in pounds, shillings & pence!

Jon.

[Mod_Machine]

Cheers Jon,
Thats cool and nicely rounds off all the angles to go in the Bass 'project file' ive compiled just in case my little girl ever gets REALLY bored some time in her future years and wonders what i did to the poor Jedson!
Love some of those descritptions - especially about the pick up poles.....i can gurantee that the pickup works excatly the same with or with out the 2 mm pick up pole as the one i removed was missing it one and the other was loose...no change in sound!! I actually thought they were little 'fakes' to give it the classic look.

Speaking of sound - i still wasnt happy with the overall feel on the neck so tightened up the truss rod a bit and raised the strings. This erradicated any buzzing i had though meant the pickguard needed to be raised a couple of mm using little black rubbers cut to shape under the pick up cover screw down arms.

I was also unhappy about an intermittent fault so re-soldered all of the pickup electrics running to the slide selector screws.

Finally i wasnt happy with the feeling of tension on the E string so having read a little about string tension, especially on short scales replace the E and A string with a much heavier guage. I dont know what guage or brand as i took a chance on a £2.20 set of private sale wrapped but unknown brand bass strings off ebay. Turns out they are lush and i probably should have saved them for my ibanez but too late now as cut down for the short scale (ironically even short scale strings are too long for the Jedson so little point me in worrying about size specific)

This has greatly altered the feel of tension on the strings and the E and A now feel less slappy than before when running the XL set. recording wise its actually a much more even sound and on the same settings the difference between the ibanez and the jedson is now truly undetacable to the untrained ear (eg my girlfriend!)

Gigging it this Saturday - cant wait....its also going to be featured in our forthcoming video shoot and 'possibly' when we headline the O2 acad at the end of the month....although i am looking at doing an all black bronco mustang bass thats gathering a little steam!

Edited March 3, 2011 by Mod_Machine

[nick-harman]

just bought one of these for peanuts and you're adventure is most interesting BUT I cannot see any of the pics?

[pete.young]

That is because this thread is old, really old, and the pictures will have been lost on the move to the 'new' site, a couple of years ago.

[nick-harman]

16 minutes ago, pete.young said:

That is because this thread is old, really old, and the pictures will have been lost on the move to the 'new' site, a couple of years ago.

That's a shame as I would really like to have seen them. Oh well, I haven't picked up the Jedson yet, it was £84, but I can see the chrome is rough and that's just for starters I expect. But then I have a 1966 car and the chrome's rough on that! So a bottle of cleanser/restorer might be a good purchase.

I don't expect much, my main reasons for buying is that I wanted to try out a shortscale (as much for left hand handling as anything else). plus I do love the look of these things! I'm a sucker for looks over quality
 

[nick-harman]

Pete, do you have an idea how to wire the pickup switches? I find one of my wires has dropped off and I am not sure where it goes

looking at the solder remains  it seems it may be it went to the screw end Yellow and there was a bridge across to screw end Red ( I found what may have been that bridge inside the body).

See photo

Id be really grateful for any advice

Thx

Niuck