BB415 modifications

[such]

so I've got this crazy idea - I love my 415, apart from the bridge pickup. It's useful, but a bit noisy and in my opinion not up to the class of the P pickup. There is no aftermarket replacement, bar magnet means it cannot be recoiled to be a split coil, and even the equivalent in the top off the line BB2025 is reported to have a noisy J pickup.

I came up with an idea to make it a double P. Of course, finding another P pickup for this bass is impossible, I'd have to buy another bass like this as a donor. Not to have it otherwise wasted, I could perhaps make the other one a J+J or put those pickups close together in the stingrayish sweet spot sort of place. There would be a fair bit of routing required on both basses, and then filling the holes, but I plan on refinishing my bass anyway, so I would just need to buy the donor bass in equally unappealing colour, so I wouldn't feel bad about first ruining the finish and then refinishing.

As for the refinish, I'm thinking about some rattle can nitro lacquers from that guy in Manchester, some nice old Fender custom colour, most probably Burgundy Mist, but others like Surf Green or Sonic Blue appeal to me as well.

What else... bridge, definitely. Something heavy. And tuners maybe. These are good, but something lighter would be even better, as there is a slight degree of neck dive.

thoughts?

Edited June 5, 2012 by such

[dannybuoy]

I've got a Badass V ready to fit to mine and right about trying new pickups too. If you're gonna be re-routing and filling in holes, instead of buying another donor bass, you could either buy two matching 5 string P pickups or get a Musicman style humbucker for the bridge. I like the look of the Delano pups mainly because their huge pole pieces look cool! Another option is to get some custom pickups made that for straight in but that wouldn't come cheap.

[such]

fair point, I haven't really thought of that, but it's probably because I'm really happy with this P pickup, so my first thought was to just add another one. And buying a donor wouldn't probably be more expensive than buying a good pickup (unless used, which would take a while before it'd show up for sale) - I bought this bass for 80 quid and see them selling for less then 150 regularly. The big plus is, I would end up with an extra bass, which is never a bad thing, right?

[neepheid]

Odd, isn't it? I don't use it much (the P pickup is too good ), but I always marvel at the bridge pickup in my BB614 - it's silent and easily keeps pace with the neck pickup. Just my opinion, of course.

[dannybuoy]

I don't like the bridge pickup by itself but it sounds great in combination with the P. I am in two minds whether to trade up to a 1025X or mod this one. Or do both!

If I was to fit new pickups, I wonder if anyone on here would be able to fabricate a new set of chrome pickup surrounds? I don't want to refin or cover it up with a scratchplate.

If I did go this route, I could sell you the stock ones, Such!

Edited June 5, 2012 by dannybuoy

[Horizontalste]

How about a blend pot. Should be able to tame it nicely.
Once you butcher it you can't get it back. Imo.

[such]

I've butchered some basses and guitars in the past This one being so cheap and basic, while still solid and good is in my opinion a perfect modification platform. I've played one with a blend knob and didn't really like it, I felt like the P pickup was somewhat tamed even when soloed. Plus I find this particular J pickup almost useless, as I usually only use either pickup soloed on my basses, don't find myself blending them too often. I do miss having a nice sounding, silent (hum-wise) bridge pickup though. Like Dannybuoy, I'd like to keep the look with those chrome frames, it gives the bass sort of '50s automobile style. And yes Danny, if you decide to swap the pickups for something else, do keep me in mind, I'll buy the stock P from you

[TRBboy]

what you need is the neck pickup from a BB714 at the bridge instead of the existing pickup. It wouldn't look out of place either. Worth ringing Yamaha spares?

http://www.musik-schmidt.de/images/product_images/popup_images/Yamaha-BB-714-BS-Black_1.jpg

[Sean]

[quote name='such' timestamp='1338900696' post='1680778']
Plus I find this particular J pickup almost useless, as I usually only use either pickup soloed on my basses, don't find myself blending them too often. I do miss having a nice sounding, silent (hum-wise) bridge pickup though. [/quote]

Sounds to me like there's an issue with that J pickup, they should be really stonking, mine is. If you look under the review section of this forum, you'll see the replacement bridge I put on mine - click the link in my sig.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Sean

[such]

I don't think there's an issue with the pickup, it's just as noisy as many single coil pickups, a bit more than some I've tried (like a SD Quarterpounder) and a bit less than some (like stock pickups in my old Peavey Milestone). It it midrange-y and honky, and while it can be good for adding some bite to the P, I just prefer the P on its own. I would just like a wider, fuller sounding bridge pickup that would be really useful on its own. I did own a P+P bass in the past, it was a bit odd (beech wood body, light ash neck, maple fretboard that I later defretted and covered with ebony veneer), but both pickups sounded great soloed. It's not that I want to fix the bass per se, it's just I haven't modify a bass in a while and I have that dream of a great 5 string double P This one seems to be a good base, as I love the P pickup on it and find the J a bit unsatisfying in comparison. And exactly now, the idea just expanded - why not add some serial/parallel switches to both pickups independently (of course, if the wiring makes it at all possible). I've seen the bridge, Sean, looks good. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/goeldo_bass_bruecke_5_chrome_hw55c.htm"]Here[/url] is another tempting budget option

Edited February 6, 2013 by such

[Sean]

[quote name='such' timestamp='1338987424' post='1681986']
[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/goeldo_bass_bruecke_5_chrome_hw55c.htm"]Here[/url] is another tempting budget option
[/quote]

I like the look of that. Certainly makes changing strings easy and if like me you take flats on and off different basses a lot then that one won't shred the wraps

[such]

yeah, I've had many basses with and without bridges that allow that, and it makes a difference, even if only a few times a year. So when I make a swap, that's one of the things I want changed. I'm also planning on adding more/better string retainers on the headstock, those would have to be Hipshot I guess, as here I also expect easy string-changeability There's almost no angle to the E string on the nut, and very little on A and B, I hope the retainer would add a little bit of angle (and tension) here. This and the bridge combined will hopefully make the B string a bit better. If I remember correctly, Sean, you mentioned in your review that the bridge swap actually has helped. Not that it's bad as it is, I'm only slightly dissatisfied while practicing with headphones, it's much better through the amp, but every little helps, right?

[Graham]

You planning on having the bridge P pickup the normal way round or reversing it? I love the idea of a P / reverse P wired for stereo.

[such]

to be honest, I'd love them both "reverse" (bass side coil closer to the bridge), just not sure whether those chrome frames can be reversed - seem a bit sharp on the body side edges. That could be sanded down a tad, but I doubt they are so smooth and shiny on the other side, need to look one day. Otherwise, would have to look for someone able to make those.

[Sean]

[quote name='such' timestamp='1339337533' post='1686994']
I'm also planning on adding more/better string retainers on the headstock, those would have to be Hipshot I guess, as here I also expect easy string-changeability There's almost no angle to the E string on the nut, and very little on A and B, I hope the retainer would add a little bit of angle (and tension) here. This and the bridge combined will hopefully make the B string a bit better. If I remember correctly, Sean, you mentioned in your review that the bridge swap actually has helped. Not that it's bad as it is, I'm only slightly dissatisfied while practicing with headphones, it's much better through the amp, but every little helps, right?
[/quote]

I have Hipshot string retainers on mine, a two and a three string one and they help loads; it's improved the B string a fraction more again - I got the idea from Hugh MacDonald's Sadowsky basses; tried it and it worked a treat. The bridge change helps if the new bridge moves the anchor point of the string back toward the edge of the bass.

[such]

so, I've decided what I want to do with the bass. Bridge swap, string retainers, possibly lightweight tuners (although I do like the stock ones, they feel nice and are pretty), refinish - still haven't made up my mind with the colour, Burgundy Mist or Surf Green seem possible. And a big job: I want to reverse the P pickup. I want to keep the "treble" coil where it is, and move the "bass" coil towards the bridge. I want more tightness on lower strings, especially when that pickup is soloed, but with both on as well. The J is nice as it is, I wasn't fond of it at all, but it grew on me.

Something like this:

[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/2ihp3jq.jpg[/IMG]

I can do the routing, I've done it before (adding J pickups to Precision basses etc). The problem is, that metal frame thing. I would need one in reverse. Anybody knows anyone who could make one?

Also, Sean, do you think you could find a pic of the headstock of your 415 with the retainers on?

[Sean]

[IMG]http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd462/Stoker1/photo_zps5f07cbe8.jpg[/IMG]

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='such' timestamp='1360114790' post='1965187']
The problem is, that metal frame thing. I would need one in reverse. Anybody knows anyone who could make one?
[/quote]

Why would you need to have a new one made? Looks like flipping it round as in the photo does the job just fine?

[such]

thanks Sean - I was a bit worried about the amount of space between the B-string tuner and the curved part of the headstock surface near the nut. Seems fine

Danny - flipping the thing round will do the job in a worst case scenario - but it wouldn't be perfect as the edges would be sharpish and the screws protruding out a bit more than they do when that frame is in "current" position.

[Ruck]

Its not perfect but it does the job if you reverse the original metal surround. No sharp edges and the use of smaller screws here on my modded BB1200

[Sean]

Nice 1200! Very nice.