endorka Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Hi folks, I've written a blog about my adventures fitting Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder pickups to a Squier Precision 5 String, various other modifications, and an example of the sound it makes. I'm really pleased with the outcome, read all about it here :-) [url="http://whatisbest.info/?p=5"]http://whatisbest.info/?p=5[/url] Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huge Hands Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Jennifer, Glad you got it sorted, welcome to the Squier P5 club! I fitted a custom set of Wizards to mine. I read the bit about you having to get the holes made bigger - that was going to be my first question! I managed to get Wizard to make me a set that fitted the holes in mine. It took a couple of attempts but we got there and I love the sound. I have another very very very slow moving project where on another one I'm trying to fit an EMG P/J set after having a big hole cut into the neck pickup position. I might one day put a thread up if I ever finish it to a standard that hasn't involved me giving up and chucking it in the bin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Thanks for the link! Twas a nice read, and I loved the sound of the bass. best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endorka Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 [quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349953414' post='1832584'] Glad you got it sorted, welcome to the Squier P5 club! [/quote] Thank you! Glad you are happy with the sound from your Wizard pickups. Are these custom made? Good luck with the EMGs, I getting the pickup cavities enlarged was the only real area that caused me pause for thought. I wasn't concerned about the result, I would have been happy with some cosmetic blemishes, but was concerned that the cost of doing this would make the project uneconomic. In the end the shop did a really good looking job for a good price. Hopefully we'll be able to read about your project when you get it done :-) Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endorka Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 [quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1349957442' post='1832664'] Thanks for the link! Twas a nice read, and I loved the sound of the bass. [/quote] Thanks Bert, glad you enjoyed it. It's a bass sound I've been after for a long time. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huge Hands Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Jennifer, Yes, the Wizards were custom made. I spoke to Andy as to the sound I was after and I think he recommended the 88's? (long time ago now - can't remember the model numbers) but once he'd made them we found that the screw holes did not quite line up (I managed to ram them in but they looked wrong) and that the B string was weak compared to the rest. I had very stupidly assumed that all Jazz pups were the same, and hadn't realised that on Jazzes, the neck pup is not as long as the bridge one. When he told me this, I measured my old JV 4 string, and found this to be true. It turned out that Squier had used 2x identical pickups that used the same casing size as the smaller neck one from my 4 string, even though this was a very widely spaced 5. The ones he had made were the same size as the bridge pickup in my JV. Andy was very good to me and kindly made me a replacement set with the correct casing size for about another tenner to cover p&p (I had to send the originals back though!). He also made some modifications to the internal "blade" to get the pickup field better for the B string. He said that output would suffer, but this bass still seems to have plenty of oomph and seems to be a stronger output than my JV. This was all about 5 or 6 years ago, but I am still a happy customer! I use it as my main gigging bass and love it. As for my EMG bass - I did struggle for a long time with placement of the split coil pickup. I think I have it right now, but I'm starting to get issues with the cabling because they've been moved around and soldered so much. I tried to send mails/calls to EMG's UK distributor querying whether I could get replacement looms/pots, but I don't seem to be getting any response which is frustrating. I didn't put up a build/customise thread as I read so many on here done by some very clever and talented people, and then I look at some of the shoddy DIY I've tried in my house over the years. It is not good! I'm trying to take my time with this one - about 4 years and counting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 One thing I didn't get was that the SPB-3 pups looked like a set of SJ5-3s. Does this mean the SPB-3s come in different forms? best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endorka Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Thank you Bert, you are correct, it is SJB-3 pickups that I used. I've corrected the blog now :-) Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endorka Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 [quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349967169' post='1832863'] .... This was all about 5 or 6 years ago, but I am still a happy customer! I use it as my main gigging bass and love it. [/quote] I'm glad it worked out well for you, Andy sounds like a good sort. The Squier 5 is now my main bass too, I love the huge chunky neck and sound. I like the way you can get a decent jazz or precision tone from it. [quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349967169' post='1832863'] I didn't put up a build/customise thread as I read so many on here done by some very clever and talented people, and then I look at some of the shoddy DIY I've tried in my house over the years. It is not good! I'm trying to take my time with this one - about 4 years and counting! [/quote] I'd be interested to read about it. From my perspective, I'm not only interested in the perfect builds and customs, but the more earthy experiments as well. As I mentioned, I would have been quite happy with a dodgy cosmetic appearance on my Squier as long as it sounded and played well. That it turned out looking ok is a bonus. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349967169' post='1832863'] I didn't put up a build/customise thread as I read so many on here done by some very clever and talented people, and then I look at some of the shoddy DIY I've tried in my house over the years. It is not good![/quote] On the contrary, my friend. I feel sure it would be inspiring to many. Superjobs so easily discourage others. [quote name='endorka' timestamp='1349974300' post='1833014'] Thank you Bert, you are correct, it is SJB-3 pickups that I used.[/quote] Wasn't correct. Just didn't understand anything, but you understood that. best, bert Edited October 12, 2012 by BassTractor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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