markdavid Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 (edited) Hi Just bought an EB0 copy on the bay,apparently a Ventura brand bass. Not sure what to expect, was not expensive so not too much of a bummer if it isn't that great but messaged the seller to ask about the action and they said it has liw action so that's a good start at least. Interestingly the pickup looks halfway between a Mudbucker and a mini humbucker Not sure how much space is routed for the pickup, hopefully there is some space routed under the pickup surround so I can swap the pickup for a mudbucker without too much hassle if the stock pickup sucks Edited March 9, 2017 by markdavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 The pickup is unlikely to be humbucking despite the outward appearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1489075238' post='3254206'] The pickup is unlikely to be humbucking despite the outward appearance. [/quote] I am guessing it is probably a single coil under the cover, hopefully it will still sound fairly tubby due to the pickups location Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Might well be a proper 'bucker - some of the early 70s MIJ copies (which this is) had Maxon humbuckers the same size as guitar pickups. That's what this looks like to me - usually "fakebuckers" have round-head pole screws. Easiest way to tell is to see if a screwdriver or similar steel impliment will stick to the smooth side. Also might well have a 5-digit code stamped underneath, which can be used to date it. Anyway, this is the original ad for the bass: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Collector-039-s-Rare-Ventura-Bass-Guitar-Right-Handed-/262877748147"]http://www.ebay.co.u...d-/262877748147[/url] I very much doubt it's a Ventura - Ventura was a brand name used by US importer/distributor C. Bruno, and they were never available in the UK. Basses like this would have been sold with numerous names (and frequently no name at all) all over the world. This one presumably did have a brand name that a previous owner objected to - sufficiently violently that it appears they did indeed kill it with fire. That reveals the interesting laminated neck construction, which is fairly common on 60s & a few early 70s MIJ guitars, sometimes known as "strip mahogany". Not beautiful but very resistant to twisting & warping, apparently. This probably would have had a black plastic veneer on the headstock face before the blowtorch attack. Pretty cool old bass & not bad for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1489108467' post='3254495'] Might well be a proper 'bucker - some of the early 70s MIJ copies (which this is) had Maxon humbuckers the same size as guitar pickups. That's what this looks like to me - usually "fakebuckers" have round-head pole screws. Easiest way to tell is to see if a screwdriver or similar steel impliment will stick to the smooth side. Also might well have a 5-digit code stamped underneath, which can be used to date it. Anyway, this is the original ad for the bass: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Collector-039-s-Rare-Ventura-Bass-Guitar-Right-Handed-/262877748147"]http://www.ebay.co.u...d-/262877748147[/url] I very much doubt it's a Ventura - Ventura was a brand name used by US importer/distributor C. Bruno, and they were never available in the UK. Basses like this would have been sold with numerous names (and frequently no name at all) all over the world. This one presumably did have a brand name that a previous owner objected to - sufficiently violently that it appears they did indeed kill it with fire. That reveals the interesting laminated neck construction, which is fairly common on 60s & a few early 70s MIJ guitars, sometimes known as "strip mahogany". Not beautiful but very resistant to twisting & warping, apparently. This probably would have had a black plastic veneer on the headstock face before the blowtorch attack. Pretty cool old bass & not bad for the money. [/quote] Thanks for the info, would be cool if it is a humbucker, and even cooler if the route is mudbucker size, yes the headstock does seem to have been attacked, i might give it a sanding and then a coat or two of varnish Edit: Have googled Maxon humbuckers and these in the pics and link below seem to be the model on this bass , they seem to be around 8k ohm so not mudbucker hot , I will give them a fair shot but fairly sure I will want to replace with something hotter and tubbier/closer to mudbucker kind of sound [url="https://picclick.com.au/Pair-of-1972-vintage-Maxon-bass-humbuckers-and-322430269588.html"]https://picclick.com...2430269588.html[/url] Edited March 10, 2017 by markdavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 I would be tempted to take a router to that, move that bucker down to the bridge and stick a mudbucker in the neck - go full EB3 on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 [quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1489145930' post='3254710'] I would be tempted to take a router to that, move that bucker down to the bridge and stick a mudbucker in the neck - go full EB3 on it. [/quote] My plan is to stick a Mudbucker in the neck position, I am hoping that a mudbucker will fit in there, if not I may get a mudbucker and remove the cover and use the existing cover to house the mudbucker innards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 [quote name='markdavid' timestamp='1489146175' post='3254713'] My plan is to stick a Mudbucker in the neck position, I am hoping that a mudbucker will fit in there, if not I may get a mudbucker and remove the cover and use the existing cover to house the mudbucker innards [/quote] It should, if I recall correctly most of the bigness of a mudbucker is top mounted chrome surround. Bloody hard to find one though. That leaves you with a leftover smaller humbucker, which would go very nicely by the bridge like an EB3 (I'm like a dog with a bone sometimes) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1489150686' post='3254764'] It should, if I recall correctly most of the bigness of a mudbucker is top mounted chrome surround. Bloody hard to find one though. That leaves you with a leftover smaller humbucker, which would go very nicely by the bridge like an EB3 (I'm like a dog with a bone sometimes) [/quote] Awesome , I assume it is fairly straightforward to separate the cover from the actual pickup? Edited March 10, 2017 by markdavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 You misunderstand me, you don't need to, the pickup should sit in the hole you already have, and then the big chrome bit sits over the top, hiding any holes left by the old one, hopefully this picture illustrates what I mean. Although looking at that, it seems wider than I remember, bit of chiselling needed maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 [quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1489156394' post='3254812'] You misunderstand me, you don't need to, the pickup should sit in the hole you already have, and then the big chrome bit sits over the top, hiding any holes left by the old one, hopefully this picture illustrates what I mean. Although looking at that, it seems wider than I remember, bit of chiselling needed maybe. [/quote] Ok thanks, so the cover is not even a part of the pickup but literally just sits on top of the pickup. I am going to order a mudbucker of some kind and see if it will fit in the rout, I have looked up the dimensions of the pickup that I believe to be in this bass and if the info is correct the dims are 95x51mm, googling mudbuckers give me dims of 89.5x53.5mm so possibly a mudbucker might well fit in the rout without the cover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Ok have received the bass,unfortunately the bridge on this bass is horrendous,the worst bridge i have ever had the misfortune to stumble across,no individual adjustment of height or intonation, my fault for not doing my research, i will take this to my local luthier for him to have a look at sorting a bridge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Well - unlike most of the rest of the bass, the bridge is a pretty accurate copy of the Gibson 2-point used on real EB-0s! And yes, they're pretty useless. There are drop-in alternatives available, Hipshot do a 2-point replacement, and there was a Schaller 3D version back in the 70s/80s. Not sure but if the stud spacing is the same, you could proibably use a Babicz 3-point too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 [quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1489446286' post='3257103'] Well - unlike most of the rest of the bass, the bridge is a pretty accurate copy of the Gibson 2-point used on real EB-0s! And yes, they're pretty useless. There are drop-in alternatives available, Hipshot do a 2-point replacement, and there was a Schaller 3D version back in the 70s/80s. Not sure but if the stud spacing is the same, you could proibably use a Babicz 3-point too. [/quote] had a look at hipshot but have noticed that the string spacing on this bass is pretty narrow so not sure if the hipshot would be the same dimensions etc,the spacing at the nut and at the bridge are pretty much the same,i think a better bet might be a fender style bridge with a chunky baseplate to hide the existing bridge holes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoo Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 I've got one that looks very similar to that... Mine's branded Zenta though. Same rubbish bridge too The pickup in mine was shot when i got it (sometime in the early 90s) and got replaced with a super cheap guitar pickup with no exposed pole pieces. The rest of the loom got replaced sometime later based off a 60s EB circuit i found somewhere on t'internet. Sounded ok to my ears at the time - at least for as long as it held my interest... Which admittedly wasn't very long. Think it's still in the shed somewhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdavid Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 Ok, strangely by some unexplained magic over the course of a couple of days the action seems to have settled a little and the action is more balanced, still not perfect but better, hopefully when I swap out the bridge this will be further improved. Unfortunately the stock pickup sounds like ass , i think the issue is that with a pickup in the extreme neck position to sound good it needs to be massively over-wound like a mud-bucker to exploit the added bass afforded by the positioning, this pickup is anything but overwound so it just sounds like poop, if I can get this bass playing nicely I may drop a mud-bucker in place but doing so will require additional routing as the current pickup is not particularly big, if only I knew how to rewind a pickup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.