kingforaday Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Hey all, I bought this bass from here years ago for my sister when she was learning, she’s now asked me to sell it for her, but I’ve just tested it and although it works the middle control knob does nothing!? I opened it up and there were two wires (red and white from pickup) inside soldered together and wrapped with electrical tape... so it’s some form of bypass/mod by the previous owner, that she never noticed. I’m guessing that makes it the volume control for the other coil? I’ve taken pics of the pots and how it’s wired at the moment and hopefully someone can spot how to put it back to its original wiring? I’m in no way familiar with musicman style basses and although I can use a soldering iron, my knowledge of what I’m actually doing is severely lacking! any help greatly appreciated and if anyone happens to own one that hasn’t been tinkered and can provide me with a picture to copy, I’ll be most grateful! cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) I think the hotwire gets unsoldered and the red and white go in its place I think it's a series parallel wiring loom like in dimarzio pups but can't really see or even remember atm lol Thinking about it if you find a Wilkinson pickup diagram on line that will tell you as that's what should be in it Edited September 26, 2020 by Thunderbird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 29 minutes ago, Thunderbird said: Thinking about it if you find a Wilkinson pickup diagram on line that will tell you as that's what should be in it Ah ha! Yeah I tried looking up the bass wiring, stingray wiring... didn’t think of the pickup itself, nice one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 No worries I had to think been a while since I have done one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I do have such a bass but sadly it is buried - I’ll dig it out if thunderbird’s answer is not enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 22 minutes ago, Geek99 said: I do have such a bass but sadly it is buried - I’ll dig it out if thunderbird’s answer is not enough If you don’t mind that would be really useful! I’m not getting much joy on a google search (just lots of threads on forums such as this, with people asking for wiring diagrams) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 It’s active ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 No! I should’ve said, it’s passive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamg67 Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 So it has one pickup, looks like that's in series which is what the red and white wires are soldered together for? Then it looks like it has two tone pots? Both have caps on them anyway. Is it a kind of fake 2 band eq with different capacitor values? It wouldn't quite work as they would both be high cut but at different frequencies and they would overlap but I've seen crazier things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 I'd just rewire as a Jazz bass, considering each coil as a separate pickup. I had an OLP wired that way and the difference between the coils was subtle, given how close they are, but noticeable and useful. In fact, look for a "Jazz parallel/series switch" and wire it with that, for maximum versatility. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 On 27/09/2020 at 10:12, adamg67 said: So it has one pickup, looks like that's in series which is what the red and white wires are soldered together for? Thats what I was thinking - though you'd need the wiring diagram to be sure - might be parallel! On 27/09/2020 at 10:12, adamg67 said: Then it looks like it has two tone pots? Both have caps on them anyway. Is it a kind of fake 2 band eq with different capacitor values? It wouldn't quite work as they would both be high cut but at different frequencies and they would overlap but I've seen crazier things. There are passive treble and bass circuit - there is one on the G&L L2000 - to be fair that doesn't really look like it though - again hard to know without seeing the cap values. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Dragon Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Maybe been converted to make it passive? I have one and it started as active but had it converted and kept a control in as a dummy to fill a gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 Hey all, no update really other than I think you've all helped me understand that it may not be a mod and that its supposed to be a tone pot... but in either case it doesn't work. I'm gonna strip it all apart and test everything to see if I can work out what is wrong. Man I wish I hadn't given away a box of spare pots and other parts last year ("I'll never need these" - I for some odd reason decided) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamg67 Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 51 minutes ago, kingforaday said: Hey all, no update really other than I think you've all helped me understand that it may not be a mod and that its supposed to be a tone pot... but in either case it doesn't work. I'm gonna strip it all apart and test everything to see if I can work out what is wrong. Man I wish I hadn't given away a box of spare pots and other parts last year ("I'll never need these" - I for some odd reason decided) 😂 this happens to me every time I have a clear out! It is such a tough balance between “might come in handy” and “oh **** I’m officially a hoarder”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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