Miss your old T-40?

[Jack]

I have never played or interacted in any way with a T-40 as I'm just uninterested, but I like that Retrovibe. Maybe that makes it a bad copy but I think it looks like an interesting bass.

[BigRedX]

IMO the important thing about the original Peavey T60 guitar and the T40 bass was not the instruments themselves but how they were made, using copy lathes which allowed both consistency between instruments and for them to be offered at about half the price of their US-made competition. Many features of the design were done to facilitate this method of production. Of course these days with CNC machines which are capable of so much more than what was available in the mid 70s, the concept of the early Peavey instruments is mostly irrelevant. 

 

Once you are no longer constrained by what is easy and practical using mid 70 technology you end up with the Retrovibe version which is essentially a P-bass fitted with two MM style humbuckers.

[Bigwan]

Is it just me or are we all missing the point... It's a vehicle for a copy of the T40 electronics package with a visual nod to the original. Nothing more. Could probably be made to look any way you like...

[kodiakblair]

8 hours ago, LowB_FTW said:

It has to be the biggest bass bridge I think I've ever seen!

Is there a 5-string version?!?

It's a chunky unit.  6lbs of metal on a T-40, bridge accounts for 1/5th.

 

No 5 string version, Peavey didn't venture into 5 strings until after they'd scrapped the T-40.

[LukeFRC]

5 hours ago, BigRedX said:

IMO the important thing about the original Peavey T60 guitar and the T40 bass was not the instruments themselves but how they were made, using copy lathes which allowed both consistency between instruments and for them to be offered at about half the price of their US-made competition. Many features of the design were done to facilitate this method of production. Of course these days with CNC machines which are capable of so much more than what was available in the mid 70s, the concept of the early Peavey instruments is mostly irrelevant. 

 

Once you are no longer constrained by what is easy and practical using mid 70 technology you end up with the Retrovibe version which is essentially a P-bass fitted with two MM style humbuckers.

Two piece neck design for stability, and using gun cases as a carry case... there were more things that were fairly groundbreaking too on it I think? 

[kodiakblair]

48 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Two piece neck design for stability, and using gun cases as a carry case... there were more things that were fairly groundbreaking too on it I think? 

Peavey may have applied for a patent but it wasn't an original idea, my 1968 Wilson Sapphire has a 'bi-laminate' neck. 

 

As the years have progressed it also turned out not such a hot idea. Split glue seams are not uncommon, micro tilt puts pressure directly on the glue seam, TR arches up towards fretboard; again directly on the glue seam.  Their bi-laminate also wasn't that stable, "Warped Necks" in the US does good business straightening old Peavey necks.

 

The 'spin-a-split' tone pot was another recycled idea, Dan Armstrong had used and discarded it back in 71 or 72.

 

The 'chainsaw' case started life as a Peavey product though I doubt they intended the fur to fall off so easily nor the foam to degrade into sticky goo but that's what often happened.

 

A nice touch was a labelled scratchplate overlay film, trouble was when left too long or in sunshine it bonded to the scratchplate. Stapling a pie tin inside the control cavity for shielding wasn't such a great idea 😄

[Twincam]

15 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

How does a T-40 sound exactly ?

 

 

 

Clack, clack, click, click, twang, pop. 

 

Un amped slap, of course. 😆

 

[Bassassin]

I quite liked my old T40, tonally very versatile but (in my experience) fiddly as f*ck to find the sound you wanted & nigh-on impossible to keep it dialled in. Very playable bass apart from the back-breaking weight, so mine never got gigged & didn't stay around too long.

 

I like the fact David @ Retrovibe's done this but for me it doesn't work aesthetically - the body proportions are off, looks like he's used a Stingray-ish body with the neck (and therefore pickups & bridge) set further back than a T40, leading to that oversized-looking scratchplate. That said, I hope it's successful enough for there to be a v.2, with proper T40-shaped body, in natural or black. I could be tempted...

[uk_lefty]

1 hour ago, Bassassin said:

That said, I hope it's successful enough for there to be a v.2, with proper T40-shaped body, in natural or black. I could be tempted...

That seems more of an Eastwood type thing?

[LukeFRC]

5 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Peavey may have applied for a patent but it wasn't an original idea, my 1968 Wilson Sapphire has a 'bi-laminate' neck. 

 

As the years have progressed it also turned out not such a hot idea. Split glue seams are not uncommon, micro tilt puts pressure directly on the glue seam, TR arches up towards fretboard; again directly on the glue seam.  Their bi-laminate also wasn't that stable, "Warped Necks" in the US does good business straightening old Peavey necks.

 

The 'spin-a-split' tone pot was another recycled idea, Dan Armstrong had used and discarded it back in 71 or 72.

 

The 'chainsaw' case started life as a Peavey product though I doubt they intended the fur to fall off so easily nor the foam to degrade into sticky goo but that's what often happened.

 

A nice touch was a labelled scratchplate overlay film, trouble was when left too long or in sunshine it bonded to the scratchplate. Stapling a pie tin inside the control cavity for shielding wasn't such a great idea 😄

I never said they were great in practice but bi laminate necks made by a machine was still groundbreaking, also the way they used antimatter in it so it was heavy enough to bend space time

[kodiakblair]

2 hours ago, Twincam said:

 

Clack, clack, click, click, twang, pop. 

 

Un amped slap, of course. 😆

 

Aye, slapping a T-40 is best done unplugged 🙂

 

Thing is I was being serious, what does a T-40 sound like ?

 

I've owned a few and through my Peavey collection have spoke with 100s of Peavey owners, none of us could give a definitive description of 'T-40 Tone'. That's a major failing for a "Iconic/Highly Regarded/Sought After/Revered/Classic" 😄 Plenty of words about the tone circuit and the basses it's supposed to (but really doesn't) copy, not a peep about having a signature tone of it's own.

 

5 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I never said they were great in practice but bi laminate necks made by a machine was still groundbreaking

 Luke

 

Matsumoku were using CNC a few years before Peavey, Hartley's "First in the World ! " was BS self promotion. 

 

 

While not groundbreaking, Hartley's problem solving skills were impressive. 

 

Fender puts pressure on music shops selling Peavey amps, to sell Fender guitars they must also sell their amps. Hartley decides to counter by giving stores Peavey guitars to sell alongside his amps.

He's painfully aware neither his workforce nor local labour pool is up to the task of guitar building. Solution, he gets machines in.

Spray shop is inexperienced. Sod it, we'll only do natural matt until they get experience.

 

There's other examples but you get the gist 👍

[Bassassin]

3 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

That seems more of an Eastwood type thing?

 

Not when you consider Retrovibe came to prominence making Rickenbacker copies.

[stewblack]

T40 with a dark board and in sunburst is one of the greatest looking basses ever made.

Unfortunately they're reputed to be built in the same factory as the Russian tank of similar name.

I like Retrovibe basses and the guy who runs the company is a lovely bloke too.

 

[crazycloud]

On 12/05/2023 at 03:02, kodiakblair said:

You'll likely need to make new pickups too, the blades don't lend themselves to wider string spacing. From memory the steel used was 63mm long. 

 

I kept the original neck for my 5 string conversion, not a wide neck to begin with. Think I got 15.6mm

So you were the originator of the T50? Glad to give credit.

 

I have no problem with narrow spacing, after all I finger pick the SRC6 that's in my avatar and that's 10.8mm.

 

T40s are rare down here so I want to keep my modified one completely retrofitable.

[kodiakblair]

6 hours ago, crazycloud said:

So you were the originator of the T50? Glad to give credit.

Hardly, quite a few tread that path before me 😀

 

The T-series designer, Chip Todd, built one years after he'd left Peavey. It must have wound it's way to Meridian as a good friend of mine played it, said it was awful 😁

 

 

Along with being a fine bass player ,Ronnie was chief engineer of Peavey's mechanical dept. Since he'd easy access to QC fails and stuff smuggled out the door, he decided he'd have a go at a 5 string 40; I followed Ronnie's advice. His method was keep the bridge base plate but scrap the saddles, photo shows just how little coverage 5 strings get with blades.

 

 

Sweet bass. 

 

 

My bass had toasters, same width of blades just hidden under plastic so doesn't look as tight.

 

 

Another convert I know went with a different bridge, Welsh Tim used a Kahler👍

 

 

[crazycloud]

On 13/05/2023 at 17:10, kodiakblair said:

His method was keep the bridge base plate but scrap the saddles, photo shows just how little coverage 5 strings get with blades.

Thanks for the detail.

Is it not worth doing with the stock pickups (toasters on both basses I have)? Are the outer strings lower in output the way you built yours?

 

Narrower spacing isn't an issue and another build I have planned is for 14mm so I could do the same and get about 6mm narrower edge to edge and keep it better in the magnetic aperture.

[kodiakblair]

@crazycloud

 

It wasn't worth doing for me.

Only did it because I'd a few of them and the body/neck was rough as get out on one. There was the 5 string, another got active EQ; 3rd had humbucker red wires snipped but I left the 4th stock.

Rough as the neck was I got lucky, took a hefty 5 string set of La Bella Jamerson's for 18 months without issue 👍

 

Don't recall much drop out though I never really played it much, since you're going with a tighter spacing you'll be sound 🙂