Sire-bird, Lull-alike

[d-basser]

As per my panicked thread in the repairs section. Looks like the hum has gone by removing the soldered ground for the pickup casings at the pot cases. The pickup cases are still showing as grounded so I wonder if grounding them at the pots was creating some sort of strange ground loop? Who knows, electronics is witchcraft 

[d-basser]

And she truly lives!

 

 

 

 

Pretty damn happy with the results. Plays nicely, pretty light, nice punchy sound (once I'd sorted the pickups being out of phase).

Edited February 8 by d-basser

[BassApprentice]

That's a real looker! Well done on getting it all sorted.

 

I assume they are the chrome Gemini pickups? Do you (or anyone else) know the difference between them and the nickel covers?

Edited February 8 by BassApprentice

[d-basser]

Cheers

 

They are chrome yeah. Nickel is a slightly warmer colour and slightly less blue than chrome. Similar but if you put them both next to each other you can spot the difference. I have done builds with them both mixed when I had to but if you have the choice and all things are equal stick to one or other

[SpondonBassed]

On 08/02/2025 at 16:40, d-basser said:

Nickel is a slightly warmer colour and slightly less blue than chrome.

 

Nickel is less prone to flaking too.

[Andyjr1515]

Nice work and lovely result

 

I notice that you had filled the bridge earth hole in one of the shots.  Is the bridge earthed?

[d-basser]

54 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Nice work and lovely result

 

I notice that you had filled the bridge earth hole in one of the shots.  Is the bridge earthed?

 

Cheers. 

 

Hole isn't filled, just masked over during construction to allow me to draw on centre lines etc.

 

Bridge is grounded, I used my standard approach which is to run a wire as per the norm and then splay the end out and tape it down with copper tape (making sure it has conductive adhesive). This has 2 benefits, in my mind at least: it holds the wire in place prior to bridge installation, it gives a larger contact point for the bridge ground.

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, d-basser said:

I used my standard approach which is to run a wire as per the norm and then splay the end out and tape it down with copper tape (making sure it has conductive adhesive). This has 2 benefits, in my mind at least: it holds the wire in place prior to bridge installation, it gives a larger contact point for the bridge ground.

Yes - I use a similar method.  I actually solder the wire to the copper tape, then cut an 'arrow head' in the copper to allow me to pull the earth wire and solder joint back into the hole so the bridge only has the copper tape between it and the bass/guitar body. 

[d-basser]

Nice, I have considered similar. With this bass there was a reasonable 'divot' in the finish where the wire had previously been compressed so I wasn't too concerned leaving it proud of the hole

[d-basser]

But what if the side dots glowed....

 

Luminlay rod ordered! We play in some harsh lighting conditions, mostly because I control the lights and have a taste for heavy strobes and sudden black outs. Luminlays are life savers

[d-basser]

Jobs a good un

 

Firstly, you do not get a lot of Luminlay for your buck

 

 

I would also caution that its hard to cut without pinging it across the room, risking what little you get so take care. I cut it by scoring round with a Stanley then snapping with pliers.

 

Drilling out the side dots wasn't as bad as I expected. I drilled a central guide with a narrow gauge PCB bit in a pin vice, then worked up to a 3mm brad point to leave a flat-ish bottom hole.

 

 

 

 

I glued in the small cut sections (~4-5mm long) using epoxy with a black pigment to match the black outer on the material. Once set I trimmed them back with snips and a file, I would again caution anyone doing the same, using snips can cause them to chip, I wouldn't recommend trying to cut completely flush as you'd risk it chipping below the surface.

 

Once close to the surface I used a small chisel and a Stanley blade to cut/scrape flush 

 

 

Once flush I sanded up to 2500 grit, then polished the whole neck back with T-Cut to blend out the work. Pretty chuffed with the results.

 

As an aside, I was surprised to find a small shim in the neck pocket when doing the work. Not sure if I am more surprised that a new and presumably CNC cut bass needed a shim, or that a budget company went to the effort of shimming it.

 

Edited February 28 by d-basser