neepheid Posted March 4 Posted March 4 (edited) Well, that's me crashed out of gear abstinence for this year and it's time for my full confession (although I'm 1 in, 1 out for the year so far, so could be worse). But I have a good excuse - this bass has been living rent-free in my head for nearly 12 years* and I finally snagged one in the finish I wanted. Black and silver ones pop up more often but I've only seen the purpleburst available two or three times in all these dozen years, so seeing as I'm not getting any younger, I decided a bit of carpe diem was in order. It's a three pickup, Les Paul shaped bass. It has three Greco T-bird-a-like pickups and three volume controls. That's it. Hardware is good quality - a Hipshot B style bridge and Gotoh tuners. It's had a life, there are some dings and scuffs in it but it's taken a polish well, the pickups have buffed up nicely and the fretboard enjoyed a drink of lemon oil very much. Lovely, dark rosewood board, yum. S'pose you'll be wanting some pics... It sounds great - I had a blast through my TC Electronic BH250 into headphones and it's got a lot of mid poke about it - might have to boost my mids a bit less when I'm playing this guy! Using the different pickups in different combinations makes noticeable changes to the tone, but it's not quite the same as having a tone knob - I might mod it but I'm not in a hurry. * TWELVE BLOODY YEARS - https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/210350-sorted-greco-3-pickup-les-paul-bass/ Edited March 4 by neepheid 32 Quote
snorkie635 Posted March 4 Posted March 4 Go Neeps! Don't mod it - it is what it is and what it is, is different. Enjoy. 1 Quote
ajkula66 Posted March 4 Posted March 4 I absolutely love that finish. Play it in good health and enjoy! 1 Quote
neepheid Posted March 8 Author Posted March 8 (edited) Well, turns out I have a little more work to do - I think the bridge pickup volume pot is dodgy because I can still kinda hear the bass through the amp when all the volumes are turned down. Tapping the pickups with a screwdriver revealed that it was the bridge pickup still making noise. Also, touching the pickup casings causes buzz, so they'll need grounded (noise goes away if you touch the pickup casing and the bridge at the same time). So I've ordered some pots. I'm going to completely rewire it - might as well replace all the pots at the same time. Gonna copper shield the cavities and ground the pickups casings as well. Not doing any wiring mods at this time, just rewiring it as per stock configuration. Edited March 8 by neepheid 3 Quote
Shaggy Posted March 9 Posted March 9 Wow, cooler than a very cool thing!. Needs a Prince tribute band..... 1 Quote
neepheid Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 2 hours ago, velvetkevorkian said: What are the controls, is it just three volumes? Yup, VVV. 1 Quote
velvetkevorkian Posted March 9 Posted March 9 Interesting choice... Looks great though, that purple is lovely. 1 Quote
W1_Pro Posted March 9 Posted March 9 Thats lovely. Really interesting and unusual bass. Enjoy it! 1 Quote
neepheid Posted March 11 Author Posted March 11 Well, I started addressing this old bass's weaknesses last night. It was going well - Greco very kindly drilled access holes between all the pickup routes so I can connect the pickup shields together and only have to run one wire into the cavity instead of three, that was good of them... Gratuitous copper shot for the lovers of shiny things... Then... disaster! Managed to get two pickup routes done and connected. They have electrical continuity so I guess I did it right. More copper tape procured, back to it tonight! 3 Quote
neepheid Posted March 13 Author Posted March 13 Great success! Bass now silent, unless I don't want it to be. Pots arrived, but got band rehearsal tonight so will have to wait until tomorrow. 7 Quote
neepheid Posted March 15 Author Posted March 15 (edited) Well, I think I'll be shuffling over to the Tech forum now. I've just rewired it, and all I've succeded in doing is moving the problem from the bridge pickup to the neck pickup. It still won't completely shut up when all the volumes are at zero - some weak signal comes through, but from the neck pickup this time. FFS! Edited March 15 by neepheid 1 2 Quote
Magister Ludi Posted March 18 Posted March 18 was there not a thread somewhere for les paul shaped bassage-sure I saw it,this beastie should be up there with the rest of em fo'sure 🙃 1 Quote
neepheid Posted March 18 Author Posted March 18 Well, in case you didn't see it, I'm back in business. A protracted hair pulling session later, I now have a bass which can be made silent with the volume knobs. 3 Quote
neepheid Posted Saturday at 16:54 Author Posted Saturday at 16:54 Well, I couldn't help myself... Freeway 6 way switch installed. Now it's switch, volume, tone. Now I can do my fade ins/volume swells with whichever pickup combination I want. 4 Quote
.jpg.518c69c2d9e1581799f3c11301dc2da5.jpg)
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.