Took bass for electronics upgrade, now all kinds of problems!

Lonnybass · #1 06-11-2006, 10:00 AM

Ok then! The frustration has officially set in!

I brought my Pedulla Thunderbolt in to a big reputable guitar shops here in Chicago last month for the addition of an NTBT preamp. First time out the door, and the pickup pan pot was wired in reverse, which I didn't realize until I was on a gig. Now, the bass has a much lower output than before - and when I tweak the output switch within the cavity, everything distorts.

And then last week at an audition a solder came off a pot, and now that I've repaired it, it appears that the factory-installed Thunderguts switch has been permanently defeated - I can't detect any change in the tone of the bass when the switch is flipped up or down.

I've never had any problems with this bass before the electronics upgrade - now I'm starting to wonder if I did the right thing allowing anyone other than Mike Pedulla to work on it. Should I bring it back to the shop and tell them I don't want the bass back until they get it right permanently? Or what???

Lonnybass

Masher88 · #2 06-11-2006, 10:09 AM

Of course you should take it back to the repair place! How long has it been since you first took it in? The solution may be to have them put your bass back to original form then send it back to Pedulla for the upgrade.

function · #3 06-11-2006, 10:15 AM

Was this Third Coast? I'm about to get a pickup upgrade done by them, but if this is about them, maybe I'll consider somewher else

pkr2 · #4 06-11-2006, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lonnybass

Ok then! The frustration has officially set in!

I brought my Pedulla Thunderbolt in to a big reputable guitar shops here in Chicago last month for the addition of an NTBT preamp. First time out the door, and the pickup pan pot was wired in reverse, which I didn't realize until I was on a gig. Now, the bass has a much lower output than before - and when I tweak the output switch within the cavity, everything distorts.

And then last week at an audition a solder came off a pot, and now that I've repaired it, it appears that the factory-installed Thunderguts switch has been permanently defeated - I can't detect any change in the tone of the bass when the switch is flipped up or down.

I've never had any problems with this bass before the electronics upgrade - now I'm starting to wonder if I did the right thing allowing anyone other than Mike Pedulla to work on it. Should I bring it back to the shop and tell them I don't want the bass back until they get it right permanently? Or what???

Lonnybass

There are two ways to look at it. If thier work was trustworthy, the bass would be working. If they are incompetent, chances are that they'll just screw it up again.

I took a look at your profile and I see that you are not gonna be out of business for lack of a bass if you send it to Mike. Nice stable btw.

I would call the store and tell them that you plan to send the bass to be repaired and expect, at the very least, a full refund and possible damages. That will let you know pretty quickly how cooperative they're gonna be.

Regardless of what the store says, I would still send it to mike. You know that you'll never feel safe using it without a backup, knowing the caliber of thier work.

That's a mighty nice instrument to get screwed up. My blood pressure would be up about 90 points if it were me.

Good luck.

Lonnybass · #5 06-11-2006, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by function

Was this Third Coast? I'm about to get a pickup upgrade done by them, but if this is about them, maybe I'll consider somewher else

It was indeed Third Coast. They also did a fret job on the Pedulla and another electronics upgrade on another instrument, which turned out fine. Don't know if they were just having a bad day when they did the Pedulla. Nice bunch of guys over there though.

Lonnybass

winston · #6 06-20-2006, 10:09 PM

Did you ever get this resolved? I have a '90's ThunderBolt 6 and have thought about installing an NTBT. I came across the following thread during a search: Bartolini NIGHTMARE! Who thinks they know electronics?--it concerns adding a Bart 5.1 harness to a '94 Pedulla ET-6.

It appears that (at least on the 3 knob + switch Thunders) the Bart pickups themselves are active. It's possible that your tech rewired the bass so that the PUs weren't getting any juice, resulting in the low output.

If you can post pictures or a wiring diagram of a successful NTBT install, it would be much appreciated. Also, did you go for a stacked bass/treble setup or separate knobs? In the latter case it looks like the battery location would need to move.

Lonnybass · #7 06-23-2006, 09:00 AM

Well, the bass is back at Third Coast right now - it's been there since last Saturday. There's a chance it might be ready today, in which case I'll go pick it up at lunch.

I got a somewhat confidence-diminishing phone call from the tech yesterday who told me he was working on the bass and didn't like the quality of the original installation job...before he realized that his own shop did it. Foot, meet mouth...

The NTBT that my bass has is the separated bass/treble knobs and the midrange switch. The battery has been moved to another location in the cavity to allow the bass pot to fit. It's a little tight, but it all fits.

To my ears, it sounds like the switch was wired to be in on/on mode to the Thunderguts circuit. I told the tech that the two midrange pre-sets on the T'guts switch are what makes a Pedulla a Pedulla, and for it to not make an audible difference when turned on and off if wired correctly was simply impossible. We'll see what happens in the next day or two. Now that the techs have a better understanding of what the problem is, I think they'll be able to finally get it right. I'll try to post a cavity pic or explanation of the wiring schematic when I get the bass back.

Lonnybass