...to do a little more work on my Hamer. It's just the first of many steps to get the bass I want. I glued the new nut on. It's a little thinner than the other one, but it'll work. Now, I'm not a pro at this, I'm just messing around. I'd really appreciate any pointers, advice, or comments about this. This bass is kind of an ugly, beat-up bird, but I guess that's why I like it so much.
So, I installed a 3-way toggle and another mini switch. They're just placeholders. I am going to install another DiMarzio on/on switch and a DiMarzio 3-way switch (with a chrome or creme cap...haven't decided). Right now, the P pickup is wired to a volume pot and series/parallel switch and the J pickup to just a volume pot, each pickup into its own output. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do from here on out. My goal is that before I put a new bridge on it, I want to do a complete electronics overhaul. New jacks, pickups, switches, knobs, shielding, everything. I want to have a completely new bass and I want it to use all of the knobs and switches and pickups and things that I have in it--this is the final setup, but how its wired is still undecided. I want it to be a real hot, hot rod (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haRYEDIM26M 
).
Carvin sells these cool jackplates that are interchangeable--the mono and stereo plates have the same footprint and mounting screw patterns.
http://www.carvinguitars.com/product...ct=JP1C&cid=43 http://www.carvinguitars.com/product...ct=JP2C&cid=43
I want to use one of these with mono Switchcraft jacks instead of the deep-panel jacks that are currently on my bass. That'll mean having to drill more wood out and mounting the plate perfectly because it'll just barely fit between the bevels.
If I go mono, I'll wire each pickup (DiMarzio P of some kind. I'd like to use a Mike Lull T-bird pickup and Will Power P. Unfortunately, the Will Power P don't come in white/creme, which I prefer on a dark-colored bass, so maybe I'll keep the Model P that's in there or put in a Split P) into a coil tap, volume pots, the master tone (probably .47 uf), the three-way toggle switch, then to a mono jack.
If I go stereo, I don't know how I'll fit that 3-way switch into the equation. I know Rickenbacker does it between just two pickups, but their wiring harnesses are fuggin complicated and I don't think it's quite how I want to go about this. What I'm thinking is that I could add another pickup in the neck position, which could open up some interesting possibilities. This way, I could have two basses in one.
Here are my ideas.
a) Wire it mono, like I described above.
b) Get a mudbucker in the neck, then make it an EB-0+P/J bass with the mudbucker going into a coil tap going into a volume control going into an output. The P/J pickups would go into an in/out of phase switch (or I could just have the P pickup go to a series/parallel switch like it is now), into the 3-way, then to their own output. No tone pot, just a volume knob for each pickup. I would probably use DiMarzio Model One, Model P, and Model J for this setup. I might try an Area J.
c) Put T-bird pickups in it (or maybe a T-bird pickup in the bridge and a Rio Grande chrome Pitbull in the neck) and have the T-bird pickups go to their volumes, the 3-way, to an output and the P pickup will go to its volume pot and output jack. Also no tone pot in this setup. I'd use a Pitbull, a Mike Lull T-Bird pickup, and a DiMarzio Will Power P or maybe an Area J in P housings.
d) Put a Rickenbacker Hi-gain treble pickup and its assembly into the bridge position, a DiMarzio P pickup, and a Rickenbacker HB-1 in. The P pickup would go straight to its volume control, then to an output. The HB-1 would go to a coil tap switch and into its volume pot. The Hi-gain would go to a switch that does what the push/pull pot on the 4003 does--switch on or off a .47 uf cap, then it'll go to its volume knob. The HB-1 and Hi-gain will both go to the 3-way toggle and into the other output.
e)....? Do you have another suggestion? Tips? Ideas? Does this make any sense?
When possible, I'll use creme P/J pickups, as long as they match. I wish the Will Power Ps came in creme housings. In all cases, I want to retrofit the stock Hamer knobs with large J bass knobs, replace the pots with DiMarzio 500K pots, and use DiMarzio components wherever I can because I can.
