I hate wires and all that stuff

Matt Till · #1 06-01-2008, 03:27 PM

So, I just got a bass off eBay SAID to be in working condition. It's a Aria Pro II CSB-300. I love the way it feels/plays accoustically, but there is something awry with the electronics.

I bypassed the tone/volume pots to eliminate them as the possible problem, still in the same state: The volume is SUPER SUPER low, I have the volume on my amp cranked to what would be an uncomfortably loud level. It's just barely audible and mixed with a low buzzy (sounds like grounding issues) sound that is louder than the actual bass sound.

The connections between the pickups and the input jack seem tight, any general ideas?

GlennW · #2 06-01-2008, 03:33 PM

I think those pickups read about 10K when all is well. If you have an ohmmeter you could check. Is the pickup close enough to the strings?

Edit: If you get a good reading on the pickup, it might be that the magnet has shifted. Those pickups sound real good when they're working.

Matt Till · #3 06-01-2008, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennW

I think those pickups read about 10K when all is well. If you have an ohmmeter you culd check. Is the pickup close enough to the strings?

10K? That's awesomely useful, I'm going to take the pickup to work with me tomorrow, we have a micrometer there. The pickup seems plenty close.

The guy I bought it from told me he gigged with it 2 weeks previous to it being sold to me.

It's possible, but I doubt it. Something could have been knocked around during shipping.

Interesting about the magnet too, a couple of them look LOWER than the others.

GlennW · #4 06-01-2008, 03:42 PM

A mic won't do you any good. You'll need a VOM or something to measure the resistance in K ohms across the pickup leads. If you get a good reading, but still have weak output you might want to take it out and look at it from the bottom. There's a metal baseplate which can be coaxed off with a razor blade if you're careful. Then you can check to see of the magnet looks like it's between both sets of poles as it should be.

Just to make it clear, you can't see any magnets from the top. Those are just steel rods. The magnet is a bar magnet below the coils and between the bottoms of the rods.

Matt Till · #5 08-17-2008, 04:31 PM

So, long story short, the pickup turned up dead, I ended up throwing it out. I'm stupid.

Now that we're up to speed on that, I bought this pickup as a replacement:

http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsmmpromuma.html

After I routed out the pickup hole to fit the pickup, sanded, stained, and popped the pickup in: The poles don't even come close to lining up with the strings, even if I angle the pickup... not even close. I'm stupid.

I couldn't find an email address for Aria to see if I could find a replacement pickup anywhere. Considering they don't make these basses anymore, I doubt I'll be able to find a replacement pickup.

This is the 3rd junk bass I have in my house now, this is getting pretty depressing: I attempted to defret my very first bass and wrecked it (a cheap-o Yamaha RXB series), a Peavey T-40 I got from a friend that I can't find replacement pickups for (he was a punker who wrecked the bass), and now this Aria that I bought from some bastard on eBay who ripped me off and I screwed myself trying to make a deal with him.

This... pretty much sucks. Are there any pickups that will come close to working with this bass?

Matt Till · #6 08-17-2008, 04:32 PM

P.S. I'm stupid.

OliverH · #7 08-17-2008, 05:14 PM

I don't understand the problem with the pickups you bought... "pickups that work with this bass" - ANY should "work" with it.

If they don't fit, route the cavity to make them fit. If the gap between the pickups and the strings is too great, put some high density foam in the cavity to prop them up. The only issue I can see you having is with string spacing and particular pickups but that can be fixed with a bridge with adjustable string spacings.

bassmanrocke · #8 08-17-2008, 05:48 PM

Matt,

It might be time to bite the bullet, and take the bass to a repair shop. Your frustration is likely to lead you to make a mistake that will be difficult to fix. Replacing a pickup shouldn't give this much trouble, so why not let someone who is comfortable with it do it. Also, the pickups for T-40s frequently come up on ebay. Additionally, alot of players have taken to installing Darkstars in them. This would probably cost more than the bass is worth, but it is always an option.

Matt Till · #9 08-17-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OliverH

I don't understand the problem with the pickups you bought... "pickups that work with this bass" - ANY should "work" with it.

If they don't fit, route the cavity to make them fit. If the gap between the pickups and the strings is too great, put some high density foam in the cavity to prop them up. The only issue I can see you having is with string spacing and particular pickups but that can be fixed with a bridge with adjustable string spacings.

As I said earlier, "After I routed out the pickup hole to fit the pickup, sanded, stained, and popped the pickup in: The poles don't even come close to lining up with the strings, even if I angle the pickup... not even close."

I don't think the adjustable string spacings would help, it's WAY off.

bassmanrocke: I probably will take it to a pro if I can ever afford it (I'm in a bit of debt now from having purchased this piece of **** initially), but they are going to have to use a different pickup, I'm 100% sure of it.

Cernael · #10 08-17-2008, 06:03 PM

Pictures, maybe?

Matt Till · #11 08-17-2008, 06:23 PM

I'll work on that and get them up at some point (might be a couple days).

Dave R · #12 08-17-2008, 06:34 PM

Just to eliminate the obvious...

This is not an active bass with a dead battery, is it?

Munjibunga · #13 08-18-2008, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

After I routed out the pickup hole to fit the pickup, sanded, stained, and popped the pickup in: The poles don't even come close to lining up with the strings, even if I angle the pickup... not even close. I'm stupid.
This is the 3rd junk bass I have in my house now, this is getting pretty depressing: I attempted to defret my very first bass and wrecked it (a cheap-o Yamaha RXB series), a Peavey T-40 I got from a friend that I can't find replacement pickups for (he was a punker who wrecked the bass), and now this Aria that I bought from some bastard on eBay who ripped me off and I screwed myself trying to make a deal with him.

It's starting to look like luthiery just isn't going to be your thing. Maybe you could apprentice under Steve Wishnevsky.

PilbaraBass · #14 08-18-2008, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

It's starting to look like luthiery just isn't going to be your thing. Maybe you could apprentice under Steve Wishnevsky.

not enough time...steve's retiring and selling the business...

check out one of his auctions lately?

HILARIOUS...or as WJC says, "Heh heh, HILLARY!

US?

"

OliverH · #15 08-18-2008, 03:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

As I said earlier, "After I routed out the pickup hole to fit the pickup, sanded, stained, and popped the pickup in: The poles don't even come close to lining up with the strings, even if I angle the pickup... not even close."

I don't think the adjustable string spacings would help, it's WAY off.

So it's a matter of the strings not lining up to the pickup poles... ok well that clarifies things a LOT.

If it doesn't look like any amount of adjustments are going to help then it sounds like you just need to try to sell all the bits you can't use and make a very informed purchase of the next set of pickups, right down to exact string spacing.

Matt Till · #16 08-18-2008, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OliverH

So it's a matter of the strings not lining up to the pickup poles... ok well that clarifies things a LOT.

If it doesn't look like any amount of adjustments are going to help then it sounds like you just need to try to sell all the bits you can't use and make a very informed purchase of the next set of pickups, right down to exact string spacing.

That was a big thing for me, I couldn't find ANY information on ANY pickups on ANY website in terms of string spacing, actual size, etc. It was a shot in the dark because I couldn't find any info anywhere.

notduane · #17 08-18-2008, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

...I bought this pickup as a replacement:

http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsmmpromuma.html

After I routed out the pickup hole to fit the pickup, sanded, stained, and
popped the pickup in: The poles don't even come close to lining up with
the strings, even if I angle the pickup... not even close. ...

Are there any pickups that will come close to working with this bass?

Is it correct to assume it's the MM style pickup you bought from guitarfetish?

If you've routed the bass for an MM type pickup, why not give the
Kent Armstrong MM a shot? (at WD). Though not as cheap as the
one you bought, it does have blade polepieces (vs. circular) so it'd
be really difficult to mis-align the strings

. Delano and Bartolini also
make some blade-type MM replacements.