Jay Turser '54 P mods

[GlennW]

I've worked up another cap switch with no pot for a bass. It's a rotary switch with five positions. This is on a Jay Turser '54 P with a modded pickup.

After a lot of testing it's
1) .1 uF OD polyester
2) .1 uF Mallory 150
3) .047 uF Mallory 150
4) .033 uF Mallory 150
5) .022 uF OD polyester

The two .1 caps have enough difference in tone to make both an option; the OD is smoother sounding, kind of like an EB-O, whereas the the .1 150 is thumpier.

At first it didn't have the .1 OD, but instead had the .033 and .047 in parallel for .08. That was pretty nice, and if the switch had six positions it would be there.

The point being that there was enough difference between the two makes of the same value cap to justify using both instead of going .08 to .1 with the Mallorys.

This switch will replace the stock volume knob. The tone knob will be replaced with a push/pull volume pot that switches from the stock pickup to the stock pickup with more wire added.

[luknfur]

Never messed much with caps. Interesting little experiment there and something to keep in mind in playing around with them.

[Shredsled87]

What does this accomplish? Does it give it a different tone? Just curious.

[GlennW]

After more fooling around the .1 OD is out...I'll turn a knob on the amp if necessary for EB-O-ness.

The .08 (.033 + .047) is also out because it sounds so much like the .1.

The new deal is the .022 OD + .047 150 for a .069, a nice stop between .047 and .1.

Now it goes (and will stay) like this:
1) .1 Mallory 150
2) .069 (.047 +.022)
3) .047 Mallory 150
4) .033 Mallory 150
5) .022 OD polyester

What does it accomplish? Messing around with this crap for hours keeps me out of the crackhouse.

Seriously, it gives it more useable sounds. In stock form I'd either have the tone all the way down or up just a little. It was like a bass with one or two good sounds.

The tone switch sounds good to me in all positions. That's 10 sounds total when you include the pickup switch. I'm not saying that all 10 sounds sound very different, but they're all useable. From what I've heard I believe that basses sound better the cap/s connected to a switch instead of a pot. You'd think the pot would let you dial it in, but to my ears it does more harm than good. I prefer a cap switch...sounds more open and better IMO.

The extra wire on the pickup gives it a little more output and also darkens the sound a bit. Doing it this way gives the options of either the stock Turser pickup (which sounds way better than the official Fender SCPB RI pickup IMO) or something a bit warmer. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

[Shredsled87]

That's cool.