Need Some Project Help - Lightweight bass hardware

[Ampig]

I'm building a lightweight custom bass from a Rondo PJ platform and need some assistance.

1) What different lightweight tuning keys are available?
2) Does anyone make aluminum (or other lightweight) P-bass style knobs?
3) I'm looking for quality lightweight pots. I used to have some plastic Allen Bradley sealed pots. They were small and clean. Are they still made? If not what else is out there?
4) What are standard values for a Fender bass volume and tome pots? What about the capacitor rating?
5) Is there a bridge available that's lighter than the classic stock Fender bridge?

Thanks

[roberthabraken]

1) Hipshot has some nice lightweight / smaller tuners (called Ultra Lights). They have 'm in two different styles:

http://store.hipshotproducts.com/car...oduct_list&c=5

5) I guess seperate saddles are lighter than a single piece bridge, because of the lack of a large brass plate. This is just an example (you can use them through body or toploaded):

http://store.hipshotproducts.com/car...t_detail&p=222

Good luck finding parts.. and show us the result

[Rickett Customs]

To my knowledge at least...............

1) Hipshot ultralites and I believe Wilkinson also has one similar to the Hipshot's

http://www.allparts.com/store/tuning...s,Category.asp

2) That one,I don't know

3) Allen Bradley is more of an OEM manufacturer of mechanical products than anything, check with "Rockwell automation" though.

4) Standard values would be 250k (Specifically for your application), cap values= .050- .100uf, pending your flavor.

5) You'd be better off to search that one out for yourself.

As always, I could be wrong, someone may have better answers than I. But by all means, search. Google is your friend

[Mr M]

Gotoh res-o-lite tuners are even lighter than Hipshot ultralites. You can find them on Ebay or in allparts.com

I would double check if singular bridge pieces will be lighter than the stock Fender bridges.

[Arx]

Yeah, I don't think the single bridge pieces will be lighter.

You could get a titanium bridge. I know I saw one similar to the stock fender ones. Looked pretty light. really expensive though. Google should find it.

Seperate bridges are probably heavier than a one-piece.

You're really not going to save a whole lot of weight though. A stock bridge isn't super heavy. Knobs, you'll only save a few grams. Plastic or wood would probably be lightest if you're okay with the looks. Pots really aren't heavy at all.

If you're going that crazy over weight, you might want to switch to smaller gauge strings and smaller frets.

Really, I don't think any of that stuff will help enough to make a difference. Light tuners can be good, but are more helpful for correcting balance, than actually making the bass noticeably lighter overall.

The body and neck wood is where most of the weight comes from. You could maybe get a bigger pickguard made up, and route the body down to a skeleton, leaving only the structurally important parts.

-Nick

[ctmullins]

Lightweight pots?

Seriously - get good pots, and forget about how much they weigh. You don't want to pay a lot of money for exotic lightweight pots that scratch out on you in two years...

[Arx]

Originally Posted by ctmullins

Lightweight pots?

Seriously - get good pots, and forget about how much they weigh. You don't want to pay a lot of money for exotic lightweight pots that scratch out on you in two years...

Agreed. I usually do the opposite, and get really large heavy duty ones.
PEC pots are awesome. Expensive, but extremely solid.

-Nick

[azure]

Pots don't weight that much anyway. =)
Fender uses 0.47uf caps.
Hipshot aluminium "B" style should be a fairly light bridge.

[Mikey R]

If light weight is really that important, use just one pickup and wire it direct to the jack No pots needed.

[honestjohnny]

Hipshot UL's 1/2" route are a direct drop in for SX PJ's. They also make a bridge out of Aluminum in the A-style. Can be top or string-through. Lace Music touts their Alumitone pickups as being lighter than regular pickups. Never heard 'em though. Good luck.

[Beej]

Originally Posted by Arx

The body and neck wood is where most of the weight comes from. You could maybe get a bigger pickguard made up, and route the body down to a skeleton, leaving only the structurally important parts.

x2, this is sage advice. If you really want to save weight, route out the body as much as possible and put a huge honkin' pickguard over the holes. You'll shave WAY more weight than just changing out the hardware...

[honestjohnny]

The Godin Radiator guitar uses the routing and big pickguard thing. Had a great almost ES335 hollow-body (duh) sound with no feedback.

[ehque]

Trace around the pickguard, scan and pop into Photoshop, reduce the border by about 1/2 inch, and go to work with a router. No amount of cutting down on hardware will come close to the weight loss by doing this.

New tuners and an aluminum bridge will be your next best bet.

And of course, aluminum knobs are a tad heavier than plastic ones.

[LaceMusic]

Alumitones ARE very light, and have huge output coupled with low resistance. And they weigh next to nothing. By removing any big block-type pickups, you can take almost 2 lbs off your bass.