Quote:
Originally Posted by Nohandles
About a month ago I spent a whole Saturday morning writing a summery of all improvements to the Palatino and right at the end MSN (SUCKS) Kicked me off and I lost the whole summery. I will try again and list on both posts. I'm sure we have not exhausted all the improvements yet!
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Here are the modifications from the origonal post:
Summery of all modifications to the Palatino.
Nohandles
I ordered some De'Addario Hybrids. While waiting I experimented with my K&K pre amp. I found if you turn the tone control almost all the way to the treble side turn down the volume on the bass and turn up the bass amp then regulate the bass with the pre amp it sounds really close to an acoustic. In fact I told my wife to listen to some new stuff I was working on and then used all 3 of my basses and she could not tell me which was which. Until I told her. Then she could here the electric, jazz thin body and the full sized bass. After putting on the De'Addarios you could really hear a great improvement.
Sheraton
Hi All... I bought a Palatino from Shanghai last oct. After few modification it sounds like a king:
1) Change the stock strings to Pirastro Flexocor Stark
2) Damped the ringing tailpiece!
3) Forget about the stock pickup and install a Bassmax.
Koolhand
So what to do...I first decided to get a Behringer Sustain\ Compression Pedal new for about $40 it did improve the sound but that low E note still did'nt ring right. It was like there was too much harshness being transferred from strings through the bridge to the transducer. So Soften it!!!!
WELL!!! My wife had just bought a roll of.....THIN... anti skid rubber matting for the kitchen draws, about $2 for 1.5 metres, this is the same stuff you put on the car dashboard to stop your glasses from slipping off.
I took out the bridge on the bass, gently lifted up the piezo pickup, cut a piece of this rubber grip mat to fit inside the full length and width of the block, cut a slit in the middle to the middle to accomadate the piezo lead, put the pickup back in its place and decided to also put a small pieces under each foot of the bridge to cushion the pickup.
Put it all back together, retuned, plugged into the Amp..........
WOW!!!!! What a difference!!!!!!!
Full WOOOD TONES ,,,, even increased the Volume, and the Tone control now has a full tonal sweep from DEEP to TREBLE but without the Harshness. I even removed the rubber sponge I had under the tail peice, nor do I use the Sustain Pedal.....well I haven't tried it since adding the rubber mat....might try it again but I doubt if it could improve the GREAT Sound I'm Getting now. TOTAL COST.....What I used.............20cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bassworm
Like many Palatino owners, I found the tubular body rest quite uncomortable after playing for a while and decided to do something about it. My alternative is a strip of aluminium, 50mm wide and about 3mm thick, curved into the rough shape of an upper bout. It's a bit crude at the moment but makes a world of difference in terms of comfort. It's permanently attached right now but sooner or later I'll get round to devising a quick-release version. Total cost 3 pounds (About US$5).
Pictures at
http://www.pbase.com/bassworm/my_music
Rgr
Here's my $0.02 on the Palatino. I tried the bike inner tube under the pickup and the bridge feet but found that it sounded too muddy. It appears that the bridge angle has the biggest effect on getting it to sound good. The bridge does not naturally fall on the few points of contact that gets a full and loud sound. So, I took a piece of paper, folded to 10 layers, and 1/2 the width of the pickup and placed it between the pickup and the bass body to move the angle toward the tailpiece. The net effect was to change the bridge angle such that the bottom side of the bridge is perpendicular to the bass (just like how a bridge looks on an acoustic upright).
I also replaced the screws on the bridge with longer ones that ran up the bridge as far as possible. Doing this helped a lot with the sustain and stabilty of the bridge (the bridge had collapsed so often that the falling pieces put a bunch of dings in the bass). Doing these two things significantly improved the sound. It was much louder, fuller, and the tone control is very usable.
To stop the tailpiece from ringing, I bent the middle ring of the wire section out a little to keep it out of contact with the other wire parts of the tailpiece and that fixed it the feedback noise right away.
JazzDude
I've used a Tech 21 Bass DI pedal for years on my electrics, and it really helps if you want to get a big tone out of the Palatino.
I defiantly agree with this, it really a huge difference. Doug
Nohandels
New case
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I thought I would tell you that the custom case I had made at Colorado Case Co is really sweet! It is very well constructed and not like putting a girdle on the bass like the origoinal. It was $265.00 shipped. They have the pattern now so you won't have to make templated up of your bass. I had is made because the second day I owned it I dented the peghead and I am a non dent freek. All of my imstruments are like the day I got them. Sick I know! By the way you cant see the dent I filled it in with a black laquer stick to like new thank goodness!
JazzDude One I missed Sorry JazzDude
The stand I have has a boom, but the boom arm fits straight down into the vertical tube so only the end sticks out. I've seen other boom stands do this, but I don't know if they all do.
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Pharahamps
OK, I've done some more extensive testing using an A/B setup with my onboard pickup / preamp and my K&K BassMax setup.
* The bass is strung with Piastro Flat ChromeSteels (not my favorite strings,) and set up with a medium-low action, suitable for pizz playing. I haven't tried these comparisons with arco playing yet.
* The K&K is set up with both channel EQ's at their midpoints (flat settings,) and with their gain at the factory-recommended levels. While testing, I experimented with blending the wing and string/quad signals to get the most balanced tone.
* The stock pickup was in the wooden "box" holding the bridge, with no additional padding or insulating material installed. The stock preamp was replaced with my new preamp board.
I found the onboard setup to have less noise / hiss, and a fuller low end. The onboard pickup is actually quite decent, if a little thumpy. String balance is good, with a slightly lower output on the A and D strings. This setup sounds more like an "old school" upright tone, round with lots of thump.
The K&K setup is very clear-sounding, brighter and more defined. The noise level was higher (since the preamp has more gain plus the EQ,) but the treble was very nice-sounding. I much prefer the quad pickup to the wing pickup, but the blend is pretty good.
I'd like to hear the onboard under-bridge pickup blended with the quad pickup - I bet that would be cool. The under-bridge pickup seems to be the best at reproducing that great low end that these basses can deliver.
The verdict? I'd really like to have both setups available. For solo playing, or recording, the K&K setup would give a more accurate picture of the "whole" bass tone. But for playing with a band, I'd use the onboard pickup for sure. Even for some types of recording, I'd still choose the Palatino pickup since its nice "thump" would sit in a mix better.
I'm going to be selling these preamps if anyone is interested. gfred already has a PM about it. $49.99 plus $4 shipping in the US, $11 shipped anywhere else. All you need to install them is a Philips screwdriver and a decent pair of pliers (or an adjustable wrench.) The pickup just plugs in, you bolt in the new output jack and pots, install the knobs, and pull the battery snap into the existing compartment. It takes longer to pull the old preamp than it does to install the new one.
Matt Farrow
Nohandles
Post slides.
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I have been having trouble especially on concrete with the bass sliding all over. I tries using a rubber cup for chairs but it just wares out in no time. I think the best solution it to put in a Super Endpin ball. I'm going to remove the tapered plastic end and insert a piece of solid steel and then turn it down the the 11MM. This should do it. I have been using them on my other basses for 3 years now and don't have any trouble with slipping. Have any of you done any modifications to your end pin?
Bob Gollihur carried them
Linear Mode
