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(Ask) re route my custom bass body

Buzzbazz

Buzzbazz

Apr 11, 2019
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34
36
#1
Hello fellow TB’ers members
This is my first thread asking your advice

Ive had custom 21 multiscale bass that build by luthier in my country, build quality was awesome and the bass is installed with aguilar DCB d2 and OBP3 pre with graptech ghost piezo installed on the bridge

really enjoyed the tone of this bass until the preamp is stop working, idk why they stop making sound 4 days ago did triple checked the battery and stuff (wiring.battery connectors) nothing wrong there, and yesterday i checked at my guitar tech place and found the module is bad.

Decided to swap the OBP into Darkglass tone capsule also purchased graphtech acoustiphonic module but also dingwall fdv pickups as i think it will be great to have dingwall tone in this bass

Questions is do i have to used high end tools to route the bass body to fit the dingwall FDV pu’s to fit the old template body?
Can i used drill bit to it?

And whats your thought the combination will sound like?


Cheers!
 
#2
I did my drilling on a kitchen table with cheap hand drill and it worked ok but it was pain. Also, it was $50 cheep bass, I wouldn't do it on more expensive one.
IMG_20200504_085915.jpg
 
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#4
elgranluis said:
You are buying Darkglass pickups and a ding wall preamp for a custom instrument (already pricey) , and you are wondering about the cost of routing ? For sure it will be cheaper than the electronics, just have a pro do it.
Click to expand...

it’s actually a dingwall FDV pickups with Darkglass preamp elgran :)) i also had an set of brand new EMG TWX but the TWX is active one and i already had the darkglass and graphtech acoustiphonic on it. So it might be alot of battery if I’m installing the twx
 
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#5
Torrente Cro said:
I did my drilling on a kitchen table with cheap hand drill and it worked ok but it was pain. Also, it was $50 cheep bass, I wouldn't do it on more expensive one.
View attachment 3853177
Click to expand...


DANG! That’s decent routing job right there

What pickups is on that bass? tony franklin inspired switch huh?

I might be doing it at home with simple hnd drill as well as i think it’s not rocket science to ask pro to do it.

but will love to hear what you guys think
 
#6
Buzzbazz said:
DANG! That’s decent routing job right there

What pickups is on that bass? tony franklin inspired switch huh?

I might be doing it at home with simple hnd drill as well as i think it’s not rocket science to ask pro to do it.

but will love to hear what you guys think
Click to expand...

Pickups are cheap noname Aliexpress type, and switch is tele inspired (series, neck, parralel, bridge).
Also there is Tone control (LPF) with extra switch for 3 cap values and HPF.
LPF and HPF are push-pull and default (push) they are off, so default there is only volume and pickup selector.
 
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#16
I plan lacquering it myself, just to learn something new.
I routed only for bridge pickup and pickup selector, but managed to shove HPF and LPF into the existing route.
I should have routed but I was lazy and it was very hard installing everything into such small place without having unwanted electric contacts. It took me about 10-15 tries until it finally worked ok.
 
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#17
Torrente Cro said:
I plan lacquering it myself, just to learn something new.
I routed only for bridge pickup and pickup selector, but managed to shove HPF and LPF into the existing route.
I should have routed but I was lazy and it was very hard installing everything into such small place without having unwanted electric contacts. It took me about 10-15 tries until it finally worked ok.
Click to expand...

would you be able to share the diagrams for that kind wiring?
 
#18
No problem, I can't really draw diagrams, but I'll post a link to diagrams that I used:

this is a wiring for pickup selector:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

this is where I found wiring for 3 cap switch for LPF:
Multi-capacitor tone control
I think that I used caps: .047mF , .022mF and .0047mF

and this is what I used for HPF:
High Pass Filter Calculator
I used 33 nF cap, and also put a small 10.000 ohm resistor in series with 250K pot, that way it didn't mute sound when I maxed a pot.

I since covid didn't test HPF in a band settings, but I guess that LPF and HPF will be used mostly for playing at home, that's why they are push-pull. In band settings I prefer my sound clear as possible.
 
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#19
I would suggest getting some similar wood and practicing. If you can do a good job on the scrap then go ahead with the bass. I would use drills and very sharp chisel if i did it without a router. Be aware that you will have to guard against damaging the finish also. You may want to score around the outline with a razor knife.
 
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#20
Torrente Cro said:
No problem, I can't really draw diagrams, but I'll post a link to diagrams that I used:

this is a wiring for pickup selector:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

this is where I found wiring for 3 cap switch for LPF:
Multi-capacitor tone control
I think that I used caps: .047mF , .022mF and .0047mF

and this is what I used for HPF:
High Pass Filter Calculator
I used 33 nF cap, and also put a small 10.000 ohm resistor in series with 250K pot, that way it didn't mute sound when I maxed a pot.

I since covid didn't test HPF in a band settings, but I guess that LPF and HPF will be used mostly for playing at home, that's why they are push-pull. In band settings I prefer my sound clear as possible.
Click to expand...


Great! Thanks mate
 
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