OK. . . lots to report tonight. Grab your favorite beverage
Where should I start? I will be going into Studio 1225 again on Monday evening. I guess that would be tonight. On the agenda for this session:
1. samples of bass #4 with custom Nordstrand p-bass pickup.
2. samples of bass #9 with Nordstrand "prototype A" jazz pickups
3. samples of bass #9 with Nordstrand "prototype B" jazz pickups
4. samples of test sample from Chinese factory.
because I got this in the mail yesterday:
An update on bass #3. . . Jasaman hit the limits of the DiMarzio Model J's. . . while they offered an initial "packaged" tone that works, they do not have the 3 dimensionality, nuance, harmonics, and depth that he looks for in a go-to instrument to feel inspired every time hi picks it up. . . so, in this batch of pickups were 2 Nordstrand NJ4SE's wired with 4 leads so I can tap the 4 coils individually to do parallel/series switching on each pickup. Basically, I wanted a pickup I could swap into the nice harness I have in #3. Notice the nice shielded multi-conductor cable. Very nice. The shield on the NJ4SE's are linked to the alnico pole pieces which helps reduce noise.
Poor #3 gets lobotomized more than any other bass I know.
And, the Nordstrands are in. 8th time's the charm
I changed the tone pot back to a 250K pot because I really liked the way my tone control was working on the builds so far and the 500K one didn't respond the same as the 250K. I also changed the tone cap because it's cheap and I suspect I may have overheated the original one upon install. This was a Sprague 716 .047u cap.
I decided I could not wait any more for the Babicz FCH bridge to come in to finish out #9. I need a test bass with my standard jazz bass harness to test the 2 new prototype pickups and #9 is the only SX jazz I have on hand that is finished. So, I took out the brand new NJ4SE's that were in there and put in "prototype A" the one designed with the stock SX pickups in mind. This pickup utilizes longer magnets than stock and uses a thinner coil wire, and the coils are compressed to the top of the pickup housing to create a squat coil profile. They are wound to 10.1K and 10.5K according to my cheap meter. After analyzing the stock SX pickup, Mike informed that he could create something that will have some if it's characteristics, but this pickup will NOT sound like a standard jazz pickup. It will be it's own animal. I said cool. . . do it! The SX pickups do not sound like standard jazz pickups and we have been unsuccessful until now regaining that unique single coil vibe even with all the pickups we've tried.
I took both basses with me to my church gig this morning. . . I played the first set on #9 with prototype A onboard and the 2nd set with #3 with the push/pull push/pull push/pull NJ4SE's onboard.
Initial impressions. . . whoah. .. . prototype A. . . punchy as all heck in the bass and upper midrange articulation that cuts like a Ginsu but it remains completely open on the top end and the cut is very complex and harmonic. A really pleasant mic to listen to that sits really easily in the mix. I'm getting a bit of that wow factor back that the original SX's created. Unsolicited comments were coming in again from the peanut gallery about the bass tone. There is something about single coils that really sings. I just left my rig flat and let this one ride. The bass is really responsive to your finger attack. On the flip side, munch a note with your left hand, and this configuration will reveal it to everyone. Wanna hide? better roll that tone knob back a bit. I am not the best in terms of playing or ears, so I will have to solicit some more feedback about this one tomorrow at the session. Ok. . . the negative. . . SX effect may be back to haunt us. . . I dialed in a pretty "safe" margin by spacing the pickup a bit farther away from the E string (~9/64"). More testing will reveal if the dreaded SX effect is back. If it is, that means this coils structure is spiking a frequency somewhere that clips the pre pretty consistently.
Bass #3 with NJ4SE's and the push/pull push/pull push/pull. I joked a lot with Jasaman about his "junk bass" and how with the new wiring harness and the DiMarzio Model J's, he could obtain a million different and equally uninspiring tones
Ok, new pickups. . . the main difference I saw right off the bat is the parallel mode on these NJ4SE's are not thin sounding or an "interesting flavor" that you can mix in from time to time. Parallel/Parallel/Parallel mode is a very nice, usable tone. . . quieter, yes, but nice and round with a tilt towards the high end opened up quite a bit. Too many permutations to memorize. I played the set mostly tone full up, both pups full up in global parallel mode. I kicked it into global series a couple of times. We have test recordings here of #3 with the NJ4SE's in the primary modes. I think it sounds fantastic ,and I was really happy to actually get my fingers on it in this configuration as I didn't get to actually play it during studio testing last time. Fuller than the prototype A setup and smoother. Sustain on #9 was also better, but that could very well be a result of the Gotoh 201 bridge and the graphtech nut. The drummer liked prototype A better. It's going to be a heck of a shootout in the studio tomorrow. Standardizing on a pickup will not be easy. The versatility of the 4 wire NJ4SE is really nice.
Anyways, that's my mini-report on some of the new pickups. Audio samples will be forthcoming and I will do my best to post those faster this time. I will also have word tomorrow from Nordstrand about selling pickups loose to people who want them. Carey has been thinking about it since last I inquired. I had no doubt they didn't get back to me immediately because they simply hadn't figured it out yet and would get back to me when they sorted it out.
OK. . . the test sample from China. . . this bass was what they had in stock from a previous customer who went out of business. So, it is not built to my spec, but I asked for something with an Alder body and a maple bolt-on neck, and this is what they had on hand. I wanted to see the build quality.
Weird as this bass is, there are some cool details going on that show some manufacturing flexibility. They're doing a 21 fret setup with a very non-standard neck pocket route and pulling it off quite well.
The fit and finish is better by far than on SX. I am extremely pleased in this regard. There is a finish error (a run that was not completely level sanded) on the edge of the neck.
The nut looks to be a much more serviceable unit that stock on the SX, and I like the flat-ish radius and the bit 'ole slab of rosewood they put on there for a fretboard.
The electronics cavity is shielded with shielding paint and this bass is wired in a vol/pan/tone configuration.
Now for the negative. . . this bass weighs in at 10.18 lbs. That's higher than I like, but the body felt a bit strange to me. I went in with a dial caliper and measured the thickness and it was indeed thicker than I'm used to at 1.825". The SX body is ~1.63" thick so if I assume both instruments were the same shape (they are not), the same wood density on a "standard" body would be 9.09 lbs. which is a bit more in line but still not great. The dial caliper on a Fender MIM revealed 1.790" thickness. Alder and Maple from this company are imported to China from the Pacific Northwest.
Fretwork and neck straightness on this bass were once again wildly superior to SX. I was able to take this thing right out of the box and set it up to .080" with stock strings (pretty stiff hex core) and play without issue!!! Neck relief was properly adjusted and the bass came set up nicely to .090". . . very playable. All I did was lower the saddles a few turns and play. Try that with an SX. . . you'd have to get pretty darn lucky to have it work. This makes me very happy.
Plugged in the instrument sounded pretty darn good. The pickups work well, and I was pleasantly surprised given the pencil-thin neck and the weight of the body.
Overall, I'm pretty optimistic now about the prospect of working with this company. With the right specs and materials, we may be able to produce something really nice.
. I can swap the stock NP4 that's in there right now for one with special sauce without issue.
