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Club Sandberg (part 2)

#2,481
Jughead6 said:
Everyone has different tastes (I prefer the clarity of Delano's) and it is impossible for Sandberg to imagine what style of music each custom order will be used for.

I would suggest that Sandberg typically caters to a market looking for more modern sounding instruments. So, I don't think you can really fault Sandberg unless you had explicitly specified a 250kOhm tone potentiometer and 0.068uF capacitor (i.e. a very bassy, darker sound, almost the opposite of modern) in your original custom order.
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I understand what you're saying but 500k pots with vintage voiced P-bass pickups is more in the "out of spec" category than "different taste" IMO. I mean, there are standard wiring schemes for P-bass split coils and even though the tone cap may be a personal preference the pots are ALWAYS 250k.

And just to be clear: The cap wasn't the problem here. Even Fender varies the tone cap with different models. If we include MIJs they use .047 .068 and .100 in currently manufactured models. I just SLIGHTLY prefer 068 over 047 with vintage voiced P-bass pickups. So I changed it as I had to unsolder/resolder it anyway.

But 500k pots... that's a manufacturing flaw to me. I totally understand why lots of people like brighter sounding basses (I've got a few myself for the odd occasion when I need it) but a '63 P-bass pickup with 500k pots isn't THAT kind of bright. It's just harsh, brittle and nasty. Not a "modern sounding" instrument at all. Even modern P-basses use 250k pots btw.

My point is, when someone places a custom order specifying a '63 P-bass pickup, shouldn't they wire it up like a '63 P-bass pickup? I mean, they did after all use the EXACT same standard wiring scheme as everyone else would with a passive P-bass. Just with 500k pots instead of the correct 250k. Why on earth would they think ANY customer would want that???:confused:

(love everything else about this bass BTW):thumbsup:
 
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#2,482
Deleted member 271037 said:
I understand what you're saying but 500k pots with vintage voiced P-bass pickups is more in the "out of spec" category than "different taste" IMO. I mean, there are standard wiring schemes for P-bass split coils and even though the tone cap may be a personal preference the pots are ALWAYS 250k.

And just to be clear: The cap wasn't the problem here. Even Fender varies the tone cap with different models. If we include MIJs they use .047 .068 and .100 in currently manufactured models. I just SLIGHTLY prefer 068 over 047 with vintage voiced P-bass pickups. So I changed it as I had to unsolder/resolder it anyway.

But 500k pots... that's a manufacturing flaw to me. I totally understand why lots of people like brighter sounding basses (I've got a few myself for the odd occasion when I need it) but a '63 P-bass pickup with 500k pots isn't THAT kind of bright. It's just harsh, brittle and nasty. Not a "modern sounding" instrument at all. Even modern P-basses use 250k pots btw.

My point is, when someone places a custom order specifying a '63 P-bass pickup, shouldn't they wire it up like a '63 P-bass pickup? I mean, they did after all use the EXACT same standard wiring scheme as everyone else would with a passive P-bass. Just with 500k pots instead of the correct 250k. Why on earth would they think ANY customer would want that???:confused:

(love everything else about this bass BTW):thumbsup:
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Lots of folks on TB have 500kOhm pots in their P basses. It's not wrong. Just different.
 
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#2,483
Jughead6 said:
Lots of folks on TB have 500kOhm pots in their P basses. It's not wrong. Just different.
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Really? That's... interesting. I had no idea that people actually change the pots in P-basses to 500k. I know we all have different taste but that particular sound isn't something I had expected anyone to deliberately mod their P-basses for. At least not with a '63 voiced pickup. I guess it makes (slightly) more sense that my Sandberg was equipped with 500k pots then.

I guess I should have specified 250k pots. The problem with Sandberg custom orders is that Sandberg distance themselves from their customers and refuse any direct communication about orders. Every single enquiry I made had to go from dealer to distributor to Sandberg and then the reply from Sandberg to distrubutor to dealer. Typically 2-3 weeks for each reply and in some cases much longer. Every time I tried contacting Sandberg directly I got the same reply: Talk to the dealer. They simply don't want to talk to their customers. And I honestly didn't expect that anyone would install anything other than 250k pots in something that essentially is a P-bass. At least not unless they were specifically told otherwise.

Anyway, thanks for the reality check! I won't be installing 500k pots in my P-basses anytime soon but at least I know it's something people actually do. :thumbsup:
 
#2,484
Hey guys...may have been discussed previously, but I'm too lazy to go through 125 pages of posts...

Who has strung up their Sandberg with flats? I recently put flats on my Precision and I'm LOVING them. I haven't used flats since I discovered rounds in the 70s (GHS Boomers mostly). I used D'Addario flat chromes and am anxious to try the Ernie Balls which I think are even a bit brighter.

Please post your experience with flats and the brand if you've tried on your 'bergs. The strings made it feel like NBD!
 
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#2,486
dwellers said:
Hey guys...may have been discussed previously, but I'm too lazy to go through 125 pages of posts...

Who has strung up their Sandberg with flats? I recently put flats on my Precision and I'm LOVING them. I haven't used flats since I discovered rounds in the 70s (GHS Boomers mostly). I used D'Addario flat chromes and am anxious to try the Ernie Balls which I think are even a bit brighter.

Please post your experience with flats and the brand if you've tried on your 'bergs. The strings made it feel like NBD!
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Both my fretted and fretless TM4's are strung with Fender 9050L's. My fretted TM4 has had them on for 4+ years.
 
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#2,488
DJ '65 said:
Funny, I have exactly the same set up also got TI flats on my VM4.... very cool.
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I have used the TI Powerbass strings and aside from them being about triple the cost of other strings, didn't find them to be that different. How would you characterize the TI flats by comparison to other flats like Chromes or EB Cobalts? Brighter? Darker? Just more expensive? :)
 
#2,490
dwellers said:
I have used the TI Powerbass strings and aside from them being about triple the cost of other strings, didn't find them to be that different. How would you characterize the TI flats by comparison to other flats like Chromes or EB Cobalts? Brighter? Darker? Just more expensive? :)
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To be honest I don’t know as I’ve never tried Chromes or Cobalts. As a guitarist I like the lighter feel and flexibility of the Ti’s and they are bright enough for me at least.
 
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#2,492
I have Dunlop flats on my California II VS4 and (now discontinued) Status flats on my 1st series blue Umbo.
The Umbo sounded great with TI flats but I couldn't get on with the tension, especially the A string.
Generally though, I find the California II's to be a little more "open" in the low end than the first series, which seems to work better with flats if you want a typical vintage flats sound. I found my active 1st series Sandbergs had too tight a bottom end when strung with flats.
 
#2,493
I’ve read every post and listened to every internet demo I could find. Same story as most US based fans of Sandberg can’t find some to play myself. I am tone hunting for a reggae rock project (think Sublime,Pepper) I do and can’t decided tm4 or vm4. Any help/opinions would be super helpful. Thanks in advance.
 
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#2,496
Matte Black said:
I’ve read every post and listened to every internet demo I could find. Same story as most US based fans of Sandberg can’t find some to play myself. I am tone hunting for a reggae rock project (think Sublime,Pepper) I do and can’t decided tm4 or vm4. Any help/opinions would be super helpful. Thanks in advance.
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I have a TT and I usually solo the neck pickup for a p-bass flavor. I would do VM. I like the look of the TM much better though. Sandberg can put VM pickups in a TM body, but it will cost you about $200 - $250 Extra. Price seems to fluctuate on that one depending on the day you ask for a price though.
 
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