Danelectro Rumor Bass that I wished they had made because...

[radioripster]

..it would have saved me a lot of work. heh

Hey everybody.

I just finished this last night.(1-7-2016)

I bought this bass off of ebay around 13-14 years ago or so. I was taken in with it mainly because of the paint job. I like metal flake stuff. heh.

I've been a PJ guy forever and as much as I like the Rumor bass, it didn't get played as much because of the P bass pickup only thing.

For many years, I've wanted to add a bridge pickup to it.

So finally, after many years, I did it.

I loosened the strings, slid a jazz bass pickup cover under the strings and after a lot of minuscule taps here and there, I got the position that I wanted.

I got the measurements from my favorite bass, an Ibanez Roadstar RB650. Exactly one inch from leading edge of the bridge plate to the closest side of the pickup cover. Easy enough...kinda. The plates are the same dimensions, by the way.

I made my marks, scored some lines with an Exacto blade and went for it.

The bridge pickup is an 80s Fender vintage Jazz Bass reissue with Alnicos I believe..I bought that pickup new back then..a little cloudy on the details. The P pickups are the stock Dano's. Bartolini's are in the future.. I love Bartolini's.

My main concern was the placement of the extra (tone) potentiometer that was added to the circuit and since the dual input jacks were almost directly under the area where I wanted to place the tone pot, I did some measurements and ended clearing the jack just fine.

Another concern was to try to incorporate the existing built in chorus circuit. Nah..unhooked it all and tucked the wires in the circuit board cavity to leave that for a rainy day project if I ever feel so inclined to fool with it. heh.

I used the stock Dano 500K pots in and changed the wiring of the the original tone pot to the volume pot for the new bridge pickup and added a better made 250K pot for the tone. I going to change the 500k's to all 250K. You know..nice switchcraft's..no worries. Just have to find a a spare matching knob somewhere...yeah..that means ebay.

I buttoned it all up and gave it a play.

I like it A LOT..it's really cool to have that PJ setup on it now. I have the bass setup like I like it..low action..fast neck and the bass is a feather weight.

And..it's metal flake.

Life's good.

Thanks for reading..

"rr"

 

[bholder]

That is hawt.

 

[GretschWretch]

Looks great. How did you make the hole for the j pickup? X-acto? Saw? Small router? For mods, Danos make as good a platform as Fenders, but always you are confronted with that lipstick
pickup hole.

 

[mel0dic.bassist]

Love it, good job man!

I'd kill to have a 3-pickup Horas.

Love Dano's, my DC is my main player. Would love to hear some clips!

 

[radioripster]

Looks great. How did you make the hole for the j pickup? X-acto? Saw? Small router? For mods, Danos make as good a platform as Fenders, but always you are confronted with that lipstick
pickup hole.

Hey GretschWretch...(cool nickname).

This Dano wasn't a lipstick model but anyway...

After I had the pickup cover where I wanted with loosened strings to hold it in place, I used a silver fine point Sharpie to draw around the the cover. Then I used a metal ruler,with a pencil over the silver Sharpie lines, to tighten up the lines.

That's where the Exacto knife comes in. I simply and carefully followed the pencil lines and made my scores. The reason for the scores is for the paint to not be damaged when removing the wood.

As for removal of the wood, I used a plain everyday drill with a piece of tape wrapped around the bit at a predetermined depth. Staying within the lines and removed a lot of the wood before bringing in the router. The router I used was just a regular Ryobi router that you can get at Home Depot..er wherever I got it from and using a 1/4" or so bit....a good sharp one at that. Then I just took my time with plenty of light and I freehanded the router. I don't recommend doing that because things can go bad real quick unless you have plenty of experience with such a tool. Before using the router use some painters tape on the body to prevent the router base from scaring up the finish.

Getting back to freehanding the router. I STRONGLY recommend getting a pickup template from any luthier supply and read up on how to use them. I didn't use one and you can tell that my route isn't perfect. Once again..go for the template and READ! One tip for you is..two sided foam tape is good..the thin stuff.

And for the additional potentiometer, I used a hole saw bit on my drill and once again applied tape to the bit for a depth marker. Once I did that. I could remove a that wood very easily with a chisel and cleaned it up with the router.

Also, you'll need a long drill bit to make a hole from the pickup cavity to the control cavity. Nothing big..just big enough to pass wires through to make your connections. Give yourself a little extra wire when soldering the connections so when you have to take the pickguard off again, you'll have enough to flip it out of the way without putting any undue stress on the connections.


That's the juxt of it.

Thanks for your interest.

"rr"

 

[radioripster]

Love it, good job man!

I'd kill to have a 3-pickup Horas.

Love Dano's, my DC is my main player. Would love to hear some clips!

Hey mel0dic.bassist..

You are a Dano-man! heh. I like Danos..they're just different. I had some 60s Danos back in the day and they were fun. I like the Horas..There's a blue one that's cool...another blue bass..can't have enough of them!

Maybe I'll record something sometime.

Thanks for stopping by..
"rr"

 

[radioripster]

That is hawt.

Hey bholder..

I like it too! heh.

Take care..
"rr"

 

[mel0dic.bassist]

Quoted for truth!

I've loved Dano's since i started playing in the late 90s.

I have my Korean DC and 56 U2. U2 is with my mom and step-father's pla e so I have something to jam on when I'm there.

I got the DC around the time I first met my wife. About 6 years ago. I've bought/sold/traded a lot of higher-end stuff because I couldn't get them to work for me. I've always kept my DC round it just sounds and plays so amazingly. I currently have it strung with Fender Stainless flats. It's got a wicked mellowness that isn't muddy. I can still get some serious punchy clank with the tone wide open, even with the flats.

I've been thinking of going back to rounds lately though.

Hey mel0dic.bassist..

You are a Dano-man! heh. I like Danos..they're just different. I had some 60s Danos back in the day and they were fun. I like the Horas..There's a blue one that's cool...another blue bass..can't have enough of them!

Maybe I'll record something sometime.

Thanks for stopping by..
"rr"

 

[Old Fart]

Nice job!

 

[Eilif]

Nice project and well executed. I love the Dano/Fender/Mosrite look of the thing.

It's crying out for matching knobs though. Maybe something cheap, colorful and funky from mammoth?
Link Removed

 

[radioripster]

From one old fart to another..thanks!

 

[radioripster]

Hey Eilif..

Thanks!

I'm totally with you on the mutt thing.

I went to Mammouth's site. They have all kinds of cool stuff. Thanks for the link! I have it bookmarked.

You know, that odd knob on there is a Gibson knob. heh. I could just use Gibson speed knobs on it.

Hmm..Now what kind of Rickenbacker stuff could I put on there?

heh.

Take care.

"rr"

 

[RED J]

@Eilif great link

 

[Eilif]

You all are very welcome. I wish I could recall who shared it to me recently so I could give them credit. I haven't bought anything from Mammoth yet, but I've been seized with the inclination to put new knobs on everything!

One more thing. Gibson speed knobs = Boring.

 

[danosix]

..it would have saved me a lot of work. heh

Hey everybody.

I just finished this last night.(1-7-2016)

I bought this bass off of ebay around 13-14 years ago or so. I was taken in with it mainly because of the paint job. I like metal flake stuff. heh.

I've been a PJ guy forever and as much as I like the Rumor bass, it didn't get played as much because of the P bass pickup only thing.

For many years, I've wanted to add a bridge pickup to it.

So finally, after many years, I did it.

I loosened the strings, slid a jazz bass pickup cover under the strings and after a lot of minuscule taps here and there, I got the position that I wanted.

I got the measurements from my favorite bass, an Ibanez Roadstar RB650. Exactly one inch from leading edge of the bridge plate to the closest side of the pickup cover. Easy enough...kinda. The plates are the same dimensions, by the way.

I made my marks, scored some lines with an Exacto blade and went for it.

The bridge pickup is an 80s Fender vintage Jazz Bass reissue with Alnicos I believe..I bought that pickup new back then..a little cloudy on the details. The P pickups are the stock Dano's. Bartolini's are in the future.. I love Bartolini's.

My main concern was the placement of the extra (tone) potentiometer that was added to the circuit and since the dual input jacks were almost directly under the area where I wanted to place the tone pot, I did some measurements and ended clearing the jack just fine.

Another concern was to try to incorporate the existing built in chorus circuit. Nah..unhooked it all and tucked the wires in the circuit board cavity to leave that for a rainy day project if I ever feel so inclined to fool with it. heh.

I used the stock Dano 500K pots in and changed the wiring of the the original tone pot to the volume pot for the new bridge pickup and added a better made 250K pot for the tone. I going to change the 500k's to all 250K. You know..nice switchcraft's..no worries. Just have to find a a spare matching knob somewhere...yeah..that means ebay.

I buttoned it all up and gave it a play.

I like it A LOT..it's really cool to have that PJ setup on it now. I have the bass setup like I like it..low action..fast neck and the bass is a feather weight.

And..it's metal flake.

Life's good.

Thanks for reading..

"rr"

I recently parted with my PBass and (as you might guess from my screenname) I have become an avid Dano collector and so am considering one of these if I can find one.
I'd like to do exactly as you've done here to add to the flexability.
So, my question is... how much wood was under where you carved out the J Pickup? I've done the exacto thing before on a hollow bass and it worked out great, but I'm a little more concerned with removing actual wood.
Was it entirely solid under there or partially so (as in you overlapped the bridge block)?
EDIT:
Also - now that you've had it for a while - what do you think of the PBass pickup in there?
Is it lowish output, relative toa "standard" P or what?

 

[radioripster]

I recently parted with my PBass and (as you might guess from my screenname) I have become an avid Dano collector and so am considering one of these if I can find one.
I'd like to do exactly as you've done here to add to the flexability.
So, my question is... how much wood was under where you carved out the J Pickup? I've done the exacto thing before on a hollow bass and it worked out great, but I'm a little more concerned with removing actual wood.
Was it entirely solid under there or partially so (as in you overlapped the bridge block)?
EDIT:
Also - now that you've had it for a while - what do you think of the PBass pickup in there?
Is it lowish output, relative toa "standard" P or what?

Hey Dano..

That body is nothing but plywood so you'll be fine. As far as the pickups go..they're ok. but I think there better ones to be had for sure.

As for the bridge pickup route, if I had to do it again, I might move it a little more towards the neck pickup. Not much..maybe like in the way a 60's Jazz bass and a 70s jazz bass are different. The 60s jazz bass is closer to the neck pickup. Not to say that where I put is bad or wrong, but in my thinking, the plywood has a different sonic thing and the pickup might be a little better suited closer to the neck pickup. Heck, we're blazing new trails with this bass. R&D as it were. heh,

Let me know how it goes!

"rr"

 

[danosix]

Hey Dano..

That body is nothing but plywood so you'll be fine. As far as the pickups go..they're ok. but I think there better ones to be had for sure.

As for the bridge pickup route, if I had to do it again, I might move it a little more towards the neck pickup. Not much..maybe like in the way a 60's Jazz bass and a 70s jazz bass are different. The 60s jazz bass is closer to the neck pickup. Not to say that where I put is bad or wrong, but in my thinking, the plywood has a different sonic thing and the pickup might be a little better suited closer to the neck pickup. Heck, we're blazing new trails with this bass. R&D as it were. heh,

Let me know how it goes!

"rr"

 

[danosix]

Thanks. Good to know, I figured the pickups could be improved on - a good set of pickups AND the bass'll be less than pretty much any alternative and I'll have my dano sparkle

 

[P. Aaron]

Nice looking bass.

 

[danosix]

Hey Radioripster,
I was just having a discussion over at the Danelectro thread, and I realized you could answer the question once and for all.
(I actually thought I'd asked you before, but I asked a very specific version of the question and that was what you answered).
Is this bass entirely "solid" plywood or is it semi-hollow?
I know you said it's solid under the jazz pickup (which is what I asked at the time) but that doesn't ACTUALLY rule out the possibility that it is semi-hollow as the DCs have a block running from the neck to the bridge like a Gibson 335 and the rest of the body is built like the other more authentic Dano reissues (frame for the shape and Masonite top and back.
Thanks.