Even more weird wiring

[KROs]

Hello. Just got a cheap Bass with weird wiring. My plan is to rewire it all (mybe to Yahama solution - or use only one tonepot)
- Anyhow it would be nice to know if anybody has seen/could explain a wireing like this..? Even google cant help me

- The bass is a noname Korean "thumb" copy, imported to Norway as "Cepheus"(name of the music store)...-might be an leftover from Vester(clipper) production line ?, cheap pots & pickups. -but neck is nice and everyhing else can be upgraded.

 

[sunbeast]

Looks like a mistake in my opinion- the two Tone controls look to be redundant. By moving a few wires around you could basically have the Rickenbacker-type wiring which will give you seperate Volume/Tone controls for each pickup.
Remove the blue wire bridging the two tone controls. Remove the wire going from Tone #2's right lug to the jack. Unsolder the grey lead from Tone #1's left lug and solder it instead to the output jack lug you just unsoldered that other wire from. Attach the left lug of Tone control #1 to the center lug of Volume control #1, and do the same with Tone control #2 to Volume Control #2. Voila- now you should have a more standard and useful wiring setup

 

[dwizum]

The only way that would make sense would be if the tone controls had very different cap values in order to basically give you two different flavors of tone control.

 

[KROs]

Thank you very much for quick answer ! ..will try this when assembled. Right now I am doing shielding ++. Found a few doubtful soldering point & bad bridge grounding. The caps has same value ..so..a previous owner might have been trying some creative stuff...

 

[Crater]

I'm thinking this was an active bass with an outboard bass/treble active EQ and it was modded to be passive. Two treble-cut tone controls is pointless without a pickup switch, which this bass doesn't appear to have.

Maybe the pickups are active? There's a "B" on the circuit diagram that seems to serve no purpose...

 

[dwizum]

There's a "B" on the circuit diagram that seems to serve no purpose...

Since it's got one wire going to ground I had assumed it was B for Bridge and it was there to show that the bridge was grounded.

 

[Crater]

I had assumed it was B for Bridge

Yeah, that makes more sense.

 

[Lo-E]

The only way that would make sense would be if the tone controls had very different cap values in order to basically give you two different flavors of tone control.

That was my thought, too.
Since the caps are the same value it looks like it’s just a wiring error. Moving the wiring as Sunbeast suggests will clear the issue.

If you find the pickups are disappointing, an inexpensive 2-band preamp might improve them considerably and may be a much more cost-effective solution than replacing the pickups.

 

[KROs]

Hi. Thank you all for input ! Status: Bass is now assembled..neck adjusted,intonaton,shielded & wired after Sunbeast suggestion. Everything works fine. After 40 years of guitarplaying this is my first bass...now the tricky part begins...practice.