is this a fretless?
or, does it have a kahler tremolo?
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is this a fretless?
or, does it have a kahler tremolo?
Ahhh, no and no...However, I wish it did have a Kahler on it...
It does have a bridge on it that makes me wonder if it's present 1986 neck was a replacement for a 1988+ neck, though...Hmmm - I need to take a refresher look at my super-secret Pilot Bible now...
I took a pic of a natural fretless backside I had once, that looks like my old flooring. I thought it was fretless, but that could have been me just swapping necks. So there’s a good chance if the neck is swapped to a fretted I did it years ago and this is the same bass. The natural one with the kahler I was harassing the guy on reverb to sell it to me for years at a cheaper price. He never budged and it disappeared.
I found this Pilot in the UK - about a year ago...But I held off going for it for a few reasons...It's my B-day tomorrow and my willpower finally ran out so, I allowed myself to pay what I consider to be much too much, even after a good haggle with a fine, slightly flexible individual...
After thinking a bit, I doubt the neck has been changed but I think it's a "special" version as it has a Schaller roller bridge (my "go to" bridge) and not a Müller bridge...The SN says this bass is a 1986 and as far as I know, Schallers were only mounted in 1983 and 1984...From then on, the Müller bridge was OEM until the Pro Series went back to Schaller...
Hmmm...
hahaha. I did quite a bit of bridge swapping in my day also. That comes with the territory of owning over 75 pilots and being an idiot in my younger years. I did a lot of bad things to some pilots....... Hahahaha. I’ll try and scrounge up a pic, I’m not sure I have one, but I’ll give a look.
Yes, I have not seen that color before, and it has an all maple fretboard which I've not seen often.
Mine is a 1985 and it has the Schaller Roller Bridge. If you look at the pic above it also had a black plastic string retainer that was a round disc. I figured that was not stock so I went and got the roller string retainer that you see on Pilots all the time.
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I like it also...
When you say "all maple", du you mean one solid piece neck/fretboard (a la Steve Harris's P-bass)...?
I am pretty sure that all Pilots with maple fretboards had them glued on - 2 piece units...
No, when I say all maple I just mean no rosewood. Mine has a maple neck and a glued on maple fretboard, a regular 2 piece unit.I like it also...
When you say "all maple", du you mean one solid piece neck/fretboard (a la Steve Harris's P-bass)...?
I am pretty sure that all Pilots with maple fretboards had them glued on - 2 piece units...
My Peavey basses are two piece maple but in that case they are bi-laminated meaning a left and right piece glued together, which tend to make them good stable necks, with no additional piece for the fretboard. My Peaveys are all maple necks, I prefer all maple necks most of the time.
My EBMM USA SUB bass has a rosewood fretboard and I like it. My brother in law's Pilot has a black Guild factory painted neck back with rosewood fretboard and it feels great too.
That round disc WAS stock - it was the first of 2 types, the roller string retainer being the final, best and most used design...
Your maple-necked Pilot - is it an SB-601 or an SB-603...?
I switched to the roller string retainer because I figured the disc was not stock or nearly as cool.
I've read the article written by Brian Bowdren about Pilots and the various models and details...according to that article an SB-601 is a P only with a Dimarzio and none were made after 1984. The article says that what I have here is an SB-603 and that only about 50 were made with EMG P only.
I'm not sure how many also happened to get full maple necks, I've seen no other Pilots like mine. I have seen very few with full maple necks even with the PJ pickup layout.
My pickup is also not a reverse P configuration like so many Pilots.
The logo on my headstock is also unusual, I think I've seen a picture of that "stripey" logo on another one though.
I have a question, does the Meuller bridge have saddles that can be moved side to side like the Schaller?
I've seen pics of Pilots where the E string and the G string are not evenly spaced to the fretboard edge, a Schaller bridge allows for those adjustments, does the Meuller bridge also allow for those side to side adjustments?
Is that article available online? I’d like to read that.
I spoke with Brian before he worked on my Pilot Pro 5. He talked me out of changing the rosewood fingerboard out for ebony. He died very shortly after I got my bass back. I didn’t even know he was ill.
I don't know why I said Meuller bridge, I think Guild used Schaller Roller Bridges and ABM Bridges for the Pilots.
Does the ABM Bridge (Muller & Sohn KG Germany) on many Pilots have a side to side saddle adjustment like the Schaller Roller does?
If anybody has the ABM bridge on their Pilot, a good close up shot that has some light on it will tell us I think.
Thanks!
- Apr 20, 2009
- 2,101
- 929
- Disclosures
- I'm the Squier of Fenderbirds
Here’s my Pilot. Custom factory paint and yes it’s that pink in person. Not sure if I’m going to keep it but I really like it!
Yes, they do - I'll post a close-up foto shortly...
Here are the fotos you asked for - they are from one of my 4 string Pilots...I hope you find them usefull...
It's for sale a few miles away from my house. I was told they have two of these, either identical or very similar. They are only selling one at a time and this has been there for months.
It looks like a custom factory finish, but I don't know the history. If anyone was serious about this one, I'd be happy to go look at it sometime. Empire Guitars, Providence, RI.
For months...? Something like this should go quickly I would think...I know I would probably buy it if I could - I just paid the same amount for the Pilot that's on it's way to me in the post now...
