Had a Fun Little Project Over the Weekend. SBMM Stingray content.

[Doctor Morbius]

I never really cared for the tone of my stock SBMM short scale Stingray so I decided to make a few electronics changes.

• Seymour Duncan SMB-4A Alnico MM pickup
• Switchcraft output jack, of course
• 500k CTS volume pot
• 250k CTS no-load tone pot
• The obligatory Orange Drop cap
• Copper shielding, natch
• Teflon coated, silver plated copper wire (from Area 51)

It's wired in parallel mode only. There is no switching among single coil, parallel or series modes as there was with the stock bass. The middle pot is a dummy pot whose sole porpoise is to allow a knob to be placed on the control plate so it doesn't look weird.

So far I'm pleased with the outcome. I'm still experimenting around with various settings on a couple of different amps, but overall I'd say it's definitely a big improvement. The appearance hasn't been altered other than the pickup has a Seymour Duncan logo. Maybe at some point I'll get the obligatory tort pickguard.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I also swapped out the tuners on my Jag-H.

I had previously modified the electronics similarly to the Stingray above except I used a Ceramic SMB-4D pickup for a little more bite.

 

[Brian Patterson]

Very clean retrofit - I'm impressed. Can we hear a clip of your sonic results?

 

[Timothy Brosnan]

I also swapped out the tuners on my Jag-H.

I had previously modified the electronics similarly to the Stingray above except I used a Ceramic SMB-4D pickup for a little more bite.

Did you use full sized pots? Is it wired parallel?

Looks great though.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

Very clean retrofit - I'm impressed. Can we hear a clip of your sonic results?

Thanks! Sorry, no clips. Be thankful.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

Did you use full sized pots? Is it wired parallel?

Looks great though.

Thanks!

Yes, I used full sized pots on both projects. The Stingray was good to go, but I had to use a dremel to enlarge a couple of spots inside the control cavity. I also had to drill larger holes into the control plate. Yes, both of mine are wired in parallel only.

I don't have any pics of my Jag-H, but I took a couple for a project I did for a friend. It's not a professional job, obviously, but the control plate hides the ugliness. His Jag-H is wired Vol/Vol with no tone pot. Mine is Vol/Tone.

 

[cratz2]

Looking good, Doc!

 

[darwin-bass]

What was it about the stock sound you didn't like and how does the new sound compare? Brighter, thicker, louder?

 

[REV]

So, it was active and now it's passive?

 

[darwin-bass]

So, it was active and now it's passive?

I'm pretty sure the SS models are passive. OP can correct me.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

What was it about the stock sound you didn't like and how does the new sound compare? Brighter, thicker, louder?

It sounds more open and bright. In stock form it seemed to be missing something and I couldn't EQ it enough to open it up.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

So, it was active and now it's passive?

Darwin-Bass is correct. This model is passive from the factory.