Help! Blacktop jazz

[Marikk]

just the backpickup on this sounds great..im not gonna be hurt if i need new pickups..im surprised a bridge P isn't more popular. It actually, to my ears, sounds fairly usable solo out of my little roland practice amp i take with me. With all the love for PJs i think PPs(insert crude joke here)should get more consideration

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Mockingbird basses come standard with double Ps.

Link Removed

 

[Marikk]

I knew there were a few. well the first one that came to mind i see in almost every pawnshop was the BC rich warlock i think its all...or the pointy paint chippy bass. I also seen one member here do a really sweet warmoth(i think) double P build. The double P of the blacktop as well as the jazz neck really appealed to me, which is why i got it even with the issues

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I had my hands on a MIK Warlock with double Precisions a while back & should have bought it.

 

[Marikk]

They look like a cool bass, if i ever founds one without the points all chipped away..i might pick it up

 

[RobbieK]

i dont have a soldering set up where i am at. Im visiting my parents out of town, which is how i found the bass. I dont have a lot of tools nor a trusted tech nearby. So the only way to remove the wires would be to cut them at this point. So i may have to hold off til i get home is the wiring is correct. which looking at the diagrams you guys posted..it is

In that case, there's no harm in giving the pots a good wiggle, then remove the knobs and tighten the nuts (while holding the pots in place) with pliers or a small shifting spanner. Without those earth wires (the ones that join all the pots together and to the jack sleeve lug in the duncan diagrams), the circuit is relying on mechanical connections to the control plate to work. If there's a little corrosion around the control plate holes, or the pots and/or jack is loose, then you'll have these sort of problems.

I'm not saying this is definitely the problem. Sure the pickup could be dead, but without an iron and a meter, this is one test you can do.

 

[Marikk]

Wow, I've always said it's the little things that kill. After taking the control knobs off and tightening the barely noticeably loose pots. It came back to life

Thanks to everyone for your help. And cuz its Talkbass where's nothing exists without pics.

Here's my black bass Sporting fresh Rotosounds with my black cat

 

[RobbieK]

Nice one. Now when you get your hands on a soldering iron, get those earth wires happening, and this won't happen again.

Say hi to your folks for me.

 

[mr15x3]

Nice one. Now when you get your hands on a soldering iron, get those earth wires happening, and this won't happen again.

Say hi to your folks for me.

+1
Should totally eliminate the problem for the future.

 

[Clark Dark]

I see you have a meter and you've been asked about checking the DCR which it seems you haven't as yet. For the cost of a decent solder station you could have a tech check it out and you'd know whether you should hang with that pup or get a new one. If you're not 100% about the procedures....

 

[unclebass]

I picked up one of these on Craigslist for $250 with a case a few years ago. Didn't find out until I got home that I had the same problem. Mine was fixed by resoldering where the lead wires met the neck pickup. Glad to see you have your problem solved. Wish I still had mine.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The nice thing about that one is that you can do whatever you want with the pickups, re: replacing them, but I am stuffed with my Precision Blacktop. I need a special pickguard too.

 

[gfen]

I had my hands on a MIK Warlock with double Precisions a while back & should have bought it.

The sound out of my MIK dual P Mockingbird is vastly meatier than the sound out of my BTJ. It's just a shame the thing is so awkward to play.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Yeah, but is the Mockingbird Active?
I think most of them are.

The Precision Blacktop had more bite to it than the Jazz IMHO, which is why I got the Precision. It's the most aggressive sounding passive bass that Fender makes IMHO.

 

[Marikk]

The appeal to me was the Jazz neck with a p pickup. I know there are a few PJs around but to my ears the P at the bridge is substantially more usable solo than a solo J. I would have loved it in a P style body though. The J bodies look great, but P bodies generally feel better and don't get in the way when sitting on a couch as a J body

 

[Killed_by_Death]

When I was considering buying a Precision Blacktop body & putting a Fender neck on it, I was going to use a Jazz maple neck, just to be different, but also because I like the Jazz neck profile better.
Oh, and also to match my Strat.

 

[Marikk]

I've been gassing for awhile for a Warmoth build. Reverse tele headstock with a jazz profile neck and either Double P or double dark star style pickups in a 54 p style body. No PG and a quilted maple in either green or tigers eye finish. Though I do change the specs from time to time.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I've got a tele body bass, an ASAT by G&L, but the neck feels the same as the Precision to me.

The MFD pickups in the ASAT are stronger than the Jazz humbuckers, even in Passive mode, but also because I can run it in Series.

 

[gfen]

Yeah, but is the Mockingbird Active?
I think most of them are.

Nope. Passive.

Two cream coloured pickups, which suggests DiMarzio, but with BC Rich stenciling on them. I have no idea what they are, and the bass itself comes from a short period after Class Axe and before whomever next bought them.

I'm not sure what that says about it, and obviously everyone thinks their toy is teh most special, but I know for all the flak my BCR takes, I have never heard anything sound quite so heavy.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

It's probably got the same pups as the old Eagles.