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I think they all have that edge, but if you're at all handy with sandpaper it's a pretty easy fix. I've got a BTB745 and I sanded and refinished that edge to a playable taper.
Now that I look at a pic of the 1306 it looks like it's got the older contours. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the 675 have an almost sculpted body so that the edge came to a sharp point? The older contours were more tapered. I had a BTB with those looks and I don't remember it being uncomfortable.
I'm comfortable with the feel of my 1606. It's a little different in that the top burl goes almost to the edge of the body. I've been playing it at church gigs for two hour sets without issue.
Here's the link that I bought it from which has good pictures. I'm not sure that this edge profile is rounder or not.
Ibanez BTB1606 Deep Twilight Flat | Reverb
I'm adding a shot from this week's gig.
Here's the link that I bought it from which has good pictures. I'm not sure that this edge profile is rounder or not.
Ibanez BTB1606 Deep Twilight Flat | Reverb
I'm adding a shot from this week's gig.
They all have the bevelled edge, many people have rounded theirs off, or just wear a wrist sweat band.
It definitely does. The older model BTB's have contours like yours. The top is flat and the sides taper in a straight angle to flat sides - comfortable contours to play with. I don't know when they changed the design, but the newer BTB675 and BTB745's have the flat top and flat sides, but the edges are more sculpted. There is a taper from the top but that flows into a sculpted sharp edge. It's a good looking design, but not even close to comfortable. I sanded my forearm part down into a tapered slope to the flat sides.
Yes. You will need to have the edge under the forearm cut, smoothed, sanded and refinished as I did. Best basses ever otherwise.
Actually, the 1306 won't have any sharp edges where your arm would rest - you're good.
Hi, sorry for being late, I've just come across these posts via a search.
I have a very early 99 BTB 705 (serial is F99 05..., made in February 99 in Fujuijen, possibly among the first BTB batches) that is ash + ovangkol top and oil finish. It was quite expensive (a tad overpriced?) back in the days and it sports the same pickups and the exact same eq board in your photos shaped as a Z, not the mini-sized one.
With the eq flat, I can confirm your same impressions. I measured the pickups and they rate around 7k each - they seem to be humbuckers with two bobbins each, but low in output and dark by themselves. It's been a while I haven't played that bass very much, favouring Ps and so on.
However, I've recently come to the conclusion that those pickups were made to couple that eq section, with tons of headroom on tap. IMO, it is best used accordingly to boost a few frequencies - then it can become a modern-sounding, open instrument.
I've found out that I favour the mid freq knob set at (I think) around 1.2 or 1.5 k (about ¾ of the way, or pointing at 8 to 9 o' clock) to bring back some sparkle, mids at say +2, (or pointing at half past 7), highs flat or +2 (7:30), lows flat or +2 (7:30).
Lows are around 40hrz so I'd be cautious.
Back in the days I used to keep the mid freq way lower as it boosted the output a lot, but it often resulted in slightly artificial, muddier tones in hindsight. Have you ever tried setting the eq as I wrote above? Output will be just average (you can adjust the gain accordingly) but those pickups are very shielded anyway and the tone is IMO way better and more natural sounding - in a 90s active way.
I think Ibanez intended the BTB bass to be a session-man friendly sort of versatile chameleon rather than a bass with a distinctive tone and vibe (think ATK) and that DFR + varimid EQ match was their initial choice, rather than providing a more plug-and-play solution. It can definitely sound like a bunch of basses with rather different characters, although there's a baked-in active vibe. It can serve as a great tonal solution for, say, metal, which is surprising if you listen to the bass kept completely flat.
IMO, it can cop the "active/hi-fi J" tone rather well and get in Jaco's territory rather convincingly with the bridge pickup and highs flat or a tad restrained. One thing I noticed it can't really do well is the quintessential passive P tone. The neck pickup doesn't sound like it and the eq can't do a lot for it.
Finally, those weird proprietary pickup sizes have always kept me from thinking of mods or swaps
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Re. the passive preamp bypass vs flat eq, when I measure the pickups I did something similar. I bridged one of the pickups directly to the tip and sleeve of the cable ends: I temporarily clamped a couple of wires between the pickup white cable (going to the blend pot) and the tip and sleeve of the guitar lead. This way, I even took potential passive pots out of the equation - and added a bit of noise to the signal as the cavity was open, but that's probably another matter.
IIRC, the overall tone was basically the one I got with the eq flat, so yes, I'm inclined to believe that those DFR pickups naturally have that tone and the varimid board is quite transparent when flat.
Changing subject, I need some help: some of the saddle height screws of my monorail bridge (1999 batch, first ever model) have their hex head stripped and are quite stuck in their place. Besides not having been particularly conscious back in the days when turning wrenches and not having invested enough in WD40 cans, what would you suggest to do now to fix or (better) replace them? They seem to have a smaller diameter than Fender's or the norm. I don't know about aftermarket spares for those screws
Does anyone have any idea or replaced them in the past? The (legacy) monorails are fine, it's just a few tiny screws that need to be fixed/swapped. Luckily, they all belong to different saddles, but you can only compensate up to a certain point without having the saddle quite slanted or using shims underneath.
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I replaced the BH2's in my BTB745 with Aguilar Super Splits, and now it not only sounds much better, but I shaved around a pound off the weight. My bathroom scale is saying it's around 8.8 lbs now!
Any replacement options for the BTB747 pickups?
I feel like I looked into this some time ago and came up with nothing, but maybe there is more info now…?
Has anyone bypassed the preamp with these?
Also, a sanding question — do you feel that softening the contour devalues the bass if done right?
I feel like I looked into this some time ago and came up with nothing, but maybe there is more info now…?
Has anyone bypassed the preamp with these?
Also, a sanding question — do you feel that softening the contour devalues the bass if done right?
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Maybe in fifty years, but hardly now. If anything, properly softened and finished contour will add some value to the BTB.
Not sure about 7-string replacement pickup, but I replaced the preamp on mine with an Audere. EQ set flat and you get passive sound.
I don't see these basses necessarily becoming collector items, but for anyone who has played the BTB7XX series softening the upper arm contour well could only make it more likely that someone would want to buy it from you. I sanded in a contour on mine and refinished it with water-based brush-on poly. You can't tell the edge is gone unless you're looking for it and it looks natural.
Here's my BTB745 where I sanded off the upper arm edge into a nice taper that leaves a few millimeters of ash above the dark finished Okoume back, and then refinished it with wipe-on poly. You can't tell from the picture that it's been sanded.
I just looked into the pickups and they're the same BH2's that were in mine. This means that Bartolini P2 or MK sized pickups would work.
What strings do you use on your BTB?
I have mine strung with Labella flats right now, but I'm used to TI Jazz Flats on my other basses (much less tension). I tried a set of light gauge Sadowsky flats on it, but I couldn't get the strings as low as with the Labellas. Now my basses are either small and light tension, or big and high tension.
I have mine strung with Labella flats right now, but I'm used to TI Jazz Flats on my other basses (much less tension). I tried a set of light gauge Sadowsky flats on it, but I couldn't get the strings as low as with the Labellas. Now my basses are either small and light tension, or big and high tension.
