I ended up having to do both, sanded cavity first, but now that I've put some copper shielding in them, it's too snug so I shaved down the pickups too. Just take your time and try not to rush.
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I ended up having to do both, sanded cavity first, but now that I've put some copper shielding in them, it's too snug so I shaved down the pickups too. Just take your time and try not to rush.
I have a router so I will probably just enlarge the cavity to take a standard P2 size pickup and be done with it. That way I can drop in something else that's a standard size in the future if I want. Does anyone know how to get the sharp corners to match those on the pickup? A 1/4 router bit isn't going to get there, perhaps a file or some sanding or is there a finishing bit I can use to hone out the corners? Perhaps not a big deal in this case since I'm only taking 3mm off one edge.
I have some conductive cavity paint as well so that should take care of the shielding. I can temporarily shim the epoxy with something it won't stick to (probably polyethylene sheet) so there's a little room for paint and fit. It should take about 2 weeks by the time all the parts arrive, I have time to do the work, and I can get everything actually working. I'll try to post some pictures along the way.
Finally pics as this project is done! And I couldn't be happier, no more weak string output, quiet after shielding, and these Bart's are killer. I bought a Bartolini NTMB 5.2 to put in as well but after the shield job, it sounds great with the stock MK2 preamp. I may entertain doing a series/single switch but maybe not, I'm just glad everything came full circle in this
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Finally pics as this project is done! And I couldn't be happier, no more weak string output, quiet after shielding, and these Bart's are killer. I bought a Bartolini NTMB 5.2 to put in as well but after the shield job, it sounds great with the stock MK2 preamp. I may entertain doing a series/single switch but maybe not, I'm just glad everything came full circle in this
Congrats, looks great. I hope my mod will sound as good. I'm not planning to swap out the preamp.
I just tried a BTB675 and it has the dead "A" string problem also!
Acoustically it sounds like the output is the same across all strings so it must be the dreaded wrong p/u problem.
How do they screw up something like that? I wasn't even looking for that issue but it sticks out like a sore thumb!
No wonder you guys want to mod yours!
Other than that MAJOR flaw it was a nice bass, too bad.
Acoustically it sounds like the output is the same across all strings so it must be the dreaded wrong p/u problem.
How do they screw up something like that? I wasn't even looking for that issue but it sticks out like a sore thumb!
No wonder you guys want to mod yours!
Other than that MAJOR flaw it was a nice bass, too bad.
Well they still have the cheap-o import Bartolini pups. The USA Bartolini's don't have this problem (would be a bit weird if they did 
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It's not a matter of the pickups malfunctioning or being poor quality, they are just inconsistencies with workers installing the wrong ones on basses. The pickup models look identical and if your job is to put pickups into basses all day, hundreds perhaps, errors can happen..
Yes, but there aren't a lot of good reasons to put a 5 inch wide pickup on a 5 string bass, especially since it might be easy to mix up the 5 and 6 string parts. I guess mass production happens to be one of the reasons.
There's room on the pickup to support 19mm string spacing even with the significantly smaller shell, so it all worked out great. One word of caution - bartolini uses black for hot and green/shield for ground. Ibanez uses black for ground and white for hot.
It only took about 15 minutes for my friend to shave off one side of each cavity with a really really sharp chisel.
The putty worked out great for filling the gaps. It's a closer match to the shells than I expected. Hardened in about 4 hours. I also had some cavity paint on hand from the last time I took a run at this.
There's room on the pickup to support 19mm string spacing even with the significantly smaller shell, so it all worked out great. One word of caution - bartolini uses black for hot and green/shield for ground. Ibanez uses black for ground and white for hot.
It only took about 15 minutes for my friend to shave off one side of each cavity with a really really sharp chisel.
The putty worked out great for filling the gaps. It's a closer match to the shells than I expected. Hardened in about 4 hours. I also had some cavity paint on hand from the last time I took a run at this.
Yes, obviously the A string sounds much better - same volume and tone as the rest. Also, the neck pickup is deeper and the bridge pickup is more treble-laden on the new ones. This gives me a broader range of options to tweak with the preamp controls. With everything level, I get more mwah on the middle notes - those generally in the middle range of the E, A, and D strings.
Any other differences would likely be lost in selecting a different brand of strings or having different settings on the amp.
FWIW I went with deep Bart's.
According to the SGD guy, Ibanez reverses their pickups, perhaps to give a more even tone between the two. That might partly explain why I hear a more pronounced difference between neck and bridge on the new pickups.
Any other differences would likely be lost in selecting a different brand of strings or having different settings on the amp.
FWIW I went with deep Bart's.
According to the SGD guy, Ibanez reverses their pickups, perhaps to give a more even tone between the two. That might partly explain why I hear a more pronounced difference between neck and bridge on the new pickups.
257 srvlives4evr I love the 575s
All the mods seem to have been quite successful, any chance of some sound clips after pickup/preamp changes?
All the mods seem to have been quite successful, any chance of some sound clips after pickup/preamp changes?
257 srvlives4evr I love the 575s
All the mods seem to have been quite successful, any chance of some sound clips after pickup/preamp changes?
I don't have any way to make a recording but the new pickups blew me away this morning. It was really easy to dial in exactly the right sound for the songs and the associated mood. I used a muted bassy tone for the slow pieces and a trebly quacking tone (all bridge pickup) for the rocking tune at the end of the service.
In thinking about this a little more, it might be possible to order the Mk2-5 pickups if you didn't want to mod your bass like I did. I checked on the Ibanez parts website and the part numbers for the Mk2-5's are different than the Mk2-6's. Perhaps all these problems really are a result of mixing up parts. That said, I'm guessing you won't get a bargain from Ibanez on replacements. For me, there was a noticeable difference in the sound so it was worth it to get the Bart xxP25C's
I started out with classical and folk music on acoustic guitar. So the feeling of the acoustic bass (not upright/double-bass) was much closer to what I was used to and prefer. But that changed when I started using the Roland VB-99. I needed an electric bass that had as much acoustic feeling as possible and wide string spacing. Tried a BTB at the locale music store and the rest is history.. hehehe
A passing thought I've had a few times now is to restring my BTB405 to EADGC. Is there any issue with the standard pickups accepting the higher frequencies on the C string? I sometimes find that playing up past the 14th ish fret on G at the moment results in a much quieter note.
+1
The tone is remarkable, well defined, fuller low mid and nice top end. I'll try to get a sound clip up.
I called Ibanez Support, told them my situation and the parts rep straight up agreed with me that wrong ones were definitely put on since the 5 and 6 string pickups are the same size. But ya, even with that, he quoted me $140 + tax each and at that point, I had a lead on some Bart P4's and went that way, plus I enjoyed the minor modding I had to do
I called Ibanez Support, told them my situation and the parts rep straight up agreed with me that wrong ones were definitely put on since the 5 and 6 string pickups are the same size. But ya, even with that, he quoted me $140 + tax each and at that point, I had a lead on some Bart P4's and went that way, plus I enjoyed the minor modding I had to do
Well, then I probably broke even - $250 for the pickups plus $25 for the cavity paint, plus $5 for the putty.
