Ibanez Portamento Club

[Supadope]

Having an issue with the G string cutting out when I use the Piezo pickups. Anyone else experience this?

Not me personally, but there's a lot of electronics issues discussed here in this thread. Ibanez QC seems lacking on the portos.

 

[Dvbssman]

Having an issue with the G string cutting out when I use the Piezo pickups. Anyone else experience this?

I have a Portamento and a Affirma. The Affirma uses the same piezo circuits as the Portamento. I had the exact same problem as you and it turned out to be a bad variable potentiometer. The pot was shorting out to zero ohms. Those potentiometers are the individual volume adjustments on the backside of the bass. Here is what I posted then.

The previous owner damaged 2 of the piezo volume potentiometers by using the wrong type of adjustment tool. Although the pots look like they should be adjusted with a Philips screwdriver the angled head of the Philips doesn't go far enough into the plastic. Look closely at the pic and you can see the damage caused. The most damaged pot became zero ohms so I was getting almost no sound from my B string. I found the potentiometers on eBay (10 for $7) and replaced the 2 damaged pots. For adjustment use a very thin slotted screwdriver that is almost as wide as the slot on the pot. Hope this helps others here avoid this problem. I also own an Ibanez SRF705 that uses the same piezo setup.


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[Hunter34]

A picture would be great - I do best with a visual reference!

Unscrew the jack from the outside and inside. It comes apart in two pieces, and inside and outside piece. You need to move the adjustment nut on the inside further in to the cavity so that the barrel protrudes more from the body. Insert a spacer like the one in the attached image (or a stack of washers) over the end of the jack barrel so that it rests against the body out the outside. This one is 15mm inner diameter by 18mm outer diameter by 8mm long. Screw the outside part of the jack back on. Done.

(Apologies for not posting actual pictures. In order to show you actual, I'd have to disassemble a few things as I've got two preamps and a bunch of mods. See prior posts this thread.)

 

[Hunter34]

Having an issue with the G string cutting out when I use the Piezo pickups. Anyone else experience this?

Usually this happens at one extreme or the other of the adjustment pots on the back. Back them off to the middle of the adjustment range, then use an SPL meter in front of the amp to get them tweaked to the same volume and you should be good to go. Or, as was mentioned, replace the adjustment pot with a part from Digikey or elsewhere.

 

[fretlessman71]

Unscrew the jack from the outside and inside. It comes apart in two pieces, and inside and outside piece. You need to move the adjustment nut on the inside further in to the cavity so that the barrel protrudes more from the body. Insert a spacer like the one in the attached image (or a stack of washers) over the end of the jack barrel so that it rests against the body out the outside. This one is 15mm inner diameter by 18mm outer diameter by 8mm long. Screw the outside part of the jack back on. Done.

(Apologies for not posting actual pictures. In order to show you actual, I'd have to disassemble a few things as I've got two preamps and a bunch of mods. See prior posts this thread.)

View attachment 5066648

Your word for word instructions are very helpful! I will try to get some appropriate sized washers and give this a shot.

 

[Auer]

Not familiar with the portamentos at all, is the Ibanez Bass Workshop SRF705 Fretless the same?
Ibanez Bass Workshop SRF705 Fretless Bass Guitar - Brown Burst Flat

I'm contemplating a modern fretless 5 string, and this one appeals to me the most.

(I'd love a Sire M7 fretless five too, but they have fret lines)

TIA

 

[W3DW]

Dear Ayer,
Portamento is the Ibanez model name for the 4, 5 and 6 string SRF700, 705, and 706. All three are otherwise identical, and all have the same sunburst finish. Great basses!
Daniel

 

[Johno Dunn]

Not familiar with the portamentos at all, is the Ibanez Bass Workshop SRF705 Fretless the same?
Ibanez Bass Workshop SRF705 Fretless Bass Guitar - Brown Burst Flat

I'm contemplating a modern fretless 5 string, and this one appeals to me the most.

(I'd love a Sire M7 fretless five too, but they have fret lines)

TIA

That's the one! I lusted for the SRF700 for years before I finally got mine. Sold all my fretted basses shortly after.

 

[Auer]

Thanks for the clarification all.

I'll have to wait until these are back in stock at Sweetwater, could be whenever.

I also find the Ibanez SRH505F interesting, but it has fret lines and I'm not 100% cool with that.
Also it's probably bulkier (but lighter)

 

[Johno Dunn]

Thanks for the clarification all.

I'll have to wait until these are back in stock at Sweetwater, could be whenever.

I also find the Ibanez SRH505F interesting, but it has fret lines and I'm not 100% cool with that.
Also it's probably bulkier (but lighter)

Wait for the SRF.

 

[kirkdickinson]

Thanks for the clarification all.

I'll have to wait until these are back in stock at Sweetwater, could be whenever.

I also find the Ibanez SRH505F interesting, but it has fret lines and I'm not 100% cool with that.
Also it's probably bulkier (but lighter)

How light do to want? My SRF706 weighs 7.6 lbs.

Hard to imagine a 6 string bass being any lighter than that.

 

[Shanannigan]

Does anyone know what type of paint/finish is used on the Portamento?

 

[Michael Jewels]

I think it is just stained wood.

 

[Michael Jewels]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

This is the Ibanez site, but it doesn't say anything about the finish.

Mike

 

[Shanannigan]

Yeah, I was searching around and wasn't able to find anything.

I have some spots that got scuffed and the colour came off. So I'm trying to see whether it's worth the effort to repaint those spots.

 

[Phr014]

@Shanannigan, I had the same issue : Few flakes of shellac dissolved in alcohol applied with a thin brush, did the trick. I applied several thin layers with drying time in between.

 

[Shanannigan]

Thanks, I'll give that a go

 

[Mac Daddy]

Greetings everyone, I picked up a 705 for my birthday last week and I may need an intervention, because I can't stop playing it. I was looking for a "grown up" fretless to replace my bargain-bin (though excellent) Harley Benton JB40FL. I'd never considered an Ibanez before, because I'm a MusicMan snob, but when I described what I was looking for to the guy in my local store -- lightweight, well balanced, unlined fingerboard, versatile, and under $1500 -- he took me directly to the 705 and I walked out with it an hour later. It'll be getting its public gig debut tomorrow. Ibanez knocked it out of the park with this one.

 

[Stedkey]

Greetings everyone, I picked up a 705 for my birthday last week and I may need an intervention, because I can't stop playing it. I was looking for a "grown up" fretless to replace my bargain-bin (though excellent) Harley Benton JB40FL. I'd never considered an Ibanez before, because I'm a MusicMan snob, but when I described what I was looking for to the guy in my local store -- lightweight, well balanced, unlined fingerboard, versatile, and under $1500 -- he took me directly to the 705 and I walked out with it an hour later. It'll be getting its public gig debut tomorrow. Ibanez knocked it out of the park with this one.

View attachment 5126295

I also have a 705 and I love the way it plays. I have a Lakland 55-02 as well but play the 705 more. The fretless is great and the smaller neck just feels right. (The Lakland 5502 sounds great, just does not fit me as well as the 705.) As for that intervention - good luck! I probably need intervention as well.

 

[kirkdickinson]

Greetings everyone, I picked up a 705 for my birthday last week and I may need an intervention, because I can't stop playing it. I was looking for a "grown up" fretless to replace my bargain-bin (though excellent) Harley Benton JB40FL. I'd never considered an Ibanez before, because I'm a MusicMan snob, but when I described what I was looking for to the guy in my local store -- lightweight, well balanced, unlined fingerboard, versatile, and under $1500 -- he took me directly to the 705 and I walked out with it an hour later. It'll be getting its public gig debut tomorrow. Ibanez knocked it out of the park with this one.

View attachment 5126295

Yep. They are very nice basses and for the money, they are a lot value for the expense.

I have a had a Gary Willis GWB-35 for a decade that I bought use in new shape. When the Portamentos first came out, I played a 4 stringer at the local shop. It felt so great, but I switched away from 4's a long time ago so it stayed there. Messed with a 705 at Guitar center once. I really liked it, but it felt a lot like my GRB-35 and I just couldn't justify to myself why I needed another Ibanez 5 string fretless.

Saw an article about Ibanez releasing a 6 sting version. SRF-706. Watched a YouTube promo on it and called my Sweetwater rep. They weren't even in the states yet. I ordered one and had to wait for months. I got one of the first ones in the states. One other guy on this forum ordered one from sweetwater and got his about the same time.

Sweetwater offered me a highly discounted price to have it plecked. I decided not to. My last bass that had neck problems had a set neck and the problems showed up almost a year after I bought it. I figured that after it acclimated, if the neck was thin good shape, I could have it leveled later.

Neck was and still is perfect. I have Thomastick-Infield Jazz flats on it with very low action. No buzzes anywhere. Neck is perfect. It plays like a dream and sounds great.

I took it to an open mic night at a local watering hole and a friend of mine who is a multi-instrumentalist played a set with it. He is mostly a Fender guy and he was pleasantly surprised at how nice it played. He asked me how much it cost… and made a guess that it "probably close to $3,000. Nope, $1100 bass with $130 set of strings on it.

I got mine 6 years ago and mine has a Rosewood fretboard. Only the first batch of the 706's had Rosewood. All the ones after that have Panga Panga. Mine weighs 8.76 lbs.