Not yet but I skipped the Post Office near work today as I HAVE TO go there tomorrow to ship some eBay'd stuff. I ordered from two different shippers(at least in name) so it's doubtful both will "vanish".
Keep you posted.
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Maybe found a decent Gibson mudbucker replacement?
- Thread starter lunarpollen
- Start date
Keep you posted.
Yeah he said he's not gonna charge for any labor to make it right. I just hope it's fixable.
My guitar tech just called, he said that as soon as he took the pickup cover off, the problems cleared up. He asked if the cover came with the pickup, and I told him yes. He said that the holes were too small for the pickup screws and so the cover was causing some kind of electrical ground and so he enlarged them a tiny bit and says it works fine now. he apologized and said he should have picked up on this the first time, but he's a little brain-frazzled from his recent move (he just moved his luthiery from his home garage into a proper shop space and is still in the middle of setting up). No charge for the additional work to fix the issue. He is still waiting for the switch he ordered to arrive, but he said I could pick up the bass now and he'll call me when the part arrives. I told him that I'll just leave the bass with him until then, it's not my main bass (and I don't feel like heading over there in the neverending cold rain on my lunch break anyway)... So I guess there's still a little suspense being that I haven't yet heard how it sounds now.... But I'm glad that it *seems* things are finally fixed...
So, Johnny Crab, you might want to enlarge those pickup holes on the covers just a bit, that is, when you finally get them!
So, Johnny Crab, you might want to enlarge those pickup holes on the covers just a bit, that is, when you finally get them!
OK, then he has the metal parts in the pickup probably connected to hot and the cover to ground or something... the cover should be on the same ground connection as the keeper bar and stuff. On a real mudbucker they are all touching, so it shouldn't make a difference.
Very odd. Something is not wired right.
yeah, i'm not confident it's totally fixed yet, i need to hear it through my bass head first and see if it's working like it's supposed to.
I just looked at that... they already have the cap mod I was talking about... just a different value.
Got both of them today.
Since I'm at work and in instrumentation, they both got checked and came in at 29.2 k or so. Lots of windings.
I do agree with the other post about the screw holes should not make a difference. I'll re-ohm when I get home making sure to do some ohmage experiments with the cover On/Off, etc. I'll also do some eye-ball measurements with the cover on the Rondo SX P/J to see how that's gonna match up.....maybe a picture.
Also ordered two of the small HB's to try in my Brice TB since these got here OK(24 days after they got ordered).
No.
It may be a few weeks as we're(band) coming off of winter break to about 7 gigs between Feb 5 and Feb 26 PLUS fulltime day job PLUS son's senior year at high school/pre-graduation stuff going on.
I'm going to eyeball everything and probably get the P/J ready for routing(pickup and new volume control and maybe a tone control bypass switch) this weekend maybe. I WILL handtest one by using test leads connected to the pickup leads and hand-holding the pickup(connected to an amp) over the bass strings while my son plays to get a very rough idea of sound/voltage output. I'll also putup two "before" pictures if time allows.
Next weekend will be pickguard cutting and possibly install. I'm hoping to end up with three volumes and a bypass-able master tone.
My goal is to get it finished by the end of February.
When will yours be ready? I want to order one for my epiphone rivoli, but I'm waiting for a few reviews
I am waiting for my guitar tech to install a new switch... He had to order the part and is still waiting for it. He works fast so once he gets it I should have my bass back the same day... I am hoping it'll just be a couple more days at most.
I picked up my bass today because I thought I might be able to use it tomorrow (no, the new switch didn't come in). I detected almost no improvement since last time, maybe a bit less hum, but still really low volume, and switching modes just adds a lot of mids (and more hum). I took the pickup cover off, experimented with touching things, i found the hum increased dramatically if I gripped onto the sides of the coil (which is wrapped in some sort of plastic tape, mind you) that's closer to the bridge with my fingertips. Gripping onto the sides of the coil that's closer to the neck had no effect at all. I dug out the weird little unit that handles the switching between the two modes (it just sort of sits there in a little rout in the pickup cavity), moved it around, poked around on it and the solder joints with my fingers, etc. I had some definite effects on the amount of hum, from getting rid of most (but never all) of it, to creating extremely loud insane hissy hum. The sad thing is, through all this dysfunction, I am still able to tell that there is good sound in there somewhere; it's just not being allowed to shine through. But I am way past frustrated with it, I'm giving up. I think I'll just get rid of it and look into acquiring a reissue Harmony H22 (still waiting for news/info/pricing to be published)...
So yeah, I think I would definitely recommend against putting one of these pickups in a reissue Rivoli. For all I know, the pickup may work beautifully (it did test at 31k), but the bass itself is just too shabby. At least the one I have is. And anyway, the pickup pole pieces are a little too far apart for the Rivoli string spacing. WHich is something I could have overlooked if everything else was working right. I don't know, I think the issue might be with the damn baritone switch unit (not the switch button itself, but the little unit that it's wired to). I don't know, maybe someone else with techinical experience with and love for these particular basses would be able to gut out the bad stuff and put in better stuff and turn it into a wonderful instrument. But that person would not be me. I just want it to go away. I'm just so far past the point of caring and hoping for this bass that I don't even want to look at it.
/sorry for the pathetic venting but I'm really in a foul mood now. I could use a drink or three, but getting tipsy at home alone is just no fun. bleh...
So yeah, I think I would definitely recommend against putting one of these pickups in a reissue Rivoli. For all I know, the pickup may work beautifully (it did test at 31k), but the bass itself is just too shabby. At least the one I have is. And anyway, the pickup pole pieces are a little too far apart for the Rivoli string spacing. WHich is something I could have overlooked if everything else was working right. I don't know, I think the issue might be with the damn baritone switch unit (not the switch button itself, but the little unit that it's wired to). I don't know, maybe someone else with techinical experience with and love for these particular basses would be able to gut out the bad stuff and put in better stuff and turn it into a wonderful instrument. But that person would not be me. I just want it to go away. I'm just so far past the point of caring and hoping for this bass that I don't even want to look at it.
/sorry for the pathetic venting but I'm really in a foul mood now. I could use a drink or three, but getting tipsy at home alone is just no fun. bleh...
Now just as a recap, because I don't remember... what was wrong with the original pickup?
The thing is most of the suggestions (including mine) were for a clearer less-mud-bucker, but you bought a more-mud-bucker to replace the less-mud-bucker in the Epi. Where you trying to get a more authentic tone?
Your current issue is the work was not done properly, and it's a shame that replacing the pickup made the bass unusable.
I'd be more than happy to fix it for you... I've had experience rewiring EB-2's and mudbuckers.
The thing is most of the suggestions (including mine) were for a clearer less-mud-bucker, but you bought a more-mud-bucker to replace the less-mud-bucker in the Epi. Where you trying to get a more authentic tone?
Your current issue is the work was not done properly, and it's a shame that replacing the pickup made the bass unusable.
I'd be more than happy to fix it for you... I've had experience rewiring EB-2's and mudbuckers.
The original pickup was extremely weak sounding and was horribly microphonic. The bass sat around my apartment half-disassembled for many months, in the hopes that I would eventually find a pickup that might be better for it.
The idea behind the new pickup was that it was much higher-output (which *was* measured when I first received it, but it definitely doesn't sound like it now that it's installed), and i figured it would be less-microphonic (which it seems to be). Clarity wasn't an issue I was concerned with. I don't want the bass to have a modern tone, so I guess authenticity would be something I'd shoot for. I don't want a DiMarzio Model One pickup.
The new pickup that I did get was cheap enough that I figured it was worth a try. It doesn't seem to be quite the right fit, physically, but it wasn't unworkable. It's all the weirdness that's been happening that's really frustrating. The hum/noise (isn't this a humbucker?), the weirdness with the little unit that handles the switching between the two modes, the extremely low volume, etc. I have two other crappier basses with crappy single coil pickups and flatwounds on them that are WAY louder than my Rivoli (it has Pyramid flats on it). I seriously have to crank the gain of my MarkBass LM II just about all the way up when the Rivoli is in "bass" mode (but I have to turn it down when engaging the "baritone" mode because it just adds a huge midrange honk on top of it + a lot of hum. And in that mode, the tone knob acts like a volume control but only for those mids)
It's just really weird and really frustrating, and I have no idea what is wrong or how many things are wrong with it. I don't know if I want to throw any more money into it at this point, I think I'd rather just sell it for a loss and hope that the reissue Harmony H22 will sound good and be affordable... It wasn't a priority for me to get the bass up and running again; I just saw this pickup online and figured "why not?"
The idea behind the new pickup was that it was much higher-output (which *was* measured when I first received it, but it definitely doesn't sound like it now that it's installed), and i figured it would be less-microphonic (which it seems to be). Clarity wasn't an issue I was concerned with. I don't want the bass to have a modern tone, so I guess authenticity would be something I'd shoot for. I don't want a DiMarzio Model One pickup.
The new pickup that I did get was cheap enough that I figured it was worth a try. It doesn't seem to be quite the right fit, physically, but it wasn't unworkable. It's all the weirdness that's been happening that's really frustrating. The hum/noise (isn't this a humbucker?), the weirdness with the little unit that handles the switching between the two modes, the extremely low volume, etc. I have two other crappier basses with crappy single coil pickups and flatwounds on them that are WAY louder than my Rivoli (it has Pyramid flats on it). I seriously have to crank the gain of my MarkBass LM II just about all the way up when the Rivoli is in "bass" mode (but I have to turn it down when engaging the "baritone" mode because it just adds a huge midrange honk on top of it + a lot of hum. And in that mode, the tone knob acts like a volume control but only for those mids)
It's just really weird and really frustrating, and I have no idea what is wrong or how many things are wrong with it. I don't know if I want to throw any more money into it at this point, I think I'd rather just sell it for a loss and hope that the reissue Harmony H22 will sound good and be affordable... It wasn't a priority for me to get the bass up and running again; I just saw this pickup online and figured "why not?"
Are you handy enough with a soldering iron to wire it straight to an output jack & see what that sounds like?
scotch
It's not rocket science!
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I know you don't want a Model 1, but it gave me lots more output & still sounds like a mudbucker should..... I know, I know it doesn't come in chrome (which would be way cooler), but it sounds great with no noise or microphonics & it fits perfectly! I think it still looks ok as it matches with the pickguard:
Link Removed
I also disabled (removed) the little baritone switch transformer. I'm trying to figure out a way to use the leftover switch to go from dual to single coil operation of the pickup. The switch only has 2 contacts, so I haven't figured it out yet (may not be possible).
Link Removed
I also disabled (removed) the little baritone switch transformer. I'm trying to figure out a way to use the leftover switch to go from dual to single coil operation of the pickup. The switch only has 2 contacts, so I haven't figured it out yet (may not be possible).
I can do basic soldering, but I can't physically manipulate the electronics inside of this instrument, being that it's a hollowbody and there's no rear access panel. I never understood why most hollowbodies don't have rear access plates like solid instruments.
I've worked on 335 types, and while it's no fun, the controls can be hooked out via the F-holes.
What you have to do is tie a long piece of thread to the top of each pot so you can pull them back into place afterward, and I contrived a way of using a loop of string and a firm wire to get the jack socket back in place. If you have a go, I'll explain that if asked.
What you have to do is tie a long piece of thread to the top of each pot so you can pull them back into place afterward, and I contrived a way of using a loop of string and a firm wire to get the jack socket back in place. If you have a go, I'll explain that if asked.
That's called a "choke". I think changing the cap for a larger value would have been a much more interesting mod than single coil on the Model 1...
Real easy. The Model 1 has four wires. Two of those wires should be connected together. They should be the white and black wires. That's the series connection between the two coils. Connect a wire from that series connection to one terminal on the switch. Connect the other terminal on the switch to ground.
Now when you switch the switch, you will shut off one coil on the Model 1.
