NBD, but not a happy one!

[chadds]

Besides you could be electrocuted with that shoddy wiring unless you use a tort pick.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

All those prewired kits are cool, I guess, but I've never used one. I will however agree that iffy wiring should be cleaned up and properly done. I recently completely replace all the wiring in a VVT bass and total cost was about half the Emerson prewire things and that included CTS solid shaft pots, wire, and a couple of capacitors since I was dealing with a set of P90 copies and didn't really know which way I'd want to go with the tone cap. I already had the wire but even adding the cost of both rolls it was still less than half the cost of your average prewire and I now know there's no compromised pots from excessive heat, no cold solder joints, and no experimental or just plain incorrect wiring schemes. I'd pull the foil from under the bridge for no other reason than the chance of corrosion from dissimilar metals. If you've got any mung growing under there make sure to clean it out good before putting the bridge back on.

I agree one can put together their own re-wire with components for less.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Besides you could be electrocuted with that shoddy wiring unless you use a tort pick.

Of course!! Logic Dictates!! Lmao!

 

[pigpen1]

Hello Bass friends, this is my first NBD during 5 years activity here.
I have a Yamaha BB424X which i love it so much. I want to put falts on my yammy for Funk and soul stuffs so i need a bright sounding bass for pick style and maybe slap, so I pulled the trigger on a used Squier VM 70's Jazz bass. Sorry for low quality pictures.
View attachment 3713236
It's in a very good condition, everything is working and no major dent or dings.
But 2 things are annoying me and prevent the joy of New Bass.
1-this bass is very dark sounding, I know new set of steel strings would help but to my ears it's very dark that i don't have much hope. when i open the tone pot max, it's like it's on 50%. My Yamaha in bridge position is much much brighter and Jazzier . I checked the wiring because I guessed the previous owner changed the pots to lower values like 100k but pots are original i think but i'm confused about wiring. I checked the seymour duncan jazz VVT schematic and it's different. Main confusion is about three black wires(one from bridge ground, one from bridge pu and one from neck pu which soldered to neck pu volume pot(1 in picture below). Also i'm confused about output jack. It's just a naked wire!!! (2 in picture below)
View attachment 3713491

2- previous owner put a piece of aluminum foil under the bridge!!! I know he did it for making a good electric contact with bridge but i think it's pretty unacceptable. Maybe just maybe the top end is dampening because of that!! You can see the edges of aluminum foil.
View attachment 3713495
What do you suggest? I appreciate any input. Thank you.

The bare wire should be replaced with something with isolation and soldered to the right place. Whenever I see this it usually means someone tried to tighten up a loose output jack without taking off the control plate to hold the back of the jack. It twisted and broke the wire.

The 3 black wires are fine, the are grounds and grounded to the back of the pot and out through the jack plate. I'd add an electrical ground across the back of all the pots and then to the output jack.

 

[pigpen1]

Hello Bass friends, this is my first NBD during 5 years activity here.
I have a Yamaha BB424X which i love it so much. I want to put falts on my yammy for Funk and soul stuffs so i need a bright sounding bass for pick style and maybe slap, so I pulled the trigger on a used Squier VM 70's Jazz bass. Sorry for low quality pictures.
View attachment 3713236
It's in a very good condition, everything is working and no major dent or dings.
But 2 things are annoying me and prevent the joy of New Bass.
1-this bass is very dark sounding, I know new set of steel strings would help but to my ears it's very dark that i don't have much hope. when i open the tone pot max, it's like it's on 50%. My Yamaha in bridge position is much much brighter and Jazzier . I checked the wiring because I guessed the previous owner changed the pots to lower values like 100k but pots are original i think but i'm confused about wiring. I checked the seymour duncan jazz VVT schematic and it's different. Main confusion is about three black wires(one from bridge ground, one from bridge pu and one from neck pu which soldered to neck pu volume pot(1 in picture below). Also i'm confused about output jack. It's just a naked wire!!! (2 in picture below)
View attachment 3713491

2- previous owner put a piece of aluminum foil under the bridge!!! I know he did it for making a good electric contact with bridge but i think it's pretty unacceptable. Maybe just maybe the top end is dampening because of that!! You can see the edges of aluminum foil.
View attachment 3713495
What do you suggest? I appreciate any input. Thank you.

Oh and you should move the capacitor to where the red wire is and then move the red wire and your new output wire to the middle terminal.

 

[mikecd1]

Ok my friends, Now i have an Extremely Happy NBD because of you.
I fixed the problem (Specially thanks to @eastcoasteddie and @Crater ). Result is very very satisfying. Now I'm in love with this Bass so i named it Woody.
I can't thank enough to you guys.
I made a comparison track. First part is finger style, everything is maxed, second one is pick style and third one is pick style, bridge pick up soloed.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Glad you got it sorted out and congrats on your new bass, enjoy! Although traditionally audio taper pots (a250 you've got) usually used for tone and linear tapers (b pots) for tone, they can be interchanged and as long as you're happy with the sound, that's what works best and perhaps designed for use with those pups. I have an active peavey with active pickups that has 50k linear pots for both volume and tone and it sounds okay to me so I'm not effin with it (that also after cleaning up a LOT of bad solder joints, grounds and messed up wiring).

 

[bumperbass]

!!! That bare wire is soldered to the Jack Tip !!!!!
This is wrong and why you have audio problems.
Compare that wiring with the Duncan Diagram.
View attachment 3713553
It looks like the cap is soldered to the center lug of the tone pot, compare to the diagram above.
there should be a wire leading from the same connection as the red wire going to the Jack Tip where the bare wire is soldered.

Also, there should be a ground wire from the Jack ground (the other lug on the jack) to the tone pot case.
Correct these first and foremost!!!


Those three black wires should be soldered one to each pot...
Bridge ground to tone pot, bridge pickup to bridge pot, neck pickup to neck pot. It’s not technically wrong, but not really clean...

each pot should be grounded to each other, also with soldered wire. I’m sure you can see it in the Duncan VVT diagram.


you’d have to pull the bridge to see what the pervious owner did with the foil. It could be for trying to get a “better” connection, but it is not needed. I thought maybe he wanted to get the bridge up higher, too...maybe he was having string buzz issues and he didn’t know how to correct. How is the truss rod working? Is the neck straight? How is playability and strong height?

I see that you are taking my words at face value, rather than reading what I wrote and using it in the context of the wiring at hand and trying to make a point that I’m wrong in some way. But I guess as a technician, you sometimes take joy in pointing out where others are wrong. I get it...I’m a technician as well and work with a bunch of guys that do the same.
Where have I mentioned that fact that the wire being bare is wrong? Did I write that the position of the tone cap is wrong?

You said it yourself in the first two sentences.
I was only trying to help you.
Read your first two sentences again.
No need to be rude, dude.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

You said it yourself in the first two sentences.
I was only trying to help you.
Read your first two sentences again.
No need to be rude, dude.

No dude, not being rude. And I don’t need help unless I ask for it... I’m just saying that I’m not wrong in my intent.
I never wrote that the fact that the wire is bare is the problem. Read it!!! I wrote “the bare wire is soldered to the jack tip”... the fact that it is soldered to the jack tip is the problem...wrong connection between the jack tip and the tone pot. Compare the wiring of the bass compared to the wiring in the diagram.
Never did I write that “because the wire is bare, you have audio problems”.
Perhaps I should have written it out more carefully so that everyone can understand. However, the OP understood and his bass is now fixed.

 

[JKos]

Oh and you should move the capacitor to where the red wire is and then move the red wire and your new output wire to the middle terminal.

Makes no difference.

- John

 

[pigpen1]

Makes no difference.

- John

Seemed like he wasn't sure of the normal wiring so just pointing out how I see most of them done