Greetings, everyone,
So, new bass. This is a DIY assembly/frankenstein project, one I've had in my head for a few years, and finally got around to doing. It's a "Double Reverse Precision." similar to the iconic bass Leland Sklar has played on thousands of recordings.
The particulars:
USA Custom body - lightweight alder, rear routed, right-handed with 2 left-handed Precision pickup routs. The pickup placement on this bass is different from Leland's bass. He put the neck pickup further away from the bridge; I wanted this one to be more "traditional" P sounding, but with the coils reversed. The E/A coil in the neck position is in the traditional P bass location; that moves the D/G coil significantly up toward the neck.
For the bridge pickup, I had the E/A coil placed in the same position as a 60's Jazz bridge pickup, and the D/G coil toward the neck. So the spacing between the pickups is the same as on a 60's Jazz.
I stained the raw wood with India Ink, with a lot of very generous guidance and support from TB'er Fretno (he does good work -- check out some of his posts). Ink dries very quickly, so it's a bit tricky to work with. After staining, I sealed it with shellac, then applied about 12 coats of Minwax wipe-on poly, finishing with satin.
Warmoth neck - Wenge, with ebony fingerboard, 38mm (1.5") nut width, their "standard" contour. This one has steel stabilizing bars.
Hardware - Hipshot Ultralight tuners, Hipshot string retainer, Gotoh 203 bridge.
Electronics - EMG Geezer Butler pickups. The DCR of the neck pickup is right at 11.0, the bridge pickup at 11.2; at least with my ultra-cheap ohmmeter. Controls are Volume/Volume/Tone; I used the quick-connect system that EMG supplies with the pickup. I'm not 100% satisfied with the taper of the volume controls, so I may at some point do away with the quick connectors, and rewire with linear taper volumes. I suspect these are audio taper, and I prefer linears with V/V/T setups.
Sound - Sonically, this thing is amazing. It sounds deep, rich, and full. The neck pickup by itself is very much classic P, but with fuller-sounding D & G strings. With a little treble roll-off, it does very nice P-bass thump.
The bridge pickup by itself is surprisingly usable. It has a nice Jazz Bass-ish burp, but thicker and more solid sounding. I initially didn't think I'd use it much by itself, but I'm quickly changing my mind on that. It's very responsive to changes in technique and tone control setting.
With both pickups at 100%, it sounds like a Jazz Bass on steroids. Extremely growly and throaty, with that little scoop out of the middle that Jazzes do. I don't slap much at all, but this setup would be a slapper's dream. And then there's all the "in between" settings. Again, tone control settings change it quite a bit.
All in all, it's an extremely versatile bass. It does everything from thump to growl, to purr, to soft and mellow. I'm really liking it a lot.
I'm going to try and get some soundclips recorded and post them, but it may take me a while.
OK, enough rambling for now... here are some blurry and grainy pics:
So, new bass. This is a DIY assembly/frankenstein project, one I've had in my head for a few years, and finally got around to doing. It's a "Double Reverse Precision." similar to the iconic bass Leland Sklar has played on thousands of recordings.
The particulars:
USA Custom body - lightweight alder, rear routed, right-handed with 2 left-handed Precision pickup routs. The pickup placement on this bass is different from Leland's bass. He put the neck pickup further away from the bridge; I wanted this one to be more "traditional" P sounding, but with the coils reversed. The E/A coil in the neck position is in the traditional P bass location; that moves the D/G coil significantly up toward the neck.
For the bridge pickup, I had the E/A coil placed in the same position as a 60's Jazz bridge pickup, and the D/G coil toward the neck. So the spacing between the pickups is the same as on a 60's Jazz.
I stained the raw wood with India Ink, with a lot of very generous guidance and support from TB'er Fretno (he does good work -- check out some of his posts). Ink dries very quickly, so it's a bit tricky to work with. After staining, I sealed it with shellac, then applied about 12 coats of Minwax wipe-on poly, finishing with satin.
Warmoth neck - Wenge, with ebony fingerboard, 38mm (1.5") nut width, their "standard" contour. This one has steel stabilizing bars.
Hardware - Hipshot Ultralight tuners, Hipshot string retainer, Gotoh 203 bridge.
Electronics - EMG Geezer Butler pickups. The DCR of the neck pickup is right at 11.0, the bridge pickup at 11.2; at least with my ultra-cheap ohmmeter. Controls are Volume/Volume/Tone; I used the quick-connect system that EMG supplies with the pickup. I'm not 100% satisfied with the taper of the volume controls, so I may at some point do away with the quick connectors, and rewire with linear taper volumes. I suspect these are audio taper, and I prefer linears with V/V/T setups.
Sound - Sonically, this thing is amazing. It sounds deep, rich, and full. The neck pickup by itself is very much classic P, but with fuller-sounding D & G strings. With a little treble roll-off, it does very nice P-bass thump.
The bridge pickup by itself is surprisingly usable. It has a nice Jazz Bass-ish burp, but thicker and more solid sounding. I initially didn't think I'd use it much by itself, but I'm quickly changing my mind on that. It's very responsive to changes in technique and tone control setting.
With both pickups at 100%, it sounds like a Jazz Bass on steroids. Extremely growly and throaty, with that little scoop out of the middle that Jazzes do. I don't slap much at all, but this setup would be a slapper's dream. And then there's all the "in between" settings. Again, tone control settings change it quite a bit.
All in all, it's an extremely versatile bass. It does everything from thump to growl, to purr, to soft and mellow. I'm really liking it a lot.
I'm going to try and get some soundclips recorded and post them, but it may take me a while.
OK, enough rambling for now... here are some blurry and grainy pics:
Last edited:
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