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NBD - Epiphone Newport

#21
Another update - Did a 4 hour gig with the Newport this evening. Variety band. Covered all genres admirably with the exception of slap, which it only managed to do adequately. Different strings will likely improve that as well. Pickup to pickup balance was fine. Tone and balance controls are much more pronounced when favoring the bridge pickup which doesn't surprise me given the frequency response I expect from a big humbucker at the end of the neck. We got along with one another just fine! Will gig it again tomorrow.

BBB
 
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#22
I got a Newport last week and I'm loving it. But yes, some terrible quality control. The pots are wrong, so they are more like on/off switches unless you concentrate like a yogi to turn the knob a fraction of a millimeter to go from full volume to 50% and so on. The pickups were wired out of phase, which I didn't believe at first because people online describe out of phase bass pickups based on their subjective experience, so it sounded to me like it must be something else, like the pickups interacting weirdly with each other. No, they were out of phase. Basically the center position (I didn't have the patience to turn it a razor blade edge to either side to try a different balance) was less strong than either position alone. I swapped the wires and the sound is absolutely stunning now. I'm waiting on a new set of pots, including a balance knob from Bartolini, which I have read is one of the few that is made correctly. I bought mine used, so I suspect the first owner fiddled with the setup some, because that aspect of it was not too bad. I put good strings on it right off the bat, too, which I recommend strongly. It's too bad that this bass is getting a bad reputation because of all of the unnecessary problems that are easily correctable. Epiphone should acknowledge the problem and they should fix their unsold stock and send rebates to current owners along with instructions for fixing the common issues. That will cost them much less than having sales tank on them. It would be good for brand loyalty in general too.
 
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#23
I had a few stupid QC issues with my Embassy when it first came out -- spinning tuner and jacked-up jack and wacky bridge, that were fixed by the mom/pop stores factory-trained tech on warranty. Similar issues with my Jack Casady.

Epiphone has some great stuff but QC kinda sucks. I'm a tooltard so I'm hesitant to buy another.
 
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#24
I thought I'd update all you millions of people who will read this: I got the new blend pot for my Epiphone Newport reissue and installed it. It absolutely fixes the blend problem. I tried it grounded and ungrounded and didn't hear a significant difference, so I've left it ungrounded. I had previously put the pickups in phase by swapping the wires at the bridge pickup itself, but having subsequently rewired the whole thing with all new pots -- new blend pot from Bartolini, new volume pot from them too, new tone cap and tone pot -- the pickups ended up being out of phase again. The OEM wiring was definitely a bit off, so I'm thinking that's where the phase issue came from, though I have no idea how that would be possible. Anyway, I swapped the wires back at the pickup and all is well.

Except: the volume still goes from 100% to zero in approximately a zillionth of a rotation, and the tone pot, with a nice new orange drop cap, still does absolutely nothing. Fortunately I never use the volume or tone, I was just trying to be thorough. The whole thing is a frigging mystery but I'm happy now.
 
#25
My Epiphone Newport has been an absolute dumpster fire of quality control and yet, I freaking love the thing. It’s like the screwup kid who’s so damn lovable you can’t help but let them get away with murder. I don’t even want to think about how much money I dropped into making this thing playable. Totally worth it, though. It’s just so much fun to play, I have a hard time putting it down.
 
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#26
Mine was great out of the box! The only thing I did was replace the nut because I use LaBella nylon tapewound strings and the nut couldn’t accommodate them. I did a show last weekend with hear and she sounded fantastic! IMG_5996.jpeg
 
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#27
I got an Epiphone Newport Bass, and initial impressions were mixed. Great short scale bass but it was out-of-phase, pickups were pretty bad and bridge was terrible. However, it was very cheap so what can you expect. The rosewood neck was very solid, and mahogany construction was great as well.

So, it became a modification bass, and I took out the pickups and made it a single pickup. I replaced the pickup with a Serek LZN-B90 Humbucking Bass Pickup and changed the pickguard to cover the hole for the pickup removed. I replaced the Newport bridge with a Hipshot 2-point Supertone and the tuners with Hipshot Ultralite HB6L.

Still some more tuning to come, but the bass plays wonderfully now and looks like a cheap Serek Midwestern which was based upon the 1961 Epiphone Newport. :)
 

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#28
Gary Conn said:
I got an Epiphone Newport Bass, and initial impressions were mixed. Great short scale bass but it was out-of-phase, pickups were pretty bad and bridge was terrible. However, it was very cheap so what can you expect. The rosewood neck was very solid, and mahogany construction was great as well.

So, it became a modification bass, and I took out the pickups and made it a single pickup. I replaced the pickup with a Serek LZN-B90 Humbucking Bass Pickup and changed the pickguard to cover the hole for the pickup removed. I replaced the Newport bridge with a Hipshot 2-point Supertone and the tuners with Hipshot Ultralite HB6L.

Still some more tuning to come, but the bass plays wonderfully now and looks like a cheap Serek Midwestern which was based upon the 1961 Epiphone Newport. :)
Click to expand...
This is so awesome! But I don’t understand, did you move the pickup location? Did you fill a knob hole?
 

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