NBD: Heavily Mod’d Lakland 44-51 (Lipsticks, Relentless, EMG)

I bought this bass direct, as a demo, and had them keep it so Carl Pedigo (aka Chicago Bass Dr) could modify it. I have since modified it even more.

Some back story: I’m 49, been playing 32 years. I only recently started liking P basses, and that was mostly due to the Dimarzio Model P pickup. But, that’s another story. I now have several Ps, a few PJs, two dual Ps, and this Lakland 44-51. I also love the Ric bass sound but can’t stand the string spacing, scale length, and some other Ric things.

I had been missing my Lākland Scheff that I reluctantly sold a while back while gathering funds for an engagement ring. So, I bought a set of Kent Armstrong Lipstick J single coils with plans of building my own Scheff clone someday. When I saw the 44-51, I had an idea to have Carl Pedigo put the lipsticks in it. The Scheff neck pickup is actually positioned too close to the E and A half of the P pickup route. So, Carl and I discussed placing the neck lipstick in the Ric location, under the 24th fret harmonic. Carl tested the idea and a couple days later said it was a good choice. A Scheff’s bridge pickup is fairly close to the 70s J spot. So, we stayed with that location for the bridge pup. I would have hated the aesthetics of having two shiny chrome pickups and one old style black P pickup. So, I started looking online and Dimarzio releases the Relentless like 2 days later... it was meant to be LOL! I ordered one and had it shipped directly to Carl. I also ordered a 3 hole control plate. The plan was to have 3 volumes with at least one being stacked with a tone. I never really use a preamp much and leave my tone wide open all the time. I’m not a knob tweaker at all! Some wiring complexities/issues that I don’t understand lead Carl and I to change to a 3 knob and 2 mini-switch layout: volume only for the P, master volume for lipsticks, tone for lipsticks, one switch to select Lipsticks only, P only, & all 3. The other switch was for the lipsticks: Br, both, neck. After wiring up all that, Carl found a phase issue when running all 3 pickups. He battled it and tried several things with no luck. I had an idea to use two output jacks, like Billy Sheehan, 1 for the lipsticks and 1 for the P. That would remedy the phase issue but leave me needing to play through two amps simultaneously, or use a mixer. Also, we would only need 1 switch, leaving the 2nd disconnected. We went with the dual outputs.

Here’s some before and after pics w/ one of the Scheff that inspired the mods:

 

A friend and fellow Scheff lover tried the bass out through 2 rigs and it definitely captured much of the Scheff magic! Playing the neck J and the P together gave a very good Ric sound. I’ve owned a few and I was pleased! The P pickup is a monster and totally overpowers the lipsticks... like 3 times louder! And, there’s the expected volume drop when switching from a single lipstick to both.

This volume drop, and having a switch that did nothing, got me thinking about the EMG BTC HZ preamp, and using the two miniswitch holes for mini pots for Vol and tone for the P.

So.... I spent a few days planning, a week waiting on parts, and a full day with my drill press, router, and soldering iron. Here’s the results:

 

My problem was that I didn’t care for the typical P sound when noodling at home. So, I never gave it a chance at band rehearsals or gigs. I had a few great P basses that I sold due to this... stupid! The Model P isn’t a typical P pickup and sounded better at home. So, I took it to a few rehearsals and was hooked. Now, I can appreciate other P pickups knowing how great they’ll sound in a band setting.

 

Thanks! I’m very happy with my results! 1st time using the new drill press, and 2nd time using the router. Being careful doesn’t come close LOL! Measured and checked everything probably a dozen times before removing wood, and I still had some close calls and chewed up my template a bit.

 

The EMG BTC HZ’s active balance control works well at helping with the volume loss when playing both lipsticks, and the EMG solderless system goes in so neatly! But, I had to chisel out some wood to get those wide boards to fit in the cavity. Don’t Tell The Wife Guitars is THE MAN to buy EMG products from! He gets all my business! He threw in some extra wires to help me convert the lipsticks to solderless connectors, and I received the preamp in two days- Cali to east TN. That’s crazy fast! The 4 other vendors took a week, and they were much closer.

 

Thanks! I need to pose it with my red 64 Tbird!

As for series, the Scheff isn’t wired that way so I would not have gotten the sound I was looking for.

 

It’s super heavy, so I’ll probably hurt myself playing it LOL!

Thanks everybody! Lowendlobster will be doing a review/comparison on YouTube, sometime in the next few months... maybe sooner. If you’re not a subscriber yet, you should be! He does some of the most informative and entertaining bass content on the web! He has a Scheff, a Ric, and a Fender P to compare and contrast with. His honest review will let me know if my efforts were a success or a miss. Either way, it’s a Swiss army bass of tones.