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NBD: Univox Professional P bass
- Thread starter Straw_hat
- Start date
If for no other reason than the wire color scheme. The Yellow/Brown of the Schalle vs the Red/Black of the DiMarzos
Two things, DiMarzio pickups were widely copied in the late 70's and early 80's. As noted above the wiring colors are not what was used by DiMarzio. While Matsumoku did make instruments for Univox, I don't think this is one of them based on the neck plate. It still looks like a very nice bass.
The branded neck plate does not mean it wasn't made by matsumoku. The "steel" neck plate was just a generic part that most customers had no problem with.
My first good bass gear was a Univox PB and a Univox amp and 2x10 or 2x12 cab ......Thanks, Mom ! 
Yeah. The DP122 are the DiMarzios. Notice that the wiring is different colors on each set and also looks to be a little bit heavier wire on the DiMarzio.
IDK if Schaller even makes pickups anymore but I know they were fairly popular at one time. And most of the ones I've seen have had the cream colored covers like that. As did a lot of the DiMarzios when they first came out. I wonder if Schaller was licensed by DiMarzio to make them? IIRC Schaller had a full line of pick-ups of all types and styles.
There are a lot of woods that are called "mahogany" that look like that. That certainly isn't Honduras mahogany, but it's likely one of the Asian "mahoganies".
The Schaller pickup that looks a lot like the Dimarzio model P is a complete and authorized copy. Schalier licensed the design from DiMarzio - not sure if they had territorial limits or whatever, but I had basses with both pickups, and they looked and sounded identical. Both are very good pickups.
The old (from the 70's) pickups will sometimes come out of the shells (they're glued in at the factory), but they can be glued back in and work fine - the adhesives they had in the 70's are not as good as what they have today.
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The ceramic magnets weren't "extra". The pole pieces are just steel (not magnets), the ceramic magnets are the only magnets in the design. The geometry of a Model P pickup is very similar to a P90 pickup (but 2 halves make it hum cancelling, and using different magnet material).With the extra ceramic magnets and the adjustable Allen pole pieces it reminds me of DiMarzio's. But it could also be the Schaller PBX 236'ers. Whatever they are, they look like they could get snarky
PS the Schallers' come in cream too.
Possibly white Lumbar aka Korina
It could very well be Philippine mahogany which was imported pretty regularly until they clamped down on importing it. When it was available it was the most common imported mahogany.
I found an interesting article, actually a passage from the book wrote by Michael Wright about history of Univox. Pretty interesting stuff.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,628
- 222,210
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Late to the party... mahogany, or more specifically, Luan - it's most likely laminated. (apologies if someone already posted this)
Thomastic Infield Jazz strings were delivered and, I haven't had time to change the clothes after work, jumped straight to installation. Earlier adjusting the neck on blind appeared to be spot on low action. No fret buzzing. Great. Adjusted the intonation and...pure magic. I am truly delighted. Some spirit was released between this old wood, pickups, whatever brand they are, and TI flats. With tone off I heard low registers of organs. Plenty of sustain with touch of distant vibrato. So resonant, so different to my other basses. Going back to play one more time
Here is couple of pics after everything was put back in place.
A bit of hum appears when the tone nobody is fully open. I will try to copper tape the cavity to try to eliminate. If it doesn't eliminate it entirely, I will probably make a new harness. Entirely, as I don't want to chop original harness. I'll simply make a new one and remove entire old in the box. Fender vintage pots should be delivered today.
Old girl is in really good condition. Even the frets aren't noticeably worn.
A bit of hum appears when the tone nobody is fully open. I will try to copper tape the cavity to try to eliminate. If it doesn't eliminate it entirely, I will probably make a new harness. Entirely, as I don't want to chop original harness. I'll simply make a new one and remove entire old in the box. Fender vintage pots should be delivered today.
Old girl is in really good condition. Even the frets aren't noticeably worn.
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Love it. So easy to play. TI flats and pretty low action are not most ideal combination though, but I usually have light touch, so let it be as it is.
However, shielding with copper tape didn't cancel the open tone hum entirely. Had I not carefully positioned the ground wire under the bridge when I removed it for cleaning, it would be main culprit.
The only other thing I can think of is pot.
Another silly issue: don't know how to remove knobs. No set screw, not collet, not push on - tried to pull but not moving. It feels like there is short spring movement underneath before it hits the end. Forgot to check how it looks underneath the pickguard when it was removed today for shielding job, so I'll leave that for other time.
However, shielding with copper tape didn't cancel the open tone hum entirely. Had I not carefully positioned the ground wire under the bridge when I removed it for cleaning, it would be main culprit.
The only other thing I can think of is pot.
Another silly issue: don't know how to remove knobs. No set screw, not collet, not push on - tried to pull but not moving. It feels like there is short spring movement underneath before it hits the end. Forgot to check how it looks underneath the pickguard when it was removed today for shielding job, so I'll leave that for other time.
