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New Bass Day

Gougedeye

Gougedeye

Supporting Member
Apr 1, 2008
2,366
2,208
Central Washington
#1
So I ordered a Bluesman Vintage DeVille. It didn't turn out the way I expected. I sent it to Mike Lull and $1100 later, it is the bass I wanted. Now this bass kicks ass! If any of you need work done to your bass, I highly recommend Mike Lull. Nice people and great service!
 

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#5
Glenn Johnson said:
May I ask what Mike did to your bass?
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The pickups that came with the bass were not Thunderbird pickups. They were split coil Precision style pickups crammed into a 4 string case. The bass had a wonky sound and the B string was weak. Mike installed his T5 pickups. Thunderously awesome. The bass came with a stack knob arrangement. Mike told me the pots were the wrong value and contributed to the poor sound. Changed out the pots to 500k ones. Changed the controls to V-V-T and installed a side jack. The bridge was originally a Badass style knock-off that would not intonate correctly. Installed a new Hipshot Bridge. The nut was very rough. Mike refiled and reshaped the nut. The bass played stiff, if that makes sense. It just felt tight and like it was fighting me. Mike gave it a nice Lull set up and now it plays like butter and sounds like thunder! I am very happy with the bass now. In hindsight, I should have gone with one of Mike's PT5s. Lesson learned. I should add I have a thread on the Bluesman Vintage Club here on TB that details my trials and tribulation with this build, if any of you are interested.
 
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#6
Gougedeye said:
The pickups that came with the bass were not Thunderbird pickups. They were split coil Precision style pickups crammed into a 4 string case. The bass had a wonky sound and the B string was weak. Mike installed his T5 pickups. Thunderously awesome. The bass came with a stack knob arrangement. Mike told me the pots were the wrong value and contributed to the poor sound. Changed out the pots to 500k ones. Changed the controls to V-V-T and installed a side jack. The bridge was originally a Badass style knock-off that would not intonate correctly. Installed a new Hipshot Bridge. The nut was very rough. Mike refiled and reshaped the nut. The bass played stiff, if that makes sense. It just felt tight and like it was fighting me. Mike gave it a nice Lull set up and now it plays like butter and sounds like thunder! I am very happy with the bass now. In hindsight, I should have gone with one of Mike's PT5s. Lesson learned.
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Thank you for the info. Glad you're happy with your bass now. Cheers!
 
#9
Gougedeye said:
The pickups that came with the bass were not Thunderbird pickups. They were split coil Precision style pickups crammed into a 4 string case. The bass had a wonky sound and the B string was weak. Mike installed his T5 pickups. Thunderously awesome. The bass came with a stack knob arrangement. Mike told me the pots were the wrong value and contributed to the poor sound. Changed out the pots to 500k ones. Changed the controls to V-V-T and installed a side jack. The bridge was originally a Badass style knock-off that would not intonate correctly. Installed a new Hipshot Bridge. The nut was very rough. Mike refiled and reshaped the nut. The bass played stiff, if that makes sense. It just felt tight and like it was fighting me. Mike gave it a nice Lull set up and now it plays like butter and sounds like thunder! I am very happy with the bass now. In hindsight, I should have gone with one of Mike's PT5s. Lesson learned. I should add I have a thread on the Bluesman Vintage Club here on TB that details my trials and tribulation with this build, if any of you are interested.
Click to expand...

Expensive lesson and very disappointing. Been in a similar spot before but all you can really do is learn from it. Sounds like you've got that figured out and in good shape now thanks to Mike.
 
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#17
Glad it got situated for you.

This thread also accomplished the realization of the appreciation of having the ability to do things yourself. But, if you got the money, and the justification, why not? I could pay $150 for someone to do my brakes....or I could do it myself in 30 minutes for $25. Different pathways for different people I guess.

Learn to do things on your own. It'll pay in the end, but my goodness. Dude had better hidden some gold in the cavity.
 
#18
Gougedeye said:
The pickups that came with the bass were not Thunderbird pickups. They were split coil Precision style pickups crammed into a 4 string case. The bass had a wonky sound and the B string was weak. Mike installed his T5 pickups. Thunderously awesome. The bass came with a stack knob arrangement. Mike told me the pots were the wrong value and contributed to the poor sound. Changed out the pots to 500k ones. Changed the controls to V-V-T and installed a side jack. The bridge was originally a Badass style knock-off that would not intonate correctly. Installed a new Hipshot Bridge. The nut was very rough. Mike refiled and reshaped the nut. The bass played stiff, if that makes sense. It just felt tight and like it was fighting me. Mike gave it a nice Lull set up and now it plays like butter and sounds like thunder! I am very happy with the bass now. In hindsight, I should have gone with one of Mike's PT5s. Lesson learned. I should add I have a thread on the Bluesman Vintage Club here on TB that details my trials and tribulation with this build, if any of you are interested.
Click to expand...
Excellent choice of pickups.
 

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