Howdy. Let me start off by saying I own no basses. That's right, I am a guitarist, so shoot me I am 17, I take an electronics class, and I wire guitars. Never dealt with basses before. My first question, can anyone tell me what this is? The bridge pickup is gone, the neck pickup is all broken and corroded. If I knew what this bass was, finding a neck pickup that fits would be easy. I do not want to rout into the body or cur into the pickguard. second question. Are most basses wired in series or parallel when 2 single coils are active? I am a Brian May fan, which is where I got this idea. Because the bass has 2 individual switches, I thought that i could wire them in series, straight to volume and tone then to output. Would it sound better if the 2 pickups were wired in series or parallel. This bass is for my friend and bassist in my band. He plays a BC Rich Mockingbird, but the buzz makes us all very mad, which is why we want to take his old broken bass and reverse wire reverse polarity. I have also changed strings, adjusted action, and truss rod on on another friends bass. Jazzmaster Blacktop. So my questions, What is that bass, where can I find 2 single coil pickups for it, can I get one of the reversed, and series or parallel? Thanks!
That's a cool old Japanese bass. The pole screws on that pickup are just for show. Under the cover you will find a single coil and a ceramic magnet. Most two pickups instruments are wired in parallel. But you can wire them in series. Doesn't the Mockingbird have the split coil DiMarzio Model Ps? Those are already humbuckers. There must be something else wrong with the bass. If you flip the polarity on two pickups the tone gets very thin. Not good for bass. BTW, I also play guitar and am a big Brian May fan. Me and my buddy are going to be building ourselves a couple of Red Specials. I also have an old Kramer strat that I'm wiring up like May's guitar with pickups that I wound to sound like the Burns pickups. I have a Vox amp too.
Thanks for the response. Correct me if I am wrong, but dont you need to reverse wire the coils and reverse the polarity of the magnets for it to be humbucking when 2 are on? http://bcrich.com/models/bass/Mockingbird/Mockingbird-Masterpiece-4-String/167 This is the one he has. I thought the split coil would be humbucking too, but I guess not. Grounding issue? I own a Brian May signature guitar. I am currently modding my cheap behringer strat to have all the Red special options, plus parallel options. If all goes well, I will do the same mod to my BMG. Are you a member of the Red Special forum? seen this yet? https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/...9pe2UdOeYSxRRFwHaIvZkaWXlqXuvVrzbdSR4uzmI18lC
Ok, so I thought I was smart, but I guess not. I have no idea how to do this. I have decided to go parallel, But I do not know what to do , because the switches have 3 leads. Can anyone help? Schmatics are just hard for me to follow, but a picture of the actual thing helps. That is how I have done everything I have ever done. Or a drawing
Yes, and yes. Right now this is as close as I come to a Red Special, as far as the shape anyway! I'm thinking of gutting the electronics and getting three Tri-Sonics.
I like it! I am assuming you have money, but I do not, so for my strat I will be using these. http://guitarfetish.com/Brighton-Rock-Vintage-Spec-Alnico-Pickups-Classic-Queen-sound_p_1514.html. I just hope they dont suck! I can wire guitars pretty easily, because of pictures on the internet, but this bass project is not easy because I can not find a picture of what I am looking for.
That's interesting. I hadn't seen those before. He mentions the Guild version in the 80s. I had a set of those when I worked at American showster. Rick the guy that ran Showster previously worked at Guild. The production pickups were made by DiMarzio. They were actually a set of HS-2s, with only the top coil wound. Real Tri-Sonics use a ceramic magnet, and have a steel baseplate. But those should get pretty close.
