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NS Design Club
- Thread starter Danny O Danny
- Start date
I took the plunge and put a Lace Alumitone in my WAV4 Radius bass guitar in place of the EMG--huge tonal improvement, IMO. The installation didn't go smoothly. The EMG mounted the way most soapbars do--1 screw on each end. The Alumitone Bassbar mounts with 4 screws, one at each corner. Normally, this would be fine, but underneath that magnetic pickup, there's a bi-level hole. It's kinda like a rectangular stadium with the playing field at the bottom and a level of seating above all the way around. The EMG was screwed into that upper area, but the 4 holes in the Alumitone didn't line up well with that, and if I screwed them into the lower level, they weren't long enough to get the pickup anywhere near the strings. (Though they were standard length pickup-mounting screws). So I had to install it with the screws fastened at an angle toward the ends of the pickup. It looks OK, but it presented a bit of a challenge to accomplish. Once I got it mounted and wired (the wiring was a piece of cake), I re-strung it, adjusted it up, and played it. It is really wonderful. The Lace Alumitone can stand on its own, which takes away the clacky finger noise of the piezo. But I liked it best with the Lace tone at 100% and the piezo tone at about 70%, then just a little of the piezo fed in by the balance control. BTW, the Alumitone was so hot, I backed it away from the strings a little bit from where I started out, plus I turned the piezo up at the preamp all the way, which gave it a good balance.
If I were to do this again, I'd use the Lace Alumistealth instead of the Alumitone. It's a P-bass style split-coil humbucker packaged in a regular soapbar housing, mounting with a screw at each end. That would've made my life easier. Alumitones are available at the excellent price of $89 on Musicians Friend (with whom I'm not affiliated), while Alumistealths are available from Lace (if you can get hold of them) for $117. They never returned any of my phone calls or emails. In the near future, I'll try to get a photo or two up and maybe a little tone sample.
If I were to do this again, I'd use the Lace Alumistealth instead of the Alumitone. It's a P-bass style split-coil humbucker packaged in a regular soapbar housing, mounting with a screw at each end. That would've made my life easier. Alumitones are available at the excellent price of $89 on Musicians Friend (with whom I'm not affiliated), while Alumistealths are available from Lace (if you can get hold of them) for $117. They never returned any of my phone calls or emails. In the near future, I'll try to get a photo or two up and maybe a little tone sample.
Happy it worked out in the end.
That's troubling. I wonder what It'd be like just ordering blind, but I'll try MF or get a friend in the US to do it for me.
I wondered about ordering blind myself, but in the end, the MF price was still better. Unfortunately, they only carried the Alumitone, not the Alumastealth.
I even sent an email to Lace asking if they were still in business...no reply. I didn't think to check anyplace like Reverb or Ebay.
I even sent an email to Lace asking if they were still in business...no reply. I didn't think to check anyplace like Reverb or Ebay.
I have a problem in need of a solution: Let me first say I'm not the original owner of this bass, so no warranty. I was re-stringing my fairly-new-to-me WAV4 bass guitar over the weekend and the treble side of the bridge collapsed as I was adjusting the action. I'm told by NS design tech support that there is no insert under the bridge there--that the action adjustment screws thread straight into the wood. (What a terrible design that is!) So the threads are totally stripped out. The obvious solution would be to remove the bridge, drill the hole out, glue a dowel pin in, and re-drill the hole. However, NS tech support reminded me that the hole would have to be 100% straight or the bridge would never adjust properly. And how do you drill a perfectly straight hole in a bass body like a Radius bass, even using a drill press? Their second solution was to remove the bridge, coat the threads of the adjustment screw with wax, then a slow-drying epoxy, and insert it back into the stripped hole. after an hour or so, when the epoxy has thickened but not dried, turn the adjustment screw out and allow the epoxy to dry for 24-48 hours. Then re-install the bridge. My fear in this is timing...remove the adjustment screw too quickly and this doesn't work...wait too long and it doesn't come out at all, perhaps, in spite of the wax. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Is it like this on the expensive, non-WAV models? If so, this is another reason why I won't buy one of these, even though I have wanted to. it seems that there are a bunch of unusual design/build choices and issues (string gripping problems, for another) with these Radius basses.
This is my first experience with an NS Design Radius bass, so I can't say. I do have an '88 Steinberger XL2, and it has it's design flaws. For one, removing and replacing the battery is a hassle because the leads are so short and can be easily broken. Second, the threads on the tuners are brass, which is really soft to endure that much pressure. I had to replace one of mine that stripped out. I was able to buy a stainless steel one, which is better, and by lubricating these threads with a light coating of lithium grease, I've prevented further issues. NS Design tells me this issue with the bridge is a manufacturer's issue, but if a proper insert had been designed into this bass, I don't think this would have occurred. On the flip side, wood screws hold the necks on many basses and guitars without any real problems.
There was a string griping problem with a few very early NS Design Radius models. It had been fixed by a minor bridge design change (invisible from the outside). I have one of these very early Radius models and contacted NS' customer service. They were very helpful and sent a replacement bridge free of charge. The bridge swap including string change was done in 15 minutes with a philips screw driver only. Never had any more issues since and the strings stay in tune for months.
Your wish is my command:
I was shocked to see the bolt has simple machine thread (2nd picture, threads on right), maybe about a 1/4 x 20 or a little larger (but probably metric). Yet there is nothing in the hole...no metal insert or nut of any kind to receive these threads. And this thread is definitely not the kind of thread that should be used against wood. Obviously, it's the wood that stripped out. Once I removed the bridge, the adjustment bolt slid right out. BTW, just a little while ago, NS Design contacted me and offered to repair the bass for free if I'd pay shipping, so hats off to them. It appears shipping both ways (from Arizona) would be somewhere around $200, but I'm hoping a machinist friend of mine here can do something better for less money.
I was shocked to see the bolt has simple machine thread (2nd picture, threads on right), maybe about a 1/4 x 20 or a little larger (but probably metric). Yet there is nothing in the hole...no metal insert or nut of any kind to receive these threads. And this thread is definitely not the kind of thread that should be used against wood. Obviously, it's the wood that stripped out. Once I removed the bridge, the adjustment bolt slid right out. BTW, just a little while ago, NS Design contacted me and offered to repair the bass for free if I'd pay shipping, so hats off to them. It appears shipping both ways (from Arizona) would be somewhere around $200, but I'm hoping a machinist friend of mine here can do something better for less money.
Is the body hollowed-out under the bridge? From your photos, it looks like it is. If the body is solid, you could install threaded inserts so the intonations bolts work as expected, without any compromise.
There is a hole under the bridge that the wires for the piezo thread through, but the place where the adjustment bolts go is solid all the way through.
Thanks for the pics. I much better understand your issue now. I just checked my Radius, however, without completely removing the bridge I couldn't see underneath the bolts to check whether there are metal inserts in the body to hold the bolts. But I agree, this would be a bad design if it is as you described. I would expect the bolt threads should be fixed in the wood and the adjustable part should be above them, with metal threads only to adjust bridge height. I will check it in the next days. Too late to start that now at 3:20 in the night
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I checked my radius and it is indeed constructed as you described. The threads run directly into the body wood, no metal threaded bushings (see picture). I have the top of the line European CR5 Radius model, which sells for about €2750. I must say that I am a bit disappointed by this poor design and did not expect this in this price range.
