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Obsidian Wire Solderless Harness

TheCouchBassist

TheCouchBassist

Come on you Spurs!
Aug 20, 2013
1,908
3,546
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Eden Prairie, MN
#1
So I just received an Obsidian Wire solderless harness for my P-Bass earlier today. I realize it’s largely sacrilegious on TalkBass to not know how to solder, but the Obsidian solderless harness is a great piece of kit. It took about 15 minutes to install, but the majority of that time was spent removing (and then putting back on) the pick guard, thumb rest, knobs etc.

I definitely recommend the Obsidian harness if anyone is contemplating a solderless setup (which, by the way is a great option if you like to audition different pickups).

Cheers.
 
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#3
It does not come with the ground wires. Instead you just use the ones that already exist in your current wiring (I.e. you clip them from to free them from their current soldered connection so that you can insert them into their respective port in the Obsidianwire Wire harness).
 
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#4
TheCouchBassist said:
It does not come with the ground wires. Instead you just use the ones that already exist in your current wiring (I.e. you clip them from to free them from their current soldered connection so that you can insert them into their respective port in the Obsidianwire Wire harness).
Click to expand...
Thank you!
Is it pretty easy then?
Also, is your pick guard stock?
Any problems fitting the harness into the body cavity?
 
#5
I have a 2017 AmPro Precision and didn’t have to do anything to make the Obsidianwire harness fit (I.e. there was enough room). The connecting of the wires to the solderless harness is the easiest part of the process). Taking the pick guard off and putting back on is what takes the most time). One thing you should think about is whether or not you want the treble bleed mod. The Obsidianwire harness for P-Bass has the mod which I ended up not liking. Part of what I love about the P-Bass is rolling the tone knob all the way off and getting that Motown sound. With the treble bleed mod I couldn’t get that sound as it stays a bit bright even with tone rolled off. I switched from the Obsidianwire to the solderless harness pictured below and LOVE it ( no treble bleed).
78EA46CF-9F83-49DB-B982-0350904A7808.jpeg
 
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#6
TheCouchBassist said:
I have a 2017 AmPro Precision and didn’t have to do anything to make the Obsidianwire harness fit (I.e. there was enough room). The connecting of the wires to the solderless harness is the easiest part of the process). Taking the pick guard off and putting back on is what takes the most time). One thing you should think about is whether or not you want the treble bleed mod. The Obsidianwire harness for P-Bass has the mod which I ended up not liking. Part of what I love about the P-Bass is rolling the tone knob all the way off and getting that Motown sound. With the treble bleed mod I couldn’t get that sound as it stays a bit bright even with tone rolled off. I switched from the Obsidianwire to the solderless harness pictured below and LOVE it ( no treble bleed).
View attachment 3938543
Click to expand...
Excellent!
Thank you again.
I was wondering what that mod was.
What’s the kit you ended up going with?
Any experience with Richter?
 
#9
I have one for Jazz bass, and actually tried it the other day. Sounds pretty good.
I have found that the pickup lead terminal block is a bit finicky - you have to make sure the pickup lead is stripped back to allow enough wire to be inserted into the block, otherwise it will easily pull out.

6AD62B42-8F33-4104-A3C5-9B9CFFAD1928.jpeg


03635FF9-6017-43EB-8E2A-B771B6C1D818.jpeg
 
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#10
Yeah, that's a good point. Once inserted though, they do seem to hold.
The one I'm now using has ports (see pic above) has ports you stick the wire ends into.
You then use a tiny screw-driver they provide with the kit and tighten down the screw at the top of the port.
I was skeptical, but it works great and is probably even easier the ObsidianWire kit (which is already easy).
 
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#14
UPDATE:
@eastcoasteddie @Ross McLochness
You were right:
It was totally easy.
I am a happy Obsidian customer.
It was even easier because I was replacing the harness, pickup and pickguard. I ended up replacing the knobs, too, so I took them off all I one piece:
F55604D9-95B6-4D49-BCB6-DD4C8FA7256D.jpeg

I cut the ground wires as close to the pots as I could. I sold everything in one piece as as a loaded pickguard:
C18020DA-1846-475D-ADC4-A756B8863522.jpeg

Then, I added Obsidian solderless harness, Fender CS 60/62 pickup, WD music white-black-white pick guard and Hipshot FM1 A style bridge:
2802C9AA-A94B-4B05-BA43-3B41DF24694E.jpeg

By itself:
A201E002-1E44-4127-A853-C3E64826E9CD.jpeg

and with its twin American Professional P5:
64BC831B-878F-4F47-A296-563B7849447C.jpeg
 
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#17
I used to have one of these installed on my P but found it really fiddly trying to strip the wire ends and getting them to stick in the terminals. I acquired an EMG GZR pup set and that seemed more secure when it came to installing.
 
#19
TheCouchBassist said:
It does not come with the ground wires. Instead you just use the ones that already exist in your current wiring (I.e. you clip them from to free them from their current soldered connection so that you can insert them into their respective port in the Obsidianwire Wire harness).
Click to expand...

I’m completely new to this and was looking at an obsidian solder-less kit. If it doesn’t come with the ground, what do you do if there’s no previous ground wire? Do I need to buy that separately? I’m building a Warmoth from scratch.
 

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