This is my take on the Gretsch addition. Completely dominated the single coil, but my switch is there to tame it.
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Post Your '51-55 Precision or Tele-inspired bass
- Thread starter lenorules1950
- Start date
I originally assembled this. It was
setup with a Seymour Duncan musicman pickup running passive with series - split - parallel switch. It was a very nice sounding bass with a lot of low end especially when running series. I sold it off years ago since I wasn't using it.
setup with a Seymour Duncan musicman pickup running passive with series - split - parallel switch. It was a very nice sounding bass with a lot of low end especially when running series. I sold it off years ago since I wasn't using it.
This one is a Cabronita that i refinished and installed with a Novak Darkstar. It is setup with a coil tap for BiSonic or Darkstar winding
Very nice job on the finish. It's quite beautiful.
That Novak BS-DS looks amazing in the Cabby. I just did some internet investigating into them. All the demos I heard sound fantastic. The design looks quite odd. Does it have the normal Hum of a normal single coil ?
Thanks
Eddie
It has some hum from being a single coil but it is the quietest single coil I have heard though. For me it's way lower audibly than my jazz single coils.
The pickup is very dynamic, in Bi-sonic mode it gets a fullness that is close to a humbucker but with retaining good clarity. It was always a bucket list pickup since there was so much hype around the Darkstar. If funds were limitless it would be amazing to hear a set in a Ric or jazz configuration.
Thank for the info. You got my mind whirling, LOL.
If I ever get some funds together I may just contact Curtis and see if he has ever built one or would be interested in building me one with 2 stacked coils to eliminate all the hum but also w/ the ability to cut the bottom coil. I have no love for traditional side by side humbuckers. The clarity is missing and I'm not sure if it's the slight phasing going on between the coils or what but they just sound muddy to me. I have a couple of the S.D. Custom Shop Stack SCPB Pickups that Sting and Dusty Hill use and love them. I can cut the bottom coil w/ a push/pull pot to get a slightly hotter and thumpier single coil sound. It's completely noiseless in stacked mode and sounds in between a single coil and split coil P pickup, IMO. It's great to use with a lot of dirt to get a Dirty Dusty Hill Tone.
My Nash...Lollar PU's and only 8.2 lbs!
This is a mod I've always been tempted to do. Probably with another single coil 51 instead of J pickup, but there's the extra worry of having a custom made one for the bridge (Nordstrand regularly do it for Alpher basses) and so on... To be true, I have a spare SCPB3 with larger poles which would cover the wider spacing on the bridge position, but I don't know if there's a way to buck the hum with the standard winding. Swapping black/white wires on one pickup? Does it work?
@pgbassman did the Nash come with the J pickup already routed in? If not, how much is the average cost for a professionally made pickup cavity? I'd also worry about how it comes out applied to an already finished body.
Having said that, whenever I see Ben Shepherd's own single coil P mod with a J pickup rammed in the original pickup position, I guess I'm probably overthinking these factors, lol
And as a C50s owner, I like the fact that "Baron", his favourite and most featured in lives on the past decade, according to footage, was the black MIM C50s and not the MIA 62.
I truly think that line (and I guess the Vintera offspring) is still among the best Fender affordable offerings, but I'm going OT now.
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Yes, it was already installed when I bought the bass...I do like that the PU's are on stacked pots so that basically I have separate control of each pickup, unlike my other PJ's that have a blend knob.
I can say the same thing about the Bare Knuckle 51 currently installed in mine. Hum is not the factor which makes me reach for the split-P instead of it or vice-versa.
Here's my RS Guitarworks contoured-body Superlative Bass. Easily the best looking and sounding bass I own. It doesn't get much time because, believe it or not, it's neck approximates a jazz vs precision. And even though I can adjust, I prefer the bigger p necks.
Here's mine. Just picked it up from another TBer; MJT body. I'm aware there are too many screws in the PG, lol.
Overwound Fralin. This thing rattles my teeth.
Overwound Fralin. This thing rattles my teeth.
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Chef
In Memoriam
Squier Classic Vibe Precision50s.
Great pic.
Here's my 90 year old dad who made the complete bridge on the Cabronita, and the saddles for my 51/55 over 30 years ago. My very own Leo, as he could make just about anything.
