Problem with Jim Reed Pickups - 1 year, 7 months, 19 days since ordering!

[Phil Mastro]

It looks like James may have shipped them off on Sept. 2 2015.

Technically it was dropped off on August 31st. Once stuff leaves the US USPS doesn't really seem to keep track of shipments though. However, your tracking number can be tracked with your national postal service. I'm not exactly sure how reliable this site is, but according to TrackingMore.com, your package seems to have arrived in Istanbul.

TrackingMore - All in one package tracking tool

Good luck, we're all rooting for you.

 

[Reed James Eng]

Technically it was dropped off on August 31st. Once stuff leaves the US USPS doesn't really seem to keep track of shipments though. However, your tracking number can be tracked with your national postal service. I'm not exactly sure how reliable this site is, but according to TrackingMore.com, your package seems to have arrived in Istanbul.

TrackingMore - All in one package tracking tool

Good luck, we're all rooting for you.

Thanks Phil your awesome More people like you would change my out look on talk bass

 

[Reed James Eng]

looks like there is a phone number to call as well very happy to know this information

 

[nutdog]

Ya, no kidding! You seriously get those kinds of interest rates on bank savings accounts in...um...wherever you are?

1980? That might explain the shipping problem.

 

[Nyarlothep]

Thanks for chiming in - and yes the interest rate is quoted on the Garanti Bank website under e-vadeli fiaz oranlari. Regardless, I included that case as an alternative time scale to remind all of us that I have been waiting on these things for 2 and some change years. And yes from what I can tell on the tracking site Phil provided it really looks like the pickups are actually here - just not delivered to me as of yet (maybe today?). I'll keep you posted.

 

[Phil Mastro]

Thanks Phil your awesome More people like you would change my out look on talk bass

In my experience, TalkBass is mostly populated by reasonable people, far from dystopian hate-mongering scum you've claimed them to be. Insulting a large potential client base was probably not the best idea, and given your poor track record with deliverables, you'll have to do a lot more than some light ass-kissing to make up for it.

Having said that, it seems you have taken a good first step in supplying Nyarlothep's pickups, and I hope you get to resolve any other similar issues you might have remaining. Good luck.

 

[Reed James Eng]

Not my experience , I do not kiss no ones ass .I have a large following bass players and builders that use my product any problems are isolated , business is doing very well

 

[Nyarlothep]

The pickups are finally in hand and have been mounted! No doubt thanks to the interest of all of those involved in this long and arduous task! Regardless we are talking about 1 year, 11 months, 26 days just shy of 2 years (I'm partial to round up as it seemed like and eternity to me - reminder this is from the actual date of payment via paypal not when the order was placed or the emails leading up to it).

I have attached pictures and sound files so that we can all appraise the quality of work on show here both visually and aurally.

First the pictures -

As you can see the magnets sort of fit through the holes in the humbucker this is really off on the bottom row left hand side magnet, also there is a cut along the side which isn't visible when mounted. How this happened I don't know but while some may not mind I surely do. The single is fine in terms of workmanship.

The bass we are looking at is a 5502 and features a brass nut and an sanded and oiled neck (the stock gloss was just too sticky). The Bart Pre is set to 500 hz for the mids. The pickup heights are set to Lakland stock setup: 11/64 on the bass end of the single and 9/64 on the treble side followed by 10/64 on the bass end of the humbucker and 7/64 on the treble side. Also a little shy of 3/64 on the last fret (string to fret across the board) for low action. The strings are DR Fatbeams and they are old, but as with DRs in general they are still quite functional. I didn't want to influence my appraisal by slapping on new strings from the get go. So all samples were played through the same set up sans the pickups of course.

Now the samples -

Recorded direct into an M-Audio Fast track with Cubase no effect and input gain set to optimal; slightly flashing clipping light on heaviest attacks.

We have brand X and Brand Y: one of them is the Lakland (hanson) custom single coil versions of the LH3 system that they supply to users who experience the g string fade on bends at the twelfth fret, the other is the James Reeds you see here. Have a listen and be the judge. Also I added a slightly different track that could be a either - lets see how this turns out.

Finally, as James did not provide any wiring information I'd like him to chime in and have a look at the last picture which is of the cavity. Now I wired everything like the previous pickups; is this correct? Are the white and green for the humbucker meant to be the grounds? When I received the pickups there was a solder between the White and Red on the humbucker but it wasn't very substantial so I couldn't tell if it was intentional thus I opted to go with the wiring as found in the previous set.

Looking forward to your feedback!

P.S. it looks like the poll turned in my favor - a fickle victory it is.

audioBoom / x-V1
audioBoom / y-V1
audioBoom / x-V2
audioBoom / y-V2
audioBoom / x-V3
audioBoom / y-V3
audioBoom / Extra

 

[Hopkins]

It looks to me as though you have one coil completely grounded out and are just running as a single coil. What is the switch supposed to do?

 

[Nyarlothep]

It looks to me as though you have one coil completely grounded out and are just running as a single coil. What is the switch supposed to do?

Well from my 'tap the pickup coil' tests the configuration works as expected - the switch works like this: center position all pickups on single plus both humbucker coils, switch to the rear is Jazz mode only the single and the bridge coil (rear) function, switch forward is the single and the bridge coil (front). This is just the same as the the standard Bartolini setup they have on all Laklands and identical to how this bass functions in stock configuration (I've had him since 2005).

Apart from this you can blend out each pickup coil to function by itself if you sweep the blend pot fully through its range to polar opposites. This also yielded the expected results.

My apprehension is that the Lakland pickups are true single coils (think 3 single coils altogether) and will create a 60 cycle like hum when in the switch center and switch forward positions; these will be dead quite in the rear positions ala jazz bass - the James Reeds are supposed to be dead quite as they are split-coils (or I expect them to be because that is what we agreed on with James when I ordered them) and they are not, they hum when in the center and rear positions but are silent when in the forward position.

So I think it functions correctly but I'm just not sure as I wasn't supplied any wiring instructions. Maybe there is something I am missing. Thanks for the input though.

 

[Hopkins]

Well from my 'tap the pickup coil' tests the configuration works as expected - the switch works like this: center position all pickups on single plus both humbucker coils, switch to the rear is Jazz mode only the single and the bridge coil (rear) function, switch forward is the single and the bridge coil (front). This is just the same as the the standard Bartolini setup they have on all Laklands and identical to how this bass functions in stock configuration (I've had him since 2005).

Apart from this you can blend out each pickup coil to function by itself if you sweep the blend pot fully through its range to polar opposites. This also yielded the expected results.

My apprehension is that the Lakland pickups are true single coils (think 3 single coils altogether) and will create a 60 cycle like hum when in the switch center and switch forward positions; these will be dead quite in the rear positions ala jazz bass - the James Reeds are supposed to be dead quite as they are split-coils (or I expect them to be because that is what we agreed on with James when I ordered them) and they are not, they hum when in the center and rear positions but are silent when in the forward position.

So I think it functions correctly but I'm just not sure as I wasn't supplied any wiring instructions. Maybe there is something I am missing. Thanks for the input though.

So you have them wired in parallel with the switch wired as north coil/humbucker parallel/south coil. I am guessing that the single coil is a split coil jazz pickup so it should be wired in series and completely silent. The humbucker is two singles so you would get a 60hz hum whenever it is split.

Personally I would rewire it with a on/on dpdt switch for series/parallel and scratch the coil splits all together.

 

[Reed James Eng]

Black is north start
white is north finish
Red is south finish
Green is south start

professional installation recommended form the photos it looks like you have no clue what you are doing .

 

[Reed James Eng]

You got your pickups good for you I am out of here, you need and technical help email.

 

[Reed James Eng]

this is the same pickups you have but under maple covers i installed these using the same pre that came with the guitar customer loved the results

 

[Nyarlothep]

this is the same pickups you have but under maple covers i installed these using the same pre that came with the guitar customer loved the results

Actually,

You may remember from our email exchange present on this thread that the youtube video guy's pickups were actually a single and humbucker in MM configuration; the humbucker had big pole pieces as found in Ernieball basses. Now I solicited your services for a 3x single coil Jazz configuration and in fact you tried to convince me otherwise to which I said hey if it doesn't work out then I'll order your recommendation. That didn't work out. But regardless they are here and I'll take you up on the technical support; I only wired them up exactly like the previous set so it might be wrong.

 

[Reed James Eng]

need to know the start and finish of the existing pickup email me ill help you the best i can but if all fails there is a guy on here a TB guy his handle is LINE6 that guy know wiring but the way you got it looks like your are just using the single coils and switching them back and forth and not connecting to humbucker mode fro reference i use a tec friendly SD wire code
Black is north start
white is north finish
Red is south finish
Green is south start

 

[Hopkins]

Well from my 'tap the pickup coil' tests the configuration works as expected - the switch works like this: center position all pickups on single plus both humbucker coils, switch to the rear is Jazz mode only the single and the bridge coil (rear) function, switch forward is the single and the bridge coil (front). This is just the same as the the standard Bartolini setup they have on all Laklands and identical to how this bass functions in stock configuration (I've had him since 2005).

Apart from this you can blend out each pickup coil to function by itself if you sweep the blend pot fully through its range to polar opposites. This also yielded the expected results.

My apprehension is that the Lakland pickups are true single coils (think 3 single coils altogether) and will create a 60 cycle like hum when in the switch center and switch forward positions; these will be dead quite in the rear positions ala jazz bass - the James Reeds are supposed to be dead quite as they are split-coils (or I expect them to be because that is what we agreed on with James when I ordered them) and they are not, they hum when in the center and rear positions but are silent when in the forward position.

So I think it functions correctly but I'm just not sure as I wasn't supplied any wiring instructions. Maybe there is something I am missing. Thanks for the input though.

In order to have silent operation in all positions it would require a 4 coil humbucker. When splitting a typical humbucker you are going to get a 60hz hum, which is why I recommend getting rid of the split option and just going series/parallel.

 

[Reed James Eng]

that's my recommendation as well going series/parallel. He wants to go single humbucker single with the switching his switch is a three way but i never wired a pickup like that so hopefully some one can help out

 

[Nyarlothep]

that's my recommendation as well going series/parallel. He wants to go single humbucker single with the switching his switch is a tree way but i never wired a pickup like that so hopefully some one can help out

Ok so is the guy in the youtube video in the series/parallel configuration? As if you watch until 2:29 you'll notice his bass also uses the single (neck side) with either the bridge pickup in the humbucker or the neck side pickup in the humbucker then he proceeds to activate all of the pickups so all of them work. The difference between his and the stock setup is that the switch when in the back position functions the same in that the outer most pickups work (Jazz Bass) then when the switch is in center position things change the center on stock should be all pickups active in his case it is the single with the neck side pickup in the humbucker. So the system works its just getting the wiring right - I assume the wiring could work just like stock if the forward position as seen in the video were soldered to the center setting in the switch. Then again I may be wrong; do I need a new kind of switch? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hopkins]

Ok so is the guy in the youtube video in the series/parallel configuration? As if you watch until 2:29 you'll notice his bass also uses the single (neck side) with either the bridge pickup in the humbucker or the neck side pickup in the humbucker then he proceeds to activate all of the pickups so all of them work. The difference between his and the stock setup is that the switch when in the back position functions the same in that the outer most pickups work (Jazz Bass) then when the switch is in center position things change the center on stock should be all pickups active in his case it is the single with the neck side pickup in the humbucker. So the system works its just getting the wiring right - I assume the wiring could work just like stock if the forward position as seen in the video were soldered to the center setting in the switch. Then again I may be wrong; do I need a new kind of switch? Any help would be appreciated.

Assuming that Mr. James wound the north coil reverse of the south coil, the only thing you need to do to make it noiseless in humbucker mode is to take the red wire to ground, and connect the green wire to the switch. I assume your switch is an on/on/on so the way its wired should put both coils on in the center position. The way you have it wired currently means it will not cancel 60hz hum.

If you are dead set on splitting, I would wire it as series/south coil/parallel. The series option will give you a much more usable tone than being able to switch between north and south coil, and 60hz hum will only be present in one position.

You would wire it like this, except you would swap the red and green