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Scarab Deluxe Bass
- Thread starter JIO
- Start date
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
The Scarab is back and I'm going through the final 'punch-list'
1) clip pu springs to allow for more height
2) trim mylar to pg edge at a couple areas (very minor)
3) intone bridge / set action (done)
4) glue down nut
5) polish frets / oil fb
6) add one more pg screw near bridge pu
7) paint neck pocket flat black, sign & date
Have been playing it a bit - generally it has a dark tone, darker than my Coral & Silvertone which are more mid-range-y. Must be the mahogany/walnut at work. Reminds me of my '66 P-bass. For those who gravitate toward that area of the bass spectrum - it delivers the low end with distinction. The 'Yesteryear' LP2 Dano-centric lipstick pu's with "aged magnets" @ 7.4k ohms are not as high output as I would have expected. My Coral & Silvertone are both higher output, as in - on my Ampeg B15N, volume for the Dano's at 9:00 requires 1:00 for the Scarab. It has .047uf caps now, and had tried .022uf caps prior but output was the same. It sounds good but any thoughts how I could boost output? Could the mini-stacked pots be holding the pu's back? I wish I could have installed the vintage-style Dano stacked pots but they were so long that they wouldn't have fit in the cavity.
1) clip pu springs to allow for more height
2) trim mylar to pg edge at a couple areas (very minor)
3) intone bridge / set action (done)
4) glue down nut
5) polish frets / oil fb
6) add one more pg screw near bridge pu
7) paint neck pocket flat black, sign & date
Have been playing it a bit - generally it has a dark tone, darker than my Coral & Silvertone which are more mid-range-y. Must be the mahogany/walnut at work. Reminds me of my '66 P-bass. For those who gravitate toward that area of the bass spectrum - it delivers the low end with distinction. The 'Yesteryear' LP2 Dano-centric lipstick pu's with "aged magnets" @ 7.4k ohms are not as high output as I would have expected. My Coral & Silvertone are both higher output, as in - on my Ampeg B15N, volume for the Dano's at 9:00 requires 1:00 for the Scarab. It has .047uf caps now, and had tried .022uf caps prior but output was the same. It sounds good but any thoughts how I could boost output? Could the mini-stacked pots be holding the pu's back? I wish I could have installed the vintage-style Dano stacked pots but they were so long that they wouldn't have fit in the cavity.
I'm guessing that 'aged' magnets mean weaker fields. Changing the cap values will just alter the resonant frequency of the system -- 0.022 will have a higher resonant frequency than 0.047; brighter rather than darker.
What are the values on the mini-stacked pots? Stock Dano was 100k for Volume 1M for tone. If your pots are lower than that, it could be loading things down too much.
What are the values on the mini-stacked pots? Stock Dano was 100k for Volume 1M for tone. If your pots are lower than that, it could be loading things down too much.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Ok, I guess I thought the whole stacked pot had to be 100, not 100 @. I'll see if I can find one, but you're saying ideally 100K V and 1M T is what I'd really want. May be difficult to find in a mini stacked pot.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Does anyone on here make 'em to order?.....
Please excuse my moronity.....
I searched and the only 100K/1M stacked pot is the Dano version which I have and it won't fit. I just went ahead and ordered two Fender CTS '62 Jazz stacked pots 500K V/250K T. They are full size but stacked against each other unlike the Dano stack which has stilts between them. I figure it works for a J w/singles do it'll work for this bass. I'm tempted to take apart the Dano stack and see if there's any way to condense them. The housings are currently 1" deep and my cavity is 1" deep in a body that is 1-1/4" deep so no more room to further remove material. The worst that can happen is I ruin one of the pots taking it apart - not sure why they needed to construct it like that.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Where there's a will - there's a way, or.., if it can be taken apart - it can be modified and put back together - Playdo
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
The Scarab is all back together with the modified Dano stacked pots* which now fit with room to spare. All final to-do's are done and the bass sounds like I thought it should have sounded, both tonally and in its output. It doesn't sound exactly like my Coral, but it's definitely in the Dano ballpark. I can imagine for The Coral - it's down to vintage pu's and different wood/construction - vintage tone in spades. The Scarab is a modern, very clean/crisp version - new strings help and these are D'Addario's latest and greatest - XTB50105 nickel plated steel. "X" for extended life - natural feel. (no affiliation 
) But I do like their strings.
Had to order another 2 sets of Dano knobs as these Dano pots are matches for the knobs, knobs that I modified for the standard pot shafts ~ tried to make them further modified to fit the Dano pot shafts... but you can only re-modify things so far before they just don't work as well as they should...
(nothing worse than a wobbly knob)
*if anyone is interested on how I modified these stilted stacked pots - I can illustrate what the process was.
) But I do like their strings.Had to order another 2 sets of Dano knobs as these Dano pots are matches for the knobs, knobs that I modified for the standard pot shafts ~ tried to make them further modified to fit the Dano pot shafts... but you can only re-modify things so far before they just don't work as well as they should...
(nothing worse than a wobbly knob)*if anyone is interested on how I modified these stilted stacked pots - I can illustrate what the process was.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I had to post this somewhere - I just picked this thread as my last totally original build to post it at. It is a Reverb buyer acknowledgement/feedback after a sale of one of my custom basses. The sale was from a while back, but I just saw this.
"Great seller! Responsive to detailed questions. Shipped quickly. Negotiated openly. But more importantly, these custom basses are to die for! Mine is every bit as beautiful looking and sounding as I'd hoped. I love that the same attention to detail that he gives to the design and appearance he also gives to the sound and functioning on the guitar. This bass sounds and plays as killer as it looks. This one will be added to the will, because it's not leaving my living hands. Highly recommend!"
During this taxing time we are living through - reading this nearly made me cry. It reaffirmed what I do and what I offer. If what I am offering for sale doesn't meet my high standard of workmanship, playability and sound/tone - I would not be selling it. Hearing how the new owner of one of my unique basses feels really made my day. Gotta stay optimistic and positive - through the low-ball offers and general feelings of reduced respect for my unique, labor of love products - onward.
"Great seller! Responsive to detailed questions. Shipped quickly. Negotiated openly. But more importantly, these custom basses are to die for! Mine is every bit as beautiful looking and sounding as I'd hoped. I love that the same attention to detail that he gives to the design and appearance he also gives to the sound and functioning on the guitar. This bass sounds and plays as killer as it looks. This one will be added to the will, because it's not leaving my living hands. Highly recommend!"
During this taxing time we are living through - reading this nearly made me cry. It reaffirmed what I do and what I offer. If what I am offering for sale doesn't meet my high standard of workmanship, playability and sound/tone - I would not be selling it. Hearing how the new owner of one of my unique basses feels really made my day. Gotta stay optimistic and positive - through the low-ball offers and general feelings of reduced respect for my unique, labor of love products - onward.
Very nice words. I see he feels the same way about you as the rest of us do. You've more than proven yourself worthy of that praise and more over the years. 
Thanks @JIO for all you do and have done!
Thanks @JIO for all you do and have done!
Well putVery nice words. I see he feels the same way about you as the rest of us do. You've more than proven yourself worthy of that praise and more over the years.
Thanks @JIO for all you do and have done!
And a sentiment I (and probably 99% of TB) share completely
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Very nice words. I see he feels the same way about you as the rest of us do. You've more than proven yourself worthy of that praise and more over the years.
Thanks @JIO for all you do and have done!
Well put
And a sentiment I (and probably 99% of TB) share completely
Thank you so much guys! I feel fortunate to be associated with you both! On June 30th 10 years ago, It joined talkbass and became part of a supportive and diverse group of individuals from all over our country and all over the world. Most especially here in the Luthiers Corner - where creative worker-bees hang. Two years later (2012) I initiated Gildaxe. (biz, fb page and website) Gildaxe began as a gilding/finishing platform but has since evolved into designing and building custom basses. The Teardrop fretless was the 1st final-finish that Pat Wilkins did for me. Since then he and Marty Bell have done many basses/guitars for me - two of the top guitar finishers in the biz. Pat & I have also become friends, even though I still have yet to meet him in person. (one day soon for sure - he's in Van Nuys, SoCal) Lots of questions about the future for live music, for a stable economy, for so many things in our world right now. What made me so happy about that review partially was getting a bunch of low-ball offers for my basses lately. Usually I don't let it effect me but on top of everything else lately, I start to wonder. Then I go through all the basses I have for sale and play each one to make sure they are still as good sounding/playing as they were when I finished them. Once I do that I know that the price I'm asking is correct and I can stay positive and assured that eventually someone will 'get it'.
So totally cool! What wonderful feedback to get!!!
I have seen your work...You deserve the praise!!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,129
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Thanks Steve - we'll do a more in depth dive into bassgeekdom when you visit CA again. (if there's anything left after the fires!) Sheeesh!
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