Thanks.
That photo highlights the effect of both neck length and body shape. I set them down with the nut in the same place as that illustrates it best (IMHO).
Last edited:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Scott Whitley SWB-1
- Thread starter Chicago Al
- Start date
That photo highlights the effect of both neck length and body shape. I set them down with the nut in the same place as that illustrates it best (IMHO).
Great to see some traffic on this topic again.
I'd put my SWB-1 away for a while, and when I brought it out again recently, found that the trussrod needed quite a bit of adjustment due to the extreme change in humidity. It seems to have handled that okay.
More seriously, something weird is going on with the volume pot on my bass. It's been a bit scratchy since I got the bass, but now it seems to be cutting in and out entirely, and the tone seems to be affected too. A few days ago the signal dropped out completely. I took the back cover off to look at the electronics, found nothing as simple as a loose wire, then plugged the bass in again and it's working okay. Aargh...intermittent problems are the worst!
I have to admit that it's also possible a cable was at fault, but that can't be it entirely.
Meanwhile though I may just upgrade the electronics in general, as that pot is always scratchy and the pickup selector is, too. Also I'm not sure the grounding is all it should be as the 60hz buzz changes when I've got my fingers on the pots.
Bass feels great though...no regrets!
I'd put my SWB-1 away for a while, and when I brought it out again recently, found that the trussrod needed quite a bit of adjustment due to the extreme change in humidity. It seems to have handled that okay.
More seriously, something weird is going on with the volume pot on my bass. It's been a bit scratchy since I got the bass, but now it seems to be cutting in and out entirely, and the tone seems to be affected too. A few days ago the signal dropped out completely. I took the back cover off to look at the electronics, found nothing as simple as a loose wire, then plugged the bass in again and it's working okay. Aargh...intermittent problems are the worst!
I have to admit that it's also possible a cable was at fault, but that can't be it entirely.
Meanwhile though I may just upgrade the electronics in general, as that pot is always scratchy and the pickup selector is, too. Also I'm not sure the grounding is all it should be as the 60hz buzz changes when I've got my fingers on the pots.
Bass feels great though...no regrets!
I'm definitely no expert on any of this, just sharing my thoughts. I've also seen your comments about the SWB you bought and appreciated them. It's always such a personal (and subjective?) process to picking "yours".
I've experience that "weird" in a completely different context... my "car" is a vintage VW camper. Talk about intermittent problems! And electrical ghosts that are hard to find. Shielding and grounding are always the places to start. Those are inexpensive upgrades (for my Westy and my bass!). I stand by my comments that it's an impressive standard for the price, the difference between this guitar and the Fender (MIM) I was playing before are night and day. Same price range too... even with shipping and import to Canada.
Humidity (or lack of)... that's something I take seriously too. I've had a lovely spruce top crack from lack of moisture. Never again! The only place I'm at all thinking might be affected by that is the base of the neck where the fretboard extends past the neck. Your comment about the trussrod suggest the neck wood may be subject to shrinkage/expansion? Not dried enough in advance? Or just your home and where the bass is?
Again... for the price it's more than what I had hoped for.
I've experience that "weird" in a completely different context... my "car" is a vintage VW camper. Talk about intermittent problems! And electrical ghosts that are hard to find. Shielding and grounding are always the places to start. Those are inexpensive upgrades (for my Westy and my bass!). I stand by my comments that it's an impressive standard for the price, the difference between this guitar and the Fender (MIM) I was playing before are night and day. Same price range too... even with shipping and import to Canada.
Humidity (or lack of)... that's something I take seriously too. I've had a lovely spruce top crack from lack of moisture. Never again! The only place I'm at all thinking might be affected by that is the base of the neck where the fretboard extends past the neck. Your comment about the trussrod suggest the neck wood may be subject to shrinkage/expansion? Not dried enough in advance? Or just your home and where the bass is?
Again... for the price it's more than what I had hoped for.
I took the knobs off to spray a bit of contact cleaner in and see if that cleaned up the crackling, and noticed something cool: the finish of the bass is darkening, as shown by the 'shadow' of the knobs here. The bass usually sits on a stand in my office, a former sunporch, with windows on three sides, so this is what 6 months or so of diffuse sunlight has done. (It's the UV rays of course, I'd guess it's mostly the wood darkening but possibly the lacquer too.) I think a darker mahogany color would be great!
Here are also some pics of the electronics. There's definitely something flakey with the volume control. Contact cleaner helped, but it crackles a lot in the middle of its sweep, and the tone changes too, as does the level of hum when I'm touching it. When it's at 100% the signal is clean, still has hum if in single p/u mode of course, but not exaggerated.
If I go to replace the volume pot, I'm doing the whole set. And long as I am doing that, wonder what some nice noiseless pickups would sound like...
Here are also some pics of the electronics. There's definitely something flakey with the volume control. Contact cleaner helped, but it crackles a lot in the middle of its sweep, and the tone changes too, as does the level of hum when I'm touching it. When it's at 100% the signal is clean, still has hum if in single p/u mode of course, but not exaggerated.
If I go to replace the volume pot, I'm doing the whole set. And long as I am doing that, wonder what some nice noiseless pickups would sound like...
Last edited:
chowny
Commercial User
Hi Al.
If you incur any cost getting this rectified - pop us a message and we'll reimburse you for it under the warranty.
Kind Regards
Stephen
That's much appreciated! It's a minor issue and I may do it myself.
And to be clear, I don't regard the truss rod adjustment as a big deal or flaw in the instrument either, because there's a huge seasonal difference in the humidity in our house, even with humidifiers running. When it's really cold (and it was hovering around 0 F for a while) I don't even use my office, but the electric instruments usually stay out there. (The c1944 Gibson and 2005 Martin acoustics do not!) Three walls of windows is great for sunlight and fresh air, terrible for keeping in warmth.
And to be clear, I don't regard the truss rod adjustment as a big deal or flaw in the instrument either, because there's a huge seasonal difference in the humidity in our house, even with humidifiers running. When it's really cold (and it was hovering around 0 F for a while) I don't even use my office, but the electric instruments usually stay out there. (The c1944 Gibson and 2005 Martin acoustics do not!) Three walls of windows is great for sunlight and fresh air, terrible for keeping in warmth.
Last edited:
Wood... gotta love how it reflects where you are (perhaps even who you are?). I love having fine wood around me and am constantly learning from it. The darker tone you noted isn't something I hadn't even thought about, I will check that in the months ahead now that you've brought it up.
Last edited:
30.75", just slightly longer.
GHS worked with this design to figure out string length for short-scale through body... nice bit of collaboration.
GHS worked with this design to figure out string length for short-scale through body... nice bit of collaboration.
Hey @Chicago Al ... just wondering if you have you done anything with this thought.
Just ordered myself one of the SWB pros. Just couldn't pass up such Stanley Clarke-like specs at this price point. Super excited to get my hands on it!
Sorry for the delay in replying!
The problem I was having is fixed, for now at least. Once I got some De-Oxit and sprayed a bit of that down the shaft of the volume pot, the crackling pretty much went away, and the signal is no longer dropping out. There's no longer that increase in hum when I'm touching the pot, and the muffling of the tone is gone. So: success!
But I may still swap out the harness and pickups, as I'm not completely immune to the modding itch. (Also: There seems to be no ground wire to the bridges at all, which is a bit odd. Wonder if there'd be less hum if there was such a ground, though it would need to connect to all four of the individual bridges.)
Then again that Pro model is gorgeous!
I played with my pals again this past weekend. As usual, if I let one of them play the bass for 'just this one song' I have a hard time getting it back. I think part of this is not just that it's a good bass, but that a short scale makes it easy to swap bass to guitar and vice versa. I hadn't really thought about this before, but it's obvious enough.
Last edited:
Has anyone tried changing the electronics in one of these to push the tone into a more Alembic-type zone?
A Reverb listing popped up for a pair of Alembic JZ pickups, and I made an offer so low it could only be played on a 5-string, but to my surprise, they accepted! So now I'm looking at filter-based preamps (either the ACG EQ01 or one of the Boogieman Alembic clones) to take it as far as I can into the Clarke direction.
I'm probably not the first person to think of doing this, so I'm curious as to whether anyone here has done something similar yet?
A Reverb listing popped up for a pair of Alembic JZ pickups, and I made an offer so low it could only be played on a 5-string, but to my surprise, they accepted! So now I'm looking at filter-based preamps (either the ACG EQ01 or one of the Boogieman Alembic clones) to take it as far as I can into the Clarke direction.
I'm probably not the first person to think of doing this, so I'm curious as to whether anyone here has done something similar yet?
Just got my SWB-1 last week and I love it. Stephen has been great at dealing with a minor issue...his customer service so far has been great!
The bass plays great and sounds great. Kudos to the entire Chowny team!
The bass plays great and sounds great. Kudos to the entire Chowny team!
Hi, any experience of the passive? I’m looking for a low cost SS and the SWB looks a very nice Mustang/Squier Jag alternative but my budget with case puts me in the passive territory!
chowny
Commercial User
Just a quick bit of news regarding the passive SWB-1. Due to feedback from customers we're putting slightly hotter pickups in the passive SWBs now (from this month).
That sounds like the clincher! I’ll drop Bassdirect a line to place an order! Should I ask for any specific version to be sure of getting the new type Pups?
A moment ago#178
Modder
Jan 2, 2017
NewThat sounds like the clincher! I’ll drop Bassdirect a line to place an order! Should I ask for any specific version to be sure of getting the new type Pups?
chowny
Commercial User
I'll PM you and find out what it is you're after so we can make sure we get it to them.
