Blimey! So much going on since I last checked in!!
After having read this new part of the SOC thread, there's some really exciting stuff. Some great playing and some brilliant new builds/owners.
My Sei 7 is fine and well although not fit for new, glorious photos at the moment. Let me explain:
As some of you might recall, Jezebel (the name my wife gave to my Sei) has always been a little disappointing on the tone front. I wanted a real growly, single pickup rock bass and it came out a little, well, wimpy. Way too meek and mild.
It sounded great in comparison with other basses, but I felt the tone was too near to that jazz bridge pickup sound which (personally) I can't stand.
When the bass was made Martin routed a control cavity as usual in case any kind of upgrading needed to take place. After a few months of ownership, the sound wasn't working for me and a Schack preamp went in the hole to try to save the situation. Martin cleverly put the Schack on two concentric pots so only one more big hole for the second pot was made in the top (and a tiny, weeny hole for the LED switch).
The Schack is a great piece of kit as you can set the centre frequencies for treble, middle and bass, but wherever I set with those infamous dip switches it still wasn't right. A couple of months ago, I decided to sort it once and for all as the bass is so special and deserved better. I've been doing a lot of setup work for people and taking a guitar repair course at the local college, so I'm a lot more confident about delving into my instruments that I was when I first became a Sei owner.
After sitting and adjusting the Schack for another few hours just in case I missed anything, I came to the conclusion that the pickup was the culprit. The Schack must be trying to change something inherent to the pickup which no amount of knob-twiddling could change.
So I had to try and find a new pickup. Nordstrand seem to be the 'must-have' pickup at the moment and they were very good, answering my e-mails quickly and suggesting a pickup which would suit. I then decided to have a look at the pickup in the bass and see if there was any info on it which could help. All I found was the Kent Armstrong sticker and some numbers which meant nothing to me. So I got in touch with Aaron Armstrong who wound the pickup in the first place.
I sent an e-mail to Aaron explaining the situation together with photos pictures of the pickup and the sticker. He came back and said that the pickup was really for the bridge position, so no wonder it didn't sound as I wanted it to! So I asked Aaron outright if he could make a pickup which would do what I wanted it to. He said he could and as I have his pickups in my ACG bass, I was pretty sure that I would get the result I craved for the Sei. So I packed the pickup and set it off to Aaron so he could get the size right and the new pickup would just go straight in.
Meanwhile, I really wanted to junk the Schack pre and have the bass as I first wanted it, just 1 pickup and passive electronics (an idea which I saw first on SOC member #1's bass). So I made a note of all the wires and unsoldered it from the bass.
As you can see, I took absolutely no chance of the finish getting spoilt!
The board for the Schack pre was attached the cavity cover. Darn clever idea and even after nearly 2 years in the bass, it was still didn't want to come off. Some gentle persuasion was required.
I ordered 2 new CTS pots and a couple of different Sprague 'orange drop' capacitors to replace the concentric pots. A few days later the new pickup arrived.
Spot the difference. Old one on left, new on the right.
So I wired the new pickup in, plugged the bass in and hit the strings....
The difference was astounding
The bass just came alive
The lows had some wallop and the Sei had the punch that I wanted it to have. It's been like having a new bass. The bass feels more resonant(?!) and just feels superb to play. I now have the bass I wanted...
Jezebel isn't ready for photos as I haven't got the replacement knobs yet. I'll get some photos done when they're fitted!
