Just bought a brand new Sire D5 Marcus Miller, previously all the other Sire I tried did not impress me, mainly because of their preamps and controls which I found to be an ill-thought scattered mess.
However this D5 it's passive, so right up my street and sounded good from the word go even unplugged. The roasted maple neck with rolled edges it's a pleasure to play.
"BUT" there is alwas a but, I thought there was some room for improvement and it definitely needed a few modifications to make it perfect, firts of all that bridge need to go, a very cheapo job lifeless and dead to the world, so I've dropped in a Fender Hi-Mass, then the pickup was a bit weak and lacked string to string definition, so I've seeked the services of a local workshop here in England called Bloodstone Guitarworks which made me a bespoke pickup, hand wired with split bobins (for hum cancelling) and with the added feature of staggered poles to match the neck radius, Bloodstone Guitarworks also provided me with a ready to drop in fully wired loom with orange Sprague capacitor.
Finally I ditched the black pickguard and got another UK based workshop to make me a translucent red tortoise shell guard, I've had to send them the black one for them to trace the exact dimensions and screw holes position. The turnaround was very quick, took them 4 days excluding weekend.
Their website is: Home - TinyTone
Bloodstone Guitarworks website is: Bloodstone GuitarWorks
The result after the mods was incredible, I have to say, even before the pickup arrived simply changing the bridge made a massive difference in volume, resonance and sustain, so that alone was epic. And finally when the pickup was fitted I am satisfied that I have now a bass that sound like a true vintage '51 P.
See pics below
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However this D5 it's passive, so right up my street and sounded good from the word go even unplugged. The roasted maple neck with rolled edges it's a pleasure to play.
"BUT" there is alwas a but, I thought there was some room for improvement and it definitely needed a few modifications to make it perfect, firts of all that bridge need to go, a very cheapo job lifeless and dead to the world, so I've dropped in a Fender Hi-Mass, then the pickup was a bit weak and lacked string to string definition, so I've seeked the services of a local workshop here in England called Bloodstone Guitarworks which made me a bespoke pickup, hand wired with split bobins (for hum cancelling) and with the added feature of staggered poles to match the neck radius, Bloodstone Guitarworks also provided me with a ready to drop in fully wired loom with orange Sprague capacitor.
Finally I ditched the black pickguard and got another UK based workshop to make me a translucent red tortoise shell guard, I've had to send them the black one for them to trace the exact dimensions and screw holes position. The turnaround was very quick, took them 4 days excluding weekend.
Their website is: Home - TinyTone
Bloodstone Guitarworks website is: Bloodstone GuitarWorks
The result after the mods was incredible, I have to say, even before the pickup arrived simply changing the bridge made a massive difference in volume, resonance and sustain, so that alone was epic. And finally when the pickup was fitted I am satisfied that I have now a bass that sound like a true vintage '51 P.
See pics below
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