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Squier Paranormal Rascal - MOD/UPGRADE

Bassology

Bassology

Feb 2, 2006
750
716
Vancouver, BC
#1
This started out as a brand new bass that I purchased from L&M just over a month ago. While I really like how it plays, I am just not a fan of the Wide Range Humbuckers that came with it. They are a bit too mid forward and muddy on the high end for my taste. Since I have always wanted to try BiSonic/Darkstar pickups, I decided to give them a go and ordered a set from Guild directly.

While I was at it, my OCD kicked it. I ended up purchasing a bunch of other upgrading parts. Don't know if they were necessary but I did it anyway......:rollno:

Here's a list of mod/upgrades that were done on the bass:
  1. Replacing the Squier Wide Range Humbuckers with two Guild BiSonic.
  2. Replacing the stock tuners with Hipshot HB7 (not a direct fit, BTW).
  3. Replacing volume and tone pots with CTS, and changed the pickup selector to a blend pot.
  4. Brand new jazz style knobs.
  5. Shielded the entire cavity with copper tape. The bass previously had none except for some aluminum tape by the pots.
  6. New stainless steel bridge intonation screws (the old screw heads stripped easily).
The bass now sounds exactly how I had imagined. It has a much wider range of tones with clear and precise high that was previously missing from the old pickups. I love it... and I call it my poor man's version of Serek.

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#3
Wow, great work!

Did you have to rout much for the pickups?

Interesting orientation of the pole pieces, did you land on that configuration through experiment, aesthetics, experience, or something else?

Fantastic!
 
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#5
davelowell2 said:
Wow, great work!

Did you have to rout much for the pickups?

Interesting orientation of the pole pieces, did you land on that configuration through experiment, aesthetics, experience, or something else?

Fantastic!
Click to expand...

Thank you sir!

I ended up having a luthier to reroute the neck PU cavity just by a bit. If I was to place the BiSonic with the pole pieces facing north, I could have just drop it right in. But I decided to flip it southward, and due to the placement of the magnet, there just was not enough room for the PU to fit without its outer metal frame exceeding the pickguard.

There wasn't much science behind the choice of the PU pole orientation. I knew I am not a fan when PUs are placed too close to the neck, they tend to sound muddy to my ears. So it only made sense for me to place the poles as far as I can away from the neck and to be honest, I am liking the results. The neck PU now has a P bass like warmth with definition and the bridge PU has that mid rangy burp but still retaining the low and high, almost MusicMan sweet spot like to my ears.
 
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#13
Hey there! I stumbled across this thread while researching about the Rascal and am really digging your build. I have a Rascal as well and have similar thoughts about the original humbuckers and am inspired to try out some of the mods you made to your bass!

I bought some Bisonic pickups from Guild and was curious about a few things:

1. What value potentiometers and tone cap did you use for the pickups?
2. Did you follow a specific wiring diagram?
3. How are you liking the bass still?

I’m having a hard time finding info about what I mentioned above and created an account just to ask you this stuff haha. Any help would be appreciated and thanks for sharing!
 
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#15
WI Short Scaler said:
Looks great with some well done changes. I've read some people saying these basses are over 10 lbs. Obviously whatever yours weighs you're good with it. Just wondering.

Enjoy :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Mine is about 9.5 lbs. The stock pickups probably weight 1 lb each (pure estimate, probably not true, but they are definitely hefty). On a strap though, it doesn’t feel particularly heavy. I’ll be shaving a few ounces off mine with some lightweight tuners eventually.
 
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#16
artvvandelay said:
Hey there! I stumbled across this thread while researching about the Rascal and am really digging your build. I have a Rascal as well and have similar thoughts about the original humbuckers and am inspired to try out some of the mods you made to your bass!

I bought some Bisonic pickups from Guild and was curious about a few things:

1. What value potentiometers and tone cap did you use for the pickups?
2. Did you follow a specific wiring diagram?
3. How are you liking the bass still?

I’m having a hard time finding info about what I mentioned above and created an account just to ask you this stuff haha. Any help would be appreciated and thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

The Guild RI Darkstar's are great sounding pu's for a good price. Novak's are more, but he offers Fender P/J pole-spacing as well as ones like the Guild. (the Guilds are for a narrower width neck) I've used both and they both sound great. I use a .047 cap and 500k pots with standard 1 or 2 pu wiring.
 
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#17
JIO said:
The Guild RI Darkstar's are great sounding pu's for a good price. Novak's are more, but he offers Fender P/J pole-spacing as well as ones like the Guild. (the Guilds are for a narrower width neck) I've used both and they both sound great. I use a .047 cap and 500k pots with standard 1 or 2 pu wiring.
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks for the help! I’m really looking forward to installing the Bisonics. I’m having a ton of fun with this bass otherwise!
 
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#18
artvvandelay said:
Awesome, thanks for the help! I’m really looking forward to installing the Bisonics. I’m having a ton of fun with this bass otherwise!
Click to expand...

I have installed both versions in multiple 1 and two pu custom basses - hands down they are my favorite passive single-coil pu's. It's important to get the pu poles in the optimal position when you install them - which is totally dependent on the specific bass. All things done correctly - you will have a great result.

Oh, and welcome to tb! :bassist:
 
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#19
Hey, hey, this is beautiful.

Just wanted to ask, do you know the dimensions of the original pups? I don't own one of these basses, but I'm considering one and loading it up with the DiMarzio Model One.
 

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