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Strat style shortscale bass build

#101
Here I tap the height adjustment screw holes

DSC03095.jpg


And this is my magnetizing setup. I bought unmagnetized Alnico 3's so that they're easier to work with. They won't jump around and stick to stuff, can get aggravating. Plus you don't have to worry about pole orientation beforehand.

Stewmac says to just slide the pickup between the large magnets to magnetize. Well I found it near impossible to do without touching the pole mags to the large mags, so I use those thin plastic shims on either side while I slowly slide the pickup back and forth a few times. I don't have a gauss meter to check the pole strength but they seem very strong.

The neck pickup is north up (like the existing pickup that will be moved to the bridge position) and the other is south up and will be the middle pickup (RWRP for hum-cancelling).

DSC03093.jpg
 
#103
FatStrings said:
Man, that's a bummer :( Sorry to hear it was lost, sounds like a great bass. Me and my kids enjoyed the vids, thanks for posting. Do you remember what the pickup came from?
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Thanks, I really do miss that bass. As I remember the pickup was just sitting in the display case of my local music store called Muzik, Muzik in El Cajon, CA. I bought it because it would fit in a standard humbucking pickup ring (like in a Les Paul) and thus cover my poor attempts at routing the hole. It may have been an early Seymore Duncan but I have not seen anything like it in years. I think the four exposed pole pieces were slotted and adjustable.
In any case, I salute your talents and this interesting thread. Whereas I just put together some selected parts - you have created a masterpiece from scratch. Brilliant!
 
#104
FatStrings said:
Finished pickups, ready to install.

Now I have to do my research on Strat wiring and adapt it for bass use.[/IMG]
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The standard Strat has a five-way switch, the neck and middle tone controls and a master volume. Considering you're applying this to a bass and having a neck tone control might make that pickup too muddy, I'd recommend going with a tone control for the bridge instead of the neck.

Granted, you're still missing the "Telecaster" settings and the "all-on" settings. A Invalid Link Removed can fix you up for the last two, and this only involves changing things on the switch itself, and using a push-pull Volume pot. IMHO, that mod plus the mid and bridge tone controls would be the way to go.
 
#105
I'd do: master neck/bridge volume, middle pickup volume, Master tone, 3-way blade switch wired to neck and bridge. It's a little funky compared to standard Strat wiring, but it gets you all pickup combinations (which I think are far more interesting on a bass design than a guitar one.)
 
#106
oddeotek said:
...In any case, I salute your talents and this interesting thread. Whereas I just put together some selected parts - you have created a masterpiece from scratch. Brilliant!
Click to expand...

Awesome! I'm glad your digging my work! Thanks man!!

Stealth said:
The standard Strat has a five-way switch, the neck and middle tone controls and a master volume. Considering you're applying this to a bass and having a neck tone control might make that pickup too muddy, I'd recommend going with a tone control for the bridge instead of the neck.

Granted, you're still missing the "Telecaster" settings and the "all-on" settings. A Seven-Tone Strat can fix you up for the last two, and this only involves changing things on the switch itself, and using a push-pull Volume pot. IMHO, that mod plus the mid and bridge tone controls would be the way to go.
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Thanks for the input, I'll keep this in mind.

IntrepidCellist said:
I'd do: master neck/bridge volume, middle pickup volume, Master tone, 3-way blade switch wired to neck and bridge. It's a little funky compared to standard Strat wiring, but it gets you all pickup combinations (which I think are far more interesting on a bass design than a guitar one.)
Click to expand...

Do you think a 5 way switch would work with this arrangement? I'd like to be able to have two pups on at a time if possible. I do agree that two volumes and a single tone control would work better.
 
#107
FatStrings said:
Do you think a 5 way switch would work with this arrangement? I'd like to be able to have two pups on at a time if possible. I do agree that two volumes and a single tone control would work better.
Click to expand...

You can have two pickups on at a time with the setup, as well as all three or neck and bridge together. This is the advantage of that setup over the standard Strat wiring. The second volume will let you blend in the middle pickup to any position.

Switch position 1: Neck
Switch position 2: Neck+bridge
Switch position 3: Bridge

and then use the second volume to bring in the middle pickup to that switch setting.

A 5-way switch instead of the three-way would work, although you'd lose the Jazz-like neck/bridge setting as well as the interesting-sounding "all-on" pickup setting, and you'd have to figure out what to have that second volume knob control.
 
#111
Thanks for all the suggestions. You guys are doing my work for me :)

IntrepidCellist said:
You can have two pickups on at a time with the setup, as well as all three or neck and bridge together. This is the advantage of that setup over the standard Strat wiring. The second volume will let you blend in the middle pickup to any position.

Switch position 1: Neck
Switch position 2: Neck+bridge
Switch position 3: Bridge

and then use the second volume to bring in the middle pickup to that switch setting.

A 5-way switch instead of the three-way would work, although you'd lose the Jazz-like neck/bridge setting as well as the interesting-sounding "all-on" pickup setting, and you'd have to figure out what to have that second volume knob control.
Click to expand...

I think I'm leaning toward this setup with the 3 way switch. Stock looking, but more like a Jazz bass with the two volumes. I like that. Thanks for explaining it so well.
 
#112
BigOldHarry said:
making his own p'ups - now THAT'S ambitious!
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I just couldn't resist. I've always wanted to give it a try.

jmercer91 said:
volume volume volume and a 5 way varitone?
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Is that switch used on the PRS guitars and basses? Just did a quick search, sounds like too much $$ for me just for a switch. Thanks for the suggestion though.

JMac4strngr said:
Amazing thread, and a very cool bass. I can honestly say, this is one of the coolest builds I have ever seen. keep up the excellent work.......
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Thanks very much JMac!
 
#113
Another way to do the above would be to have the two volumes be (neck + bridge) volume and middle volume, instead of master and middle. That would let you solo the middle pickup, at the expense of making it impossible to mute the bass or decrease all volumes quickly with one knob. It's just a question of whether or not you'd use the middle pickup by itself.

Another possibility is to wire it like a real Strat (5-way, master volume, two tones), except the second tone knob would use a different value capacitor to roll off the low bass frequencies, also known as a "tight" control. If you're interested, a friend of mine has instructions on how to do that on another board I can try to dig up.
 
#116
FatStrings said:
I think I'm leaning toward this setup with the 3 way switch. Stock looking, but more like a Jazz bass with the two volumes. I like that. Thanks for explaining it so well.
Click to expand...

IntrepidCellist is right, that is a simpler, yet equally effective layout.

IntrepidCellist - can you dig up the info on the two tone controls? I'm interested in how he makes the double-tone work without interacting between each other (something that regularly happens on most passive combinations).
 
#119
Stealth said:
IntrepidCellist is right, that is a simpler, yet equally effective layout.

IntrepidCellist - can you dig up the info on the two tone controls? I'm interested in how he makes the double-tone work without interacting between each other (something that regularly happens on most passive combinations).
Click to expand...

Invalid Link Removed

At the bottom he mentions what caps to use in his particular application to keep the same resonant peak. I've never tried it, but I'd like to at some point on one of my guitars as I rarely use tone knobs. For bass, you might have to tweak the cap values a bit, although that luthier (Dan from Oni Guitars) builds some extended-range instruments that go well into the bass guitar range (as well as some real basses.)
 

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