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SX Ursa 6-string Jazz bass

#1,081
Out of curiosity, what strings are you guys using? I decided to go from stock strings to DR Hi-Beams, because my Fender Aerodyne sounded 10 times smexier with light gauage DR Hi-Beams. My original plan was to get a 5 string pack of light gauge Hi-Beams but I couldn't find them on Amazon, so I just got normal gauge.

I didn't get the same awesome feeling as I did with the last set of Hi-Beams, so I'm thinking about trying another set of strings next time.
 
#1,085
5Bass5 said:
Out of curiosity, what strings are you guys using? I decided to go from stock strings to DR Hi-Beams, because my Fender Aerodyne sounded 10 times smexier with light gauage DR Hi-Beams. .
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As I mentioned before I've got three SX 6ers. It started out supposed to be a fretted and fretless pair, but before I modded to fretless I just happened to have one with rounds and one with flats as was so flat out amazed at the difference I just bought another to make fretless and left them that way.

My flats are a set of GHS flats and they are great flats. Not your grandpa's flats fer sure. I LOVE them. The round wounds are my "standard" string for that which are d'addario Nickel XLs. Always do a good job though I'm not done experimenting with the round wound version yet. Once I get an active preamp in it I may try some other less mellow rounds. The fretless as usual has GHS brite flats which are ground wounds. They are as bright as you can get on a fretless without chewing the neck. D'Addario "half rounds" work equally well, though my SX currently has GHS because local store had some.

I'm really happy with the flats and fretless, but I'll need to experiment more with the rounds. Problem is that for 6ers you have to order all the strings online and 6 string sets aren't really popular which means sometimes you have to add custom string to fill out the set. The local GC does stock D'Addario nickel XLs in 6 string sets, however.
 
#1,086
5Bass5 said:
Out of curiosity, what strings are you guys using? I decided to go from stock strings to DR Hi-Beams, because my Fender Aerodyne sounded 10 times smexier with light gauage DR Hi-Beams. My original plan was to get a 5 string pack of light gauge Hi-Beams but I couldn't find them on Amazon, so I just got normal gauge.
Click to expand...

I just put a set of DA nickel rounds (xl 170?) on. Don't know how these compare to others on this bass, but they are a massive improvement over what came with the bass. Huge. Notably, the B string doesn't flop like a dying catfish.

Other changes to Big Red: roller trees, shielding and a push-pull for series/parallel. And sanding the end of every fret, the only major q/c problem I found. Oh yeah, I taped the pups into their covers, both were loose.

Tuners aren't bad but holes are too big. Tried to figure out some kind of bushing arrangement, but once under tension it doesn't seem to matter.

Want to do something with the pickguard, not sure what.

If it were just a couple of pounds lighter...
 
#1,087
bass_case said:
I just put a set of DA nickel rounds (xl 170?) on. Don't know how these compare to others on this bass, but they are a massive improvement over what came with the bass. Huge. Notably, the B string doesn't flop like a dying catfish.

...
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Yeah, the stock strings on SX basses are all pretty bad. Changing them always improves tone and volume.

BTW, you made all of the same mods to your Ursa 2 6 that I made to my CAR one, which is the backup to my burst one. My burst one has hipshot string guides, though. Oh and I use webstrings strings.
 
#1,088
bass_case said:
I just put a set of DA nickel rounds (xl 170?) on. Don't know how these compare to others on this bass, but they are a massive improvement over what came with the bass. Huge. Notably, the B string doesn't flop like a dying catfish.

Other changes to Big Red: roller trees, shielding and a push-pull for series/parallel. And sanding the end of every fret, the only major q/c problem I found. Oh yeah, I taped the pups into their covers, both were loose.

Tuners aren't bad but holes are too big. Tried to figure out some kind of bushing arrangement, but once under tension it doesn't seem to matter.

Want to do something with the pickguard, not sure what.

If it were just a couple of pounds lighter...
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As you can see (avatar) in my case I went to Tony at Pickguardian.com and had him copy the SX factory pickguards in tort! Too cool!


Just a note on SX 6ers. I bought that spare Ash body Chuck Norriss sold and one of the pickup covers was loose. (They are just glued on with a dab of silicone bathtub sealer on the top of the pickup) Anyway, the point is that you could see looking at the coil that they are rather underwound. hence the lower output and why I do the magnet mod.

But I recently emailed Audere and they offered to take one of my SX 6er pickups (the kind with the ceramic magnet on the bottom) and see if they can find a dummy coil to match the SX 6er bass! I'm hoping they can because about the only whine I have about the SX 6er is the single coil hum when a pickup is soloed. A preamped hum-free SX 6er should be quite an instrument when finished!
 
#1,089
Nice guard. I already have tort on two Fender Ps, one burst and one sonic blue. On CAR? Hmmmm... Would like to do something weird (but cheap!) maybe formica or painted lucite. Contact paper? Grass cloth???
 
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#1,090
bass_case said:
..I already have tort on two Fender Ps, one burst and one sonic blue. On CAR? Hmmmm...
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I have a stock Fender Active Special Jazz like that. Here's a photo from Fender:

c152f3af-be3e-4109-8eb9-f7a651fe27e5_zps173844a0.png


I don't really like that color combination, but it hasn't bothered me too much. I think a white pearl pickguard would be good.
 
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#1,096
Received my SX Fretless 6 string. Neck is perfect as-is and the finish is beautiful. The intonation is off, which is not unexpected and the strings are dreadful, but that is also expected. My plan was to buy this and see if I would actually play a fretless 6 string before I put out a lot of money on a 'good' one, but I think that after I get this set up with new strings and a few of the mods in this thread, it will be a keeper.
 
#1,098
Rooster009 said:
Calling my name! I just wish it had better grain.
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Don't go by the pictures on Rondo. Yes, the photo you show demonstrates the WORST that you can get in a natural SX (I do own one with grain like that but not a 6er). It's all about the luck of the draw. If you want to see what MY SX ash body natural 6er looks like poke back through this thread and look at the body that Chuck Norriss bought to get the neck off of, and I bought the body off of him! The grain on the front of that looks positively boutique and appears for all the world on the front as if it's a one piece body! (On the rear side you can tell it's the usual 3 pieces). And that is what happens when you get lucky!

So you just have to ask yourself just one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well do ya? :)
 
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