I think soapbar pickups are easier to rest my thumb on than p pickups. Unless they're the radiused ones.
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I think soapbar pickups are easier to rest my thumb on than p pickups. Unless they're the radiused ones.
here is my 1978 Ibanez Destroyer, aka "The Lawsuit Bass". theres not much original about it as you can see haha. the previous owner obviously experimented with pickup placement. i was told by the seller it was all korina, but have been told by a local expert that it is probably swamp ash.. i dont know haha all i know is that it has one of the deepest and woodiest tones out of any bass ive ever heard. it handles a ton of gain from my blackstar ht-distx, plays like a dream, and come on, just look at it! its kickass!
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I have a Destroyer six string and it has a body just like that and I can say that it is definitely not Swamp Ash. It is some variety of mahogany or korina, as was suggested. Notice the straight, short grains in the wood fibers and the tightness of the grain. Also notice how perfectly straight the grain lines are.
That is a cool bass. You could have a new pickguard made by making an exact template drawing of it on a sheet of paper, taping it in place at a few places during the process to keep it from moving while you are drawing the outline. Also draw in the screw holes with a sharp pencil as well as the pickup cut. The places that make custom pick guards will do it at a very reasonable cost any you can get black or any of a wide variety of colors and types.
Definitely a nice bass.
That is a cool bass. You could have a new pickguard made by making an exact template drawing of it on a sheet of paper, taping it in place at a few places during the process to keep it from moving while you are drawing the outline. Also draw in the screw holes with a sharp pencil as well as the pickup cut. The places that make custom pick guards will do it at a very reasonable cost any you can get black or any of a wide variety of colors and types.
Definitely a nice bass.
Another odd thing about it is the P style pickup is reversed. The one closer to the bridge is for the E and A strings. That in itself took a day or so to get used to. In 4 jam sessions since I picked this up I have not used my Fender P once and tomorrow my P-Squier is sold. I just cant get over how fast it is. That fastest neck line they throw at you is for real.
All of you Ibanez fans are in luck! I finally got to play a SR1205 with Nordstrands, and it is one heck of a bass! It sounds sort of but not quite like an active jazz, and not quite like a bass with active soapbars. The sound is basically traditional with a healthy dose of power. The tone is not unlike my Yamaha TRB5II, and I really love that bass!
That P pickup is identified as a vintage alembic, so i dont want to switch it out. and im fine with the pickguard the way it is. i appreciate the suggestions, but as of now I am leaving it as is.
I wouldnt change a thing about that bass. It is just about as badass as badass can get. Wow that sounded wierd as I was writing it. Nice bass..... I took lessons on one of those in 1988, it had two sets of humbuckers though I believe.
That's no Alembic pickup, looks more like Dimarzio. The Humbucker looks like the ones that were (are?) in the Aria SB basses, cool stuff!
Edit: I see you like Cliff, that Aria pickup is holy grail stuff! (and it's in the right spot!)
wow, then i guess the guy i bought it from had no idea what he had, and i got this thing for more than half of what all original mint ones are worth. i was told the humbucker was dimarzio, and the p was alembic. i guess ill never know exactly whats in it.. heheh
And cliff is by far my main influence, and the fact that the humbucker may be like the ones in aria basses, it explains exactly why i get such a kickass distortion tone out of it. im running my distx with a vintage morley pwf (the chrome beast) and im telling you guys, its the buisness.
I could be mistaken about the humbucker, which could be an Alembic AXY pickup.
They are 105x45 mm and a bit wider than the Aria. (they would be about 105x40 I guess)
The Alembic is flat on top, the Aria has a curved (matching the fingerboard radius) top.
If it's an Alembic pickup, it should have a lot less output than the P pickup. Unless it also has the preamp (see pic) and the P is wired passive. (you can set the "active volume" with the trimpot and match it with the P pickup output)
Alembic preamp should look something like this:
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Sorry no Ibby here...
I hope I can get away with posting a pic of a lovely one:
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(used to drool over that in my school days)
They are 105x45 mm and a bit wider than the Aria. (they would be about 105x40 I guess)
The Alembic is flat on top, the Aria has a curved (matching the fingerboard radius) top.
If it's an Alembic pickup, it should have a lot less output than the P pickup. Unless it also has the preamp (see pic) and the P is wired passive. (you can set the "active volume" with the trimpot and match it with the P pickup output)
Alembic preamp should look something like this:
Link Removed
Sorry no Ibby here...
I hope I can get away with posting a pic of a lovely one:
Invalid Link Removed
(used to drool over that in my school days)
I think the mounting screws on an Alembic are closer together than on the pickup in that picture. I sold a beat up Distillate a few years ago, here's a pic of the pickup:
To me, the pickup looks more like this:
Of course, it's hard to tell for sure in that picture, but Alembic pickups tend to be quite expensive, so I doubt it's one of those.
Dang! How did I miss that?
That must be why it looked like an Aria pickup to me in the first place, by now I'm pretty sure it is.
I just posted about my SR405 upgrade to Mike Pope's FlexCore pre over in "Pickups and Electronics". I'll post before and after clips tonight or tomorrow. It's a wicked piece of engineering.
So, I returned my SR305 to Guitar Center for this SR405QM. I do like the upgraded pickups and bridge. I just have to get used to the Elixir strings as they feel slick compared to the D'Addarios on my 300.
I have to say the quilted maple is an amazing finish and pictures do not do it justice
I have to say the quilted maple is an amazing finish and pictures do not do it justice
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So, I returned my SR305 to Guitar Center for this SR405QM. I do like the upgraded pickups and bridge. I just have to get used to the Elixir strings as they feel slick compared to the D'Addarios on my 300.
I have to say the quilted maple is an amazing finish and pictures do not do it justice
I had an older SR405QM, the red one. Before it had the 3-band EQ and the mahogany body. That bass was already decent. I'm sure your bass is probably pretty good.
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