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The Official Rumblekat Club
- Thread starter user362432
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Did those pickups drop right in, or did you have to remove some wood to fit them in?
No had to remove wood, very tricky, sounds amazing but not cheap. If you decide to do it let me know will share my lessons learned. If it’s helpful can make some sound samples and post
Thanks. I have no soldering experience or tools at all, so I can't replace pickups, but from time to time I get curious about it and wonder if I should try to learn. But I also would be reluctant to remove any wood, since I'm not skilled at that either. I get vicarious pleasure from reading about the mods that others make here on TB. If I get brave enough I'll let you know and get some lessons. Nice work!
Unless you're a total klutz around tools, you can learn to solder. I was messing around with a soldering iron when I was about 10 years old and figured it out. Not because I was smart but because I tried and played around with it.
All you need is some wire and some copper objects to practice and get the swing of it. Plus you got YouTube to help you figure anything out nowadays.
Your first soldering job might not look clean as, ummm mine, but how it looks doesn't really matter.
If you're into bass or guitar you can have a lot of fun with a soldering iron... Err maybe that's just me.
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I’ve watched numerous YouTube videos for beginners, but they’re not really for beginners. There are things they don’t cover. So far I don’t feel I can get enough knowledge but I do think about it from time to time. Having no workbench or table, I would have to do it on the floor, and I have hardwood floors. I would probably set the house on fire....
If your only going to do it once just find a good tech in your area, save buying the tools, and the “lessons learned”
As Kev says, there is some logic in getting someone else to do it. It's a specialized world and unless you are really wanting to pick up the skill, you might be better to get someone else to do it. I'd gladly install pickups for free for any friends and family and you might even know someone who do the same. It's a very zen activity for me.
Also though, I've never owned a work bench, have been working on electronics for over 30 years on the carpet or coffee or kitchen table. You don't need a workbench, and you can probably buy all the tools you need to do a pickup replacement for less than the cost of getting the job done by a pro. It's just the kind of activity that really lends itself to diy.
Thanks to both of you for the advice. It's a fun thing to think about, but so far I'm not there. As @Kev1955 says, I might only do it once, so I haven't taken the plunge on soldering equipment etc.
Hi, I found the best sounding sounding "drop in pickups" to be the Seymour Duncan Mini humbuckers. They are Guitar pickups but they have Bar Magnets so string spacing isn't an issue. Plus you can get them in gold. Put some nickle round wounds on you get a bright punchy bass. The hipshot bridge is a huge improvement. Post #244 shows the rumblekat I built with those pickups. Posts 200-250 also have some good info on the supertone bridge worth the read. Any questions please ask.
Good luck with the pickup swap and let us know how it turns out. Ditto what Kev1955 said about the Hipshot bridges, as evidenced in the earlier posts he mentioned.
Thanks for the info! Those pickups look great! I might upgrade the bridge first, then the pickups. I'm wondering if something is off with the wiring in my Rumblekat. The sound is muddy/fuzzy in general. The sound changes drastically when volume knobs hit about 80%-90%.
I used to have a Charvel Surfcaster bass with lipstick pickups that sounded punchy and clean. I've been chasing that sound again.
I used to have a Charvel Surfcaster bass with lipstick pickups that sounded punchy and clean. I've been chasing that sound again.
Hard to comment on a particular Basses sound, so many factors involved, strings, pickup height, etc, but those SD minis work good. I like a punchy bass also, I use nickel roundwound strings. Let us know how it works out
That's the nature of this instrument. It drives me nut to fix that non-linear volume and tone change. But, it will require different wiring, probably with the switch of some sort and it still will not be 100% eliminated. I just left it as it is.
Some friends surprised me with this 3D photo they made of me and my Rumblekat Thought I would share
