The Pedulla Club!

[Lonnybass]

thx for hte recommendation on the nick in the bridge area... maybe i'll just try to buff vs sand with a finishing wax and see if that helps.

When i said "tung oil on the neck" what i really meant to say was "tung oil on the natural fretboard" which is what hte manual suggested. I've done some searches on guitar/bass sites and answers ranged from "i've never had to oild my fretboard" to "I do it every other year", but those are presumably fretted guitars/basses, not a natural ebony (?) fretboard. I have seen folks seal a fretless fretboard with tung oil (& its recommended by pedulla) so am not worried about hurting it, and i'm hoping that it creates a harder surface to play against. Has anyone done this on their pedulla (I know most fretless pedulla's have a poly coat, not natural)?

thx all!

Oh I see what you are saying - you're talking about oiling the fingerboard, not the back in the neck. Before answering that question - I want to clarify, does your bass have a polyester coating over the ebony, or is bare wood?

Tung oil won't actually create a harder surface to play - it's a penetrating oil that will absorb into bare wood. If you try to put tung oil over a sealed finish, it will just kind of puddle on it, and slowly turn into a sticky mess. You don't want to put tung oil over a hard wood finish. Another issue with tung oil (and many finishes, for that matter) is that there are often a lot of byproducts and other gunk in stuff commonly sold as "tung oil" or "lemon oil." Hard to know what sure what you are getting.

For treating natural wood fingerboards I suggest "F-0ne" Fingerboard Oil that is common in music stores and available on Amazon.

 

[thumbslapper]

Oh I see what you are saying - you're talking about oiling the fingerboard, not the back in the neck. Before answering that question - I want to clarify, does your bass have a polyester coating over the ebony, or is bare wood?

Tung oil won't actually create a harder surface to play - it's a penetrating oil that will absorb into bare wood. If you try to put tung oil over a sealed finish, it will just kind of puddle on it, and slowly turn into a sticky mess. You don't want to put tung oil over a hard wood finish. Another issue with tung oil (and many finishes, for that matter) is that there are often a lot of byproducts and other gunk in stuff commonly sold as "tung oil" or "lemon oil." Hard to know what sure what you are getting.

For treating natural wood fingerboards I suggest "F-0ne" Fingerboard Oil that is common in music stores and available on Amazon.

Thx LonnyBass!

The neck is natural ebony with no coating, and the manual recommends putting tung oil on ever few years or so (I've never done it tho in the 25+ years i've had the bass). It does get a great woody sound and can emulate a upright pretty well. I got 100% pure tung oil so it should be good.

Anyone know what Pedulla used to finish their natural finish (no poly) bodies?

I plan on taking your advice Lonny and buffing the scratches with something like Liberon Black Bison Clear Wood Wax Polish, seems like it should not do any damage and should help. thx again for the advice...

 

[LSancho]

Greetings, hope you are fine. Very happy about this one, 1990 MVP. Can't believe it has been 30 years since I watched one of these in a Bass Player magazine cover, since they were giving it as a prize, and thinking "there is no chance I would ever win that". The wonders of the used market. Only detail: Two bottom pots are seemingly not doing a thing. Not sure about layout, but I seem to recall these two lower ones are "Highs" and "Lows". Anyone has had that issue?

 

[rhs1856]

Mike's standard layout: control nearest output jack is bass boost/cut; next up is treble boost/cut; next up (on the outboard side) is pickup pan. All 3 of those have a center detent. The inboard control is volume. Try a new battery, but while you're in there, look to see whether someone's disconnected your tone controls... Enjoy!

 

[BargeOn]

Greetings, hope you are fine. Very happy about this one, 1990 MVP. Can't believe it has been 30 years since I watched one of these in a Bass Player magazine cover, since they were giving it as a prize, and thinking "there is no chance I would ever win that". The wonders of the used market. Only detail: Two bottom pots are seemingly not doing a thing. Not sure about layout, but I seem to recall these two lower ones are "Highs" and "Lows". Anyone has had that issue?View attachment 4160442 View attachment 4160443 View attachment 4160444 View attachment 4160447 View attachment 4160442 View attachment 4160442 View attachment 4160443 View attachment 4160444 View attachment 4160447 View attachment 4160448

That's a nice looking MVP. It may have a few dents but looks like the finish has held up well.
Appears to be in better condition than my '97 (by the serial number the last bass he made that year). It's definately road worn, chips and dents all over, but structurally in fine shape.

Have you got the tone controls working?

 

[LSancho]

That's a nice looking MVP. It may have a few dents but looks like the finish has held up well.
Appears to be in better condition than my '97 (by the serial number the last bass he made that year). It's definately road worn, chips and dents all over, but structurally in fine shape.

Have you got the tone controls working?

To make a long story short: Treble and bass controls not working. Another member of Talkbass mentions that he sees differences between diagram and actual layout. I wrote to Bartolini and they are very kind and supportive. So next week I am sending the bass to my tech. Best case scenario = just a cable correction issue. If not, Bartolini is having a serious issue in terms of wiring harnesses, so availability of preamps is subjected to the ones they have in stock. If not, a long waiting queue is on sight.

It was mentioned that this preamp is an original one, but someone meddled with it, doing a lousy job, and since that modification did not kill the sound totally, they thought it was correctly done, not checking the preamp's working condition. Revision by my friend who helps me with the electronics on my instruments will be crucial. Fingers crossed!

 

[BargeOn]

To make a long story short: Treble and bass controls not working. Another member of Talkbass mentions that he sees differences between diagram and actual layout. I wrote to Bartolini and they are very kind and supportive. So next week I am sending the bass to my tech. Best case scenario = just a cable correction issue. If not, Bartolini is having a serious issue in terms of wiring harnesses, so availability of preamps is subjected to the ones they have in stock. If not, a long waiting queue is on sight.

It was mentioned that this preamp is an original one, but someone meddled with it, doing a lousy job, and since that modification did not kill the sound totally, they thought it was correctly done, not checking the preamp's working condition. Revision by my friend who helps me with the electronics on my instruments will be crucial. Fingers crossed!

It's a nice Pedulla, be worth a few bucks to bring it back to life. Let us know how it goes.

 

[LSancho]

It's a nice Pedulla, be worth a few bucks to bring it back to life. Let us know how it goes.

Thank you. Thing is, bass is working and sounds amazing and powerful, only thing is, adjustments are not working. Maybe that is why whoever tweaked this thing, seeing that the bass was sounding well, never bothered to check those two adjustments. We'll see how it goes. Thank you for the support.

 

[mtb777]

Thank you. Thing is, bass is working and sounds amazing and powerful, only thing is, adjustments are not working. Maybe that is why whoever tweaked this thing, seeing that the bass was sounding well, never bothered to check those two adjustments. We'll see how it goes. Thank you for the support.

Thing is, they all sound great no matter how you tweak them EQ wise, but it’s just a matter getting the right great sound you want. That’s the thing!!
Sound great.
Play great.

 

[David1957]

Thing is, they all sound great no matter how you tweak them EQ wise, but it’s just a matter getting the right great sound you want. That’s the thing!!
Sound great.
Play great.

This has been really true for me.

 

[bmoriarty]

Thomastik infield nickel wound flats on my Pentabuzz. If anyone has used these flats before on any other bass you know they’re not typical flat wound strings. Even after almost a year on my Yamaha six string they still sound very bright and articulate. They’ve got great mid range growl to them. Wanting to preserve my fingerboard I decided to try them on my Pentabuzz. The result is really great. I’m getting all the growl I could possibly want and excellent mmwaaaa. They are also a fairly low tension strength which is good. Excellent sustain. Two questions. The the b string is a whopping .136 gauge!! Michael put in ebony nut on my bass when he refinished my fingerboard in 2015. The B string is not sitting flush in the nut groove. The groove needs to be cut just a little wider. I’m thinking of doing this myself and getting a file from stew Mac. Anyone out there had to do this himself? Second question is fingerboard refinishing. I don’t think it needs to be dressed now but the finish is showing lots of signs of ware and will eventually need to be done again. I’m in Massachusetts, not far from where Mike’s shop was. Anyone know of a luthier who maybe worked for him or could do a board for me in this area? Thanks.

 

[bmoriarty]

 

[mking]

Thomastik infield nickel wound flats on my Pentabuzz. If anyone has used these flats before on any other bass you know they’re not typical flat wound strings. Even after almost a year on my Yamaha six string they still sound very bright and articulate. They’ve got great mid range growl to them. Wanting to preserve my fingerboard I decided to try them on my Pentabuzz. The result is really great. I’m getting all the growl I could possibly want and excellent mmwaaaa. They are also a fairly low tension strength which is good. Excellent sustain. Two questions. The the b string is a whopping .136 gauge!! Michael put in ebony nut on my bass when he refinished my fingerboard in 2015. The B string is not sitting flush in the nut groove. The groove needs to be cut just a little wider. I’m thinking of doing this myself and getting a file from stew Mac. Anyone out there had to do this himself? Second question is fingerboard refinishing. I don’t think it needs to be dressed now but the finish is showing lots of signs of ware and will eventually need to be done again. I’m in Massachusetts, not far from where Mike’s shop was. Anyone know of a luthier who maybe worked for him or could do a board for me in this area? Thanks.

Pat Wilkins does a fantastic job on fingerboards.

 

[bmoriarty]

Pat Wilkins does a fantastic job on fingerboards.

Where is Pat based out of?

 

[mking]

Pat is in California. He refinished a Fender fretless and a Pedulla fretless of mine, and they are both great, and his prices are reasonable.

 

[bmoriarty]

Thanks Mking! I’m really looking for someone in the Northeast. Maybe somebody that worked for Michael. Does anyone have a bead on people that worked in his workshop?

 

[bmoriarty]

• here is a shot of the back and a closeup at the nut. You can see how the b string is not resting in the slot all the way.
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[mking]

That is a beautiful bass! Wow!

 

[bmoriarty]

Update, John Mauradian, Mouradian Guitar Co. here in the Boston area worked on my bass for me. Quick fix to widen the nut enough for the fat Thomastik b string. Mouradian Guitar is a three generation guitar builder/ repair co. Ive heard great things about them and I can see why. Great service Great people.

 

[BargeOn]

Thanks Mking! I’m really looking for someone in the Northeast. Maybe somebody that worked for Michael. Does anyone have a bead on people that worked in his workshop?

I didn't see a response to this, but I was browsing the thread and found a good word for this guy in CT, didn't work for Michael but does do a poly refin:
Florio Guitars – Custom Guitar Works in New England