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The Reverend Club (part 8)

#3,161
ericplaysbass said:
Reverend won't do the work. They're not a repair place. If you're in their area, you can try Small Box Music. John is a trained luthier and would be willing and able to do the work. But, it won't be cheap - I'd expect $300-400 for the routing job since he'd be working without a template.

Honestly, I'd recommend against it. Not only would you have to significantly alter the body, the pickups would be in different positions than the Dub King when they're done and you won't get that sound. Trade the bass toward a Dub King. Small Box also happens to be a Reverend dealer. Heights is as well, and they may also be willing to take on the work, but again, I think it's far cost and risk prohibitive. Easier to trade the instrument toward one you'd prefer.

If you wish to keep the bass no matter what, you should look into what size your pickups are to find direct replacements. They're out there somewhere. You could also try contacting someone like Turner pickups for a custom job if you can't find what you're looking for off the shelf.
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you are right. The cost of the work combined with the cost in parts might actually put me pretty close to the cost of the Dub King. Unfortunately the trade in for the Corsair just isn't much so I would be paying more out of pocket for a Dub King that I would want right now. Time to start saving!
Although the thought of having a pretty unique bass with the Corsair and Reverend guts is pretty tempting. The pickup placement would be closer to the Mercalli than the Dub King
 
#3,164
Anyone remove the hand drawn SN on the back of the headstock? I was wiping the neck down and not paying attention smeared it to where it was barely legible. Ended up just removing it completely.

I've already got a record of the SN because it's on the tag that came with the bass.

What is that stuff made out of anyway? Reminds me of white out or nail polish.
 
#3,165
johnyrocksville said:
you are right. The cost of the work combined with the cost in parts might actually put me pretty close to the cost of the Dub King. Unfortunately the trade in for the Corsair just isn't much so I would be paying more out of pocket for a Dub King that I would want right now. Time to start saving!
Although the thought of having a pretty unique bass with the Corsair and Reverend guts is pretty tempting. The pickup placement would be closer to the Mercalli than the Dub King
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I would recommend you look into the EMG pickups that are thunderbird sized. They should drop right in and you get several different sound options. Anything that has TB in the name should fit.
 
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#3,166
johnyrocksville said:
I'm looking for some opinions on whether or not this is crazy.

I have a Schecter Corsair that I love the way it looks and plays, but the electronics are pretty meh. It has EMG pickups and an active 2 band preamp with a completely worthless blend control. I am thinking about getting the same Reverend pickups and wiring harness as the Dub King. I would definitely need to have someone do the work for me because this would be a little beyond my skillset as it would also include routing out the openings for the pickups. I already know that I love that pickup configuration because of how much I love my Mercalli 5.

What are your thoughts or opinions? Should I reach out to Reverend to see if they would do the work because I live like 20 minutes from their offices.
View attachment 5430777
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As much as the Rev pickups are cool, if it were me I'd look at who offers Thunderbird replacement pickups. I know Novak does some (and Curtis was great to work with when I wanted something nonstandard for one of my guitars) and a quick google tells me Lollar also does them. I'm sure there's probably others as well, but a direct swap with some passive pickups and electronics would be worth it if you already like everything else about it.
 
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#3,167
Swerve said:
Anyone remove the hand drawn SN on the back of the headstock? I was wiping the neck down and not paying attention smeared it to where it was barely legible. Ended up just removing it completely.

I've already got a record of the SN because it's on the tag that came with the bass.

What is that stuff made out of anyway? Reminds me of white out or nail polish.
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I think on my Merc 5 it's silver sharpie or paint pen, and I don't recall whats on my BH5 or Reeves Gabrels and they are at the studio right now so I can't check, but all of them are old enough that the method may have changed in the mean time.
 
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#3,168
Swerve said:
Anyone remove the hand drawn SN on the back of the headstock? I was wiping the neck down and not paying attention smeared it to where it was barely legible. Ended up just removing it completely.

I've already got a record of the SN because it's on the tag that came with the bass.

What is that stuff made out of anyway? Reminds me of white out or nail polish.
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it is a paint pen
 
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#3,171
Mr Dalton said:
I'd like to join the club! Just got a Decision 2 weeks ago, a 25th anniversary model:View attachment 5427860
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I bought one of these to celebrate my 25 year anniversary at my job (I started the same year Reverend came into being). I love it and it's my main player but the initial setup was terrible and the fret buzz was the worst I've ever heard. I bought it through Sweetwater and they offered to pay for a luthier to fix it. Once that was taken care of I've been able to enjoy as it was intended. Definitely a great bass!
 
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#3,172
maximus said:
I bought one of these to celebrate my 25 year anniversary at my job (I started the same year Reverend came into being). I love it and it's my main player but the initial setup was terrible and the fret buzz was the worst I've ever heard. I bought it through Sweetwater and they offered to pay for a luthier to fix it. Once that was taken care of I've been able to enjoy as it was intended. Definitely a great bass!
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No joke? That surprises me that the setup was trash straight from the gate. I'm glad SW did you right and got it squared away though. It's a righteous bass for sure! You tried any other Reverends out?
 
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#3,173
Mr Dalton said:
No joke? That surprises me that the setup was trash straight from the gate. I'm glad SW did you right and got it squared away though. It's a righteous bass for sure! You tried any other Reverends out?
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Yeah i was surprised considering that both Reverend and SW claim to do their own inspections on the instruments before shipping. I bought a new Fender American Professional P-bass a few years ago and it came to me ready to play with no issues. I was expecting the same from Reverend and was disappointed that it needed a lot of work. But at the end of the day it's all fixed and good to go now. Very enjoyable bass to play!
 
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#3,174
My Reverend Dub King (#18538) has a tendency to neck dive, due to the lack of an extended upper horn and the bridge sitting well forward on the body. Okay, that was expected, and it doesn't really bother me, but I'm still considering changing out the tuners if I can find some lightweight ones that will fit. DKs I see on the web usually have Hipshot Ultralights; I suppose the 1/2" shaft version is suitable?
 
#3,175
maximus said:
Yeah i was surprised considering that both Reverend and SW claim to do their own inspections on the instruments before shipping. I bought a new Fender American Professional P-bass a few years ago and it came to me ready to play with no issues. I was expecting the same from Reverend and was disappointed that it needed a lot of work. But at the end of the day it's all fixed and good to go now. Very enjoyable bass to play!
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What all was wrong with it? Even with the roasted neck, we're in a very up and down climate and up and down time of year, so this is the time for wood to be extra finicky. If it was fretwork that needed done though, that's a whole different story.
cdef said:
My Reverend Dub King (#18538) has a tendency to neck dive, due to the lack of an extended upper horn and the bridge sitting well forward on the body. Okay, that was expected, and it doesn't really bother me, but I'm still considering changing out the tuners if I can find some lightweight ones that will fit. DKs I see on the web usually have Hipshot Ultralights; I suppose the 1/2" shaft version is suitable?
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I had no noticeable neck dive with my Dub King. It balanced on my knee and on my strap without any considerable effort on my part. You might have a particularly light body with a particularly heavier neck - unlucky stuff.
I'd recommend saving your money buying the US Ultralights if you're trying to help with the dive. They really don't weigh considerably less to the import ones - we're talking fractions of an ounce per, so you might save an ounce or two total. You could try adding a higher mass bridge if you can find one considerably heavier than the one already on there.
 
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#3,177
PlumbBass said:
Really nice looking Rumblefish 5 on the Verb right now for a reasonable price.
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is the bridge supposed to hang off like that?

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#3,179
So I had my Mercalli 5 listed for sale, then I woke up this morning, trying to figure what happened to my brain and took it off the market.

if it was a run of the mill Mercalli, I could see letting it go. But the bound neck with the binding and block. the blue sparkle paint, the low-ish serial number…

what was I thinking? Now, I'm thinking of selling my WAL-Ray mod for another Mercalli. The WAL ray is the best sounding bass I've ever owned, but the sterling neck is nowhere close to the Mercalli 5.
 
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