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ThunderTwins!

#41
Back from the holidays! Have had lots of time to ponder, but precious little time to act. Story of my life.... :)

Anyway, I did a lot of research on mudbuckers - it's part of how I ponder - and I figured out how to coil-tap mine. Along the way, I discovered that my mudbucker is one of the ones that was wired incorrectly from the factory. That explains why it always buzzed when it was in the other bass! So now I have a properly humbucking mudbucker with an extra hot lead to run it as a single-coil. So the plan at this point is to install just the mudbucker, in the P position, with the coil tap, and see how that sounds. There's plenty of room later to add another pickup if I feel like I need to.
 
#42
Pickup temporarily mounted, to check for clearance, spacing, and to actually hear it!

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Love that chromey goodness!

I ran alligator clips from the leads to a cord, then into a practice amp. Well, the series mode is indeed super-thick, like a mudbucker should be. But the coil tap produces a much brighter tone. I mean, it's still thick and juicy, but not quite as hot, and with lots more upper frequency definition and articulation. To my ears (and I'm not that well versed in Fenderish stuff) it sounds like a good P-bass should sound. That's a good thing! This will be my "punk" bass, meant to be played aggressively with a pick. Should do well, I think! And there's plenty of room later to add a bridge pickup if I decide to do that. Or, I could replace it with a Novak Fatbucker, or a DiMarzio Model One, or a Dark Star (should I be lucky enough to acquire another one...).

I find it interesting that this, an Artec mudbucker from eBay that cost all of about $25, has polepiece spacing that's just right for the Fenderish dimensions of this BadAss. That is, it comes in at 2" instead of the more typical Gibsonish 1 7/8".
 
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#44
I like that - nice work! Great spin on the TB shape, and I've seen good feedback on those Artecs elsewhere. They are supposedly built similar to the old Gibson "mudbuckers", right? (i.e. big overwound coils in a sidewinder config)

I had an EB-0 that I rigged up with both coil-tap and series/parallel modes using push/pull pots for the volume and tone. I put some info and soundclips here:

http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/1969-gibson-eb-0-pickup-coil-tap-and-series-parallel-modification/

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I enjoyed the alternate coil config sounds. Those Gibson pickups are like the audio equivalent of a wrecking ball in their stock series config! :D (although, that can be fun at times :hiding:)
 
#45
Thanks, Chromium! I actually Googled my way to your site, and read about your mudbucker modifications. I'm really glad that your sound clips were still available, because they helped me decide to pursue the coil tap modification! Turns out there's not a lot of mudbucker info on the web, especially about modifying them...

So I got the RayBird body almost completely sanded now. I went ahead and fully assembled it, so that I could test drive it at rehearsal today - it saw action for more than half of practice! As mentioned, this one will get extremely simple electronics - just the coil-tapped mudbucker, an on-off-on switch, and a jack. This is my alter-ego bass; it represents nearly everything that the others are not - passive, single-pickup, no knobs, as well as being bolt-on, with a Leo-style headstock and clover-key tuners. These are all things that the snob in me frowns upon; in the spirit of expanding my horizons, it felt like I needed to dip my toes into that stuff! :)

Speaking of the headstock, I had wanted to use some Grover Titan tuners that I already had on hand. The Grovers are extremely nice tuners, with a silky feel and a hefty, reassuringly solid build. That solidity also causes them to weigh right at a pound for four of them! :eek: Preliminary balance tests showed that they were not going to work. So I went shopping for full-sized lightweight tuners. My choices were the Hipshot UltraLite, the Gotoh Res-O-Lite GB528, the Schaller BMCHL, and the related Fender/Schaller Deluxe tuner. I wanted something reversible, as well as something for which a Hipshot D-Tuner was available. For some reason the Hipshots didn't appeal to me aesthetically. I nearly ordered the Gotohs, but they came in a little more expensive than the Fender/Schallers, so that's what I went with. They're actually not reversible, but they are readily available singly in right and left versions. They use a pair of locating pins instead of screws, so I had to drill a few holes, but that's no biggie. Turns out the D-Tuner just fits!

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They are beautiful machines, with lustrous chrome plating. And the post design is pretty smart too, with a recessed area for the string to ride in, and a shallow groove at the top of the post, all of which helps the string wind down towards the bottom of the post, as it needs to do on a Leo-style headstock.

Instrument balance is also about strap button placement. For bolt-on 'Birds, the consensus is that the best option is to use one of the neck bolts. Since I installed threaded inserts for use with machine screws, the wood screw that the Dunlop StrapLok comes with wouldn't work. So I put the machine screw into the chuck of my drill, and ran it across a mill file until the head would fit inside the StrapLok. Voila!

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With the lightweight tuners and the strap buttons as above (and the weighty BadAss bridge), the instrument now balances pretty well! And it's nice and light too, much lighter than my regular gigging basses. I actually had a blast playing it at rehearsal, because of the reduced weight, as well as the contours that I did on the upper half of the body. This picture is a little difficult to see, but the usual "tummy cut" was eschewed in favor of a generous bevel on the back of the upper body closest to the neck, and a matching bevel on the front, where my picking arm rests.

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The mudbucker, as expected, held down a big and meaty bottom end. It was fat and juicy in full series mode for Motown ballads, and was brighter and more present (but still fat and juicy) in single-coil mode for the more pop-rock stuff. And the single-coil hum was nearly imperceptible! I'm a happy camper.

I've been using five-strings for a while now, so it was fun to play a stripped-down four for a change. And a few of our songs are actually much easier to play with the drop-D tuning, so I think this one will be fast-tracked to completion. Next step is to dye it and clear-coat it. I'm thinking I'll try to do a wine red burst with TransTint, then shoot it with a few coats of Deft rattle-can lacquer (I don't have spray equipment).
 
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#46
The RayBird, as it currently exists, ready to be played tomorrow evening. Still needs more coats of clear, but I rushed it to an acceptable state for tomorrow. :)

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#48
Okay, then. I played the RayBird, with the mudbucker, for better than half of last Saturday night's gig (a rather loud and boisterous Mardi Gras ball). It did a good job holding down the low end, but - even in coil-tap mode - didn't have enough high-end cut to make it through. My Curtis Novak BiSonic (EB-BS) is en route as I type this. That should help. :) :) :)

Before the transplant, though, I recorded some quick clips of the Artec. Nothing fancy, just a "No Effects" GarageBand track. First I play series fingerstyle, then series picked, then coil-tapped fingerstyle, then coil-tapped picked. This last setting is the only one that I really consider usable. (I could not figure out how to prevent the clipping that the series mode displays. It really is a very hot, very muddy sound.)

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The Artec is on its way to bassgod76, to be used in his LoBue tribute (but only the cover, not the guts).

Pity. I really wanted to like it. But not this time.
 
#49
ctmullins said:
Okay, then. I played the RayBird, with the mudbucker, for better than half of last Saturday night's gig (a rather loud and boisterous Mardi Gras ball). It did a good job holding down the low end, but - even in coil-tap mode - didn't have enough high-end cut to make it through. My Curtis Novak BiSonic (EB-BS) is en route as I type this. That should help. :) :) :)

Before the transplant, though, I recorded some quick clips of the Artec. Nothing fancy, just a "No Effects" GarageBand track. First I play series fingerstyle, then series picked, then coil-tapped fingerstyle, then coil-tapped picked. This last setting is the only one that I really consider usable. (I could not figure out how to prevent the clipping that the series mode displays. It really is a very hot, very muddy sound.)

Link Removed

The Artec is on its way to bassgod76, to be used in his LoBue tribute (but only the cover, not the guts).

Pity. I really wanted to like it. But not this time.
Click to expand...

Hopefully SGD makes this pup roar. Thanks for helping my build with mudbucker goodness.
 
#51
Well, progress on these has ground to a near standstill in the last few months. Blame it on work, and other life stuff, and well, that's the way it goes sometimes...

In the meantime, my stupid ISP decided to discontinue their web hosting service, which means that all of my photo links in all of my threads are now broken. I found a new web hosting site, but because TB doesn't allow us to edit posts older than a certain number of days, it makes for a broken story. Yes, I PM'ed a few moderators, as well as our Admin, but there's naught to be done about it. So here's a quick photo montage to re-present the build so far:


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#52
... and this weekend was the first weekend in a very long time in which I had some real time to work on these. Well, just the OctoBird for now. Routed the pickup cavities, the electronics cavity, and the jack hole, then used a long 1/4" drill bit to drill for pickup wires.

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I might decide to leave this one passive, with a Stellartone Tonestyler, or I might decide to use an EMG BTC, which would mean routing for a battery box. Not sure yet. But it's nearly time for finish sanding! :hyper:


Oh, and the RayBird got an Aguilar OBP-1 (and some proper knobs after all), which gave it some much-needed girth. :)
 
#54
Made enough progress lately to do a first string-up of the OctoBird!

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Is it crazy to do an entire build around a bridge? I had this one from my very first eight, but the spacing was too wide for my last build, so this one has been languishing. I just couldn't bear for it to not get put to good use! :)

Nice straight string pull through the nut:

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And I think this is just neat:

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Strings are a mismatched set of D'Addario fundamentals with SIT octaves. Pickups are a mismatched pair as well, with a Duncan SSB at the bridge and a SGD Sidewinder at the neck; I hope to have a real pair of SGD Neobuckers in chrome T-Bird covers soon, but these worked for a mock-up. I used jumper wires from the pickup leads to an instrument cable and got to hear it through an amp tonight - fun! I can tell that I will need to shave the neck down some more, though.
 
#55
Body contouring done; most of the finish sanding done. Just about time for color and lacquer!

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Contouring along the upper edge for belly and forearm - the RayBird has similar contouring, and it's proven quite comfortable.

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#56
So I'm going to do as I usually do, and use TransTint dye dissolved in distilled water for the color. As mentioned way back at the beginning of this build, I'm going for a "trans black over wine red" with this one. The wine red is the same color that I used for my earlier eight-string LPDC build, which is - if memory serves - two or three parts red to one part purple. Or something like that. :)

I wiped the first coat on last night, and it revealed a few places that needed further sanding. So I took care of that sanding tonight, and then wiped on the second coat of red. It actually looks pinkish right now, but when I add several coats of black, it should darken up nicely.

It's nice to see the figure come out in the flame maple top!

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And the back still shows the contrasting laminations well. Even with color, I love seeing the ribbon figure in the sapele!

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#60
After two coats of TransTint black:

(same camera settings; same lighting)

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Does this look purple to you? :)

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My experience tells me that it will darken up a bit more with clear lacquer, but exactly how much is a bit of a mystery....
 

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