U.S. Peavey Club

[socialleper]

The pickups are probably suspended by springs rather than foam underneath. Technically, pickups should be parallel to the strings not the body, so leaning forward is probably not much of a problem.

Pics would help. A lot.

It came with springs and I added foam. I'll get some picks when I go home tonight.
There is good clearance all the way around the pickup casing, so I don't think it is getting snagged on anything.
They are still more angled than the strings. The back of the pickup is much closer than the front.

 

[mech]

1. The original tuners are getting a little tight. Have any of you replaced your tuners, and if so, with what?
2. The bridge is pretty beat up too. Are there any good replacements out there?
3. My P pickups seem to tip forward slightly towards the neck.

A pic of the tuners would help, too.

1. The tuners can be disassembled and lubed. A SMALL amount of Vaseline on all points of contact will work wonders. Besides the gears, lube the string post where it goes through the threaded bushing and where the worm gear is retained at both ends by the base plate. Smear a small bit of Vaseline on and wipe most of that off.

2. Watch epay for a decent bolt on replacement bridge. I wouldn't pay over $20 and a little shipping. I'm not aware of any new bridges that are bolt on.

3. As ubernator says the PUs should have springs. The most common reason I've seen for tilted PUs is that the screws are run in at an angle and the PUs follow that angle. To fix this the holes have to be tightly plugged (tap in toothpicks & Elmers) and new pilot holes carefully made after the glue dries. I use a sharp, thin awl to make new pilot holes although it can be done with a 1/16" bit and drill. May take more than one try.

 

[Runnerman]

Mind if I join?

1979 Peavey T40.

N(old)BD: Peavey T-40

ba55i5t you are member #396
Welcome to the club!

 

[Runnerman]

Yep. The wood rings when you play it. Even without an amp, you can hear every note you play. I've never had a bass quite like it. You can really make it snarl and grunt.

I own one of the slant SF Fury's as well and it is a special bass (see my avatar). There are several things that make it damn near perfect. One is that it is that the body is the sculpted and shrunked down version (from the T series) like the early Foundations so the weight is not over bearing....8.7 lbs on mine. Also the neck is more Fenderish ...baseball bat/"C" but not as wide as a Fender...so it has that kind of feel but not quite as massive and club like. Later Fury's have the thin D neck. The ash/maple combo is what makes it sing in my opinion and yes, very lively bass. I have mine strung with Chromes and not gigging it much since I got the Millennium. But it may find it's way out from time to time. The Super Ferrite pup cops the P sound quite well with the flats and tone rolled off. But light up the tone and dig in and it becomes a beast with it's very own sound. Just a great bass and probably my favorite Peavey overall....although I love them all.

 

[DanAdams]

I just picked up a pair of t40s. I always wanted one. and I'm a cheap ass tinkerer, so when a screwed up one showed up for $220 I picked it up. Before it even arrived I found a beauty for $350, so I picked it up as well. They are both from 1979.

The screwed up one was shipped with the body and neck apart, and I've yet to put it together. I see no point as a previous owner did a horrific re-fret job that would make me bleed if I attempted playing it. I have ordered new frets and I'll try my first re-fret soon.

here is a proper control cavity from my nice one

here is what they did to the ugly one.

yes, that is a jack where the pickup selector goes, the phase switch has been modified to a pickups selector, the pickups have been switched (neck to bridge and bridge to neck) the tone and volume positions have been switched for some reason. They also stained the body and neck with a dingy chestnut shade and removed all headstock lettering.
The pickgaurd is white, and cracked, and maybe just built from tracing a real pickgaurd on a cheap piece of plastic.
It's unclear what they were trying to accomplish with this mod...


However, if you had the bass in this condition, what would you do?
Is there a bold mod you might try?
Part it out?
a return to glory despite the disappointing refinish?

I already have a sweet one so I'm not super enthused about putting crazy hours into this one, but I also have an itch for building frankenbasses that most purists consider tasteless.

ADVISE ME.

 

[mech]

ADVISE ME.

I'll tell you what I'm going to try with a beater that has a less than good neck as soon as I get it back from loan. I've determined that a 20 fret Milestone neck with the tinker toy wheel at the heel will work with a little judicious band sanding on the sides of the neck where it fits in the pocket. I measure it at about 1/32" total wider at the 20th fret. YMMV. The reason I want to do this is that the Milestone has a Jazz width topnut, which is what I like for a 4 string. An entire used one with rosewood fret board can be had cheap. It does have the round heel so there will be small gaps at the corners or the T-40 body/PG could be carved out to fit. I believe there is enough adjustment in the saddles for the intonation to be right either way but I haven't mocked it up yet. Titan tuners will fit in the existing holes. Anti-rotation pin holes will need to be drilled on the back of the peghead. The neck tilt plate will need to move some and new pilot holes drilled for the neck screws.

I've also found that 80s/90s Foundation/Dyna Bass/Fury/B Ninety and recent import Millennium 21 fret necks are the same width as the T-40 at the 20th fret. This means they could be cut off at the correct distance from the 20th fret, and with a little corner contouring, would fit a T-40 with the tilt plate and mounting screws moved. Haven't found one of those I'm willing to sacrifice yet.

 

[58kites]

I also have a project I would like to do.
I have a 1993 Foundation that has a maple neck/fretboard that I really like, but I would rather it was a Fury body with the split P pickup.
At some point I need to put an ad in the For Trade and see if anybody wants to trade bodies.
Or I guess I could part out the Foundation body, pickups and hardware... or sell it as a loaded body and then go on the hunt for a Fury body to go with my Foundation neck.
Probably a lot of screwing around to keep a neck.

 

[Lanesuzza]

 

[Lanesuzza]

I really like my Patriots. The brown was purchased new in '87 by my dad. The black is an early 80's model that I modified with an 87 neck (1.5" nut). Red is an 87 (1.5" nut). The Ash is an early 80's with the wider 1.75" nut.
After years of playing a P-Bass, I rediscovered my Dad's Patriot and fell in love with the neck and SF pickup. I bought the Black and Ash Patriot then my father gave me his. The Red was purchased last, just because, why not?

 

[58kites]

So most everybody on this thread seems to have multiple Peavey basses.

I am curious which is your favorite Peavey bass out of your collection and why?

My Fury (with an EMG Geezer P) and my Foundation S (with Dimarzio Model P & J pickups) are both great because I love the sound of a P bass.
Thinking a set of flatwounds on my G bass will dial in it's sound for me, the Pau Ferro and Graphite neck feel like an expensive luxury car.

 

[eldoryder]

Jeez, 58kites....what an unfair question! That's like trying to state which of your children is your "favorite". I find that EACH of my "vintage" Peavey models do things that make them individually excellent, while maintaining their unique qualities that set the USA-built Peaveys apart from other brands. I'm afraid I cannot help you.

My:

Slant-PUP Fury
Patriots
T20s
T40s
T45s

are ALL my "favorites"! I would not own them otherwise.

 

[ubernator]

I put a set of steel rounds (blue steels I think, white silks no silk on ball end) from my cache of old strings, after soaking a few days in the ether, on the foundation. Damn! That was some serious punch.

Vfl and steel rounds seem to go well together.

 

[DanAdams]

I really like my Patriots. The brown was purchased new in '87 by my dad. The black is an early 80's model that I modified with an 87 neck (1.5" nut). Red is an 87 (1.5" nut). The Ash is an early 80's with the wider 1.75" nut.
After years of playing a P-Bass, I rediscovered my Dad's Patriot and fell in love with the neck and SF pickup. I bought the Black and Ash Patriot then my father gave me his. The Red was purchased last, just because, why not?

It sounds like you like the 1.5 inch nut. I have the same dark mahogany Patriot as you have with the thin neck. I would LOVE to put a 1.75" nut on mine. If you still have the original 1.75 neck from your black Patriot I would trade you for my 1.5" Patriot neck in a heartbeat.

 

[DanAdams]

I'll tell you what I'm going to try with a beater that has a less than good neck as soon as I get it back from loan. I've determined that a 20 fret Milestone neck with the tinker toy wheel at the heel will work with a little judicious band sanding on the sides of the neck where it fits in the pocket. I measure it at about 1/32" total wider at the 20th fret. YMMV. The reason I want to do this is that the Milestone has a Jazz width topnut, which is what I like for a 4 string. An entire used one with rosewood fret board can be had cheap. It does have the round heel so there will be small gaps at the corners or the T-40 body/PG could be carved out to fit. I believe there is enough adjustment in the saddles for the intonation to be right either way but I haven't mocked it up yet. Titan tuners will fit in the existing holes. Anti-rotation pin holes will need to be drilled on the back of the peghead. The neck tilt plate will need to move some and new pilot holes drilled for the neck screws.

I've also found that 80s/90s Foundation/Dyna Bass/Fury/B Ninety and recent import Millennium 21 fret necks are the same width as the T-40 at the 20th fret. This means they could be cut off at the correct distance from the 20th fret, and with a little corner contouring, would fit a T-40 with the tilt plate and mounting screws moved. Haven't found one of those I'm willing to sacrifice yet.

Do you feel ok about the quality of the new import stuff? I've heard the indo stuff is good, but the China stuff is horrible.
I don't feel strongly about having the exact same model neck, but one from the correct era would be nice.
If my re-fret goes bad I have a 1990 G&L neck that I have been hoarding for years. If I rout the Peavey body to accommodate 1 extra fret and put two nickels at the base of the pocket I should be able to make it work

 

[mech]

I am curious which is your favorite Peavey bass out of your collection and why?

Koa TL-5 with passive VFLs, homemade 5 knob 1st model Dyna preamp and drop tuner on the E string. It does everything I want and fits me as if custom made.

 

[mech]

Do you feel ok about the quality of the new import stuff? I've heard the indo stuff is good, but the China stuff is horrible.
I don't feel strongly about having the exact same model neck, but one from the correct era would be nice.
If my re-fret goes bad I have a 1990 G&L neck that I have been hoarding for years. If I rout the Peavey body to accommodate 1 extra fret and put two nickels at the base of the pocket I should be able to make it work

I have a current (Indonesian) Millennium AC four string that has a great neck with the Allen nut at the peghead. Just needed some clean up on the fret ends. Also have current Milestone (20) and Fury (21) necks with the tinker toy wheel at the heel. Both have been bolted on something to check and they're good necks. The Milestone needed fret end clean up, too, but the Fury didn't. I think the Indonesian OEM is well past the learning curve. I personally wouldn't trust the Chinese models unless I had hands on.

Did some measuring and any of the USA necks I mentioned before will fit if the T-40 pocket is routed for the extra fret. Even the B Ninety with the fret board overhang. About 1/2". Plenty of room. Do some good measuring on the parts you end up with and it should be golden but may take a little massaging I'm not aware of. I'm not familiar with G&L necks but if it's close all things are possible. A little sanding here, a little veneer there.....
It'd be a interesting sight to see and may ruffle some feathers. Kind of like a Ford engine in a Chevy.

 

[Lanesuzza]

It sounds like you like the 1.5 inch nut. I have the same dark mahogany Patriot as you have with the thin neck. I would LOVE to put a 1.75" nut on mine. If you still have the original 1.75 neck from your black Patriot I would trade you for my 1.5" Patriot neck in a heartbeat.

I do have the 1.75" neck. I'll trade you straight across.....

 

[socialleper]

A pic of the tuners would help, too.

1. The tuners can be disassembled and lubed. A SMALL amount of Vaseline on all points of contact will work wonders. Besides the gears, lube the string post where it goes through the threaded bushing and where the worm gear is retained at both ends by the base plate. Smear a small bit of Vaseline on and wipe most of that off.

2. Watch epay for a decent bolt on replacement bridge. I wouldn't pay over $20 and a little shipping. I'm not aware of any new bridges that are bolt on.

3. As ubernator says the PUs should have springs. The most common reason I've seen for tilted PUs is that the screws are run in at an angle and the PUs follow that angle. To fix this the holes have to be tightly plugged (tap in toothpicks & Elmers) and new pilot holes carefully made after the glue dries. I use a sharp, thin awl to make new pilot holes although it can be done with a 1/16" bit and drill. May take more than one try.

The bridge looks like a 5 screw, Fender style mount. Are Peavey's measurements a little different?

 

[mech]

The bridge looks like a 5 screw, Fender style mount. Are Peavey's measurements a little different?

This is the only stock type bridge I've seen on '80s-90s Furys and early Forums. Three screws at the back, two in the front, chrome or black. You really need to post a pic of the whole bass from the front and details of the bridge and tuners. You may not have what I think you have.

 

[58kites]

Ronnie, your bridge pic shows a narrower baseplate than what I have on two of mine.
My pics are of my 1993 white Fury and 1993 cherry Foundation, the baseplates are wider than the width of the saddles by a fair amount.
Hard to find other bridges to replace those because of that extra baseplate width, I've found that basic Fenders and Wikinson baseplates are too narrow.
I would like to find a wider bridge for the white Fury, I want to take this bridge off, fill the holes and put another on and move it a bit toward the G string side because this bridge was mounted a bit off center toward the E side.
I was thinking maybe a G&L bridge because it is really wide but I would have to do the body route for the G&L to install it.
Want the extra width to cover the (not faded) white paint that will show if I just move the stock bridge.
My red-flake Foundation S, has the trapezoidal Peavey bridge on it, I've seen those on the older Foundations and Fury basses, I believe.
My green G Bass looks like it has a Gotoh 201B bridge on it but it does not say Gotoh.