U.S. Peavey Club

[DavidEdenAria]

Whenever there is a missing truss rod cover I walk. If someone can't take the time to replace it after an adjustment, then they aren't the kind of person I want to buy a used bass from.

Really LOL! I would not own at least 4 or 5 guitars that turned out fine with missing truss rod covers....things happen....my 89 Fury with a Chandler tort guard and Duncan SPB1 was missing a truss rod cover under $100 many years ago and a prize in my collection of ALL basses (it had a Duncan SPB2 which i promptly pulled out).

You have to remember what a pain some of these Peavey are to actually get to the trussrod nut and all of my USA Peavey basses required several attempts at adjustment, though the 89 Fury was closer than the others....all turned out fine btw.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

I always assume they broke when removing/reinstalling since they are curved. Thankfully mine is still in 1 piece, though it does have some hairline cracks.

Bingo.....i assume the same.... i think one of mine has a tiny crack.... so guess what, i left it off LOL.....im going to make a few with black vinyl, besides i touch up the trussrod action at least 1 or 2 times a year usually....i see it as no different as leaving the back cover off of a Strat.

 

[Shawn Luckman]

Luckily both my Foundation's still have their TR covers, how easy/hard is it to make one?

 

[mech]

Luckily both my Foundation's still have their TR covers, how easy/hard is it to make one?

Straight sides are easy. Beveled sides like the 3 layer T-40 are tough getting the bevel right by hand. Bending is easy. Put a nail through the hole and into the screw hole in the truss rod pocket for alignment. Heat the flat cover with a hairdryer until soft enough to bend to shape. It'll be hot but with your bass player's callouses it shouldn't hurt too much. I've also cut some with scissors out of thin flexible black plastic when I didn't want to take the time with the pickguard type material. Can't tell the difference from 6 feet for the solid black without the beveled sides.

 

[MNAirHead]

I'm looking at the bridge right now. Can't see a problem. Action isn't the lowest, 2mm at the 17th. Got 3mm still on the saddle grub screws,to drop it lower the bridge pickup needs lowered. Fairly standard procedure with a PJ.

How thick was the Conklin manual

To get low action on an RJ.. the bridge saddles need a few hours of filing ... I've normally achieved 1mm action after setup. Without filing low action isn't all that possible.

Conklin... Each knob, switch, rotary and dip gets it's own manual =) Funny, I'll have to look it up. Sincerely, it is the only "jack knife" bass I've ever heard... put the same configuration in different hands and it can sound like everything from a thumpy p to a highfi urban gospel. I play in duo/trio most of the time --- it's the only extended range I could find that can clearly articulate a chord.

IF in a full band, I prefer the USA Peaveys.

 

[bigtone23]

Whelp...
I strung and set up my 85 Dyna in BEAD tuning. First time I have done this to a bass.
A quick play on it this morning confirms that it works pretty well like this. Taking it to practice tonight for the final pre show test.
As a bonus, if I ever find myself in a doom or metal band, I have a fully murdered out* Dyna set up for drop tunings.

*at some point in it's life, the output jack and passive/active switch were replaced with chrome. I have ordered new black ones to get rid of any reflective twinkle on the bass. Also considering a set of normal black chrome domes for volume/blend and smaller black chrome domes for the EQ, just because I don't particularly care for the original plastic knobs on this beauty.

Update on the Dyna update:
Installed the black switch and jack--looks great! It also took care of an intermittent crackling in active mode. The switch had took a hit and wasn't passing signal well and the jack's grip was a little loose from age. Win-win. I also found a set of 4 Washburn metal mini dome knobs on eBay for $12. Put those on the EQ pots and used some really light weight aluminum Ernie Ball domes I had in the parts drawer for volume and blend. Gotta say, I really like how this knob compliment looks. They match the aesthetic and component quality of the Schaller bridge and tuners more so vs the original plastic knobs. The original rubber-lined knobs were kind of large and I would inadvertently bump them. The replacements don't have that problem.

The addition of the knobs and heavier strings added 2 ounces weight to the bass, so now it's 8 pounds, 14 ounces. Still a very comfortable weight and gave me no fatigue at the end of the night.
Performance? The Dyna killed it at my 80s gig! For the 35 songs I played that night, I did about 30 on it and 5 on the Forum Plus, only for those songs that had to have the P tone and/or quick, convenient access to the G string (like Rock The Casbah). It was comfortable and sounded great. I used both active and passive modes as well as every pickup combination or blend available on it to cover the wide variety of tones. What a great sounding bass. I'm impressed on how good the preamp sounds and performs, despite being a 33 year old design. IMO, you could run Super Ferrites through anything and sound good.
I love my Foundation, and this Dyna is every bit as fun to own and play. It's pretty darn nice and fortunate that I have a Foundation with flats and a Dyna with rounds. A very nice compliment of killer basses! The fact that I have less than $550 total investment in the pair is laughably thrifty!

Something else I noticed about the Dyna vs Foundation. The Dyna has deeper body contours making it a touch more comfy! Here's a kinda poor pic comparing the contours of my 84 Foundy, 94 Forum Plus (same deep counters) and 85 Dyna. Did Peavey start doing deeper contours in 85, or was it a model by model thing?

 

[kodiakblair]

To get low action on an RJ.. the bridge saddles need a few hours of filing ... I've normally achieved 1mm action after setup. Without filing low action isn't all that possible.

I've never met anybody who plays with 1mm action,most find 1.5mm too low. Guess if that's your preferrence it's as well you're a dab hand with the files

 

[mech]

...... I also found a set of 4 Washburn metal mini dome knobs on eBay for $12. Put those on the EQ pots and used some really light weight aluminum Ernie Ball domes I had in the parts drawer for volume and blend. Gotta say, I really like how this knob compliment looks. They match the aesthetic and component quality of the Schaller bridge and tuners more so vs the original plastic knobs.

Great choice on the knobs. I went with knurled black domed on the Dyna Unity Limited when I replaced the Mike Pope preamp with an original and drilled some divots in them for indicators. Now I need to find some minis for the tone stack.

 

[ATLbassist]

I have a quick update on my 1983 blue Foundation project. The other week I picked up a bunch M4 washers and put 5 of them (and some graphite) over the truss rod and then re-tightened the nut.

Truss rod washers for Peavey by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

After a few extra turns than what I could manage before, the neck is flattening out to the .013 relief that I prefer. However, when I moved to adjusting the micro-tilt to my preferred 3/32, the crack underneath the tilt screw grew a little - It extended a little further beyond the frets, and the glue has separated slightly.

2983 Peavey Foundation neck - crack growing? by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

I don't think I'll be selling off the white Foundation just yet in case this neck fails.

Bonus: Above the 14th fret, all notes on the E, A and D strings sound like they're being fretted at the 20th fret. This might need professional help.

 

[58kites]

Great choice on the knobs. I went with knurled black domed on the Dyna Unity Limited when I replaced the Mile Pope preamp with an original and drilled some divots in them for indicators. Now I need to find some minis for the tone stack.

View attachment 3130706

Maaaaaaaan that's nice looking bass! drool

 

[TinIndian]

So I've had my 86 Foundation S out of commission for a couple years. I finally got around to rewiring it and brought it to a fill in gig on Saturday. I went old school and brought my 1980 Musicman HD150 and ran it through my old Mesa RoadReady 115. The whole rig just sounded awesome. Growly as heck! I forgot how much I like playing that bass.

I bought that bass brand new and have owned it ever since. 6 months after I got it I put a set of Dimarzio pups in it with a Dimarzio preamp. The preamp died about 10 years ago and its been wired passive ever since.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

I have a quick update on my 1983 blue Foundation project. The other week I picked up a bunch M4 washers and put 5 of them (and some graphite) over the truss rod and then re-tightened the nut.

View attachment 3130746Truss rod washers for Peavey by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

After a few extra turns than what I could manage before, the neck is flattening out to the .013 relief that I prefer. However, when I moved to adjusting the micro-tilt to my preferred 3/32, the crack underneath the tilt screw grew a little - It extended a little further beyond the frets, and the glue has separated slightly.

View attachment 31307472983 Peavey Foundation neck - crack growing? by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

I don't think I'll be selling off the white Foundation just yet in case this neck fails.

Bonus: Above the 14th fret, all notes on the E, A and D strings sound like they're being fretted at the 20th fret. This might need professional help.

Ive sorted out many bad necks unless twisted or truss rod stripped.

Btw, i used the tilt as a guide but then shimmed my necks that needed it...that neck should be fine.....likely super glue of some sort used on the crack?

 

[DavidEdenAria]

So I've had my 86 Foundation S out of commission for a couple years. I finally got around to rewiring it and brought it to a fill in gig on Saturday. I went old school and brought my 1980 Musicman HD150 and ran it through my old Mesa RoadReady 115. The whole rig just sounded awesome. Growly as heck! I forgot how much I like playing that bass.

I bought that bass brand new and have owned it ever since. 6 months after I got it I put a set of Dimarzio pups in it with a Dimarzio preamp. The preamp died about 10 years ago and its been wired passive ever since.

Cool rig! Ive got a MusicMan HD 150 combo, cool amp indeed built like a tank.....i own several 80's Peavey basses and guitars and i know where an old guy has a Foundation S he tried to sell for years on consignment...unless he passed away.... he had flats on it, old school country player....i need to enquire about it!

 

[JEDI BASS]

I have a quick update on my 1983 blue Foundation project. The other week I picked up a bunch M4 washers and put 5 of them (and some graphite) over the truss rod and then re-tightened the nut.

View attachment 3130746Truss rod washers for Peavey by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

After a few extra turns than what I could manage before, the neck is flattening out to the .013 relief that I prefer. However, when I moved to adjusting the micro-tilt to my preferred 3/32, the crack underneath the tilt screw grew a little - It extended a little further beyond the frets, and the glue has separated slightly.

View attachment 31307472983 Peavey Foundation neck - crack growing? by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

I don't think I'll be selling off the white Foundation just yet in case this neck fails.

Bonus: Above the 14th fret, all notes on the E, A and D strings sound like they're being fretted at the 20th fret. This might need professional help.

Dumb question, but did you loosen the strings all the way and loosen the neck bolts before tightening (turning clockwise) the neck tilt?

 

[mech]

However, when I moved to adjusting the micro-tilt to my preferred 3/32, the crack underneath the tilt screw grew a little - It extended a little further beyond the frets, and the glue has separated slightly.

I believe that type of crack is caused by the two neck screws at the heel being over tightened over a long period of time. The neck tilt acts as a fulcrum and the sides of the neck are pulled down past level. A bent slug in the neck kind of proves it. Also, the glue is about 30 years old. Those two screws only need to be good and snug. I do recommend find a new slug. Needs to be made of steel and at least as thick as the one from the factory.

 

[JEDI BASS]

I like the neck tilt feature for the setup options it allows. But, I'm starting to think that I will stick with shims from here on out. I have a hard time NOT cranking down on neck bolts, and would prefer the pressure to be dispersed across the whole width of the neck heel.

 

[Fathand]

My Sarzo project (from a couple of pages back) has some updates. In the end the neck was adjustable still, even without washers - you could put it on overtension and it would remain straight with the truss rod tightened and still some play in the rod. The friend (& Luthier) I took it to said, however, that putting in the frets would be a huge job, given that the fretboard paint job is a bit crude which means you would have to clean it first and just then start the fretjob = it will cost a lot more than I was willing to put into it at this point.

In the end we agreed that I'll do the sanding/cleaning myself and he will just adjust the nut to accommodate fretless playing - so it will remain fretless for the time being. One of the tuners was busted as well, so he will replace that and then I will go pick it up.

I'm still thinking about completely redoing the electronics, making it passive with just one vol + tone. But we'll see.

 

[bigtone23]

Great choice on the knobs. I went with knurled black domed on the Dyna Unity Limited when I replaced the Mike Pope preamp with an original and drilled some divots in them for indicators. Now I need to find some minis for the tone stack.

It took quite a bit of looking to find these. I had another thread up asking for leads looking for the knobs. There were a couple great suggestions. Looking for mini metal dome knobs
There is also this set with 6mm shaft mini tops. 4 of them, so you have a spare. 4 Sets Dual Concentric Stacked Control Knobs for Electric Guitar Metal Black 634458561488 | eBay

Cool rig! Ive got a MusicMan HD 150 combo, cool amp indeed built like a tank.....i own several 80's Peavey basses and guitars and i know where an old guy has a Foundation S he tried to sell for years on consignment...unless he passed away.... he had flats on it, old school country player....i need to enquire about it!

I feel a P type bass with flats is like having a nice flat head screwdriver in your toolbox. Old school, legendary tone. If it has nicely broken in flats on it, bonus!

 

[ATLbassist]

Dumb question, but did you loosen the strings all the way and loosen the neck bolts before tightening (turning clockwise) the neck tilt?

Oh, yes. I read the manual online first! My other two Foundations don't have this issue at all. They also didn't need washers under the nut. (Then again, they also have rosewood fingerboards, so the cracking could be happening underneath.) No fretting out issues anywhere on those necks.

I do recommend find a new slug. Needs to be made of steel and at least as thick as the one from the factory.

Slug?

 

[mech]

There is also this set with 6mm shaft mini tops. 4 of them, so you have a spare. 4 Sets Dual Concentric Stacked Control Knobs for Electric Guitar Metal Black 634458561488 | eBay

Thanks but you flung a craving on me and I found and ordered that set yesterday.

Oh, yes. I read the manual online first! My other two Foundations don't have this issue at all. They also didn't need washers under the nut. (Then again, they also have rosewood fingerboards, so the cracking could be happening underneath.) No fretting out issues anywhere on those necks.

Slug?

Never seen a crack there on a neck with a separate fretboard. Only on the two piece necks. The separate fretboard forms a great reinforcement to the glue joint of the neck halves.

Slug = the metal disc in the neck heel = a disc of metal punched out of a sheet of metal to form a hole.