• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

U.S. Peavey Club

#12,361
MNAirHead said:
wow ... hats off to your woodworking pal's skills
Click to expand...

He deserves a plug for doing this. Just looking at some of his bowl patterns makes my head spin and thinking about the layouts and precision joinery just about makes me faint. There are programs to do the design part but he does it old school....in his head. FWIW...he's not into guitar projects but we go way back. :)

McKenzie Woodworking
 
  • Like
Reactions: JEDI BASS, Shawn Luckman, MNAirHead and 2 others
#12,363
mech said:
Latest project. A while back a Peavey B Quad IV carbon graphite neck made by Modulus became available and being a sucker for an orphan of this type, I took it in. There was really no place for it to be. I had no body that would fit a 24 fret, bolt on neck and didn't want to carve one. I realized that a Dyna Bass Unity Limited that had developed a neck problem (glue joint separation) several years ago would make a good donor body. The neck would have to be cut off and a pocket for the new neck routed if there was enough wood left. Since the B Quad neck is longer than the Dyna's by 3 frets, plus some, everything was looking good....except I didn't feel competent to do the work.

I called a good friend who is a true wood craftsman and asked if he would take a look-see at doing the modifications. He did and allowed that he thought I wasn't too crazy and took on the project. He cut off the old neck, routed the new neck pocket, drilled neck mounting holes w/counter bores, deepened the horn cutouts by one fret, modified the bridge pickup pocket for the double J and made a Purpleheart plug for the old battery pocket on the back. He also finished the maple body with the teak oil and hard wax he uses on his beautiful bowls and the wood positively glows. He did all the important work and I can't say enough about his craftsmanship.

The neck had the empty logo hole and bubbled paint at the 12th and 13th frets and I played Dr Pimple Popper and cosmetic surgeon.

This bass truly plays and sounds as good as it looks. The only thing I can compare it to is a G Bass with P/J and Dyna pre, if you can wrap your head around that. The peghead will get compounded and polished to a semigloss after it has cured. Right now I'm glad the paint cured enough to flat sand. View attachment 3170953

The Modulus neck has no truss rod and forward bow measured .005-.006" at the 7-8th fret with no strings. With strings it measures the same. Stiff and straight. It has the original Dyna Bass preamp, an '80s Fury five wire split P (my favorite of that type) and a Fender new/old stock double J bridge pickup that I just thought would look cool. As it turns out I really like the sound of the double J. It's humbucking and doesn't have the "honk" single coil Jazz bridge pickups are known for. The PUs sound really good alone or together in passive. An ABM bridge, brass topnut and Schaller tuners take care of the BEAD strings.

Donor
View attachment 3170922

Dr Pimple Popper
View attachment 3170923

View attachment 3170925

View attachment 3170926
Click to expand...
A REAL stunner!

Btw, what is the 5 wire 80's Fury P pickup you mentioned exactly? A Schaller?

The original P pickup is gone in my 89 Fury....Duncan SPB1 Vintage P resides there right now and it sounds great.....always curious about the original P pickup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zoobiedood
#12,364
DavidEdenAria said:
Btw, what is the 5 wire 80's Fury P pickup you mentioned exactly? A Schaller?
Click to expand...

It was designed by Jim DeCola for the 2nd Model Fury. Alnico slugs, two wires per coil for series/parallel and separate ground for the shielded coils. Not sure who made it. They don't come up for sale and I was fortunate to find one on here several years ago. Perfect for this project and I'm glad I didn't use it elsewhere. Here's the one in my '89 red and the sunburst has the same.

Early 3rd model Fury PU was made in Korea. It was supposed to be the same from what I've read/heard but lost a little in the mix, IMO. Later 3rd models were made in China and lost the mix for me. Wire colors are different on them but I don't remember what they are.

Edit: As best I can tell, the original was used in the Unity/Dyna Bass Unity series P/J models.

89 Red Fury PU 1.JPG

Fury Panorama H.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Basstovsky, DavidEdenAria and RobertUI
#12,368
mech said:
It was designed by Jim DeCola for the 2nd Model Fury. Alnico slugs, two wires per coil for series/parallel and separate ground for the shielded coils. Not sure who made it. They don't come up for sale and I was fortunate to find one on here several years ago. Perfect for this project and I'm glad I didn't use it elsewhere. Here's the one in my '89 red and the sunburst has the same.

Early 3rd model Fury PU was made in Korea. It was supposed to be the same from what I've read/heard but lost a little in the mix, IMO. Later 3rd models were made in China and lost the mix for me. Wire colors are different on them but I don't remember what they are.

Edit: As best I can tell, the original was used in the Unity/Dyna Bass Unity series P/J models.

View attachment 3171293
View attachment 3171295
Click to expand...
This would have been stock in my 89 Fury bass?

I also have an 89 Peavey Tracer with Kahler Spyder...it has stock alnico single coil neck and hot humbucker at 11k (i think its alnico, cant really see the magnet).

The neck single coil sounds excellent, however, the hot bridge humbucker sounds overly compressed though clarity is decent.....im likely going to pull the magnet first.

I read these were Schallers.
 
#12,375
After playing my Sire v7 5 and my Lakland DJ 5 on my last several gigs I broke out the TL-Five last night. The guys in the band couldn’t stop going on how great it sounded! The low end was deep but tight, mids in just the right spot to cut through and the highs sweet. It looks like the TL has slid into the #1 spot. We’ve got 6 weekends in a row of playing out and the TL will be covering them all. What a bass!

6SGi5jL.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 23th2sg.jpg
    23th2sg.jpg
    214.9 KB · Views: 23
  • Like
Reactions: Sleep Distance, Shawn Luckman, JEDI BASS and 2 others
#12,377
jjk2007 said:
It looks like the TL has slid into the #1 spot. We’ve got 6 weekends in a row of playing out and the TL will be covering them all. What a bass!

View attachment 3173873
Click to expand...
I have no experience with the Sires. But, I’ve had a lot of Laklands, including a DJ5. They play like buttah. But, I have yet to find a jazz style bass that would make it to my number 1 spot. That said, Super Ferrites have some magic that makes the Peaveys (with jazz pup spacing) something special!!

Congrats on having and gigging such a beautiful piece of Peavey history!
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjk2007 and BassikLee
#12,378
JEDI BASS said:
I have no experience with the Sires. But, I’ve had a lot of Laklands, including a DJ5. They play like buttah. But, I have yet to find a jazz style bass that would make it to my number 1 spot. That said, Super Ferrites have some magic that makes the Peaveys (with jazz pup spacing) something special!!

Congrats on having and gigging such a beautiful piece of Peavey history!
Click to expand...

I believe I shared this somewhere in here but........this TL-Five actually belonged to Stu Cook (of CCR) when he was in the band 'Southern Pacific' back in the late 80's/early 90's. I had to have the frets re-dressed but it plays amazing. I'd say it's in really great shape....especially since it's been taken all over the world and gigged heavily!
 
  • Like
Reactions: mech, DavidEdenAria and JEDI BASS

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back