What Should I Do With My Peavey T-40? Mod?

[sonofzorro1]

Thanks guys. It seems like most people think keep it stock. I'm still on the fence, but I'm going to go talk to the shop/luthier in the next week when I have a day off and see what they think. A place near me in San Francisco is supposed to be really good. Good reputation and I've had friends tell me they are very good. I won't be changing much if it won't fit because I'm realizing there's not much room in the original cavity. I'm not gonna remove any, or much material from the body. So I'm on the fence between two options at this point.

1. Leave it stock and get it as close to back to its original glory as possible.

2. I'll mod it something like this if possible. Add one switch (if there's room in the existing compartment) that will be a neck pickup coil split. Use the existing phase switch as a bridge pickup coil split. I'm thinking of three way switches to access both singles independently and humbucker. Then have it set up as two volume and tone knobs. And keep the three way selector for the pickups as is.

As for the finish. For now I'm gonna leave it natural. I just see pictures of the old ones with the burst and rosewood fretboard and I really like the look.

I know this wiring change seems silly to a lot of you. I appreciate the innovative and clever wiring of the original. I would be happy to not have changes and leave it be but I feel like I could make it even better for me. I always wished I could split the coils more directly and in any combination. As in Inner/outer/both control for each pickup. I like that my MM Stingray HH does both inner single coils and both outer single coils. Sometimes I wish I had more control of the coil splitting on that bass but that's a story for a differant thread. Then more than anything I was occasionally frustrated when trying to dial in the right tone level with the stock setup.

I'm not really a sentimental guy but the bass has been one of my favorites so I don't see why I would ever sell it. I'm looking to enhance the playing expieriance and tonal possibilities of this bass if I can. I'm not worried about value or cost.

I am a T-40 guy too, it was my first bass in the '70s, when Fender basses were too expensive for me and they kind of sucked anyway (baseball bat necks and the finish work on them made them hard to play). My $375.00 T-40 played well and sounded excellent, endless tone possibilities even with the standard wiring, and being a youngster, I did not mind the excessive weight. I still have the original bass, the only mod is moving the straplock button to the upper neck screw to correct the tendency to neck dive. It is so heavy though (I am 60 years old) that I bought another one and had my luthier shave off a bunch of wood without changing the overall shape. He weighed the shavings and told me he removed over 1.5 lbs.! I saw one posted where the owner cut the upper and lower bouts off...also, there is a skeletonized version!

 

[sonofzorro1]

I am a T-40 guy too, it was my first bass in the '70s, when Fender basses were too expensive for me and they kind of sucked anyway (baseball bat necks and the finish work on them made them hard to play). My $375.00 T-40 played well and sounded excellent, endless tone possibilities even with the standard wiring, and being a youngster, I did not mind the excessive weight. I still have the original bass, the only mod is moving the straplock button to the upper neck screw to correct the tendency to neck dive. It is so heavy though (I am 60 years old) that I bought another one and had my luthier shave off a bunch of wood without changing the overall shape. He weighed the shavings and told me he removed over 1.5 lbs.! I saw one posted where the owner cut the upper and lower bouts off...also, there is a skeletonized version!View attachment 1409257 View attachment 1409282

The skeletonized version is of the T-60 guitar, but the same could be done to the bass!

 

[Roy Royerson]

That's funny I've seen both those on Google images. I'm not too uptight about the weight but they are tanks for sure. I've never really understood how body size and shape affect tone on a solid body electric bass. I don't want to change the tone of the original so I'm trying to avoid taking away any material from the body.

sonofzorro1, do you notice any change in tone on the bass you shaved weight off of? I'm guessing you can't notice with just a pound or two but I've always been curious what mods like the ones you posted pictures of do to the tone of an instrument. Anybody have some knowledge or expieriances they can share?

 

[sonofzorro1]

The skeletonized version is of the T-60 guitar, but the same could be done to the bass!

Also, I have had good luck correcting neck dive by installing a Dunlop flush-mount strap lock into the upper rear bout, about 2-3 inches above the standard bridge-end button (stole that idea from Pete Skjold).
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[sonofzorro1]

That's funny I've seen both those on Google images. I'm not too uptight about the weight but they are tanks for sure. I've never really understood how body size and shape affect tone on a solid body electric bass. I don't want to change the tone of the original so I'm trying to avoid taking away any material from the body.

sonofzorro1, do you notice any change in tone on the bass you shaved weight off of? I'm guessing you can't notice with just a pound or two but I've always been curious what mods like the ones you posted pictures of do to the tone of an instrument. Anybody have some knowledge or expieriances they can share?

No change in tone that I could perceive, still plenty of body mass there as you observed. It definitely feels a bit lighter, it was actually noticeable (I am playing it right now). That being said, I have a complete bass worth of parts lying around and have been contemplating a far more radically modded version, just have not decided which direction to go with that. Even considering building a custom jazz bass around the electronics, I am that impressed with the whole setup.

 

[Roy Royerson]

No change in tone that I could perceive, still plenty of body mass there as you observed. It definitely feels a bit lighter, it was actually noticeable (I am playing it right now). That being said, I have a complete bass worth of parts lying around and have been contemplating a far more radically modded version, just have not decided which direction to go with that. Even considering building a custom jazz bass around the electronics, I am that impressed with the whole setup.

Well if you prefer a slim tapered neck you could make a cool bass around t-40 parts. I love the t-40 neck. I had a jazz bass before I bought mine. When I got it I realized I'd never want to go back to really slim jazz neck. I was young and stupid and I hated everything peavey until the t-40 changed my mind. I still don't care for most peavey amps but now I know they make some great basses. Good luck with whatever you do with the spare parts and it would be cool to see what you come up with when it's done.

 

[Eilif]

No change in tone that I could perceive, still plenty of body mass there as you observed. It definitely feels a bit lighter, it was actually noticeable (I am playing it right now). That being said, I have a complete bass worth of parts lying around and have been contemplating a far more radically modded version, just have not decided which direction to go with that. Even considering building a custom jazz bass around the electronics, I am that impressed with the whole setup.

If you wanted to do something a bit jazz-ish but not add too much weight, maybe find a Peavey foundation and enlarge the routes. Has a nice Jazz'ish neck, a comfortable weight and can still be found for around the price of a new jazz body.

I also once took a fair bit of wood out of a T-40 (basically anything I could carve out from under the massive pickguard) that I had put some darkstars into. It didn't feel much lighter and I eventually swapped the t-40 body for a custom body.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

The only thing I'd ever do to a T40 would be to leave the electronics stock, and graft on a high impedance preamp.
The stock pickups and electronics always seemed really clear and wide to me. I'd expect a mild level lift and line driver would open that up a bit and give you a nice solid sound.