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Winter Build Off 2026 - 5 String Fenderbacker

#181
Lo-E said:
If you have a good ol’ fashioned analog multimeter you can always set it to ohms, select a range where the needle sits somewhere in the middle and then tap the pickups lightly with something steel (I often use a cutoff from an E string). The needle will deflect momentarily, just a little bit. If it deflects in opposite directions when you switch pickups, they’re out of phase. If it deflects in the same direction, your problem lies somewhere else; odds are your bass is haunted.

Of course, if you don’t have an analog meter you can always just swap the wires on one pickup and see if it fixes it!
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Assuming I had a switch. I have a blend control. I wonder if that will work? I also wonder if I wired the two coils internally out of phase. So many possibilities.

Anyway, I strung it up with a set of light gauge Rotosounds this morning.

face.jpg


rear.jpg


The output is a bit low. I'll try raising the pickup height a bit. It sounds best with just the neck pickup. I knew I should have just installed the one. Oh well.

I'm amazed how well the setup is without hardly any adjustments. It's a pretty comfy bass to play as well, despite its hefty 9 pounds.
 
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#182
mapleglo said:
Assuming I had a switch. I have a blend control. I wonder if that will work? I also wonder if I wired the two coils internally out of phase. So many possibilities.

Anyway, I strung it up with a set of light gauge Rotosounds this morning.

View attachment 7448370

View attachment 7448371

The output is a bit low. I'll try raising the pickup height a bit. It sounds best with just the neck pickup. I knew I should have just installed the one. Oh well.

I'm amazed how well the setup is without hardly any adjustments. It's a pretty comfy bass to play as well, despite its hefty 9 pounds.
Click to expand...
Looks good 👍🏻

I'd put a set of chrome knobs on it. If the pickups sound good soloed, I wouldn't think the internal coils are out of phase to each other. I'd flip the leads from one of them and see if that solves the volume drop when 50/50.
 
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#184
So I flipped the polarity of the bridge pickup this morning, and that seemed to fix the issue with the sound disappearing in the middle position of the blend control. There's still something wrong though. Now there's some serious crackling during play, and even when that's not happening, the output is still very low. Even after raising the pickups, it's low output. And frankly, these pickups don't sound very good. Kind of thin and honky. Well, I was warned.

So I ordered new pickups. Lace Aluma Stealth Bass Soap Bar 5 pickups. A pair of them. They should be here in a few days. And since the Lace pickups prefer 250k controls, I ordered new pots. Those should be here tomorrow.

Aluma Stealth.jpg
 
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#188
So I thought I'd have the new pickups in a few days, as I paid extra for expedited shipping, but then I saw this on the Lace website's FAQ:

Where is my order? Here at Lace Music Products, each of our pickups are hand-built to order per customer. Please expect 2-10 business days for your pickup(s) to finish production before shipping.*

*Selecting expedited shipping options during checkout will NOT expedite the production of your order.
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So it could be another week, or even two. Here's hoping it's only 2 business days...
 
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#189
250K vol&blend.jpg


I guess because I'm impatient, and insist on ordering from Amazon, I keep getting these cheap, made in China mini volume and blend controls. I guess if I ordered from real electronic suppliers, I could get full sized, quality controls. I wonder what that would be like? Maybe even with solid knob tops so I could use set screw knobs and everything.
 
#191
Lo-E said:
This could be the new Big Thing!

Alpha is a good compromise if you don’t want to spring for expensive CTS or Bourns. Excellent value and good quality, IME.

Charlie (@Passinwind) swears by Teyda but I’ve never used them, personally.
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Tayda does sell some Alpha pots that are an OK spec for pedals, but not what I'd typically use in a fine instrument. I've gotten much nicer Alphas through Noll, FWIW. Bourns have discontinued many of my favorites that Mouser used to carry, unfortunately. I use CE Distribution/Amplified Parts a lot, they carry the Dunlop "Super Pots" besides all the usual suspects.
 
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#192
I had forgotten about Amplified Parts - they are right here in town by me. I could order from them and they mail them out and they would be here in a day or two. Thanks!

Edit - Looks like they do not carry pots for guitars - no 250k blend pots of any kind. Mostly pots for amps and pedals.
 
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#193
mapleglo said:
I had forgotten about Amplified Parts - they are right here in town by me. I could order from them and they mail them out and they would be here in a day or two. Thanks!
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One thing I really like about them is that they take requests for stocking new items, and often actually follow through. When I wanted uptown sealed TOCOS pots for my new tube amp build they already stocked them too, which was a nice surprise.
 
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#196
Lo-E said:
Amplified Parts is the Artist Formerly Known As Antique Electronics Supply, right?
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Aye, and also Tubes And More.

CE Distribution is the wholesale arm, and it's not all that hard to get an account with them, or at least didn't used to be.

Many of these Bourns pots are explicitly spec'ed for guitar applications, for starters: Invalid Link Removed
 
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#198
mapleglo said:
I'm amazed how well the setup is without hardly any adjustments.
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That's a sign of experience as a builder. It fit together correctly because you made it fit together correctly.

That's a beautiful bass. The perfect use for Crazy Maple. And I like the way you were tasteful with "popping" the figuring, keeping it fairly soft. It looks almost like flowers.
 
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#200
Lo-E said:
Invalid Link Removed
There’s a little drop-down menu for resistance values. I think most of their pots appear on their consumer site that way.
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You know, you get old, you get stupider. What can I say? For some reason, I just didn't come across that page when I was looking before. In the mean time, I ordered different pots from another source. Oh well.
 
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