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Looks good
No pickguard, just the wood. http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...l=1#post146244
Hi Deddy, the kit comes with a white one which doesn't look too bad and I cut out some black card board and shaped one up to see the difference as I was tending to lean more towards a black one when the Minister for War & Finance declared that she liked this build the most of all 6 and definitely without a pick guard. She did say that if I was to do a pick guard her preference was white???Quote:
Originally Posted by Dedman
All nudey natural from here on seeing that I now have royal assent.
The funny thing is on each of the previous builds she has declared that one her latest favourite until the next one had been started. This all goes back to the Red J Bass. Mind you, she is not a fan of orange but convinced me to stick with it on the EX-5 build #1 as I was not so sure and about to sand it all off and start again.
She is starting to ask me how many more do I need and where are we going to put them so this one may be it for a while. Besides, I am spending so much time tinkering on builds that I never get to play any of them too often.
Thanks Marcel & Adam. Just wet sanded with 1200 half an hour ago getting it ready from some more coats tomorrow night.
Hi WazQuote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
This is how I'm going to wire my MMB-5 using the same EQ-B2T preamp as you have with the stock kit supplied PUP.
The pull switch puts the coils in series for a meaty rock tone, otherwise it has the same functionality as the Jazz bass parallel (with individual vol) configuration.
This may be an attractive option for you depending on the styles of music you are going to use your bass for. The 250K Bourns switched pot is under $15, so it's a low cost upgrade.
nice wiring setup Ralph. Should get plenty of different sounds out of 1 humbucker !
Better check the resistance of the volume pots, are they 250k (for the switch pot) ?
As standard, the MMB-4/5 kit has 500K volume pots, however for single coil PUPs, (which essentially this pickup has two of when wired independantly) 250K is common. You could use 500K pots for a slightly brighter sound, but this is a bass and does not have much in the audio spectrum above 7Khz anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
ok thanks Ralph, I was getting confused. I put the same preamp in my JBA-4 but think maybe the blend pot was 20k. Makes sense using 250k for the volume.
Hmmm, food for thought as I have push/pull switches on a couple of other builds too.
I thought these came pre-set as a humbucker already therefore wired in series. The cable reveals 4 wire and bare earth and is identical to HB's that I had in my EX-5 before being replaced with Custom Bensons where push/pulls were used to coil split which essentially created JB single coil sounds. From memory I still kept the pots at 500k and same orange drop capacitor and it has plenty of beefy mid to bottom end sounds in either HB or coil tapped modes.
Curious to try out the blend pot as that will act more like a switch between the front and rear coils and it should also drop them back to single coil mode when biased either side of the mid detent point. If that doesn't work out so good will have another look at your wiring diagram and try and figure out why there are 1k resistors on each vol pot? Treble bleed perhaps?
No, they come wired for parallel operation. That's already a pretty thick sound, wiring them in series might make it a bit too thuddy and bassy. Standard wiring for them just keeps the two coils in parallel, with a volume for each coil, so you can go front or back single coil if you want. The output in parallel mode is quite hot. so series will be even hotter.
Keep that in mind with Ralph's schematic as there is small possibility that the pre-amp might not have sufficient headroom and you get a touch of distortion in the series mode at full volume. Just depends on the preamp design.
I think Simon made a comment elsewhere about the lower signal levels experienced with the balance pot configuration when centered. Each pot is only halfway through it's travel when in the middle. The pre-amp should compensate for that to some degree, but my understanding is that the B2T only has less than 3db of flat gain. All the boosting/cutting is at the centre frequencies: Bass:+/-12dB at 85Hz, and Treble:+/-12dB at 7KHz.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Not sure exactly why the 1K resistors are there, may have something to do with the operation when the coils are in series.
Looking forward to trying any and all options; one of the joys of do'in it yourself.
It's a shame the Belcat preamp doesn't have a small adjustable gain boost pot on it. It would make it a lot more versatile and would help you match the output to other basses you might have.
Hey Simon, are you referring to genuine MM PUP's or the stock Chinese kit ones? I can only comment on what came with the kit and it is ready set to go as a humbucker, same as what came in the EX-5 which are also the same as in the IB5 & IB6 plus Thunderbird and maybe a couple of others.
You need to run a multi meter across all 4 wires to work out which ones relate to either front (north) coil or rear (south) coil to make any decent sounds.
Here is the link to a post I put up last October on the topic.... http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6476
Definitely not a pair a coils in parallel as that sound is shite. How do I know? Because I accidently wired them up that way when doing the split coil push pulls on the EX-5 and not a pleasant or useable sound at all. Might be different on the Real deal MMB PUP but on these Chinese suckers, trust me, I know what I am talking about. This unit is just a MMB look alike as far as I can figure out.
Will keep an open mind on the topic in case standard pre-amp wiring sounds dull or crap and maybe then revisit modification ideas.
Cheers, Waz
Hmmm. Not according the PBG wiring diagram. You might have two wires that come connected together like on a series humbucker, but (if you see the wiring diagram), they are supposed to be grounded. Which means they must be wired in series. You simply can't use two volumes on them if they were series wired.
They aren't the same soapbar pickups like with the EX-5 and IB5/6 models, they are very much the thick pole MM type. Soundwise I'm assuming that it will be a similar pickup sound to that on my old OPL MM bass with exactly the same wiring arrangement, which is a big thick punchy sound with both pickup volumes turned up fully.
My suspicion is that being humbucking (the pickup should be with both coils in parallel at the same volume) one pickup is obviously RW/RP with respect to the other and that with your EX-5, the coils were possibly being wired up with one coil reversed, so that you would have got a very thin sound indeed with lots of frequency cancellation. You were aiming for a split coil so weren't purposely choosing the wire connections for a parallel operation (which would probably have sounded fine).
This is where Weirdy would be useful, as he knows all this coil connection stuff well, whereas I have to keep looking it up and working it out. However I've been looking this up and Ralph's wiring diagram is fine for true parallel/humbucker wiring (though the wire colours are the Seymour Duncan ones and IIRC, the kit ones generally use the DiMarzio colours - though I wouldn't bet on it).
The attached diagram shows the wiring options for the stock (Chinese) PUP's that come with the MMB's.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Hope this provides more data for everyone.
I think Ralph has it covered.
Progress update after about 9 coats of TO wet sanded with 1200 W & D after every 2nd fresh coat. Just started using 50;50 turps/TO mix from around 7th coat and still using a rag trying to build up some thickness before switching to applying finish with W & D paper as that is what helped bring on a glassy surface with the Swampy Tele.
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Colour is a bit washed out in these shots as they are first ones taken on my new Samsung A5 and still figuring it out.
You are nailing it again! Great work Waz! :)
Looking good Wazza. I like the idea of an active pre-amp. Should have done that with mine but it didn't even occur to me. By the time I saw your build I had already ordered 2 new pickups.
It might not sound as good as yours, but Meh, its a bass, it just has to be loud. lol.
Wow again...Tru Oil is that glassy for you?....looks great mate. I cannot believe that you get this sort of finish with hand rubbed Tru Oil. Great work mate.
Cheers Guys.
After 5 builds using TO as a top coat the outcome becomes a bit more predictable on each subsequent build. What I learned on Swampy was to wet sand frequently and once the thickness had built up use wet & dry grit paper to apply the finish diluted down. Still need to alternate with a rag now and then but when it gets super shiny, rag works ok just after a light W & D sanding but too smooth for the next coat. Applying with W & D grit paper takes a lot longer too but a lesson in patience does have it's rewards.
Decided to put the water transfer decals on today so that they can disappear into the multiple layers of finish yet to be applied.....
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Looking great.....
You could have used a transfer like this ;)
Attachment 21804
Looking good Waz.. On the home straight now.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
What font did you use for the Stingray word? I'm going to do something similar in gold, but on a black headstock.
Hi Ralph, I 'saved image as' from the MM Stingray webpage then copied that into an excel spreadsheet text box that allowed me to rotate things around a bit before printing on decal paper. Was hoping to lay a full sheet with lots of clear but ended up with some dust trapped in the clear acrylic coats and had to cut the logos out separately. The image was in a silvery grey colour and could not be changed. The fonts for most of these manufacturers have something that is just ever so slightly uniquely different to prevent easy copying. PM me if you would a copy of the saved image sent by email.Quote:
Originally Posted by RalphH
Cheers, Waz
[QUOTE=Simon Barden;148610]You could have used a transfer like this
One of these were close but ruled out once I had sobered up.
Attachment 21819
I like the idea to put the Pitbull decal on the heel of your neck. Smart and funny!
Progress shots......nearly there with another glassy finish. Maybe another week or so of applying 2 coats then light wet sand several times to bring it home.
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Anyone else have a sudden craving for a glazed donut?...Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Nice and glossy! :)
Looking good, Waz.
Excellent Waz, you've nailed the finish once again.
Cheers Guys.
On builds 1 through to 4 this would have been good enough but I am happy taking my time building up the layers and hope to be able to replicate same look achieved on Build # 5, the Swampy.
When applying coats it has an almost butterscotch appearance on the end grain sections whilst still wet and hoping a few more coats brings a bit of that out.
Love those wood tones, Waz!
Where have you been Swanny? Good to hear from you again.
That's looking gorgeous there Waz
Thanks Deddy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dedman
Did 1500 W & D on neck last night and 1200 W & D on body. Another 50:50 ragged coat on both tonight and starting to look almost done. Maybe one more week of 2 coats ragged x 1 wet sand repeating as I work my way up to 2000 grit. Thankfully weather hasn't been too hot or humid and each layer has gone on just fine.
I think the finish may have had enough time to cure????
Didn't realise I hadn't touched this build for best part of 5 months and found a few spare hours to work on it earlier today. Very light 2000 W&D wet sanding followed by light micro mesh pads, Meguiars, Brasso, and Nu Finish as each of those three polishes does something just a little bit different to one another....
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