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Thread: Are the bass kit pickups good enough? Just got the AGB-30 kit the other day!

  1. #1

    Question Are the bass kit pickups good enough? Just got the AGB-30 kit the other day!

    Just got my AGB-30 short scale bass kit! If any of you others built a pit bull bass (or this model) do you deem the pickups good enough? How about the pots and such? Thanks! The neck I got is about 1/8 inch too wide for the slot in the guitar body, and I am conferring with mentor fender3x on that issue, and I appreciate that very much.
    Last edited by Rockchimp; 11-05-2023 at 06:34 AM. Reason: typo

  2. #2
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    I can't speak to the bass kits but I didn't bother with the pots/pickups/hardware that came with the guitar I am working on. With that said - pitbull uploaded a bass demo that sounded nice. Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKRp8t-nhE

  3. #3
    Moderator fender3x's Avatar
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    The electronics are no-name cheap stuff. I don't think that price and quality necessarily correlate, but I have never used the stock electronics. Most components, with the exception of the pickups, are relatively cheap to replace, so why risk it? A PureTone jack is better than a Switchcraft, and either one would be better than the flimsy jacks I have gotten with kits.

    I have taken the pots apart. They are mechanically identical to Bourns pots. parts are literally interchangeable. But if you take 10 Bourns pots and spec them with a multimeter, and then do the same with 10 no-name Chinese pots you see a lot less consistency in the no-names. (Somewhere on this board there is a post where I did that) So, the build quality is no worse, but the quality control seems to be, and Bourns or CTS or Alpha pots are not expensive. There is nothing wrong with the wire from the kits. I don't use it, but not because it's bad. I don't use it because I like to color code my wiring the keep from getting confused. I am sure the switch is fine, but I always change it out anyway.

    That leaves the pickups. Nothing makes more of a difference in the sound than the pickups, but I am too much of a cheapscate to get the TV Jone's mini humbuckers that would set me back over $300... but there are a pair of Epiphone Alnico classic humbuckers on ebay for under $40 that I'd be pretty tempted by.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/19568044009...LpmBgn9QZcKk-w

    There are some really great pups out there that don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

    BTW, I have no idea how I acquired the "mentor" honorific. I am guessing it's either because I have been around for a while or it got triggered after some magic number of posts. It's not awarded on the basis of any special knowledge or skill.
    Last edited by fender3x; 11-05-2023 at 11:40 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by fender3x View Post
    BTW, I have no idea how I acquired the "mentor" honorific. I am guessing it's either because I have been around for a while or it got triggered after some magic number of posts. It's not awarded on the basis of any special knowledge or skill.
    lol Fender3x - you, McCreed, and Simon (I'm sure I'm forgetting others) are clutch. I would be so lost without all of you. I'd say that you have earned that title at a minimum haha.

    BTW only been on the forums for a few months but I haven't seen Simon around lately. I hope he's well.

  6. #5
    Moderator fender3x's Avatar
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    Good company to be in. McCreed has built more in a few months than I have built since 2016. Simon is the encyclopedia of the electric guitar ;-) Hope he's back soon.

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