Fred's IB-5

[wazkelly]

Must be an optical illusion due to the light. The headstock back is the same colour as the body... would have been cool to make it darker actually! Didn't think of that...

I don't want to route it to add a battery box, but I may look at the Seymour Duncans passive pups...

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Check out a few other passive examples on the thread I started yesterday. Totally agree with you about avoiding a battery pack.

[FredA]

@wazkelly: The body is Ash. Pretty nice grain too! Saw your other thread... I'm now wondering if I should really spend $200+ on bass pups while I can barely play... but who knows! :-)

[wazkelly]

Hi Fred, presume this is your 1st Bass then?

I'm a bit spoilt for choice at the moment as after playing my recently acquired Ric 4003 more than the others that highlighted just how weak and whimpish these 5 stringer PUP's are. Same goes for my J Bass and just ordered the highest grade Entwistles for that axe on Sunday night and it will end up being the best $80 bucks spent to improve it's sound.

The stock Chinese units that come with all these kits tone wise usually don't sound too bad but their output is way lower, and when on the Ric if I was ever gigging with them as backups it would require me to continually adjust the volume after each axe swap. Onstage Bass volume is hard to control at the best of times and I can only imagine things getting way too loud as the night grows longer.

Cheapest solutions for your IB5 might be.....do nothing.....buy the 2nd hand Bartolinis on eBay for AUD $150 plus postage....or buy the cheapest Seymour Duncans on US Amazon site for USD $125 which works out at about AUD $175. PM me if you want help finding the 2nd hand Bartolinis on eBay.

At the end of the day tend to find if I am not totally happy with one of my axes it rarely comes out of it's case for a play which is a shame as they are built to be played rather than gathering dust as a collectible or piece of furniture or artwork. If you chose to upgrade I reckon you will not regret it as even the cheapest option will make a significant difference to output, just not so sure on the tone aspect as that tends to come more with the higher end stuff that costs just a little bit more. At times like this you hate the falling AUD against USD & GBP.

[FredA]

Hey Wazkelly, thanks for that!
It is my first bass. I reckon i'm going to wait a bit before i decide to upgrade or not. I've got a new guitar kit that's going to need pickups and i'm thinking i'm going to spend on that one instead of upgrading the bass that's good enough to learn on for now.
Just too much temptation!
Cheers

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[FrankenWashie]

I'm now wondering if I should really spend $200+ on bass pups while I can barely play... but who knows! :-)

The more you play, the better the sounds you make the better the sounds you make, the more you want to play

Its one of life's wonderful, wonderful feedback circuits.

[stan]

wow Fred, a very slick beastie indeed, excellent job

[gavinturner]

Super job Fred. Just beautiful.

cheers,
Gav.

[Hobastard]

Sensational Bass Fred. I absolutely Love it.

If I had half your skill confidence I would try to build one almost exactly like it, but I doubt I'd come close in build quality.

Almost the Perfect Bass in my humble opinion.

I especially love the individual Bridges.

I think you made the right decision not to add a preamp.

I have owned three basses with active preamps on board and always ended up with the controls set at neutral.

[FredA]

Thanks @Hobastard.
I'm quite happy with the look. But the pickups could be changed as the stock pickup I got are quite weak (and can't be coiled split).
Also need to improve the setup. I get a bit too mucj fret buzz after the 12th fret...

Might need to review the neck relief and potentially angle...

[nitroburner1000]

Just needed installing the neck:
Attachment 11432

Then bone nut and strings!
Attachment 11433

It's still with the chinese strings as I'm finalising intonation and I prefer to mess around with cheap strings.

Pretty happy with it, and now, I only have to learn to actually play the bass! :-)
I'll take proper photos with the SLR, outside later.

Cheers

I think with all the problems youve overcome your a champ mate, well done on an awesome looking bass.