Wazkelly Build diary for DIY closing down sale Ash J Bass

[wazkelly]

Thanks guys for dropping by and adding those photos and words of advice an encouragement.

Gotoh bridge has been ordered from Real Parts and should arrive tomorrow. It looks identical to the one on Doc's Squire P Bass.

At the moment the setup has the correct staggered saddle positioning where low E is screwed way back. Just taken a bit by surprise how far forward the G string saddle had to be shifted as the height adjustment grub screws are now sitting awkwardly on top of the base plate mounting screw on that side.

Hey Ponch, have you checked that setup with an electronic tuner yourself as it looks ideal for a lefty with the G wound back the furtherest and the fatter lower ones more forwards? It could be spot on, just looks weird in the shots.

I was going to have to do some work on this axe over the weekend as the Entwistles are taller than stock units and sitting a bit too high which will require me to dig out a bit in the PUP cavities. Playing notes around 14th fret has the string touching front edge of Neck PUP so definitely sitting too high. Should also mention the pole piece adjustment screws are crap as some of them dropped down inside the PUP whilst turning the screw downwards??? Screwing them in opposite direction to raise them did nothing as they are now free wheeling down inside the bobbins? When things are apart I will have a closer look to see if they are now that way for ever? Doesn't seem to be affecting the tone or sound so not sure what they were doing other than acting as decoration perhaps?

[DrNomis_44]

Thanks guys for dropping by and adding those photos and words of advice an encouragement.

Gotoh bridge has been ordered from Real Parts and should arrive tomorrow. It looks identical to the one on Doc's Squire P Bass.

At the moment the setup has the correct staggered saddle positioning where low E is screwed way back. Just taken a bit by surprise how far forward the G string saddle had to be shifted as the height adjustment grub screws are now sitting awkwardly on top of the base plate mounting screw on that side.

Hey Ponch, have you checked that setup with an electronic tuner yourself as it looks ideal for a lefty with the G wound back the furtherest and the fatter lower ones more forwards? It could be spot on, just looks weird in the shots.

I was going to have to do some work on this axe over the weekend as the Entwistles are taller than stock units and sitting a bit too high which will require me to dig out a bit in the PUP cavities. Playing notes around 14th fret has the string touching front edge of Neck PUP so definitely sitting too high. Should also mention the pole piece adjustment screws are crap as some of them dropped down inside the PUP whilst turning the screw downwards??? Screwing them in opposite direction to raise them did nothing as they are now free wheeling down inside the bobbins? When things are apart I will have a closer look to see if they are now that way for ever? Doesn't seem to be affecting the tone or sound so not sure what they were doing other than acting as decoration perhaps?

My experience with the Gotoh bridge has been a really good one so far, it's a good, solid bridge and has given me virtually no issues since I first bought it, so i reckon you'll like it a lot mate, I have the saddles for the low E-String and the G-String sitting on the base of the bridge, and the action is still about 3.4mm at the 17th fret, I think Fender specify 3mm at the 17th fret for a factory set-up P-Bass, although you might prefer a higher action.

[Simon Barden]

I was going to have to do some work on this axe over the weekend as the Entwistles are taller than stock units and sitting a bit too high which will require me to dig out a bit in the PUP cavities. Playing notes around 14th fret has the string touching front edge of Neck PUP so definitely sitting too high.

It may be that the pickup is too high and the magnetic pull is affecting the tuning (fretting on the 12th fret will bring the string nearer the pickup, so any magnetic pull will have more effect on the string than when open). This is quite common on Strats. You may find that by lowering the pickup height, you solve the intonation issue.

[DrNomis_44]

It may be that the pickup is too high and the magnetic pull is affecting the tuning (fretting on the 12th fret will bring the string nearer the pickup, so any magnetic pull will have more effect on the string than when open). This is quite common on Strats. You may find that by lowering the pickup height, you solve the intonation issue.

That's something I have had first-hand experience with on my Gold Strat, I couldn't work out why I couldn't accurately set the intonation of the low E-String, then it turned out that the magnetic pole-pieces of the pickups ( three Entwistle ASN57 noiseless pickups) were the cause due to the pickup routing not being deep enough to accommodate them, the result was that the pole-piece for the low-E-String was too close to the E-String, if the tone of the string sounds a bit warbly, that's a dead give-away that the pole-piece is too close to the string, the magnetic pull tends to make the string vibrate at a lower frequency than it should.