The Golden Boy
Fleecy Sweaterologist
I got my first bass, a 71-ish Gibson EB-0, around 1985. It played, and still feels absolutely wonderful.
But... It sounded like poop. It looked cool, but it sounded like poop. I wanted a "Fender" sound, and the EB-0 isn't meant to do that, but I didn't know that. Me, being the 16 year old that I was, figured that it would be a good idea to rout out a cavity and stick some P-Bass pickups in it. I also thought it would be cool to have a switch that could turn the P pickups of and on. I did all that, and it sounded like poop. Still.
There it is on the right with the SD P pickups in it in like 1990 or so.
It had several unfortunate accidents and the headstock broke off several times.
Around 1995 the headstock broke again, this time I had a dude replace a few sections of wood, rather than just gluing and pinning. I also had the old 2 point bridge (with nylon saddles) replaced with a G&L unit that was laying around. I then began the quest to find a suitable pickup. I enlarged the rout for a G&L pickup (from the corpse of the same bass that donated its bridge) and that sounded like poop. I got the bright idea of moving the neck pickup back towards the bridge, so I enlarged the rout even MORE. That sounded like poop. Eventually I settled on a Jazz pickup and it sounded OK. A few years back I picked up a SD SCPB pickup and that sounded better than the Jazz pickup. Then I got the brilliant idea of actually measuring where the pickup SHOULD be located (which, of course, meant MORE wood was routed out). It's sounded pretty OK for the past 5 years or so- it's a short scale, mahogany bodied bass that's had the headstock torn off at least 5 times... How good do I expect it to sound?
The other night I was putzing with it and thought that it might be cool to be able to add in a touch of the neck pickup- it's just there- it hasn't been hooked up since I tried it as the bridge pickup over 10 years ago. So I hooked it up to the unused tone pot- as I've always done it. The effect was less than stunning. When the pots were wide open the mudbucker would totally overpower the P pickup, and when you rolled down the volume on one pickup, it would roll off the overall volume more than just rolling down the volume of one pickup. And I thought about it- the mudbucker is a stronger pickup, yeah, it's going to overpower the P. When you have 2 pickups together, like a LP, dropping the volume off on one, grounds the whole signal out... OK, that's just not going to work...
I gave up and was about to call it a night, and then I thought about the way a Jazz bass works... You can adjust the individual pickup volumes- even off- and it doesn't ground out the signal... Why? After looking at a Jazz schematic- the "in" lug of the pot is different than the way I normally wire them.
Looking at the back of the pot, with the center lug at 12:00, I always used the right lug as the "in," center as "out," and left as ground. It's the way it is on LPs and it was on the EB-0. However, the Jazz uses the center lug as the "in" and the right lug as "out." I did that, and BOOM! Full bodied, well defined, controllable, short scale goodness! After raising the P pickup a little more and lowering the polepieces on the mudbucker, it balanced out really well. I was actually really surprised at how well it sounded. I "might" throw a treble bleed cap on the mudbucker pot- as it is pretty... well... muddy on it's own with the volume rolled down. But with the P pickup wide open and the mudbucker around 5 or so, it sounds frickin' more awesome than a short scale bass is allowed to sound!
With all the excitement I have about the "new" sound of this bass, I still don't think this is going to be my "go to" bass ever again. It's ugly as sin. It's fragile. I don't think I could ever not completely fear taking it out without a backup. Last time I gigged this bass was around 2001 and I didn't know what to expect when I opened the case.
Anyway, just sharin'
But... It sounded like poop. It looked cool, but it sounded like poop. I wanted a "Fender" sound, and the EB-0 isn't meant to do that, but I didn't know that. Me, being the 16 year old that I was, figured that it would be a good idea to rout out a cavity and stick some P-Bass pickups in it. I also thought it would be cool to have a switch that could turn the P pickups of and on. I did all that, and it sounded like poop. Still.
There it is on the right with the SD P pickups in it in like 1990 or so.
It had several unfortunate accidents and the headstock broke off several times.
Around 1995 the headstock broke again, this time I had a dude replace a few sections of wood, rather than just gluing and pinning. I also had the old 2 point bridge (with nylon saddles) replaced with a G&L unit that was laying around. I then began the quest to find a suitable pickup. I enlarged the rout for a G&L pickup (from the corpse of the same bass that donated its bridge) and that sounded like poop. I got the bright idea of moving the neck pickup back towards the bridge, so I enlarged the rout even MORE. That sounded like poop. Eventually I settled on a Jazz pickup and it sounded OK. A few years back I picked up a SD SCPB pickup and that sounded better than the Jazz pickup. Then I got the brilliant idea of actually measuring where the pickup SHOULD be located (which, of course, meant MORE wood was routed out). It's sounded pretty OK for the past 5 years or so- it's a short scale, mahogany bodied bass that's had the headstock torn off at least 5 times... How good do I expect it to sound?
The other night I was putzing with it and thought that it might be cool to be able to add in a touch of the neck pickup- it's just there- it hasn't been hooked up since I tried it as the bridge pickup over 10 years ago. So I hooked it up to the unused tone pot- as I've always done it. The effect was less than stunning. When the pots were wide open the mudbucker would totally overpower the P pickup, and when you rolled down the volume on one pickup, it would roll off the overall volume more than just rolling down the volume of one pickup. And I thought about it- the mudbucker is a stronger pickup, yeah, it's going to overpower the P. When you have 2 pickups together, like a LP, dropping the volume off on one, grounds the whole signal out... OK, that's just not going to work...
I gave up and was about to call it a night, and then I thought about the way a Jazz bass works... You can adjust the individual pickup volumes- even off- and it doesn't ground out the signal... Why? After looking at a Jazz schematic- the "in" lug of the pot is different than the way I normally wire them.
Looking at the back of the pot, with the center lug at 12:00, I always used the right lug as the "in," center as "out," and left as ground. It's the way it is on LPs and it was on the EB-0. However, the Jazz uses the center lug as the "in" and the right lug as "out." I did that, and BOOM! Full bodied, well defined, controllable, short scale goodness! After raising the P pickup a little more and lowering the polepieces on the mudbucker, it balanced out really well. I was actually really surprised at how well it sounded. I "might" throw a treble bleed cap on the mudbucker pot- as it is pretty... well... muddy on it's own with the volume rolled down. But with the P pickup wide open and the mudbucker around 5 or so, it sounds frickin' more awesome than a short scale bass is allowed to sound!
With all the excitement I have about the "new" sound of this bass, I still don't think this is going to be my "go to" bass ever again. It's ugly as sin. It's fragile. I don't think I could ever not completely fear taking it out without a backup. Last time I gigged this bass was around 2001 and I didn't know what to expect when I opened the case.
Anyway, just sharin'
That's my view.
