C18Q1 Vintage PJ Duncan bass

Funkfingers

Opportunity - one charity shop find, budget Korean bass guitar.
https://i.imgur.com/DQjMMkQ.jpg?1

Motive - one pickup, obtained cheaply via eBay because some fool had cut its output cable back to almost nothing.
https://i.imgur.com/wGuxwpO.jpg?1

Mitigating Circumstance - a tiny hole (that lives by a code, which usually SMPTE!)
https://i.imgur.com/mmP27dQ.jpg?1

My original plan was a hybrid wiring harness. i.e. Active pickups, hard-wired to EMG 157c Buss Board. Solderless connections to all controls. Hard-wired output to barrel jack. Unfortunately, EMG Solderless components take up more space than is strictly necessary. Certainly, more space than the stock V940B control cavity has to offer.

Time for a rethink.

stimpsonslostson

Are you getting it ready to rumble?

SteveRobinson

stimpsonslostson said:

Are you getting it ready to rumble?

Beat me to it.

Bridgehouse

I cannae see, man, I cannae see...!

Funkfingers

What is this? Mackem & Modding?

Funkfingers

She's Lost Control

The stock wiring harness for these instruments is the self-styled LIVE SOUND 2-band EQ system - Master Vol., Balance, Treble cut/boost, Bass cut/boost (centre frequencies unspecified). Generic Korean fare. Unexciting and, in the case of the Balance pot, of the incorrect resistance value for low impedance pickups.

Out they come.

https://i.imgur.com/RoMMgo6.jpg?1

Funkfingers

Autosuggestion

The choice of new controls is limited by;

1. the dimensions of the control cavity
2. my reluctance to take a chisel to the wood
3. the intrusive jack socket barrel
4. which pots and EQ parts I already have at my disposal

There would have been a neatness about using all Seymour Duncan electronics but they ruled themselves out.

•  An STC-3A pre-amp system would not have fitted into the available space. Its PCB would have fouled on either the pots or the jack.
• An STC-2S-BO Blackouts pre-amp would have fitted but, IMO, two band EQ might have sounded a little pedestrian. More importantly, I would have had to rob the pre-amp out of another bass.

Meanwhile, back in the parts drawer, I happened to have an old EMG-BQC three-band EQ of the hard-wired persuasion. Offering this up to the control cavity revealed that it would only fit along the longer diagonal of the rout. This immediately settled the location of two of the controls. 

Conventionally, on bass guitars with M. Vol. and Balance controls, the volume control is placed closest to hand. The Balance pot is set further away. In the V940B control cavity, the positioning of the barrel jack made this impractical. Having the Balance pot closer to hand than Master Volume struck me as counterintuitive. The only option was individual volume pots per pickup.



Atrocity Exhibition

The J pickup's shortened output cable obliges its bare ground wire to be soldered to the chassis of the pot for the other pickup. The white signal conductor reaches the lower volume pot. Just. Phew!
https://i.imgur.com/EmIOZVO.jpg


The EMG PCB slots in between the volume pot terminals. The T/B stacked pot exploits the flying cables to the maximum.
https://i.imgur.com/PGOQfrR.jpg

Funkfingers

https://i.imgur.com/GOWU53d.jpg?1

Electronic changes completed, attention shifts to the neck.

First task was to lightly abrade the neck varnish for a satin finish. This does not photograph well so, I'm not going to bother posting a pic.

Next task is sorting out the worn frets.

Funkfingers

Bridgehouse said:

I cannae see, man, I cannae see...!

Blind drunk again, huh?

stimpsonslostson said:

Are you getting it ready to rehab?

FTFY



UPDEC:
2018 Q1 being over and the previous owner of this bass guitar wanting to buy it back cheaply, the expensive electronics have been removed, the stock control harness is back in along with a pair of budget passive pickups.