Re: rewire my jazz bass

Benj wrote:

On Nov 29, 12:30 pm, Jim Kelley <jwkel...@xxxxxxx> wrote:


I kept hitting the first volume knob and accidentally turning the neck
pickup down. I really don't like the nasal sound with either pickup
turned part way down anyway. So what I did was wire the two pickups
in series, like a p bass, and just use the one volume control, and the
tone control. It's just what I was looking for, and I no longer feel
the need to replace the Fender pickups with Seymours or Bartolinis.


Sounds like you've got the answer. One of these days if you get
feeling ambitious get a 3 or 4 position 4 pole wafer switch. That
gives you enough switching contacts to wire anything. Then do the neck
only, both-series, both-parallel, bridge only thing. Or you can leave
the parallel one out and only do three positions. For now you are OK,
though since I find I tend to leave mine in the series position most
of the time for the deeper thump.

Well, I'm of the mind that a bass really has only one natural sound. I believe this because I feel its the job of the pickups and electronics to simply generate a signal in accurate (or at least conventional) response to the way the strings and body are vibrating. When this is done properly, the bass will sound basically the same electrically as it does acoustically. So I try to get basses which to me sound good acoustically. When necessary, I'll tweak the electrical parts to get them to quit doing something unnatural to the sound of the bass. That way I can use the controls on the amp (and by extension, on the bass) to either enhance or suppress different aspects of the natural sound. This is what I strive for, but I don't believe it necessarily applies to anyone else.

jk


.

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