Curtis Novak PB-V pickup

line6man

Epic Member
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I posted this thread on TalkBass, so i am going to copy and paste it here...

Well guys, as some of you remember, I had Curtis Novak build me a custom double Jazz bass humbucker with a half size coil and a full size coil with a tap halfway down back in December of 2008.
Anyways, I had Curtis build me a Precision bass pickup last week, and it arrived today!

I am totally wowed by the aesthetics of the pickup.
It's kind of funny to see a 5-day-old date written on a pickup that looks like it should be 40 or 50 years old. :blob7:
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I dropped off my bass with my luthier today for some extensive routing work, and when he is done, i get to re-do my shielding and wire up the bass with the new Precision bass pickup.
Here is a mockup of what the bass will look like, excluding the output jack and the Telecaster style 3 way switch:
(FWIW, the pickup on the mockup is a cheapie pickup i had lying around when i took the picture a few days ago)
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I have no idea what it's going to sound like yet, but i am anxious to find out once i get everything routed and wired up!
I'm sure it's going to sound great though.

Any thoughts?
 
Blue313 said:
What control layout are you going with?

It's a bit complicated but:

Volume - Volume - Passive Tone - Bass/Treble (concentric pot)

A 3 way Telecaster style pickup selector switch to remove the unused volume pot from the circuit when either pickup is soloed to keep the P tone authentic and the J tone brighter than with two volumes.
I did two volumes instead of one because i wasn't sure that i would want the P pickup at the same volume as the J, so it's better to have separate volumes.

3 push/pull pots:

I don't like having to unplug my bass when i am not using it, so i am doing a power switch (also mutes the output too) on the first volume control.
When i am done playing, i can just pull the knob up and not have to unplug.

The second volume control's push/pull will be the active/passive switch for the preamp. I am usually a diehard passive guy, so by adding a preamp, i wanted to make sure that my passive functionality is uncompromised.

The passive tone control's push/pull removes the capacitor from the circuit to further brighten the tone.
This is a feature i have been using on my bass for a while now, and i like the extra brightness you get when a tone control is bypassed.

I was going to put a small power LED on the back of the bass, but it turns out that trying to run a 2V LED off of a 27V supply equates to the resistors generating way too much heat for me to be comfortable with in a confined control cavity, so i decided to skip the LED.

Here is my schematic...
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It seems like that push-pull to turn off the battery might be good for the Eveready Company... :toothy12: What happens when you put it in the case? Will a stereo jack also disconnect the battery? I, personally, would think about a mini switch instead. :dontknow:
 
stubhead said:
It seems like that push-pull to turn off the battery might be good for the Eveready Company... :toothy12: What happens when you put it in the case? Will a stereo jack also disconnect the battery? I, personally, would think about a mini switch instead. :dontknow:

The switch is in series with the jack.
If the bass is unplugged, it is turned off regardless of it the switch is on or off.
I avoided mini switches because they would look out of place being outside of the control plate area.
 
Can you take some pics of the body after routing?  I'm wondering how you are going to manage to squeeze all that (3 push pulls, 1 concentric, 3 batteries, a preamp and a tele switch) into a J-Bass top rout.  I may have to steal that diagram in the future.  :laughing7:
 
Blue313 said:
Can you take some pics of the body after routing?  I'm wondering how you are going to manage to squeeze all that (3 push pulls, 1 concentric, 3 batteries, a preamp and a tele switch) into a J-Bass top rout.  I may have to steal that diagram in the future.  :laughing7:

Definitely some pics to follow...

The pots fit fine into the top route cavity, but my luthier is doing me a rear route cavity to fit the preamp, batteries, switch and jack.
Basically this bass is going to be a "top plus rear route" Jazz. The control plate stays, but the bass is rear routed for extra space.


I draw diagrams for TalkBass guys several times a week, so go ahead and steal 'em if you find one you like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrkdesimone/sets/72157616015420655/

 
Alright guys, I just finished up everything.
I got the bass back from my luthier yesterday afternoon, and I spent 7 hours shielding and wiring everything.
The bass is done, but I am too tired to explain everything right now... I'll give you guys the details in a few days or so...

Here are some quick pictures, I'll take better ones later:

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One of the batteries powers his iPod. The headphone-out on the iPod goes to the jack on the front of the bass.
 
Max said:
One of the batteries powers his iPod. The headphone-out on the iPod goes to the jack on the front of the bass.

No, the bass is actually passive, but the batteries are there to power the bomb.
When you pull off the cover, you better know exactly which wires to snip, otherwise the bomb will go off.
 
line6man said:
Max said:
One of the batteries powers his iPod. The headphone-out on the iPod goes to the jack on the front of the bass.

No, the bass is actually passive, but the batteries are there to power the bomb.
When you pull off the cover, you better know exactly which wires to snip, otherwise the bomb will go off.
*ahum*  The blue wire.....
 
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