Zebulon Bass Guitars - just finished our first bass prototype!

[Zebulon]

We just finished the first Zebulon bass guitar. We wanted to put a J-Bass and a Stingray in one instrument and it worked out fine. The body shape is entirely new, but we were inspired by Fender and Music Man basses as you can see. To ensure high quality, we ordered a J-style neck for this prototype - the people at Warmoth really know their job. Well, hope you guys like it. Feel free to ask information or make suggestions!

See for yourself: http://www.slide.com/r/cPDXerKvzj9c0eN5P6ZIR2iMmaYK47MG?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

 

[Wyliee]

Looks great!  With just a hint of '72 tele bass in the pickguard.

 

[Shmoopie]

I Love the paint, and those best be hipshot tuners, it would be a shame to make a 10 and the short out on the tuners.

 

[Sighs McGraff]

Nice bass, Zeb!  I hope to have something like this made soon myself (w/ mahogany body). 

Where did you get the pickguard and the control plate?  Is the mini-switch a coil tap for the MM pickup?

 

[Zebulon]

We made the pickguard ourselves. The mini switch is a coil tap for the MM humbucker indeed.

 

[Zebulon]

..and also the control plate (we had a brass plate chromed).

 

[Sighs McGraff]

Thanks for the info.

If I undersatnd coil tapping correctly, you can "knock out" one coil of the MM pickup, leaving it as a single coil?  And if this is correct, you can then blend that coil with the neck jazz pickup to form a humbucker (assuming the polarity of the MM coil is the opposite of the jazz pickup)?

Again, if this is correct, I'm assuming that the MM bridge coil would be the one with opposite polarity as compared to the neck jazz?

 

[Shmoopie]

you might also want to wire it for parallel/series humbucking. a three way switch would be the best for this. the stock mm is in series i do believe.
but all your assumptions are correct, i don't know about the bridge coil being a reverse of a jazz, but they were both leo fenders brain children, so it might be correct.
im planing on wiring a mm to a five way super switch, for neck, series, parallel, series out of phase, and bridge. out of just one mm.

 

[Zebulon]

Yes, that's how it's done. We knock out one coil and then when you blend it with the neck JB pickup you just get a Jazz Bass configuration. Simple, but effective. The bass has the MM punch and the JB growl. The nice thing is that the combination of the full MM and the JB neck pickup gives a kind of JB growl with a boost: very effective for soloing and you get it with just a flip of the switch. We were somewhat worried about the overall passive configuration and had plans to install an active EQ. But the versatility was excellent and we could hold on to the principle of this bass: the combination of a JB and MM bass, without any active controls. To avoid a tone with too many highs when only the MM is used, we decided to place the MM pickup further from the bridge than usually on a stock Stingray, because there is no EQ to compensate. Well, I hope my english is not giving any of you a headache, it's nice to have contact with you. And tell around that there are small guitar building companies here in Europe dedicated to capture the heart of those great American bass guitars!

 

[Sighs McGraff]

Thanks Zeb and Schmoopie.

Zeb, you mentioned unwanted highs.....that's why I was thinking of using Mahogany.  (didn't a recent anniversary StingRay have a Mahogany body, BTW).

Cheers!

 

[Zebulon]

Yes, it had. But it also had a '70s spec pickup and a string through body bridge - in fact it gives more pressure on the saddles which adds some overtones. But let's not dig into this too much. Don't get me started ;-)

 

[SkuttleFunk]

yes - let's not start the string thru discussion for basses. I have built and recorded many string thru basses, and for the life of me can't hear one smigde of difference ... and everybody I know who's taken the blind A/B test fails consistently at identifying a) a sonic difference and b) which soundclip is from which stringing option

IMO it's ALL marketing fluff ... but I promised not to go there so I will stop.



BTW Z - that's a sharp looking bass you got there  :icon_thumright:

all the best,

R

 

[Tweed]

The flowing of the pickguard shape is really nice!
I almost hate the headstock.