hairbo

Never did hear back about why the original owner picked DiMarzio's. I had my local guitar shop put on a new nut (no small feat), and then they had to mess around with the bridge to really get the thing properly intonated, and now it sounds better. Not so much better that I don't still want to change the electronics, but better... (-; After a long back-and-forth thread with a super cool guy over at bestbassgear.com, I think I've decided that I'm going to, in the long run, swap out the electronics for Delano pickups (humbucker at the bridge, P-bass style at the neck), and then install a Mike Pope Flexcore preamp. The beauty of this setup is that I'll be able to re-purpose all of the holes cut in the body for knobs/switches. The preamp configuration I'll get has 4 knobs (volume/active-passive, blend, stacked hi/lo, stacked mid/mid), and then I can use the current preamp switch as a coil-tap switch for the humbucker. Should be fun...when it happens.

I got in touch with the original owner. The bass came to him with EMGs, and he swapped them out for the DiMarzio's almost right away, and had his bass tech put in the pickup switch and preamp. I've asked him, because I'm curious, why he switched to the DiMarzio's, but haven't heard back yet. If he replies, I'll update here. It's pretty fun getting to know the history of the instrument.

love all the folks chiming in. The neck pickup is a DiMarzio, not an EMG. Both pickups in the bass are passive.

next cavity pic

Thanks to everybody for replying. I took some pictures of the electronics cavity, and will post them in this post and the next

Hey Shark, Thanks for the reply. You're the first one who has had a guess about the bridge pickup. I found a thread about it relating to their use in 12-strings: http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=4419.0 Looks like there is some difference of opinion: some folks love it, others think it has too much midrange and not enough low end. This is only the third bass I've ever owned (first being a fretless Kubicki, the next being a Stingray), and is the first one where I've even vaguely considered swapping pickups, so I really know nothing about them. I'm grateful for all the education here. Ben

Thanks, cmatthes. Yeah, you must know your stuff if you knew this one was made in Arlington Heights. I had a nice email exchange with a Hamer tech who, based on the serial number I provided, was able to confirm that it was made there in 1995. He was able to say that it's a custom color, but no other details past that, since they don't keep records on custom stuff dating back that far.

Wait...people didn't put whammy bars on basses, did they? So far I'm not getting a lot of people telling me I'd be stupid to do the electronics swap/upgrade I'm pondering. I'm taking that as a good sign...

Fair enough. Sudden volume changes and kill switch stuff don't seem features I'd ever use on a bass. Does seem like it might make some sense on guitar. The thought had never occurred to me. Thanks. Yeah, it's heavy as hell. More interesting to me, though, was the sudden need to use a pick. After *never* playing bass with a pick, you sort of have to with this thing (I know some guys play these basses with their fingers, but I think it really needs the attack of a pick). I played it pretty intensely for 3 or 4 days, and my right shoulder blade is just killing me from having to hold my right arm at what for me was an odd position. ow ow ow.

Hey MCChris, I've never owned a Les Paul, but I'd ask the same question of that, and I really mean it. What's the point of both pickup selectors and individual volume knobs? That seems like an unnecessary amount of control. What am I missing?

Thanks for the reply. I'll post some CPA pics tonight.

Hi, I recently purchased a used 12-string bass made in 1995 (picture attached). I can't confirm this with 100% certainty, but I'm fairly certain there were some after-market modifications made to the bass that I'd sort of like to unwind. I'm posting here because I'm hoping that somebody who has some experience with 12-string basses can review this post and offer advice, encouragement...or discouragement if I'm about to do something irretrievably stupid. In addition to the standard three pots (one volume for each pickup, then one overall tone knob), there is a 3-position pickup switch, and then a switch to kick on an onboard preamp. The switches don't match, and they're both in sort of a haphazard spot, so I'm guessing that they were added after the fact. Plus, why would you need a pickup selector if you already have individual volume controls for each pickup? Also, the onboard preamp introduced considerable static into the signal, so I had to remove the battery altogether to get a pure tone (on an unrelated note, the nut needs to be raised and the tuners adjusted, but that's another matter). The bass gets plenty of output without the preamp (more than my active-electronic Stingray), so kicking the preamp on was almost silly. The neck pickup is a P-bass style DiMarzio. The bridge pickup is a humbucker, but has no label on it, so I can't tell what kind of pickup it is. Maybe because the two pickups "look" different means one or more was replaced after the bass was initially made? And last but not least, the wiring in the electronics housing looks, to my untrained eye, as being pretty slipshod--e.g. the battery for the preamp was just floating in there, not attached with a clip. What I think I'd like to do is gut the electronics, put in an EMG P-style pickup in the neck, and an EMG DC35 humbucker at the bridge. Those should both be drop-in replacements, which means no routing needed. Then, I would get rid of the two switches entirely, and install an EMG BTC preamp, which has one volume control, one pickup pan control, and then stacked bass/treble controls. Then I have a bass that's closer to what Hamer puts in their stock models: EMG pickups and just three knobs. Does this seem like a sensible plan? Thanks in advance, Ben