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Post subject: FR-51 Resonator Bass wiring diagram?
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:56 pm
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Are there any doc's for the FR-51 Resonator Bass? I could really use a wiring diagram. The unit has a single neck-mounted pickup into an active volume & tone control (w/ 9 volt battery).

I'm getting an underlying fuzz to the tone. (It's not the battery.)

Any help would be great!
Thanks,
Marty


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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 10:26 am
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So... no documents forthcoming for this bass. The FR-51 resonator bass guitar was only made for approx. 1 year in 2003. The neck is thin and action is low and very fast. The flame maple wood coupled with the chromed resonator hubcap is stunning.

The stock electronics are a single, guitar-sized, active humbucker with 1 tone pot and 1 volume pot. The pickup and the pots were awful, fuzzy sounding, with minimal tone adjustment.

I found the EMG-HB pickup as the perfect replacement. This active pickup is billed as a "P-Style Pickup in a guitar humbucking housing", comes with new pots and wiring harness. EMG still lists this pickup on their website but it has been replaced by the extended housing model, so it may be hard to find.

Anyway... this pickup is fantastic! I swapped out all the electronics for the new stuff and wow, what a difference. The warm, woody tone of the bass comes through loud and clear. Pickup height adjustment is critical to dial in an even sound across all strings.

There are still some intonation issues with the very short scale (27.7 ") and the bridge/saddle. I rotated the spider bridge 180 degrees to get the saddle farther back and compensated the maple saddle for the E & A strings. Strings are threaded from above and then under the front of the tailpiece (the reverse of the normal orientation) and over the saddle in order to get more downward string pressure on the saddle. It's pretty close now but still not perfect.

The FR-51 is a finicky beast by nature but well worth the effort if you like an earthy, woody tone in a very short scale, unique package.

This is now my primary stage bass, so I'll be looking for another as backup!

For what it's worth,
Marty


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