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Post subject: Frankenstein Precision?
Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:57 am
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Hello all, I have spent a large part of my day trying to find out what Frankenstein of a model Precision Bass i have. I have looked at many pictures and have not found an exact match. I think it's an elite 2 or precision bass plus body with a 73/4 neck

The serial on the kneck : S 890832 says its a 1973 ish neck but the body, circuit and pick up structure does not look like it matches. It also looks like it's been tampered with.

the Body has the stamps : 1491 and FRK 49 on it under the pick ups.

the pick ups themselves have no Branding, can anyone confirm they are authentic? (also might be a stupid Q but is the duck tape intentional for sound damping on the back pickup?)

This fell into my lap for free and I am trying to ascertain the model or hybrid or authenticity of the parts if anyone can help.

I would also like to find out some options for restoration.
It plays but the electrics are very noisy and the tone options seem limited

So I am not asking much for my first post I agree!
but I have looked everywhere and am now hoping someone with experience can give me some advice.

thank you fender folk!

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/619/10651492.jpg

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/8845/12704881.jpg

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5715/50357697.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4597/75096862.jpg

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6058/22741575.jpg

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3405/78259506.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4169/97097817.jpg


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:39 am
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WOW! What you have here is not a Frankenbass. It is a modified July 77 to June 78 to which a J-Pickup was added. That is obvious by the non-factory routing job for the J-pickup and the neck pocket stamp.

I have to ask, just where did you get the idea this was a 73/74 neck?

Good news! This body is probably original to the neck! I don't see anything to make me believe otherwise.

Someone looking for their own tone modified it. Should be a decent player. Not collectible by any means, but if the neck is stable it would be a good player.

If you got this for free, wow! Congratulations!


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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:07 am
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Great, thanks for enlightening me. I meant 77/78 I checked the serial on here in the morning and by the afternoon it had morphed into 73/74 in my head...weird! ha. So thanks for identifying it for me. the modified J pickup threw me. I am not an experienced bass player.

What do you think would be the best move regarding the electrics.
There is lots of crackling when using the tone switches.
also what's the deal with the little pieces of duck tape on the J pickup?

thanks again.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:18 am
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gum thief wrote:
Great, thanks for enlightening me. I meant 77/78 I checked the serial on here in the morning and by the afternoon it had morphed into 73/74 in my head...weird! ha. So thanks for identifying it for me. the modified J pickup threw me. I am not an experienced bass player.

What do you think would be the best move regarding the electrics.
There is lots of crackling when using the tone switches and the pick ups look quite old. How long are they good for? life?
also what's the deal with the little pieces of duck tape on the J pickup?

thanks again.


I'd just replace the pots with CTS 250K pots and install Paper In Oil caps if there are Poly or Ceramic caps in it, which there probably are. Might replace the jack while in there.

If the pickups are working I'd leave them alone. See what it sounds like after the electronics are stable. If they are weak I'd get the orignals rewound. Depending on where you are located there might be someone nearby or you might have to send them off. Either way I'd rewind them when necessary. I suspect the P-pup is original from the look of things like the base plate and the obviously original foam. Pickups don't last forever. The enamel wears off the Formar winding wire and they'll short out eventually. First sign of that is a weak signal. They are right on the border where they might start weakening now.

That isn't electrical tape or duct tape under the pups, it is pickup foam. It is dense but springy when new. Less springy when 32 years old though. Also tends to stick to the baseplate as on yours. You could probably replace the foam without hurting it too much. Pickup foam has more to do with being able to adjust pickup height while keeping the pickup stable than anything else. The metal baseplate on the P-pickup is there for shielding to block radio frequency interference.


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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 8:12 am
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Ok I am learning a great deal, thanks dudes for everything.

Yeah I was talking about the small squares of silvr duct tape on the back J pick up not the foam underneath.

Thanks again I am off to source the parts.


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Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:04 pm
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Ok, see the tape you are talking about now. Just speculating here, but I believe I can faintly see a line through the tape on the fiberboard topper of the pickup between the E and A string poles. I think the topper is cracked and this is holding it on. The other piece on the end is to secure that end of the pickup to keep it from falling off. There should be a cover of some sort over this pickup also. This ia real oddball pickup addition.


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:50 pm
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BrotherDave - Have you ever tried a light injection of aerosol circuit or contact cleaner on bass potentiometers ? I have had really good success with a product called CRC Contact Cleaner. In 28 years, I've never had to replace a pot for 'noise' after applying CRC and have never had to re-apply the product once a pot has been cleaned.

Any thoughts ?

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:57 pm
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Wow! Frankenstein bass?.......... ya more like a Boris Karloff signature model Frankenstein bass................ however looks solid and playable to me! :idea:


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:03 pm
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PaducahLuke wrote:
BrotherDave - Have you ever tried a light injection of aerosol circuit or contact cleaner on bass potentiometers ? I have had really good success with a product called CRC Contact Cleaner. In 28 years, I've never had to replace a pot for 'noise' after applying CRC and have never had to re-apply the product once a pot has been cleaned.

Any thoughts ?


Yep it works in most cases if you keep up with it. But after a noisy one sits for a long time it gets really gunked up. Sometimes just EXERCISING the pot by rotating it full travel for 50 to 100 times helps too.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:22 pm
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actually it turned out to just be electrical tape stuck on for no apparent reason...

So thanks for your time so far everyone, I sorted it all out today put it together adjusted the truss and everything feels great. I think the neck is ok.

I only have the J pickup working. I seem to be missing the wire that connects the split P pickups together. I also don't seem to have any tone controllers working. When I turn the J pickup cotroller it does nothing until it gets to '0' where it just switches off the circuit (sound). I have looked at the wireing and everything is connected no loose wires.

What I really need is a schematic on this type of modification if one exists.

Or does anyone know where I could get hold of the whole circuit, pots everything the whole sheeebang and then I could just solder it to the pickups?

Thanks if anyone can point me in the right direction...again!


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:50 pm
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Go to the site in my signature below. That is an INDEX of addendum pages. One of the addendum pages addresses REPLACEMENT/UPGRADE BASS PARTS. Click that link. You can find most of what you need at the first and second links listed. It is also possible to repair that wire on the P-Pickup. Just solder in a new wire from pickup terminal to pickup terminal.

You could use about any passive P/J diagram, but it wouldn't include the switches. The passive P/J diagrams from the Seymour Duncan would work. Go to the site in my signature below and click on INSTRUMENT SETUP & MAINTENANCE and then on the Duncan Diagram link and once there listed last are bass diagrams. Whoever wired this up wasn't using any known diagram I've ever seen. I don't know if these are 2 way or 3 way switches or what they had in mind with them.

You could buy a new pickguard to unclutter the top. And then have 3 pots using either the SD P/J BLEND or Passive P/J diagrams and keep the existing jack location.

It could be that they wanted to be able to solo each pickup, removing the load from the other pickup in the circuit. If you wanted to do that you could use the JP90 Schematic with 3 way switch I've posted and you can also link to it from my INSTRUMENT SETUP AND MAINTENANCE PAGE.

Good luck with your improvements!


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:02 pm
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Just one more thing, since it is pretty hacked up anyway I'd use a paper in oil capacitor when you rewire it. The AXEGRINDERS link on the MAINTENANCE UPGRADE page is where to find their link. They ship same or next day.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:45 am
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Brotherdave thanks. you have been very helpful and your site is excellent.
I especially like the sound (from what I have read) of those russian PIOs and will be picking up the parts shortly. going to replace everything and probably do the jp90 setup. Ideally I would like the most flexible setup with these two pickups (solo each and then also blend) so I think the jp90 is the way to go.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:05 pm
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The mylar 225P Orange Drops sound good too. I really can't hear much difference between them and a Vitamin Q PIO cap. There may be a more pronounced difference on a guitar but for a bass they sound about the same as PIO to me. This is good news because they only cost about $1.50. Unfortunately most online sellers only offer the harsher sounding 715P and 716P Orange Drops for some reason. You can tell the difference by the shape since the 225P are more boxy and rectangular looking while the 715P and 716P's are rounder plus a bit more compact.

All the USA aluminum foil PIO caps are pretty much the same regardless of the brand because they are built to military specs. The lower voltages are smaller and I usually use 200 volt or smaller ones. The 300 volt and up get pretty big. I've never used the Russian PIO caps myself, but I'm down to my last Philco and might be trying some soon. Of course the Russian caps are military spec too but their specs might be different.

Caps have a relatively minor impact on tone and some people won't hear much difference. It is worth spending a dollar or two or even splurging $10 bucks for a PIO. I think people who spend 25 to 40 dollars for the copper foil PIO Tone caps offered by some parts sellers under various names are not going to hear 24 to 40 dollars worth of difference and that money would be better spent on other upgrades like bridge, pickup, new jack, copper shielding or strings.

In a direct comparison of a .050 ceramic (original Fender), .047 Mylar Film, .047 Polyester Film and .047 PIO caps on the same instrument (using alligator clips) I preferred the PIO and Sprague 225P's. Between the PIO and 225P I heard very little difference at all. I suggest doing this comparison yourself because you might actually find that you prefer the ones that I didn't like as well. Some people have played with ceramic or poly caps for so long that they actually prefer them. I suppose that if you are used to a harsher tone you'll want to keep some edge in your tone.

Where a diagram calls for .05 caps you will probably wind up using .047 caps. The .05 value has been obsolete for decades. I did manage to find two old OEM for Fender .05 ceramic caps a couple of years ago, but they are very scarce now.

The very early P-basses had PIO caps. Then Mr. Fender switched to the far more ecomincal ceramics.


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