1bassleft
Lowdown Cack-hander
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 3788
Location: "Hit The North"
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 Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:42 am Post subject: Upgrading a Jazz Bass (including piezo) |
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The bass in question is a Fenix Jazz Bass; a good, solid alder bodied Korean bass. I've talked about the Squier connection here and elsewhere (mine is the 2nd review from bottom on HC):
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/product/Fenix/Jazz+Bass/10/1
I've had an Olympic White fretted for years; nice bass but with the common problem of not great socket + pots and the bridge pup isn't much like the real thing (the neck pu is good, though). So, when I got a defretted black one, it was earmarked for a Fender Vintage 60s bridge pup, new pots and socket, and the Graphtech Ghost piezo acoustic saddles and preamp system. Take a good look at their website:
http://www.graphtech.com/ghost_info.php
and have a listen to the downloads of both bass and guitar in acoustic mode:
http://www.graphtech.com/ghost_downloads.php
Although this is about a Jazz Bass, guitarists might be looking in. The 2nd Strat sample on the above link is quite impressive; I hope my bass sounds good in the flesh. The installation is NOT a simple DIY, at least not for the Jazz Bass. You might have it easier with a Strat and Les Paul guitar (or almost any other rear-routed instrument), probably be OK with a Precision but I bet it's no fun with a Tele, either. The thing to remember is the 9V battery. Blimmin' hard to find space in a Jazz or Tele and, even if not so restricted with the P/Strat, undoing the whole scratchplate to change a battery is a real drag.
I hand the story over to guitartech guru Steve, in Sale (Manchester UK). His words and pics are in this link below. I would add that I also provided a Gotoh bridge (not to save the 'original' - I can't stand the thin tin of a Fender/Fenix Bass plate. My attempts to remove the original also resulted in snapped-off screw heads and the shanks having to be drilled out  ) and that Steve reports the Fender bridge pup is behaving a bit strangely with the Fenix neck pup. I'll let you know as I find out more.
http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/fenix-piezo.html
and Steve's homepage is worth looking at if you're local and need work done: http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk |
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