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Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 9:19 am
by paulo
More to change, so once it's done I'll get more pics and specs!

Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 3:31 pm
by superheavydeathmetal
That looks great, man! Did you use any specific method for determining exactly where to place the humbucker?
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 4:02 pm
by paulo
superheavydeathmetal wrote:That looks great, man! Did you use any specific method for determining exactly where to place the humbucker?
Thanks Conley!
At first I just placed a rule to make sure it would be aligned to the P pickup, then I had to place the pickup and make sure the poles would be in the right place.
Once I figured out where I wanted it to be, I put blue tape all around and went from there slowly
If that was a more expensive body, i wouldn't bother touching it but I got lucky with this one!
I also had to leave some room to adjust the truss rod with an allen wrench... but it seems it wasn't enough as I already took a little paint off the pickup when adjusting the truss rod...
It's good to have a sharpie handy!
I still have to figure out how to wire this thing.

Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 5:46 pm
by superheavydeathmetal
Cool, man. I understand some people get pretty scientific with pickup placement, especially with single-coils (the pole pieces have to be right under the node of the fourth harmonic...). Maybe it doesn't matter as much with humbuckers.
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 5:49 pm
by paulo
superheavydeathmetal wrote:Cool, man. I understand some people get pretty scientific with pickup placement, especially with single-coils (the pole pieces have to be right under the node of the fourth harmonic...). Maybe it doesn't matter as much with humbuckers.
Honestly I have no idea but gave it a shot!

Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 5:56 pm
by zecacosta
Hey Paulo, how are you? Long time no pest you
Hummmmm... so many choices...
With all that pickup power you could go vintage B.C. Rich (multiple single switches) or a Fender-ish solution - a Strat-style single 5-position switch...
Both solutions would require additional drilling/routing and a pretty confusing wiring... specially if you get fancy with the humbucker (single/serial/parallel)
What do you have in mind?
Zeca
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 14th, 2017, 6:02 pm
by paulo
zecacosta wrote:Hey Paulo, how are you? Long time no pest you
Hummmmm... so many choices...
With all that pickup power you could go vintage B.C. Rich (multiple single switches) or a Fender-ish solution - a Strat-style single 5-position switch...
Both solutions would require additional drilling/routing and a pretty confusing wiring... specially if you get fancy with the humbucker (single/serial/parallel)
What do you have in mind?
Zeca
Hey Zeca, good to see you here!
It's been a long time indeed!
Honestly I would like to get the most out of it...
Of course I won't be doing the wiring myself but I have to figure out and get parts ready!
Any suggestions are very welcome everyone!
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 15th, 2017, 2:49 am
by Jeroen
I would personally go for the Billy Sheehan approach, and use the humbucker with its own volume pot to blend in more low end thunder in any pickup setting. This would probably also be the easiest to wire up, because it only takes a third volume knob. If you sacrifice the tone knob, or replace one pot with a stacked pot, you won't have any routing to do other than a wire channel to the control cavity.
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 15th, 2017, 2:27 pm
by paulo
Jeroen wrote:I would personally go for the Billy Sheehan approach, and use the humbucker with its own volume pot to blend in more low end thunder in any pickup setting. This would probably also be the easiest to wire up, because it only takes a third volume knob. If you sacrifice the tone knob, or replace one pot with a stacked pot, you won't have any routing to do other than a wire channel to the control cavity.
Adding a stacked pot seems like a good idea, thanks Jeroen!

Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 16th, 2017, 5:00 am
by pjmuck
Jeroen wrote:I would personally go for the Billy Sheehan approach, and use the humbucker with its own volume pot to blend in more low end thunder in any pickup setting. This would probably also be the easiest to wire up, because it only takes a third volume knob. If you sacrifice the tone knob, or replace one pot with a stacked pot, you won't have any routing to do other than a wire channel to the control cavity.
That's what i did with my Tele bass with an added P PUP. 1 knob is stacked and controls volume of P PUP + a master tone for both. I rarely use the neck humbucker alone, but dial it in slowly with the P PUP and lookout. Makes a guitarist cower behind his amp.
Paulo, what humbucker did you go with?
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: October 16th, 2017, 5:19 am
by paulo
That’s a Dimarzio Will Power.
I’ve also got a set of Dimarzio P+J coming this week.
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 2nd, 2018, 8:31 pm
by paulo
This one is finally done.
I had Gordon from Talkbass put this harness together with a 5 way switch.
H---H/P---P---PJ---J.
I use it mostly in the H/P position.

Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 2nd, 2018, 8:55 pm
by Matt R.
That’s killer
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 2nd, 2018, 9:07 pm
by LefThanDed
24 DiMarzio hex polepieces... Impressive!
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 2nd, 2018, 10:24 pm
by donahue
That is so awesome!!!!! Good grief that turned out cool! I love it! How does the P/HB sound together? Thunderous? 2 more questions: Can we get a pic of the whole bass, headstock too? When can I take delivery?

Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 3rd, 2018, 5:57 am
by paulo
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 3rd, 2018, 7:11 am
by tim
Looks really fun! Nice clean work, too.
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 3rd, 2018, 8:38 am
by paulo
Thanks Tim!
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 3rd, 2018, 9:14 am
by andrew
That's very cool!
Re: Roadstar Frankenbass
Posted: January 3rd, 2018, 12:44 pm
by sblueplanet
Looks great! Kudos to you
