Photogenic J Bass - Teardown and Cleanup

[@lonnylasagna]

Makes me so happy seeing people refinish old instruments - you gave that thing a new lease on life! Looks great bud!

[@Nomortem]

Personally I love the look of cream pickups on sunburst, this thing looks and sounds amazing!

[@DrNoClu]

Looks neat with the cream pickups

[@glennhynes5263]

That neck is top-notch. The bass looks beautiful as is. Nicely done Geoff.

[@guitfidle]

I'm actually quite impressed with the neck on that thing, that flame is nicer than a lot of high end basses. I'm a part time luthier myself, I gotta say, the overall quality on this bass is pretty impressive, especially for how much you spent. The pickups and electronics are better than my SX jazz bass (although I am really happy with the neck). Too bad the poles on the pickups did not match the curve. All in all though, nice score!!

[@mrfatbobrider1969]

Laughed when I saw that pickgaurd with the film still on it, just like my strat copy , and some of my old phones 😆😆

[@le_fancy_squid]

It's been fun to try and figure out the time signatures of that song that begins playing at 14:08, it sounds off while still sounding correct. On a different note that solo at the end was so clean, and I'm quite surprised to see you've reconciled with your drummer so quickly.

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Yeah, he bought me some new microphones for Xmas so it's hard to stay mad at him😜 The timing on that one is a bit interesting, depending on how you count it... I count verses as a simple 4/4, with a kick on one and a snare on 3, every 8th bar during the chorus is shortened to 2/4. Some people might count that as cut common time with snares landing on 2 and 4, in which case you would count the bars in the chorus as 4___/4___/4___/3__/. The reason this sounds normal is the melody resolves in the right places to make it feel like it's landed where it was always going to go. It's an exercise I sometimes try - writing the most bizarre set of chords and trying to weave a melody through them that ties them all together and makes sense. I've been coming up with some pretty crackpot stuff recently, I'm thinking of doing an album soon but I don't know how much of it will be suitable for this channel though, I think most of the audience would find it difficult to relax to a woodworking video while I'm blasting 15/8 on a melodica😆

[@le_fancy_squid]

​@@fanbladeinstrumentsWhat are you talking about? 15/8 on a melodica is known for how relaxing it is, it's the traditional style of music played at spas.

[@darlinguniverse56]

Oh man, every single pickup combination sounds absolutely perfect! I have a fretless jazz bass which is a total mess, but has a gorgeous Mexican Fender neck with some flame, and DiMarzio pickups. It's a total pain to play but it sounds fantastic. I feel like some kind of upgrade/rework is due.

[@ant1sokolow]

Nice one. That bass seem to have been bought on a whim, barely played, and then put under the bed. The metal parts look old, but it's just a sign of the bad quality of the chrome plating. That didn't mean they can't work properly. The reworking of the neck to real JB dimensions may be a nice challenge.. the depth may be easy, but the width not

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

That headstock logo font is so 90s that it hurts 😂

[@fanbladeinstruments]

I can hear my modem connecting to dialup every time I look at it

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Cor! Look at the flame on that!

[@MegaTerryNutkins]

Looks great with the cream Dimarzios, plus everyone will know it's a quality MIJ copy now!

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Hmm, I have to be careful about that, it not an MIJ, it's an MIK, the difference is about NZ$400 and I'd hate for anyone to get ripped off. I might just discretely stamp 'Made in Korea' on it somewhere. Cheers.

[@MegaTerryNutkins]

@@fanbladeinstruments Ah ok, I had it playing in the background and missed that part. Assumed it was Japanese because of the nice wood! I have an old MiK (Samick factory) Aria Integra from the transitional period when they moved production and were using up old parts, has the huge Japanese bridge on it which weighs a ton. Quality bass with the hottest passive pickups I've ever heard.

[@aleksandrmclean146]

I guess you could say the neck on that bass is pretty... photogenic! I'll see myself out...

[@fanbladeinstruments]

No need to see yourself out, in fact the door is locked and there is no escape😉 I managed to resist putting that joke in the video because I knew one of you would make it, the circle remains unbroken and I thank you😁

[@hippoferd]

Hi nice work, the bridge pickup sounds a little bit weird, maybe the new strings ?

[@MrEliakimRAS]

It sounds like it has a chorus effect embedded on it.

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Could be the new strings, could be the pickup height, I like to lift up a bridge pickup to get more volume out of it but it might be a little too close to the strings. I'll have a bit more of a play around with it and see if it mellows out a bit. Thanks

[@emersondelvalle7054]

Hi.... May I know, where does the Brand Photo Genic Bass Guitar made? Japan or China?

[@chriswareham]

Looks like someone bought that to learn on, lost interest and then had it stored away for years in a humid climate - it even still had the protective plastic on the pickguard! You definitely got a great bargain with that bass - what website(s) do you use to spot these Far Eastern gems?

[@fanbladeinstruments]

Here is my standard spiel about the process: www.jauce.com They're an English language portal into various Japanese auction sites, you buy Yen through them and bid on the auctions, then when you win they organize with the sellers to have it delivered to their warehouse and pack it up for international shipping. You have to pay for their services though, they get you coming and going and shipping all the way to NZ isn't cheap, that's partially why I bought so many, I could save a bit on the shipping and banking fees etc by buying in bulk. $35 for the jazz, yes, but by the time I average out what I actually spent it worked out to about NZ$350 per bass, which is still pretty good, that's half what I would pay locally for the Warwick, and less than a third of what the Fresher is worth. If I was buying the jazz on it's own it simply wouldn't be worth spending $150 to ship a $35 bass to me, but folding that cost into the others makes it a bit more viable.

[@BaBaBaBenny]

Looks very similar in quality/construction to the stickered-up bass you put bartolinis in, still got that one?

[@fanbladeinstruments]

No, I reluctantly sold that one on, my friend is a guitar teacher and one of his star pupils wanted a bass so she could do some recording, and she's putting it to good use too. I've heard a couple of her tracks and she's hoping to release something later in the year, so watch this space😁

[@GianmarioScotti]

What difference do you think your 2,5 mm thick bridge will make, vs. the original 1,5 mm thick bridge? I assume, none at all.

[@DrNoClu]

A heavier bridge allows for more sustain I'm pretty sure

[@fanbladeinstruments]

You assume wrong but it's a common mistake. It's a matter of rigidity, you can bend 1mm steel with your bare hands, 1.5 isn't going to be too much better, and as it's got to hold all the tension of the strings I don't really trust it not to be a little bendy/springy. The 2.5mm is going to add rigidity which is going to increase the stability and the sustain. Don't confuse this with the whole HI-Mass bridge idea, Fender are doing everyone a disservice by equating weight with sustain. Let's be very clear about the following: Increased rigidity equals increased sustain. Increased weight may or may not increase rigidity. Therefore: Increased weight may or may not increase sustain. If you were to buy a bridge made out of lead it'd be really heavy but too soft to even hold the string tension, conversely, a magnesium alloy bridge would be light as a feather and rigid as all hell. In the case of my two base plates, will the difference be noticeable? I don't really care. I've got a superior part so I'm going to use it.

[@GianmarioScotti]

@@DrNoClu any amount of blind testing, as well as measurements of sustain using oscilloscope, show no difference whatsoever.

[@Sthefanoz]

¿Qué pastilla le pusiste?

[@timbeaton5045]

Was thinking of making some bass pickups in your stylee... but seems to be difficult to find 43 awg/0.006mm wire... where do you get yours from? Or is that only an NZ supplier?

[@fanbladeinstruments]

I get it from Aliexpress, here's the link to the actual one I buy: NZ$23.85 | 500g red Enameled Copper Wire 0.06 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.16 0.8 0.09 1.4mm Magnet Wire Enameled Copper Winding wire Coil QA-1-155 2UEW a.aliexpress.com/_mrYwZZK

[@timbeaton5045]

@@fanbladeinstruments Thanks! Have sourced some bobbins like yours and some cylindrical neodymium magnets that will fit the bobbins. Might as well try to follow your general design, as it's similar to the Wal bass pickup design. But need to build a winder/counter etc. Should be fun!

[@fanbladeinstruments]

@@timbeaton5045 I'd love to know how you get on with the cylinder magnets, I've always assumed they'd be too strong to put that close to the strings but I've never tried it. I use a steel bolt as the magnetic force is somewhat dissipated by the time it reaches the strings but if I didn't have to then that'd make several things a lot easier. I may have to try it for myself. And's yes, I'll get back to you regarding pcb's shortly, cheers