Need a recipe for this project

[David Schwab]

I have seen maybe 6 over the years. But that was also up in the Northeast where the bulk of these were sold. 16 or so years ago I had a guy come into a store I worked at in Maine. His family owned the building Pedulla rented at some point down in Massachusetts. One day he brought in a guitar carcass that was left behind when they moved. It was the "Buzz Bass" shape. It was almost complete. The rounded edge and transitions on the back of the neck to body and headstock were incomplete. I completed that and it was a great guitar.

The first one I saw was back in the 80s when the band I was in was playing in played with a band from up that way. I can't remember the name of the band, but they were somewhat well known at the time. That was a really nice looking Tele. I was stumped as to how he did that control cavity cover until I had a few of the basses in my shop. Then I saw he sawed it off with a band saw before the body wings where glued on the neck shaft.

I have a regular customer with an MVP bass (the Buzzbass shape) that bought his back in the 80s. I've had to glue the headstock twice after the bass had fallen off a stage in Europe! Real nice bass though.

[Jim Shine]

The one I completed didn't have the cover cut, but I didn't know if they had changed (there was maybe a 10 year gap in age between these). I had one of Dana Bourgeois' guys, Steve Rider, cut it for me to match the one I pictured above. Maybe that is why they didn't complete that blank? They screwed up and didn't cut the cover?

[fieldwrangler]

It certainly does it for me... specially in a 25,5" scaled two-HBs when using both p'ups... it just doesn't sound the way it should for me.



This the one I've been trying to get it to sound right for a couple of years now to no avail. Next week I'm taking it to a local luthier to see if it'll be possible to move back the neck p'up without damaging the instrument. Stay tuned!

Yeah... that both-pickups-full-on-clean-or-slightly-dirty sound really hardens up with the neckbucker in that position.

I run into this situation often enough that I really ought come up with a good-sounding side-by-side 'bucker with one sensing coil & one dummy...

In fact, an old bootleg recording of a live gig from my Maynard Ferguson days surfaced earlier this year in which I recall having played a Strat with an early version of just such a pickup. There's so much "gain focussing" in the amp that it's hard to really know what the pickup actually sounded like, but at least it proves that it can be used in the service of one application for such a thing. Here's the link; do check out the info about how it was recorded (it's pretty funny) by clicking on the "Show More" trigger:

Maynard Ferguson - The Last Dive Live at Disneyland 7/10 - YouTube


Actually, this week I'm shipping a set of 'bucker-size sidewinders for a really high-end custom guitar that's a proprietary twist on a semi-hollow with a 24-fret neck, but the customer wants it to basically Be What It Is.

Bob Palmieri

[Jim Shine]

I liked that tone!

So with the dummy coil, is the idea to get sound of the slug coil side in a 22 fret situation to be the active coil (farthest toward the nut) in a 24 fret set up as they are in roughly the same place?

[fieldwrangler]

I liked that tone!

So with the dummy coil, is the idea to get sound of the slug coil side in a 22 fret situation to be the active coil (farthest toward the nut) in a 24 fret set up as they are in roughly the same place?

The guitar on that recording was a 22 fretter but I wanted the neck pickup to be as syrupy as possible for the clean sounds. So I believe I just stuck some Alnico rods in the neck coil of some stock 'bucker and left the bridgeward coil unloaded (and therefore somewhat imbalanced.)

Bob Palmieri

[Jim Shine]

Gotcha! I know what you were going for, and I like it!