Upgrade Day! Anyone Else Upgrading?

Yeah, I have done this prior on my now super Squire.
Sadly, the cavity is way too small for the pots so saving all that for another day.

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I enlarged them by hand last time, but I’ve got a small drill press in my Amazon cart awaiting credit card reward points to buy. With also needing to widen the cavity, the guts will be a rainy day project now.

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I think it needs cream knobs.

Thoughts?

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A beauty for sure. Cream knobs would be a nice touch

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The crappy part is they come Vol-Tone-Tone so I’d have to buy 2 sets to get Vol-Vol-Tone, but hey, I’ve got a drawer already started for misc bits I’ll probably never use again.

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Been down the vol vol tone road myself.

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She’s a beaut, @John_E . Are those split coil Fralin pups?

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Indeed they are!

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Yep, even with the “drop in” pre-wired control plate, the luthier had to do some light excavating on my Vintage Modified Jazz and add some shielding tape to keep the larger pots from grounding out.

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Yes, I had to get out the Dremel tool when I put full size pots in my Affinity Series PJ bass.

And yes, if you look very closely you can see a teeny tiny spot where the pick guard doesn’t completely cover the cavity.

Oops. :frowning_face:

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Interesting. I didn’t have to make any modificationsto fit the EQ and other pots in the Jaguar, and those EMG pots are pretty big

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The bigger pots fit in the Squier 70’s CV just fine. Had to drill out the plate holes though as mentioned above.
This Squier is a Vintage Modified, model before CV. The pots fit…IF the screw holes for the plate were aligned with the cavity (which they aren’t!!). I think I could just drill new screw holes, but the pots are super tight clearance, so a little dremelling will be the way but not until later, sounds fine as heck, playing a little Hey You by Floyd as every fretless should play.

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Some “lessons learned” tips (that I keep learning) when modding….

  • always have more pickup foam on hand than you think you will need. Once compressed in a bass, it’s rare you can reuse. All pickups are not the same height.

  • CTS (or any larger size pots) don’t fit everywhere, have some minis on hand in both nurled and straight shaft.

  • the cloth pullback wire is easier to work with than more flexible silicone, etc insulated as it holds its place better when soldering, if you plan to mod a lot, a spool of black and white will go far.

Thus, bass#2 awaits Amazon delivery tomorrow.

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Springs for the pickup screws are also a help.

Painters tape I find useful to mask off the area around the control plate to protect the finish

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These only help raise the p’up if they are not just under the plastic cover itself (as they are in this case). I guess it would take some of the work/compression off the foam long term, but seems easier just to swap foam at $1.67 a pop on Stew Mac.

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Oh foam is a better idea, but with EMG pickups I have a couple where the foam would impact there solderless connector on the bottom. So I use springs on the screws for those, they make special ones and they work very well

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On the EMG passives I pulled out of the Bello bass, ESP had put foam under with a nice solid impression mark where the connectors are. So when i swapped them for the active set up, I just followed suit.

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Well, Sweetwater’s new guidance is “end of the month” Vs what has been “next week” for a couple months now.

I do see a few for sale at a small shop in the south of the US, but have never heard of them. Will keep waiting as ive got other projects to work on still.

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Project #2 complete

Fralin PJ set, CTS pots, new cap

The bottom pot is not a CTS, too wide.

Found some really good mini pots on Amazon from Bourns. Super slim, nice big tabs for soldering. Good option for right places.

Quick play and already in love with the Fralins over the EMGs that were in it. They are super crisp and clear, the P has some serious thump. Officially a Fralin fanboi now.

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Nice. :+1: Do you have the overwound Fralins?

Also, could you provide more info on the Bourns pots, a link perhaps?

I’ve had my Aerodyne Jazz a week now and I’m thinking about upgrades. :roll_eyes:

Although it sounds pretty good as is.

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