Assembling a 'tractor' jazz bass clone/tribute.

#22
IMAGE 2024-10-08 14:47:28.jpeg
Unknown.jpeg


The neck arrived. Looks great. The heel doesn't quite fit the body. But nothing that some sandpaper cannot fix. I allso ordered two aluminium pickup rings. I like some bling on my bass.
 
#24
We all know the bridge cover right? I was thinking of a threaded insert and a wheel on the inside to be able to lower a damper on the strings. A brace with some thick piano felt....

I assume others have already thought of that.
 
#25
In the thread: Tractor electronics a member by the name "Sunbeast" replied: " For your issue of having too much subs from the Bisonic pickup you could probably instead benefit from a passive bass-cut control, which is able to act independently when placed before that pickup’s volume control because the control works in series rather than in parallel to that pickup (so turning down the bass from the Bisonic wouldn’t affect the bass from the other pickups the same way passive high-cut tone controls do). You can wire a passive bass cut as a single capacitor or put it on a potentiometer (ideally a 1meg ohm reverse-audio taper) ala G&L L-1000/L-2000 bass ".


I found that to be excellent advice. I will look into that.
 
#27
From: Bigdaveonbass in 2008: The "blond" Tractor started life as a '62 Jazz Bass. Oakley put the Hagstrom Bi-sonic pickup in the neck position and added a route and relocated the stock Jazz neck pickup between the bridge and bridge pickup. Oakley at one time had the Tractor wired for the Bi-sonic pickup to run to one amp and the two Jazz pickups going to another amp, separating the highs and lows. When Berry Duane Oakley, Berry Oakley's son, received the bass in 1989 as a gift from Dickey Betts, who had rescued it from a FL guitar shop, he and Joe Dan Petty rewired the pickups back to series. Shortly before Berry Oakley died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash, the neck from his '66 Jazz Bass was swapped onto it. The '62 neck went on to the '66 Jazz body. That bass belonged for a while to Oakley's daughter, Brittany, but she somehow lost possession of it to a former boyfriend who now plays for a famous southern rock outfit. It is believed to be somewhere in the Jacksonville, FL area. The sunburst Tractor that Oakley played was actually the first Tractor. It is believed to be a '68-'69 Jazz Bass. He acquired that bass shortly after the band moved from Jacksonville to Macon in 1969. Pictures exist of that bass in stock form, then with the Bi-sonic pickup in the neck position and one Jazz bridge pickup, then two Jazz pickups at the bridge. The whereabouts of that bass is unknown. Some people claim that the Sunburst bass was sanded and became the blond bass, but if you look closely at the Bi-sonic pickup positions in the two basses, the blond bass shows a tilt in the pickup installation. There were two Tractors, but only one is accounted for, and it belongs to Berry Duane Oakley now. Also, Oakley had a '66 Precision bass that Dickey Betts had after Oakley's passing, and he recently presented it to his bassist in Great Southern, Pedro Arevalo.
 
#28
Posted by Oakbass in 2012:
Berry Oakley's Tractor Bass Gets Cloned:bassist:


By Diane Gershuny
Originally published on Fender's BassStreet.com

Berry Oakley's "Tractor Bass" will forever be immortalized in the annals of bass lore, and on classic recordings like the Allman Brothers' Live at the Fillmore East. This hybrid instrument, cobbled together by Oakley and roadie, Joe Dan Petty, was a modified Jazz Bass with the neck pickup moved back and a Guild Starfire pickup put in its place. Many a story circulated about how the band tolerated the "Frankenstein" instrument-which looked more like a farm implement than a musical instrument-but none could deny the amazing sound it produced in Berry's hands.

After his untimely death in a motorcycle accident, the bass was inherited by his son, Berry Jr. Berry Jr. began playing and touring with the instrument in his own group Bloodline... until he had it appraised. "I knew it was a historical piece and it meant a lot to my dad. When the Allman Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, I went to the ceremony to accept my father's award and took the Tractor with me.

I figured I could get someone to give me an actual estimated value. So the people at the Hall of Fame did their appraisal, and said it was somewhere in the area of $50,000-$60,000. So that was like, 'OK! We need to retire this baby!'" Berry Jr. brought the instrument to the Custom Shop's Master Builder Todd Krause (who has built signature and custom instruments for artists ranging from Marcus Miller, Roscoe Beck and Stu Hamm, to
TractorandTractorJr.jpeg
Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Bob Dylan) and Market Development Coordinator Alex Perez to see whether the instrument could be replicated. "They took the original completely apart and took tons of pictures-back, front, sides, and of the wiring. So, in essence, they made a blueprint of their own in one day, and Todd basically worked off the pictures." The result? Well, you try and tell the difference!
 
#31
IMAGE 2024-10-10 09:26:52.jpg


A first mock up. I was sanding the neck to fit in the neckpocket right. I enlarged the space in the pickguard to make it work with the Guild pickup. I have not yet drilled the holes in the neck. I allso have not made the cavities for the jazz pickups. I will be waiting for the pickup rings to do that. After I have fitted all the bling and neck and tuners I will take the bass apart again to do the colour change and to go from poly to nitro.

I allso wanna change the bridge and probably use a bridge cover from
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: StevieMac
#33
I was allso thinking about a cavity in the back near the output jack and then fit a Rickenbacker plate for two jacks. But that ain't a cheap part. And I am not sure if I want to be able to make the bass stereo or not. Maybe a toggle switch or something.
 
#35
Muziekschuur said:
View attachment 7047300




I had two of those pickups. Those humbuckers made of two jazz bass single pickups. So that would have been a possibility. But they stayed at my ex. When I found out she was cheating. I like the look of the two single pickups. The separation between the two pickups might do something for the sound. Warwick uses those two single coils in the bridge too. So I think I will stick with single coils on this build.

Here is a Warwick Thumb. They sound amazing because of the two single coils near the bridge.
View attachment 7047303
Click to expand...
I am looking into pickup placement measurements. One measurement I found: Neck pickup is 10 3/4" and bridge pickup is 14 3/8" from the 12th fret. these are measurements from a 2007 AVRI '62 Jazz.
 
#40
Just sanded the clearcoat off the body. Man that stuff they used is tuff. The paint remover did not work on it. Then I sanded it. With a great circle sander. A new velcro sanding disk. But that clearcoat wasn't having it.
IMAGE 2024-10-13 12:38:40.jpg

In this picture it was sanded an hour ago and I wiped the dust with a wet cloth and let it dry another half an hour.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: StevieMac and definenredefine
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back