Planning a partscaster Warmoth build

[JustH3LL]

Hey TB! This is my first post on the forum, and I apologize if this is the wrong location for my post. I wasn't sure exactly where to put this. Moderators feel free to relocate this thread as you see fit.
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Anyway, I've been playing bass for about a year and a half now, and have collected two axes in the process: An Ibanez Talman Bass 100 (TMB-100) in "walnut flat" color as my starter, and then a SBMM S.U.B. Ray5 in a "honey burst satin" finish as my second ax after I got the StingRay bug. I love both of my basses and all, but I don't find the standard 34" scale to be very comfortable in my case, so I want to look into getting a 30" scale bass as my new ax. I've been playing my Talman exclusively on the P bass pup and I love the tone of it, and I really dig the MM tone, so I figured why not mix the two? I understand that both pups cannot be in their sweet spots and I am okay with that.

I have my basic plans laid out in the files attached and I have a few questions about my plans.

I'm planning a reverse headstock for the neck for no other than aesthetic purposes, and I plan to integrate a Hipshot Xtender into the build as I found I had no use for the B on my Ray5 and figured drop D at the flick of a switch would be sufficient with me. Will a Hipshot Xtender still function on the low E with this sort of setup, or should I flip the headstock back around?

I picked the bridge route for the Schaller 463 as it appears to be physically identical to the Schaller 3D-4, and I would like to get a 3D-4 equipped with a piezo pup, for that extra bite a piezo bridge pup would provide. Will this 463 rout work? I do not have the necessary tools to do the routing myself, so I am limited to only being being able to use the routes Warmoth provides on their custom build page, which leads me to my next question.

Is there a bridge in this list that you guys would think would be better for this build?

This is my first time building a bass or stringed instrument in general, and I don't know much about bridges in particular.

...Or on-board preamps. From my understanding, a preamp is almost necessary for a piezo pickup. I don't recall where I read this and I am unsure of the integrity of the information. Assuming this information is true, what preamp would you guys recommend?

And I believe this is my last question at the moment, and it ties in with the last question, assuming the preamp is not necessary and I can go passive, will these pickups play well with each other?

EDIT: Would covers/casings for the pups that don’t expose the pole pieces stop the clicking of strings hitting them, and if so, where could I find them? I’m currently working on a different technique to pluck them in a way that doesn’t smack the pole pieces, but I’d like this have this as an option anyway.

Here's a really bad mockup I made in PS CS2 of what I imagine the shape would roughly look like if anyone's curious:

And that is all for now. If I find myself having any more questions, I'll edit this post. If any of you guys have any extra input, feel free to fire away with it. Cheers!

 

[sissy kathy]

Hey TB! This is my first post on the forum, and I apologize if this is the wrong location for my post. I wasn't sure exactly where to put this. Moderators feel free to relocate this thread as you see fit.
-------------------------------

Anyway, I've been playing bass for about a year and a half now, and have collected two axes in the process: An Ibanez Talman Bass 100 (TMB-100) in "walnut flat" color as my starter, and then a SBMM S.U.B. Ray5 in a "honey burst satin" finish as my second ax after I got the StingRay bug. I love both of my basses and all, but I don't find the standard 34" scale to be very comfortable in my case, so I want to look into getting a 30" scale bass as my new ax. I've been playing my Talman exclusively on the P bass pup and I love the tone of it, and I really dig the MM tone, so I figured why not mix the two? I understand that both pups cannot be in their sweet spots and I am okay with that.

I have my basic plans laid out in the files attached and I have a few questions about my plans.

I'm planning a reverse headstock for the neck for no other than aesthetic purposes, and I plan to integrate a Hipshot Xtender into the build as I found I had no use for the B on my Ray5 and figured drop D at the flick of a switch would be sufficient with me. Will a Hipshot Xtender still function on the low E with this sort of setup, or should I flip the headstock back around?

I picked the bridge route for the Schaller 463 as it appears to be physically identical to the Schaller 3D-4, and I would like to get a 3D-4 equipped with a piezo pup, for that extra bite a piezo bridge pup would provide. Will this 463 rout work? I do not have the necessary tools to do the routing myself, so I am limited to only being being able to use the routes Warmoth provides on their custom build page, which leads me to my next question.

Is there a bridge in this list that you guys would think would be better for this build?
View attachment 3334145

This is my first time building a bass or stringed instrument in general, and I don't know much about bridges in particular.

...Or on-board preamps. From my understanding, a preamp is almost necessary for a piezo pickup. I don't recall where I read this and I am unsure of the integrity of the information. Assuming this information is true, what preamp would you guys recommend?

And I believe this is my last question at the moment, and it ties in with the last question, assuming the preamp is not necessary and I can go passive, will these pickups play well with each other?

EDIT: Would covers/casings for the pups that don’t expose the pole pieces stop the clicking of strings hitting them, and if so, where could I find them? I’m currently working on a different technique to pluck them in a way that doesn’t smack the pole pieces, but I’d like this have this as an option anyway.

Here's a really bad mockup I made in PS CS2 of what I imagine the shape would roughly look like if anyone's curious:

View attachment 3334174
And that is all for now. If I find myself having any more questions, I'll edit this post. If any of you guys have any extra input, feel free to fire away with it. Cheers!

I'm planning a reverse headstock for the neck for no other than aesthetic purposes, and I plan to integrate a Hipshot Xtender into the build. Will a Hipshot Xtender still function on the low E with this sort of setup, or should I flip the headstock back around?

No a Hipshot extender will not work. The A tuner on a reverse headstock will interfere with the E string lever on the extender. If you want to use an extender you need to got with a normal headstock.


I picked the bridge route for the Schaller 463 as it appears to be physically identical to the Schaller 3D-4. Will this 463 rout work?

That rout will work, because they are the same bridge, Warmoth just hasn't started using the newer name that Schaller came up with several years ago.


Is there a bridge in this list that you guys would think would be better for this build?

IMO there are three kinds of bridge, tremblo, floating, or hardtail. A hardtail is what you want if you expect to use a piezo with it.


Assuming a preamp is necessary, what preamp would you guys recommend?

Well it isn't necessary. My acoustic/electric has no preamp; it does have passive controls.


Assuming the preamp is not necessary and I can go passive, will these pickups play well with each other?

I don't know, but I'm inclined to think not, piezo pickups as a rule have a much lower output than conventional pickups do.


Would covers/casings for the pups that don’t expose the pole pieces stop the clicking of strings hitting them? I’m currently working on a different technique to pluck them in a way that doesn’t smack the pole pieces.

Keep working on your technique, the strings hitting the pole pieces affects the way the string vibrates every way possible. You might lower your pickups and raise the volume on you amp, that'll help. If you were to use a straight edge to extend the fretboard until it meets the pickup and you keep the pickup below that extended line, it should be virtually impossible to hit the pickups with a vibrating string.

 

[JustH3LL]

I'm planning a reverse headstock for the neck for no other than aesthetic purposes, and I plan to integrate a Hipshot Xtender into the build. Will a Hipshot Xtender still function on the low E with this sort of setup, or should I flip the headstock back around?
No a Hipshot extender will not work. The A tuner on a reverse headstock will interfer with the E string lever on the extender..

I picked the bridge route for the Schaller 463 as it appears to be physically identical to the Schaller 3D-4. Will this 463 rout work?
That rout will work, because they are the same bridge, Warmoth just hasn't started using the newer name that Schaller came up with several years ago.

Is there a bridge in this list that you guys would think would be better for this build?
IMO there are three kinds of bridge, tremblo, floating, or hardtail. A hardtail is whst you want if you expect to use a piezo with it.

Assuming a preamp is necessary, what preamp would you guys recommend?
Well it isn't necessary. My acoustic/electric has no preamp; it does have passive controls.

Assuming the preamp is not necessary and I can go passive, will these pickups play well with each other?
I don't know, but I'm inclined to think not, piezo pickups as a rule have a much lower output than conventional piickups do.

Would covers/casings for the pups that don’t expose the pole pieces stop the clicking of strings hitting them? I’m currently working on a different technique to pluck them in a way that doesn’t smack the pole pieces.
Keep working on your technique, the strings hitting the pole pieces affects the way the string vibrates everyway possible. You might lower your pickups and raise the volume on you amp, that'll help.

1. Okay, righty headstock it is!

2. Same bridge, okay I see

3. My bad for not specifying a hardtail bridge; that’s what I’m looking at

4/5. I’ll take that info about the preamp into consideration. I would like to ditch it and use a preamp pedal if possible. I’ll go do some reasearch with pots and such regarding passive controls.

6. Okay I will do!