Manchester Guitar Tech
Fitting Graphtech Ghost saddles to a Fenix Jazz Bass
First job was to modify the bridge plate so that the wires from the piezo saddles would pass though. The holes were drilled just large enough for the plugs to fit through and the edged chamfered with a countersink bit to avoid any sharp edges and chafing of the delicate wires.
The hole positions were transferred to the bass body so that a channel could be routed.
A Dremel tool and Stewmac router base were used to rout a channel for the piezo wires.
Here’s a shot of the completed piezo channel.
Here is the assembled bridge.
It was decided to place the piezo junction box under the bridge pickup. This was because:
- the wires wouldn’t reach the control cavity,
- space in the control cavity was at a premium and
- it seemed like the best place!
Here is the bridge fixed to the bass with the wires passed through to the bridge pickup rout.
A battery box was routed for.
And fitted to make battery changing a snap.
Here’s the control cavity. New pots were fitted and because a volume control was required for the piezo circuit, the magnetic pickups were given concentric volume controls.
The blender circuit board fitted nicely in the bottom of the control cavity, requiring just a slight undercut with a chisel make it fit.
Hello Steve,
could one add piezo pickups to a fretless jazz bass or K&K pickups just to get the same pickup tones as you would get from a double bass? is the process of doing this similar to what you just did here?
Fantastic job btw Steve, it a really nice work of art!
Thanks for your comment. I don’t think you’d ever get the same sound from a solid bass guitar as you get from a proper double bass. You might get closer than with magnetic pickups though.
please, what piezo circuit are you using?
best regards
If I recall correctly, it’s the Ghost Acousti-phonic board
Thanks!
Hello Steve,
Thanks for doing such a great job (and on the other setups and repairs you’ve also done for me). The early Fenix is now appreciated, judging by recent eBay. Worth mentioning that the Gotoh bridge is a vast improvement on the original and the D’Ad flats you put on have mellowed nicely. Took it to the 1st ever UK lefty bass bash where some much better players gave it a run and it sounded great. Apart from tuning, I haven’t had to do a thing and it plays like butter.
My son’s Squier VM Telebass could be coming your way; action of an egg-slicer despite my tweaking.
Best regards, Oz