Peavey Foundation Upgrade

[r_a_smith3530]

I've completed the upgrades to my Peavey Foundation "toofless" bass, and I can definitely hear the difference. The bit of "sproing" that it had is now gone, and the tuners are creamy smooth, probably the nicest tuners I've ever felt on a bass before! Schaller does some precision work.

For those who hadn't read my other writeup on this bass, let me back up for a moment. The instrument itself was purchased on eBay. It actually didn't sell the first time out (there were no bidders). This was probably due to it being a home-made fretless. People were afraid of it. Well, I decided to take the chance, having had experience with Peavey guitars of the '90s.

The bass arrived pretty much as I expected, a good starting point needing only a couple of rough edges dealt with. The de-fretting was quite well done, so that, luckily, was not a problem. The stock bridge was kind of cheesy, and the tuners felt stiff and scratchy.

I started looking for replacement parts, and it wasn't long before a deal came up on eBay for a set of NOS Ovation by Schaller tuners. It didn't matter to me that the Ovation logo was on the back of the tuner, it was the Schaller quality I was after. At under $25 I popped. Next, I came across a used, but very clean Schaller roller bridge at a local guitar show. I had originally thought of using my favorite, Leo Quan's Badass II, but I couldn't pass on the price for this high quality piece.

I had already installed a set of D'Addario's XL Chrome strings (ECB81 - .045-.100), so these were carefully removed. The tuners had locating pins (instead of mounting screws), so once I had the originals out, I had to mock up and drill shallow holes for the pins. A dremel is a wonderful tool! Once those were done, the tuners went into place and their nuts were tightened down. The bridge, unlike a Badass II, was not a drop-in replacement. The Schaller uses 3 mounting holes, so I had to first fill in the original bridge's mount locations. With that accomplished, I lined up where the Schaller would sit and marked off where I needed to drill out for the mounting screws. The bridge was screwed into place. After leaving everything to sit overnight, I reinstalled the strings.

I am including a couple of shots to show you what the setup looks like. I still have to fill in the holes from the old tuners, but that will be accomplished in good time. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that I re-relocated the bottom strap button.

[Tone2TheBone]

Nice. There's also nothing like the pure tone of flatwounds.

[r_a_smith3530]

Nice. There's also nothing like the pure tone of flatwounds.

Yes tone, you are quite right. I have them on everything except my acoustic bass, and it may get them before long!

EDIT: I forgot to mention, my preference in flatwounds is D'Addario's XL Chromes. They seem to have the best mix of price, feel, low tension, and tone that I desire. I will say here that my no holds barred fav is Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats, and my G&L is strung with these, but their price prvents me from stringing everything I own with them.

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice work! Every day here, I watch and learn.

Steve

[Tone2TheBone]

Yes tone, you are quite right. I have them on everything except my acoustic bass, and it may get them before long!

EDIT: I forgot to mention, my preference in flatwounds is D'Addario's XL Chromes. They seem to have the best mix of price, feel, low tension, and tone that I desire. I will say here that my no holds barred fav is Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats, and my G&L is strung with these, but their price prvents me from stringing everything I own with them.

I'm not sure what flats came on my Jazz Bass when I got it but man they FEEL good and sound awesome. Thanks for your recommedations on the strings I'll have to give those a whirl.

[r_a_smith3530]

I'm not sure what flats came on my Jazz Bass when I got it but man they FEEL good and sound awesome. Thanks for your recommedations on the strings I'll have to give those a whirl.

If it's the Squire, they are probably Fender 9050's. I've heard some folks speak kindly of those and others not-so-kindly. If you check at Musician's Friend, they are definitely priced right!