Melvyn Hiscock

Remember that you can make things too complicated. If you have to stop, remember where a switch has to be, change it and then start playing then you are already way behind your band. There is a good case for keeping things simply (I have been known to say in print that all you need to do is give me a Les Paul Junior!) before you make any decision to install a clever wiring system ask yourself how often you are likely to use the choices. By the way, I just checked in the mirror, I am me.

Of course I am a 'Newbie" I have only been doing this for thirty years. There is still a lot to learn.

Veneer is pretty easy to use. It is also pretty easy to get out if you decide to put frets back into you bass. Don't worry about the camber, you are only sanding the veneer down to the surface of the fingerboard that si already there. Sand ALONG the board until the inlays are flush and then use lighter grade paper to finish the board off. It is not difficult. Do no, ever, use chisels and screwdrivers to get frets out. Spend the extra on a proper pair of end nippers as that is cheaper than replacing your fingerboard. I have seen some really bad fret jobs. Please don't do another. It is cheaper to get the tools and do it properly.

This is the sort of thing that guitar parts suppliers have designed just to send people mad! Firstly, you ARE dealing with a rotary switch, just one that is tuned on its side, that is what these switches are. I have one in may fave Tele which is Bridge, Neck and bridge in parallel, neck and bridge in series (great on a Tele), neck and bridge in series out of phase and neck. Working this out made my brain very sore. I have another requirement at the moment similar to yours but somehow every time I sit down to think about this something esle crops up, like needing to watch some paint dry or wanting to learn how to make origami guitar bodies or, mmmm, just something. If I can concentrate long enough (not likely) I will have a go and try to work this one out. My plan is for Bridge, Outer coils in series both humbuckers in series out of phase One coil of bridge and both neck in series Neck humbucking but then, tomorrow night I have a first rehearsal for a gig in a few weeks and I will probably just plug a P90 into a valve amp and use that all night!

It is not that common that windings in both coils get broken but a broken winding in a single coil can often leave you with a thin sound. the point is that the continutity through the pickup as a whole is broken. If you coil tapped this pickup you have a 50% chance of it working in one position, but only if the break in the coil is on the coil 'nearest' to the earth connection.

It sounds like a busted pickup. It is common that you will get some sound but very weak. A winding in the pickup is broken or a wire has come loose. With Di Marzios having no covers they are open to damage. Check the bobbins and see if there is any damage. It might be worth getting it rewound but it is most likely time to get a new pickup. Melvyn Hiscock

It is very simple. The DPDT switch is simply two SPDT switches side by side so each half taps one pickup. take the tap wire of one pickup to the centre tag on one side of the switch. Take the other to the other side. Work out which way you want your switch to operate and join the two lugs on that end of the switch to an earth (ground) connection. That will tap both pickups. Melvyn Hiscock

You'll find that a well sharpened scraper will be worth it's weight in P90s whe you come to finish the carving. There are a few tutorials on sharpening scrapers around and they are worth looking at. Oval scapers are excellent when carving maple. Be prepared for quite a bit of sanding too . . . Hey! Look who the sawdust bunnies dragged in... Good to see you here! (also, I sent you some email yonks ago. Didya get it?) Mattia I got some of the email, thanks. When are you coming over? Yup, indeed the sawdust bunnies did indeed drag me in. Sawdust bunnies, like Playboy bunnies only . . .dustier . Good, that is why I wrote it, all those long nights huddled over a quill by the light of the oil lamp, the dinosaurs crashing around outside (feeling old, the first edition was 20 years old last month!)

You'll find that a well sharpened scraper will be worth it's weight in P90s whe you come to finish the carving. There are a few tutorials on sharpening scrapers around and they are worth looking at. Oval scapers are excellent when carving maple. Be prepared for quite a bit of sanding too . . .