The Tuner fix - part 2

Well I ordered the switches on Amazon. These are mini rocker switches from China. And though it estimated 6 weeks for delivery it took 3 and a half.

They really are small and there are 5 of them for $3.80 - quite a deal. 

So I picked out one with the silk screening right down the middle and set to work. 

First I laid small towels over the kitchen table and pulled out the preamp/tuner.

 

I covered the are with masking tape to protect the finish. The body of the bass is tapered, so there isn't a right angle from the top or bottom you can use. So I used the preamp holes as a guide. The side holes are 1 1/2" apart so the center line was an easy 3/4". The switch is close to 1/2" tall and 5/16" wide. I marked this out on the masking tape carefully - making sure it looked even and parallel to the preamp holes. 

I used my dremel to drill the corner holes( not the best job, but they just need to be inside the lines. 

I then switched blades for a carving tool. This worked like an itty bitty router. It quickly cut out a rough hole. 

I carefully squared up the sides and corners with the router bit and then switching to a triangular file. After a few and test fits the switch just slid in. 

Next I set the bass on its side and ran the wires I added earlier out my new rectangular hole. I soldered those on the switch and reinstalled the preamp.

Next was to reassemble everything, cleanup the sawdust and test it out. 

"A" fine job.  😀

Gig bag

My Craig's list find didn't come with a case, so of course I started scouring Craig's list for a case or gig bag that would fit the bass.  Problem is, there aren't that many acoustic bass guitars out there, let alone orphaned cases or gig bags...

Turning to Amazon, I found a handful but most had reviews that weren't glowing. After researching this for far too long I bought a World Tour gig bag. 

It has 3/4" of foam padding all around and opens from the top like a case rather than the side. It's dimensions were a little big, but bigger is better than smaller. 

The Tuner fix - part 1

Okay it's time to get dirty...

Here's my recent decisions:

1. Since I'm not planning on playing electric much, it's crazy to upgrade the preamp just for the tuning function.  
2. Using a Snark or other clip on tuner is just as crazy - perfectly good tuner is sitting there, built in to the bass ready to be used.
3. All I need to do is add a switch to turn on the preamp.
4. I could tap into the connection that goes to the jack and wire another switch in parallel, so that it still is activated when plugged in or when the switch is flipped. Won't you forget and leave it on - killing the battery?  Maybe an LED status indicator is needed?  The tuner has a "heartbeat" blink when active and since I only plan to use this for the tuner, the tuner will always be activated - causing it to blink. I was thinking of a mini toggle switch, since that's what's used in electric guitars, but think a rocker switch will look better. 

Found these mini rocker switches on Amazon. They look good and they're small - very discreet. Unfortunately, I haven't ordered them yet...

But I'm anxious to get this project moving...

Let's start with the wiring...

1. Remove the 4 screws that hold the preamp in. and lift it out of the bass's body.
2. remove the 2 plugs - the small one is to the pickup and the larger one is to the jack. Tape them so they don't fall back into the bass body - otherwise you'll be shaking them out...

The preamp should look like this. the remaining red and black wires are to the 9 volt battery and aren't removable on the preamp side.

Remove the two nuts that hold the jacks in place. This will allow the metal cover to come off the back of the unit. Which looks like this. 

We want to tap into the mini stereo jack on the right of the picture.  There are 2 circuit boards in the preamp and lots of fancy electrical thingies we don't want to damage...

To get to the solder connection to the jack, we need to get to the other side.

I found out the top board is held in place with pin connectors.

I gently pried the board loose with a non-conductive prying tool (left over chopstick found in the silverware drawer...)

Here is the preamp with the top board removed.

Here is the top board. The 3 solder connections on the upper right are to the jack. it's a stereo jack though the signal is only mono. The audio is on the tip of the plug, the switch lead comes in on the middle ring, and ground on the top ring. We want to tap into the top solder joint and the lower/middle one.

I found some about 10" of paired stranded wire and got out my low wattage pencil soldering iron. Low heat is the way to go when you are fiddling with circuit boards. Once the iron was hot I tinned the wires. Next I placed them one at a time onto the solder join on the board. A quick bit of heat and they were now connected.

Now it's reassembly time.  I plan to run my new wires out of the preamp case with the power wires. So with the wires running away from the jacks, I snapped the top board back in place. 

Next, I put the metal cover over the preamp. This took a little bending, since the metal is soft and it needs to fit snuggly. 

I put the nuts back on the jacks and plugged the 2 cables taped to the side of the bass back into the preamp.  Not hard to figure out which goes where. Make sure both are completely in, or something won't work...

The preamp needs to be angled into the cutout so the the plugs can make it through, then leveled out so that the edge of the other end of the preamp case will fit in.

Since I didn't have my switch yet, I'm just going to leave wires dangling out. I just need to touch the wires together to tune - that is if this worked...

Now with the wires connected - Voila! the tuner is on.

Now to order the switch and install it...

Mor(e)on the Tuner

The tuner thing is really starting to bug me. I'll be damned if I will carry around a plug for tuning...

I did a little research and found that Ibanez offers 3 models of its acoustic bass - AEB5E, AEB10E and AEB20E.  The 5 uses a AEQ202T tuner. The 10 and 20 appear to use a different tuner - a Fishman SST.
The SST has a 3 band EQ, a phase and shape setting plus a tuner that appears to work while not plugged in...

Looks like you may be able to find one used, but not cheap - $200 or so - and they have a different battery/output jack.

So upgrading the preamp wouldn't be an easy fix...

The Tuner

The tuning thing is starting to bug me.
There is a switch in the preamp to engage the tuner, but the bass needs to be plugged in for it to work.
The jack is a stereo unit and when you plug in the mono guitar cord into it, one wire is connected to ground which powers up the preamp.   The tuning switch on the preamp only disables the audio out to the amp while tuning - okay, makes sense, but why not enable the preamp a the same time?
Seems like a poor design.

Did some searching and found a number of people complain about it and the accepted work around is to carry around a cable or just the plug end for when you want to tune.

Bought the AEB5E Bass

Was looking for an acoustic bass on Craig's List for a while. Came across a good deal on an Ibanez. It was rated highly on Musician's Friend, was in good shape and reasonable. So there ya go.

Sounds great even with old strings. Very pleased.

After getting it home, I found that the built in tuner doesn't work unless the bass is plugged in. Since I plan to mainly use in acoustically, the tuner was totally useless.
Hmmm.