Presenting "Blackie v1.0", my guitar-bass project

littlebadboy

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Aug 8, 2017
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Hello everyone! I would like to share with you my project - Blackie v1.0.

My son plays drums. Well... learning to. I've been wanting to jam with him while he's still home, but have not got the chance. We just thought that jamming without a bass player would be boring. So, I thought of a guitar that could play bass at the same time. This is the final version 1.0!

I bought an old but somewhat well-cared Yamaha EG112C2 for only $30 to modify and start on. I changed the tuners, pots and rewired. I am only using the humbuckers wired straight to the volume pot straight to the output jack. I took off the middle pickup. In its place is a cigar box guitar 2-string pickup with Alnico 3 magnets. It also wired straight to a volume pot, then to an output jack. It feeds into an octave pedal, then to a Behringer BDI21 bass amp modeler going into my PA rig.

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Found some Chinese locking tuners in my parts box. They were totally useless! They were breaking my new strings! Lesson learned... I will changing it with JinHo in the future.
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I will try to record video demos soon... when I get to figure out how to record live better. But, here's a quick one:

When I receive my Chinese rail humbuckers, I will re-configure this guitar set up into a Blackie v2.0!

Thank you for looking!
 
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So how does it play? Do you need to change your technique to get the bass you are after?
 
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So how does it play? Do you need to change your technique to get the bass you are after?
Yeah, you have to adjust a little, like make sure that your root note is always the first string you strum and should always be on 5th or 6th string. Check out Local H band that uses the same thing playing live as a 2 piece.
 
(squints)

A two-string pickup? I call shenanigans.

EDIT: okay, apparently the two-string pickup is real.

Well, it's too bad the thread is going to be deleted in the morning...you should check out Royal Blood -- he does the opposite, he plays the bass like a guitar. There's a couple "how to sound like Royal Blood" videos on YouTube, too.
 
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(squints)

A two-string pickup? I call shenanigans.
Yep! A 2-string pickup! This one I got that is installed was intended for a cigar box guitar. I simply re-purposed it. Apparently, there are other custom pickup winders who actually does this for the same intention. I would like to have a humbucker version of a 2-string pickup. I read somewhere that octave pedals picks them up better to produce better sub-octave sounds from the original.

It's not new. Scott Lucas of Local H has a different approach. He uses the other half of a p-bass pickup. Local H is a 2-piece band. Just a drummer and a guitar/singer.


(squints)
Well, it's too bad the thread is going to be deleted in the morning...you should check out Royal Blood -- he does the opposite, he plays the bass like a guitar. There's a couple "how to sound like Royal Blood" videos on YouTube, too.

I will check out Royal Blood. But, why would this thread be deleted?
 
Because we only really talk about PRS guitars here. It's a rule of the forums. Please do come back when you get your PRS guitar, I will be very curious how much of the sound is the actual pickup. I bet you get most of the sound putting your PRS guitar through the same setup.

You could also try TGP, another brand-independent forum, like the one you originally posted on (which I found by googling the text of your post, which was obviously copy-pasted).
 
You could also try TGP, another brand-independent forum, like the one you originally posted on (which I found by googling the text of your post, which was obviously copy-pasted).
Yes sir, spreading the word that it can be done at the least cost!

If it is the policy, I would truly understand if this would be deleted.

I will be picking up my PRS in a few hours. I am excited! It is just a single cut SE. It is all I can afford. Barely even. But, a PRS is a PRS. I consider it a blessing.

Have a nice day, sir.
 
Might be too little, too late, but to keep this thread alive, maybe add some PRS content to your original post(s) along the lines of:

"So, if I wanted to do the same to a PRS model, it looks like the EG or NF3 might be a good place to start. Has anyone done this kind of thing to a PRS?"

And then we'd maybe have a conversation about doing just that.
 
Might be too little, too late, but to keep this thread alive, maybe add some PRS content to your original post(s) along the lines of:
Actually sir, my intention is to do this to all of my guitars! But... I'm not sure if I will do it to my coming PRS. However, if there's a way to make a flat 2-string pickup in P90 form perhaps, maybe I can snug it under the string in between the 2 pickups.

What do you guys think?

Or perhaps... if my project was a good idea, PRS would be interested to create a model using the concept!
 
There's an SE One modified in a similar way for sale on Reverb: https://reverb.com/item/1782731-prs-se-one-modified

Ain't a thing wrong with a Singlecut SE. If it's a humbucker model, you could modify a humbucker ring and mount a single coil sized pickup for the guitar sound and then your two-string (or maybe a three string) pickup for the bass. Check out Ubertar for hexaphonic pickups. They could make what you need.

I'd love to see a thread of you chronicling this mod on a PRS!
 
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