New (Used) Bass Day. Kingfisher SE

[tbp0701]

My second PRS and second bass arrived today, a Kingfisher SE (MiK). I'm a bit mixed on it so far. Action is a bit high, and I don't have a truss rod tool (or a skinny/angled socket) for that size/kind. And I'm not sure about the electronics; they're quite different from the Jazz Bass I'm used to. I'll include a shot of the wiring cavity and see if anyone has a guess whether that's from the factory or a previous owner has done some work.

 

[shimmilou]

Nice bass! I really like the natural look. Can't tell if it is wired correctly, but looks like a factory job, nothing looks tampered with. The setup is just like a Jazz bass, you have a volume for each pickup, and a master tone, but the Kingfisher has humbucker pickups. I had a Kingfisher and found it to have a softer sound with seemingly less output than the Jazz bass, or at least less of the punchy sound that I like, so ended up getting a Kestrel which I like better, more like a Jazz bass sound.

 

[tbp0701]

Nice bass! I really like the natural look. Can't tell if it is wired correctly, but looks like a factory job, nothing looks tampered with. The setup is just like a Jazz bass, you have a volume for each pickup, and a master tone, but the Kingfisher has humbucker pickups. I had a Kingfisher and found it to have a softer sound with seemingly less output than the Jazz bass, or at least less of the punchy sound that I like, so ended up getting a Kestrel which I like better, more like a Jazz bass sound.

Thanks. I'm liking it better spending more time with it. I do like my Jazz Bass, a Squier Vintage Modified 77, on which I've been learning. I think what threw me off a bit is the controls are the same but the sound is quite different, especially when blending/using both pickups.

I was looking at Kestrals, but I thought something different would be better.

Also, I had a minor realization a bit ago. My Jazz Bass is black with a maple fretboard, while the Kingfisher natural and rosewood, so a bit of a yin/yang thing between them.

 

[Prina]

looks like a factory job, nothing looks tampered with.

I'll second that. Looks like the factory wiring my SEs came with.

Great looking bass. The Koreans made some great guitars. Congrats!

 

[bodia]

Sweet as sweet!

 

[tbp0701]

Thanks. Since I don't have a truss rod wrench for it, I stopped by a shop where they were kind enough to do a quick adjustment, and it plays much better now. So I'm really liking that part. But the pickup output is very low compared to my Squier VM77 Jazz Bass' single coils. So I'm debating on whether to replace the pickups and electronics.

I also looked up how to adjust the Hipshot Transtone bridge.

 

[TorturedAcademic]

You should be able to ask PRS Customer Service about where to source an SE Bass wrench. It's a great platform as a bass, but the pickups and their output are well known to be a weak point on these. There's a pretty large community of folks who have swapped pickups on these that you can find online. I put an EMG 35P4 and 35TW in mine.

 

[tbp0701]

You should be able to ask PRS Customer Service about where to source an SE Bass wrench. It's a great platform as a bass, but the pickups and their output are well known to be a weak point on these. There's a pretty large community of folks who have swapped pickups on these that you can find online. I put an EMG 35P4 and 35TW in mine.

Thanks. I asked in the tech thread about the wrench and received a response. For your swap, you were able to fit an active preamp in the control cavity, then?

 

[TorturedAcademic]

I didn't add a preamp - kept the wiring the same with the EMG parts.

 

[tbp0701]

I didn't add a preamp - kept the wiring the same with the EMG parts.

Cool, thanks. When I looked earlier I thought the only passive EMG 35 was the 35Hz. Did you use the EMG kit pots; if so, did the holes need routed a bit? Thanks again!