Odd P/J bass

[sydsbluesky]

Okay, so I'm back in Michigan for a few months playing with the band again... bassist is a little flaky, and we have a huge show coming up, so I find myself buying a bass. I kinda drew short straw, since I actually played bass a few years before I got my first guitar, but I got rid of mine about a year ago.

Got it at the local pawn shop. It's a "Series 10 Professional." Can't find much on them online, but it's in near mint condition, plays really well and it was... uhh... cheap!

Neck volume, bridge volume and master tone. Normal... It has the P bass pups in the neck... well, more middle, really... position, and at the bridge it has what is NOT a humbucker, but actually appears to be two J pickups butted up side by side in one hole. Looks like they just took two normal J pups, cut off the dog ear screw attachments on either side, and stuck them in shoulder to shoulder. Oh, this all appears to be 100% stock, also.

I'll add a pic tomorrow when I feel like digging up the USB for the camera...should probably do pics of all my stuff, actually...

So a few questions!

I can't find out anything about the Series 10 Professional... The very helpful dude (trust me, it's the right word) at the pawn shop didn't know anything either. He just told me that they've had it in what they thought was an empty case for "like three years, man!" and that the boss wanted it moved ASAP.... Hence them knocking 50 bucks off an already appealing price.

Despite not being able to find out much about it, I'm pretty confident in saying that it probably (I'll know for sure when I run it through the bassist's rig tomorrow... it's totally in my basement ) sounds like crap tastes. This brings up my second question.

What should I do when I replace that humbucking set of Js? It's too long for a humbucker switch out, and honestly.. I don't mind the idea of using two Js. I'm just going to do a series/parallel anyway, probably.

Any thoughts?

[newey]

Despite not being able to find out much about it,

I did a quick google and found out quite a bit. It's a "Bentley". They used the "Series 10" designation, sometimes with the "Bentley" logo and sometimes without.

These were apparently made in Korea, although there was some speculation that earlier ones may have been MIJ. They were imported and distributed by St. Louis Music ("SLM"), the company who originally made Crate Amps. The vintage is probably early '90s.

During that time, SLM was also distributing the Alvarez and Ampeg brands. They weren't just an amp company. There are also, apparently, Strat clones from that era under the "Series 10 by Bentley" logo.

This guy gave a rave review at Harmony Central. YMMV, of course.

www.musicgearreview.com/reviews.php?man=Bently&cat=Bass_Guitars&mod=Series%2010%20Bass

If you do decide to swap out the J bass pickups, I suspect that the only thing that would fit there would be another set of J bass pickups. Better ones might make a difference.

Otherwise, you'd probably have to rig up some kind of cover to hide the wide rout. Easy way to do that is to find an old pickguard with a HB sized hole in it, and cut it down so you just have the HB hole with enough plastic around it to cover the J pup rout. Probably wouldn't look too terribly bad . . .

[ashcatlt]

The second guitar I ever owned was Series 10 HSS "strat" type thing in black with yellow crackle finish. The neck was a little hefty for the shredding it looked like it wanted to do, but it was apretty solid guitar. I did replace the HB with another no-name pickup that at least seemed a bit hotter at the time. Never really had any complaints about the tone, though.

My gf at the time had a more deluxe Series 10 strat type thing, also HSS. hers had individual toggles for the pickups, with (IIRC) coil splitting on the HB. It had a much nicer neck and a bit better action. After a couple years I convinced herr to trade that one in for a Series 10 Tele in black with some flowers on the front. That one had a really nice neck and sounded great for the jangly kind of stuff I was getting into at the time. Unfortunately she gave it to her cousin who was starting to pay at the time. I keep bugging him to sell it to me (15 years later)

A year or 2 later my new gf wanted to start playing bass and we found a Series10 bass shaped like one of those f-hole hohners. I can't remember right now what it had for pickups, but I remember it played and sounded really good, especially considering what we paid for it.

This was all in the early 90s, and we went through a number of Crate amps during that period as well.

II say give it a shot as is, it could be just fine.

[sydsbluesky]

Better than nothing, to be sure.

I plugged it into a nice stack and it sounds pretty good... Not great, but pretty good. I'll end up ripping out those puppies after the show, but for now it has been confirmed that I'm going to be the one playing bass at the show, and I have about 20 songs to learn in 10 days and no time to screw with it.

I know it's totally not Rock'N'Roll, but I may actually have to take my strap off of the LOW AS @$&%$% POSSIBLE setting for this show.. I'm upset.

Oh, and the bass came with strap locks that match those on my Gibson. Super convenient and saves me like 20 something bucks... but now I'm rambling.

Thanks for the info. I'll figure out something in a few weeks.

[ijustwannastrat]

Doesn't your plucking arm get really stiff if your arm isn't straight? When I play bass I need it down as far as possible.

Also, I'm really interested in seeing this bass.

[newey]

When I play bass I need it down as far as possible.

Lots of great bass players like the bass guitar up high. Like Donald "Duck" Dunn:

[ux4484]

..... and John Entwistle

[sydsbluesky]

Pictures.

I'm finally in the mood to upload pics, but half of my stuff is still in NY...