"Turn of the Century" Thumb Bass Question...

NeonVomit said:
ThirdthumB said:
P.S.

If Ovangkol and Bubinga were cheap, they should be used on Rockbasses as well. This not the case. The cheapest 150 bucks bass necks are made, not from Ovangkol, but from Maple (and it is a great wood too).

The pickups are active, and I believe that the electronics work on 18 Volt. Post 2003 (I think) Thumbs run on 9 Volt.
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Bolton is 9v. NT is 18v.
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This is not correct. All (I think) the NT's went from 18 Volt to 9 Volt (around 2003). It's in the news archive. Both my 2005 Thumb 4 NT and 2004 Thumb 5 Nt work on 1 battery (= 9 Volt).

One thing I don't like so much of the 2001 Thumb Nt, is the fact that the Ovangkol/Bubinga combination for the neck has very little contrast. I can't seec learly how many stripes of Bubinga and Ovangkol are present. This is just an esthetic issue of course. The new all Ovangkol necks have a black "Ekanga" veneer (it's not Ebony).
 
ThirdthumB said:
...This is not correct. All (I think) the NT's went from 18 Volt to 9 Volt (around 2003)...
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On the other hand older ones had a 9 volt circuit too.
I don't know exaclty when the 18V was introduced, I guess around 1995/1996
 
ThirdthumB said:
One thing I don't like so much of the 2001 Thumb Nt, is the fact that the Ovangkol/Bubinga combination for the neck has very little contrast. I can't see clearly how many stripes of Bubinga and Ovangkol are present. This is just an esthetic issue of course. The new all Ovangkol necks have a black "Ekanga" veneer (it's not Ebony).
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Ah, that answers a question I had about the material uses in the neck laminates of different years. Thanks!
 
The Thumb I'm bidding on has a 7-piece neck and even in the small picture, I can clearly distinguish where the laminates contrast. It also has no dark ekanga stripes, but looks like the ovangkol and bubinga combo...
 
Wood can vary in colour, Ovangkol can be yellowish as well as dark brown, Wenge varies from greenish to dark brown... It's better to look at the patterns and the grain too : The first Pnut II I saw was a on little picture, the neck wood was very "light" in colour, I thought it was Ovangkol until I saw a bigger picture...
About the electronic, I bought (from Schlobodan, met on the forum) a 1994 Thumb NT4 that has the 18 V preamp.
In 2002, I ordered a 3 band MEC Eq for my Thumb Bo, the 9V was sent to me.
I can't compare both because they're installed in different basses.
 
TK276 said:
It is funny how the whole handmade vs machined thing does come up and the perception is that handmade is better. Having worked in a guitar factory (Patrick Eggle) many years ago we started off making all the guitars pretty much totally by hand - carving the tops using gouges, scrapers etc. We later machined the tops and necks.

The interesting thing is that the machined guitars were actually WAY better than the handmade ones due to the fact that they were more consistent.

The important thing with guitars is that they are finished and put together by hand - the machining just speeds up the process. It's the attention to detail and the care that a human being has about the instruments he builds that makes the difference. That element of "no that's just not acceptable - send it back" which means that every guitar that leaves the factory is 100%.

G
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You worked for Eggle? No way! My brother recently bought a wicked Berlin model Eggle, and its one of the sweetest sounding and nicest looking guitars I've ever come across - eats his PRS alive! :P
 
EVOLVEBASS said:
Mr Rabble said:
All active pickups are humbuckers.
Even those looking like J-style single coils.
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What?!?!
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What I said :wink:

All active pickups are hum cancelling.
Even when they are ahaped in a J-style, they're not single coils
 
EVOLVEBASS said:
Hum-cancelling I'll buy, but calling them humbuckers is misleading...
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Here's an input from an electronics n00b:

Maybe humbuckers usually look like humbuckers, but a pickup can be a humbucker as well, even though it doesn't look like one. The reason being that the internals function as a humbucker. So it's functionally a humbucker, without the looks..................uhhh......................does this make sense ?? :roll:
 
Oh, I completely agree, but I think my point was missed here (which is okay). If we want to call Jazz bass pickups humbuckers because they are wired in humbucker fashion or use stacked coils or whatever, I won't loose too much sleep over it! :D
 
ThirdthumB said:
Ohhhhhhh,

I get: it just causes confusion you mean.............. :idea:
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Exactly. Like I said, it's misleading. That's all.

I'll steal a quote from my favorite movie:

"Sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken." :shock:

An active Jazz bass pickup doesn't SOUND like a humbucker; to call it one is misleading. Even if during Tech 101 they told us it works in a similar way... :D
 
I thought when you have 2 active or passive single coil pickups they are humcanceling when panned center and lose this ability as you pan toward one giving it more juice and the big humbucking pickup is doing the same thing just that the 2 single coils are in the same covering aka Music Man or MM style and dual coil pickups are each humcanceling under a single J style cover so no matter which one is panned there is no noise. How close am I?
 
gerrywarwick said:
I thought when you have 2 active or passive single coil pickups they are humcanceling when panned center and lose this ability as you pan toward one giving it more juice and the big humbucking pickup is doing the same thing just that the 2 single coils are in the same covering aka Music Man or MM style and dual coil pickups are each humcanceling under a single J style cover so no matter which one is panned there is no noise. How close am I?
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Well, on my Squire Vintage Modified Jazz bass, it does work like that - no buzz when both passive "Duncan Design" pickups have their volume knobs maxed at the same time. But on my Corvette Std. fretless with the stock passive MECs, I get buzz no matter how the pan pot is set. My other Corvette fretless has the Bartolini 9CBJD1 passive pickups with dual in-line hum-cancelling coils. The dual coils work like a humbucker to keep the buzz completely out, no matter where the pan pot is set. It is also voiced to still maintain single-coil characteristics.

EMGs says the following about their active pickups: "EMG pickups utilize an internal pre-amp (inside the pickup), which not only makes the pickup louder, it also reduces the noise!" They also add that "All the coil connections are shielded , the pre-amp is shielded, and the output of the pickup cable is low-impedance, which makes it less susceptible to noise." But not all active pickups are created equal: "Just because a pickup is "active" doesn't guarantee you'll get great results." I was wondering if the active MECs on the 2000 era Thumb are using internal circuitry to eliminate buzz, or will I need to upgrade to either EMG or Bartolini? I guess I'll wait to see if I win the bass and then see how it performs...
 
ThirdthumB said:
EVOLVEBASS said:
Hum-cancelling I'll buy, but calling them humbuckers is misleading...
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Here's an input from an electronics n00b:

Maybe humbuckers usually look like humbuckers, but a pickup can be a humbucker as well, even though it doesn't look like one. The reason being that the internals function as a humbucker. So it's functionally a humbucker, without the looks..................uhhh......................does this make sense ?? :roll:
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That's exactly how it works. :wink:

Active J pickups aren't single coil, and they just don't sound like J single coil.
No worse, nor better, just different.

By the way, neither passive hum-cancelling J pickups sound just like real single coils. Some are close, but they can't be the same.
 
gerrywarwick said:
I thought when you have 2 active or passive single coil pickups they are humcanceling when panned center and lose this ability as you pan toward one giving it more juice and the big humbucking pickup is doing the same thing just that the 2 single coils are in the same covering aka Music Man or MM style and dual coil pickups are each humcanceling under a single J style cover so no matter which one is panned there is no noise. How close am I?
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You can't have actine single coil pickup, because they don't exist.

You can have active J-style pickups
 
maddrakkett said:
This has probably been addressed several times before, but those threads seem buried away...

How well were the "turn of the century" (I know that sounds REALLY vintage, but I mean year 2000) Thumb NTs for build quality and sound?

I read on other forums that the old wenge necks are better quality and that overall quality dropped after 1998. I don't believe that, but I am looking at a used 2000 Thumb and don't want to find out something was odd that year...

Another "rumor" (I'll call it that for now, until something can be confirmed) I heard is that Warwick switched to ovangkol and bubinga necks because wenge is endangered and hard to get in quantity. Some have even claimed the post '98 NT necks are "a mix of cheaper woods." I doubt that ovangkol and bubinga are "cheaper woods" as I always thought they were higher grade for custom and exotic instruments; I know I love how my ovangkol necks feel and respond on my three Corvettes.

Would love to hear some solid opinions on these things, and I think I'm pretty persuaded anyway to go for the 2000 Thumb, provided I win the auction!
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We still offer Wenge necks on our Custom Shop. We switched for many reasons, not just one. But the Ovangkol necks we're using now offer a very similar consistency with the Wenge necks we used in the past. Besides that, the difference in sound is barely noticeable by the human ear.

I like them both, except that I prefer Ovangkol if we're talking about a bass with a standard oil finish, because I don't like the feeling of Wenge on it's natural finish. I do have Wenge necks on some of my basses, but those are high polosh instruments.[/code]
 
odominguez said:
We still offer Wenge necks on our Custom Shop. We switched for many reasons, not just one. But the Ovangkol necks we're using now offer a very similar consistency with the Wenge necks we used in the past. Besides that, the difference in sound is barely noticeable by the human ear.

I like them both, except that I prefer Ovangkol if we're talking about a bass with a standard oil finish, because I don't like the feeling of Wenge on it's natural finish. I do have Wenge necks on some of my basses, but those are high polosh instruments.
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Thanks Oliver. I haven't tried a Wenge neck, but from the looks, I suspected it might feel a bit rougher than Ovangkol. I like the way my Ovangkol necks feel on my Corvettes and it looks good in the picture of the bass I'm bidding on. It's good to know that its consistency and sound is close to the Wenge necks. Thanks for your input. 8)
 
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