Further mods on my favourite Pbass ..     OBP-3 on board preamp was installed years ago, and the 9v battery was squeezed into the cavity ...    things work ..  but replacing battery was always very difficult ..     thanks for my bass buddy Kurt for sourcing me some new toys, and it's time to mess around with the bass further ..  

Objectives for the day are:

1. Routing a proper battery case cavity
2. Move the wiring for battery connector
3. Install new pickup



Purchase of the day ..  

• Aguilar AG 4P-60 - Link
• Keith McMillen Batt-o-meter - Link

Thanks for my buddy Kurt for sourcing the stuffs as usual ..

First mission is to route a cavity for the battery box ..   challenge is that I don't have the exact routing template, and thus a template of a Jazz bass pickup is being used to get the 4 corners + 2 straight routes. 

Drilling a pilot hole in several steps then secure the template with tape.

Making a big enough hole to get the router bit in.   

Routing 1 corner at a time, then hold the straight end to route the longer edges.   With the proper template, the process would be 5 times easier.

Result is satisfying, the cavity turned out slightly bigger, but good enough for the first time router user.  (I did it once years ago freehand with dremel ..  it was a total failure. )

And routing is messy ...     damn messy ...      and loud + dusty ..   hear protection and mask are essential for this process.

Not perfectly done, as it's slightly oversize and deep ..   but happy for a first time diy guy ..   time to have some wine after using the power tools.    

The Gotoh 9V batter case fits in nicely.  

Wiring and Pickup Installation 

Tools needed:  screw driver, nipper, electrical tape, soldering iron, and solder.  

Aguilar OBP-3 preamp was installed years ago and the cavity was shielded.  The cavity was slightly widen at the time to fit the 9V battery .    It's not ideal to install something with this much wire on the pickguard as it's hard to have things organized, should've opening a cavity from the back instead.   Also, previously installation didn't cover the battery replacement part and that's the main reason lead to this mod.

Drilling the path to run the 2 wires to the battery box.

New / Old Pickups

Taping foams with double sided tape

Testing battery terminal with alligator clip before connecting.  Testing by turning on the volume, and tapping the pickup magnet with screw driver or any metal piece.  In this case, if 1 way doesn't make a sound, flip the 2 wires.  

Dada ~  

Some rough audio clip was recorded before and after, not a good comparison as I was in a hurry to get things started ..   Will upload them afterward with some of my thoughts of the 2 pickups .. 

Thanks for watching!
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