Update:
I received all the new parts for the re-wire and went to work. This was my first full wiring change, and my soldering is barely passable, so I guess some troubleshooting is to be expected. More on that in a moment...
First, here's a few shots of the existing wiring and some views of Starfire Bass construction not normally visible
As you can see, the wiring was a complicated mess from the start that was further modified. After removing or clipping everything I didn't want, I assembled and installed my new harness. It took quite a while with my poor skills, but everything got connected. New blend pot, volume pot, tone pot and cap, and input jack.
So, the results are in: everything works as intended and the tone will be great, but maybe you can help me chase a few gremlins.
1. I'm getting distortion when the tone knob is more than halfway 'up'. from either pickup or both. I'm worried about the tone pot because after connecting and installing, the pot was stuck at the full off position, and it took some wiggling to free it up. I was afraid maybe I cooked it with the soldering iron. I never tried turning the pot during the install.
2. The pickups are out of phase in the middle position. This surprised me since the coaxial pickup leads are impossible to misidentify the ground. Anyway, I guess I can just swap the polarity on the leads from the bridge pickup to correct this?
3. There was an additional wire coming out from the route to the neck pickup. I assumed this would be a part of a common ground but it didn't have continuity with the bridge or any other grounds. Being an assumer, I went ahead and soldered that wire in with the other common grounds. Could this be something else that is causing distortion or phase issues?
As soon as I sort these troubles, I know I'll be very happy with this mod. Super simple and pure tone from the Bisonic.
Thanks in advance for any tips!