JS 2 bass bridge saddle, scale length, strings?

Guildedagain

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Delivered yesterday, exceeded all expectations.

Ancient strings on it, dirty, the case actually had cat pee on it that had ran down from the original point of impact looking strangely like The Punisher, still very visible after washing as it is etched into the tolex.

The case is an older TKL rectangular case, a gem of a case really, probably infinitely better than the original, especially for trips across the country.

I cleaned it, it shined up real nice. Has some mild checking, lots of tiny boo boos along the edges the lower bouts, otherwise really very clean and unmolested. The headstock has no issues, somehow the really bad pics made it look like it had issues.

Quite a large paddle in relation to the nut width. I can see the potential for fragility there but all still pristine here, save for a couple compression boo boos at the very tip top of the headstock.

Tuners are very interesting, all seem to tighten/loosen completely in the opposite direction from what I would expect. They’re very tight and hold tune perfectly.

The pots, especially the tones feel like they were never spun, they have that feel. The only pot that feels like it saw use is the treble volume.

The suck switch micro switch is as useless to me as t*ts on a boar, I like bass, the more the better, and through a 2x12 cab this bass delivers the goods in a way my P Bass can’t.

Great round McCartney tones with tone rolled back on the neck p’up.

Somehow My Sharona started playing, Guild Bass riffs? ;] Even with dead 20 year old roundwounds it sounds awesome, it has bass to the point of not needing flats to get fat.

Wife even said things like “I like bass way better than guitar, it doesn’t hurt my ears” and then even as far as saying “I could play the bass, I used to have one, etc”. She was a drummer in a Seattle band called Goodhead way back in the grunge days until he guitar player OD’d, and her ears still ring, with kinda ruins it for her being around live music still.

I think I’m going flats on this one. I can’t handle the squeaking sliding up and down the strings.

I think this is a superlative bass.

It blows away my P as well as the EBO I had.

The reasons;

2 pickups, better than one. The p’ups are nicely balanced. I never liked the bridge p’up on Gibby’s EB2/EB3, it’s thin and squawky sounding. I can only imagine what Jack Bruce would have sounded like with a Guild. In fact, Cream with Guilds instead of Gibsons?

I like the asymmetric look. I like the relief on the back. The neck joint is really sweet, and so it the 3 pc neck.

I like the no pick guard thing, the bridge, the pickups, layout, balance, it’s substantial but not a boat anchor.

It was love at first sight, before I ever even tried to play a note on it. It’s a breath of fresh air from the other guys. It’s improved in a good way.

The homemade 1st string saddle doesn't have much impact on tone. I think it's Maple.

The lower strap button is cream plastic like an acoustic?

This must be original?
 

mellowgerman

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Glad you dig your JS-II! There's just something magical about Guilds, but ESPECIALLY those 60's and 70's short scale basses. I'm a life-time addict. The necks are perfect, the tones are second to none, and they just look so damn good. They essentially ruined most other basses for me.
Regarding the tuners, those are often referred to as "reverse" style tuners, even though they function like upright bass tuners typically always have. In any case, I'm pretty certain that they were standard on all Guild basses at least up through the mid 70's.\
As for strings, I always enjoyed DR Legend flatwounds. You do have to trim the silks back about an inch or so to clear the nut at the headstock, but it only takes 5-10mins with a razor or exacto knife. The remaining gold silks look super good on a Guild headstock!
As others have noted though, most brands you'd want to go for the medium scale sets. If you haven't tried black nylon tapewounds, D'Addario and Labella both make killer medium scale versions. The D'Addarios have a satin sort of feel to them which I prefer and the overall tone is fantastic. Warm but they still vibrate more freely than typical flatwound strings do, since they don't have the outer flat metal winding. The Labellas have a shiny finish, which is super smooth to the touch, but I've found they get a bit of a "clacky" sound on the frets when you don't have the tone rolled off. Either way, all worth trying. Experimenting and seeing what works best for you is half the fun! (provided you have the time and the funds)
Prost!
 
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fronobulax

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Delivered yesterday, exceeded all expectations.

Not going to interleave comments with the original quotes.

"a gem of a case really, probably infinitely better than the original" Why do you say that? Have you ever seen an original? Mine is pretty solid and holds the bass better than the original case for a Guild Pilot. (Both are Guild, rectangular cases).

"Quite a large paddle in relation to the nut width" not sure what you re trying to say even if "paddle" is a typo for "saddle".

"Tuners are very interesting" - you got an answer but yeah, some Guild basses got 'reverse tuners". Recent thread even has a comment from Hans abut that :)

"My Sharona" there are a lot of similarities between a 70's JS II and a 70's M-85-II such as was used on the original recording. Indeed if you started out saying they were the same bass - one with a single cutaway and one with a double, you would find a lot of similarities.

"The lower strap button is cream plastic like an acoustic?" I think both strap buttons on mine are metal.
 

Guildedagain

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"Case maybe better than original" because this is a really compact TKL case but built like a tank. I would have expected the orig case to be something female shaped with the headstock more at risk. Also because I had the impression that maybe wrongly that the JS2 was just a step up from a beginner bass so maybe the case would be a bit flimsy, and lots of vintage cases are rather flimsy.

Now re-reading "infinitely better" I mean as far as protecting the headstock, especially in shipping.

My '63 EBO somehow survived without a break anywhere touring all over the US back and forth for several decades in the original chipboard case. Unreal. It had lots of collage art from the 60's and 70's on the top flap, which maybe meant handle the case more carefully which might have helped.

The headstock paddle, it's huge. Bigger than any other guitar I have I'm guessing. 8 1/4" x 4 1/4" at the top and the nut is only 1 1/2", it's visually striking. Big headstock on a thin neck.

I really like the 3 pc neck, dunno why, I like it on old D40's. It's fancier, and very well done. Looks neat. I like jointery.
 

fronobulax

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Ok. I don't use "paddle" describing a bass but the Guild basses all got a larger headstock post 1970, compared to the 60's so you are describing what is known.

As for the case, the '71 JS II was not sold with a case. So any case involves a second trip to the cash register. My case was the hard shell case sold by Guild. Rectangular, not female shaped. Real wood. There is a cradle for the headstock and things are snug enough that I've never worried about the headstock. So the HSC sold by Guild is in my experience, a high quality case. Since the case did not come with the bass we can quibble over "original" but your belief that all JS cases are somehow inferior to the replacement case you have does not seem to be rooted in experience with a known Guild case.

The JS was not positioned as a beginner instrument when I bought mine. My recollection is that the list price was comparable to a Fender Precision - $290 vs $310 maybe?
 

hieronymous

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"Case maybe better than original" because this is a really compact TKL case but built like a tank. I would have expected the orig case to be something female shaped with the headstock more at risk. Also because I had the impression that maybe wrongly that the JS2 was just a step up from a beginner bass so maybe the case would be a bit flimsy, and lots of vintage cases are rather flimsy.

Now re-reading "infinitely better" I mean as far as protecting the headstock, especially in shipping.

My '63 EBO somehow survived without a break anywhere touring all over the US back and forth for several decades in the original chipboard case. Unreal. It had lots of collage art from the 60's and 70's on the top flap, which maybe meant handle the case more carefully which might have helped.

The headstock paddle, it's huge. Bigger than any other guitar I have I'm guessing. 8 1/4" x 4 1/4" at the top and the nut is only 1 1/2", it's visually striking. Big headstock on a thin neck.

I really like the 3 pc neck, dunno why, I like it on old D40's. It's fancier, and very well done. Looks neat. I like jointery.

"Headstock paddle" - I like that! I have a '71 M-85 with the bigger headstock and a '71 Gibson Les Paul Triumph Bass - the difference in headstock size is striking, the Les Paul looks normal to me if I just look at it, but if I look at it after looking at my Guild it looks tiny. I have to say I prefer the Guild shape more. The classic Alembic "crown" headstock looks more like the Guild too, maybe that's why I like it (got one of those too). I should take a picture of all three for comparison...

Oh yeah, I don't have a case for my M-85, so when I got my Triumph I thought it would fit in that one (the original Gibson hardshell case) and it would except for the headstock!
 

Guildedagain

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Yes, the headstock is awesome, like a vaulted ceiling. The neck joint blows any Gibson I've ever had away. The fingerboard and frets are so nice - Gorgomyte is a lifesaver - again better than Gibson. I wish I had this neck and fingerboard on a 6 string, with a neck joint as smooth as this.

Excuse the lack of pics, slacking and T day.
 

Guildedagain

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Has too much relief tuned to pitch. Can you tighten the TR at pitch, or is it wise to back strings off first and then retune? What is the spec for a Guild bass?

These are Fender specs, so then what is the radius of the Guild fb, 9.5"-12"?

Neck Radius
  • 7.25"
  • 9.5"-12"
  • 15"-17"


Relief
  • .014” (0.35 mm)
  • .012” (0.3 mm)
  • .010” (0.25 mm)
 
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Guildedagain

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Any known part numbers for string sets known to work? Also, should I be worried about TI flats .106" not fitting the nut without alteration. DR Sunbeams bass string is .105". The strings on the bass were .100-.040". This is one of those necks that can use low tension strings but I don't want roundwounds.

The lowest tension flats that fit is what I'm looking for.
 

Happy Face

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Any known part numbers for string sets known to work? Also, should I be worried about TI flats .106" not fitting the nut without alteration. DR Sunbeams bass string is .105". The strings on the bass were .100-.040". This is one of those necks that can use low tension strings but I don't want roundwounds.

The lowest tension flats that fit is what I'm looking for.

TI Jazz Flats model 324 fit just fine.. Even with the fat 105 bass string.

There is another choice if that annoys you. TI also makes a 324 "Hofner" set. The only difference with the standard set is that the E string is a 95 Guage.

I personally prefer them. But then, I've made my career via charm, charisma and stage appeal as opposed to my meager playing skills.
 

Guildedagain

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Oooh, that's right, the Beatle bass trick, I forgot. I had go that route once before.

Thoughts on wimpier strings on shorter scale basses?

I managed to find a pretty fresh set of D'addario Chromes in my drawer, hex core I think, too much pull. The neck has a tendency to bow, never seen that before on P Basses or others.
 

mavuser

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Frono's JS bass sounds different and better than any 70's Guild Humbucker equipped bass i've heard. His is not anywhere near as muddy. it is darker and more defined. I also note Frono's is the only one I have ever seen with no lime green chicklet caps- all of his caps are still the mustard caps that were used on the Hagstrom mini-humbucker in the bridge, that briefly preceded the Guild big humbucker; as seen here from my 1970 JS-2 w Bisonic in the neck and min-humbucker in the bridge (the mint green cap is for the neck Bisonic):

IMG_3694.jpg


Now in this thread I see Secondshift's photo which still has the earlier shaped/asymetrical control cavity and most of Frono's mustard caps-but has one lime green chicklet cap coming off of what looks like the deep hard switch, in lieu of the mustard cap (like Frono's). So Secondshift's bass was likely completed very shortly after Frono's.

Shortly after that, the control cavity is still the earlier shaped/asymetrical shape, but all mustard caps are gone, and replaced with lime green chicklets, and finally by the time Guildedagain's bass is completed, the control cavity is the later, rounded shape, with all lime green chicklets.

I do note also that the lime green chicklet caps are seen on earlier bisonic basses as well, especially those with the suck switch circuit. There was variation all around but here we are only discussing the 70's humbuckers- and the pickups themselves also had some varying values and evolving design IIRC.

There was also variation in potometer vlaues and manfactures, particulary in the neck tone pot, which may have also contributed to varing caps/resistors/circut designs, and overall tone.

They can all be dialed in to sound great, in my experience. Frono's just seemed different, in a good way.
 

Guildedagain

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The tonal range on this bass is all you could ever expect. Bright on the bridge, and from bassy to very bassy on the neck. The tone control is fairly magical, makes the bass silent except for deep tones. It takes this to the point where the amount of reverb coming out of my sound is radically different from bass to treble. The treble drives the reverb hard, the bass with tone rolled off barely.

Not sure I've even experienced this before.

It's definitely got some personality.

The pickups have some interesting readings, 30kΩ on the neck pickup, 127kΩ on the bridge, is that even possible. This through a patch cord through the jack, all controls on full blast. Everett WA made Fluke meter is quite reliable.

The suck switch neuters the signal from the neck pickup from a healthy 30kΩ to a much wimpier 383mΩ.

The suck switch work in the middle position as well, from nearly 25kΩ (both pickups parallel circuit) to 95mΩ.

But wouldn't be neat if you could switch from in phase/out of phase in the middle position, or series/parallel, or if you could coil tap the neck pickup for single coil tones? Then the switch would actually do something usable other than what is virtually a kill switch.

Pics added a bit after posting.


P1490474.JPG


P1490476.JPG


P1490478.JPG


P1490484.JPG


P1490485.JPG
 
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fronobulax

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Find past threads on the deep/hard switch perhaps imprecisely called a suck switch.

My recollections based upon my basses wiring and remembered comments.

There are a couple of resistors that are always in circuit so an in situ measurement is going to get more than just the pickup.

Folks who disabled the switch have reported that the neck pickup is much hotter without it so the total circuit seems to have been designed to give balanced output.

The deep/hard switch only effects the neck pickup but that obviously means that selecting the neck PU or both with the toggle will include the switch in the circuit.

I don't play bass with reverb, but I recall a time when I was playing through a 90's Fender Guitar amp that had reverb. My observation was that the amp's tone controls had little effect on the tone and the reverb did almost nothing. My hypothesis was that the tone controls were designed for a particular frequency range and to produce frequencies in that range I needed a lot of treble from the bass, needed to be at the 12th fret or higher or both. So my guess is that what is happening with your reverb is that it wasn't designed for typical bass frequencies so as the treble goes down so does the signal the reverb has to work with.

Using just one PU through the reverb and playing with the tone pot might prove my hypothesis about the reverb's frequency response. So might using another bass and trying it at it's bassiest and its trebleist.

Lots of fun ideas but most of them are going to start with modifying the pickup since I'm pretty sure there are only two leads from each.
 

Guildedagain

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The neck pickup tone control has a lot of effect on the suck switch, now realizing that's why I attributed more to the switch than there was.

Suck switch with tone control all the way up is tolerably loud, and in fact a good switch between thin and meaty, but when you roll the tone back to nothing the output is very anemic.

As on many other vintage instruments, the tone can greatly affect output, this one more so.

A lot of personality, idiosyncracies.
 
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mavuser

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Guild has hinted at reissuing the JS bass. Frono's should be studied closely and cloned for an Oxnardian USA run of 50 pieces or so.
 

lungimsam

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That white wire is a bridge ground wire. You can see one in the first pic, too. Emerges from hole obscured by other wires, but you can see it travel over and soldered to same pot casing as the one in the second pic.
 

lungimsam

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Guild has hinted at reissuing the JS bass. Frono's should be studied closely and cloned for an Oxnardian USA run of 50 pieces or so.

Where/when did you hear about that?
 
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