Vantage Bass Guitar

[Bob Siemens]

Hey there,

Im new to the forum and figure I should start off with a little background info....

My name is Bob and im 21 years old (or young depending on who you are) and ive been making music since I was 12. My first guitar was an El Degas acoustic my dad gave me. From there I moved on through a few decent guitars including Washburn and Jackson.

When I was 16 I purchased my first REAL guitar, A Gibson Xplorer Gothic version and as far as I know its the only one like it in Canada (btw Im Canadian EH). Next came my Gibson Firebird bass guitar. I played in a few bands and loved both of these guitars. When a friend of mine ordered a CHEAP guitar off of ebay expecting it to be like my Gibson, I made him a deal. He gave me this Azalea that he got off of ebay and $200 and I gave him my Washburn. This Azelea sounded like crap but I was quite fond of the way it played. I had the pick ups replaced with Semoyr Duncan Aldero Pro 2s and brand new Grover tuners and all new electronics..... I now havn't touched my Gibson pretty much since I finished this guitar. I couldn't for the life of me get the pick ups to work with the switch I had bought which according to the guy who made it work was the wrong kind of switch. Last summer I was given a bass from some guy who knew I played. This bass was in ROUGH shape. The tuners were broken off and the body was really rough. I replaced the tuners and sanded and repainted it, and stopped playing my fire bird (I'll never buy another Gibson).


Fast forward to today.... The guy who gave me that bass wanted it back for his church... Seeing as he was nice enough to give it to me and let me have some enjoyment out of it I gave it to him and got a Kawaki K1 synth and a not working but in good cosmetic shape Vantage Bass. Ive got it all apart thinking that I just needed to resolder a connection or something but everything inside looks to be good. There is one blue wire coming from the bridge humbuckingish pick up that ends at the end of the large shielding wire that contains the rest of the wires from this pick up that doesn't go anywhere, and has no wire coming out of it.

So my question is.... Why isn`t this bass working? Fried pot? Bad switch? Pickups dead?

Ive attached a very poorly made wiring diagram of how it is now. All wires are colored correctly except for purple which is a white wire. Also note the little blue stub coming from the brown wire from the bridge pick up.

Hope some one can help me

Thanks
Bob

[Bob Siemens]

Oh and the green thing on the tone pot is a cap.

[Mark Swanson]

Welcome to the MIMForum, Bobby. Please know that we require the use of both first and last names, so please let us know your real name and we'll change your log in for you.

[Bob Siemens]

My real name is Bob Siemens. I dont really see how that matters but if its necessary now you have it.

Thanks

[Mark Swanson]

Thank you Bob.

[Greg Robinson]

Well Bob, if it's wired anything like your diagram, I'm not at all surprised it's not working!
Sorry, but your diagram is completely indecipherable, we're not going to be able to help out without something more clear to work with. It looks like you've used MSPaint, if you don't have a better graphics program, could you try using the various shape tools (square, circle, etc) rather than free-hand? It's more likely to result in something legible.
Thanks.

[John Aguilera]

I do hope you get your issues sorted out. In high school I had a Vantage guitar - I loved it - played great and felt real good - for the life of me I can't remember what happened to it. I must have sold it during college.

The drawing is funny - it looks like a map through a graveyard.


I would start troubleshooting this by bypassing one of the pickups and seeing if the problem still exists. Then if you still have issues - try bypassing the volume and tone pots and see if you get any response at that point. I am not a real electric guy anymore - but that is all I can tell you of basic troubleshooting, eliminate parts to test and get back to basics.
good luck.

[Bob Siemens]

Would I be able to test parts with a multi meter?

[Bob Francis]

Your drawing indicates only one wire from each pickup. Is that correct?

[Rodger Knox]

Yes, you can test everything in the circuit with a multimeter, but you may need to disconnect some of the components to test them.
I'd unsolder everything and test each component individually. The resistance of the pickups, the resistance and taper of the pots, the capacitance of the cap, and the continuity of the switch connections can all be tested with the components disassembled. I can provide instructions if you need them.

[Bob Siemens]

instructions would be wonderful. This guitar is still in the state that it was in the night I brought it home and I've been asked to play in a band with a few friends so I kinda need it soon (I guess I have my Gibson tho lol).

Thanks guys.

[Bob Siemens]

the neck pick ups have 2 wires each coming from them one from each conecting them together.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

Bob, Your bass should be wired like a Fender jazz bass, but with a selector switch. I've tried (in vain) to upload a schematic, but my skills are lacking (Files are too big). Send me a PM and I will send you some diagrams "off line".

If time is tight, you may just want to take this to a tech.

Joshua

[Rodger Knox]

OK Bob, here goes. After everything is unsoldered...
The neck pickups appear to be single coils, wired in series. You can test them by putting a test probe on each of the wires and reading the resistance (ohms). It should be between 4K and 8K for the single coil pickups.
The bridge pickup appears to be a humbucker with coil splitting/tapping capability. Pick one of the wires and put one of the test probes on it, then put the other probe on each of the other wires and measure the resistance. If the readings are about the same, the wire you picked is the coil split, it's connected between the coils of the humbucker. If one reading is about twice the other, the smaller one is the coil split. If there's 4 wires, it may be the beginning and end of eack coil and two of the wires would be connected. Each coil of the humbucker should be in the 4K to 8K range.
Now for testing the pots. Turn the knob all the way one direction and put the probes on the outside lugs and measure the resistance. It should be zero or the value of the pot. Turning the knob the other way should give you the other value. To find out the taper, turn the knob exactly halfway and measure between the middle and outside lugs. If the value is halve the value of the pot, it's a linear taper. If it's about 1/4 (or 3/4) of the value of the pot, it's an audio taper.
For the switch, you can use the continuity tester on the multimeter to determine which lugs are connected at each switch position.
If you're multimeter will measure capacitance, one probe goes on each side of the cap.
This will tell you if the parts are good, but it doesn't tell you how to connect everything together. There's probably 30 ways to wire this that will work, so that sort of depends on the sound you want.

[David King]

Actually the picture you drew is pretty clear if I'm understanding it correctly. The colored wires (yellow or brown) are shielded and they split into a hot (red or purple) and ground.

You have a three way selector switch, a "P" type split pickup and a "J" or soap bar pickup.
I'd start with the jack as that's where most problems are.
Make sure the nut that holds the jack in is tight, same with the pots who's nuts reside under their knobs.