The Electra Forums

new to this forum, but not new to wiring...
i recently pickup up an '81 (or thereabouts) Electra X630S bass. non active. SN# 2030030.
i took a peek under the hood, and discovered it has a Piezo Bridge pickup, along with a push/pull pot. looking at the wiring, and having experimented greatly in the past with guitar wiring, i cant tell that its doing anything at all! the p'ups are running through the tone cap, rather than a side cap to ground. no matter which way the switch was set, everything was always "on". ... it doesnt look to be original. or even functional.
ive looked around this forum, and there isnt much on this bass... i was hoping someone out there would have one and tell me a few things about my new/old bass:
1) is the piezo bridge p'up standard/original?
2) is the push/pull standard/original?
3) if so, whats it do? does anyone have a diagram of the controls?

again, this is the basic model. p bass style w/ 1vol, 1 tone, brass knobs, brass nut, brass bridge w nylon /piezo saddles

meanwhile, i rewired it so the piezo comes on when you pull the tone pot, with a master vol/master tone. the piezo is VERY thin and "clacky" sounding like this. not at all like a bass... more like an acoustic guitar. id like to put this to 100% original specs.

thanx

this is whats in here....







any thoughts??? is ANY of this standard/original/CORRECT??

sonicly, this wiring has the Piezo added into the signal, like the tone cap is. blended in ?? because its not going directly to the main signal, as is standard when adding any pickup to the signal... and the push/pull is basically useless. everything goes everywhere. at best, its reversing the phase of the tone cap (which does nothing, and without the cap going to ground?) while adding the Piezo THRU the cap, as a sidechain to the main signal. but i still dont get the switch... theres no control. the Piezo is always there... this CANT be right.... rolling the tone knob makes it sound "different"... but NOT like a regular "muted" tone... seems to shift the mids around or something...

any help would be greatly appreciated

this is essentially how the bass WAS wired



as you can see... neither the tone or piezo worked.

this is what i did. the way it is NOW...



i put the tone cap to ground, and added a 100k resistor to the piezo to ground. it tamed down the brittleness. now, when switched on, it blends nicely with the split coil. still beefy with just enough finger gristle...
like so...



always experimenting w values...

and i discovered one of the peizo saddles is broken! darn! now that i have the piezo blended in so nice, i miss not hearing it on the low E... hope i can fix that...



anyway, ...
here she is, naked



i would still like as much original wiring info as possible. any comments would be much obliged

None of the Electra Guitars (or Basses) had a piezo pickup factory installed that I know of, and more than likely SLM would have advertised it if that was an option. They had the basic P bass pickups with a Volume and Tone knob (no switches). It looks like your brass Bridge Plate may be original with just the saddles replaced, although I can't be certain. Early examples would have had a pick guard like yours, and the later versions would have no pick guard and the controls rear mounted.

The serial number (starting with 203) indicates yours was made in March of 1982. I like the stain finishes personally, and the opaque painted models seem to be more common. Best of luck, and welcome to the Forum!

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thanx. i poked around and found a detailed pic or two of an early Phoenix bass like mine, and it clearly just had the regular P Bass style bridge and saddles. i would agree that the plate on mine is original, with the saddles replaced by piezo saddles. they almost look home made! aside from being slightly too large (the bottom of the brass saddles rest on the plate. the adjust screws arnt used, as it needs to sit that low for the action), under the nylon saddle, there is a small brass plate that sits in a slot on the saddle. the plate is the piezo element, and the nylon saddle is glued on top of it. an A for effort, a D for cosmetics, and a C for functionality. the intonation on the low E will never be right with these saddles, as it needs to be much closer to the rear, and the saddle cant handle it. the plate has been bent and the saddle either pops off, or slides to the front.
and its odd there is no preamp. usually, you want one to tone it down. tame the brittleness. i dont think Piezos are meant to be taken directly to the output. i made it work, but its a little weird...
so... i either get myself a new set of P Bass saddles, or i invest a bill or so in P Bass Piezo saddles... hhhmmmm decisions, decisions...
the bass itself is a fine machine. rock solid. feels good. one of the tuners is a tad stiff is all... fretts look to be almost new! i dont think this bass was played much... which is odd, considering the bridge mod...
ive never had piezos in anything. now that this bass has them, and when i experiment with the controls, i can get this bass to sound like 2 VERY different basses. i kinda like it and dont feel like going backwards...
things that make you go hhhmmmmm

i should also note (to anyone trying this at home) that i put in a 120k resistor, instead of the 100k in my drawing. 100k took the whole bass down too much when i switched it on. the 120k is a little brighter than needed, but keeps the overall volume consistent. has the headroom you need. when i roll the tone down all the way, then back off a hair or two, it add the PERFECT amount of finger slide and articulation for a more modern jazzy style sound. and at the same overall output volume. w/100K, you loose all control over the tone.
seeing as none of this is original to the bass anyway, it may not make much difference!