Help! 1978 Stingray Wiring Question

[rseaberg]

Greetings, everyone!

So, recently, I took my trusty '78 Music Man to an open jam night and spent 20 minutes on stage trying to figure out why I had no signal, when it eventually occurred to me that my bass must have been the problem.

Sure enough, I got home later and opened it up to find some disconnected wires (which looked like they should have been going to the cable lead).

I'm pretty good at soldering and understanding basic wiring diagrams, and have tried to re-wire everything back to the original specifications (that I found here: PRE-AMPS AND PUPS - Musicmanbass.org, Music Man, Musicman, Music Man Bass, Musicman Bass, Music Man Guitar - a very good site to have bookmarked if you own a Music Man) but when my dad had this bass he had modified it slightly and it just isn't working. I've spent hours trying different things and even had a friend who was in the electricians union take a look at my work, which he said was fine.

The best guess at this point is that either the pre-amp is dead, or I just need to rip all of the wiring out and start from scratch with that.

I'm thinking about just replacing the electronics- minus the pickups, which are only 3 years old - and am looking for some advice. I've found online that Seymore Duncan has a replacement pickup for what is currently my three-knob setup, as well as one for a newer four-knob configuration. I know this bass is worth a lot of money, but I don't intend to ever sell it (it's a family heirloom after all), and think it would be cool to give it an upgrade if it would help the overall tone.

Suggestions?

 

[Kirby]

I would take it to a local Ernie Ball dealer and have them check it out/send it in. Those old preamps can be worth some money. I would hate for you to trash it if it is just a simple wrong wire. I would try to send it in to customer service before exploring aftermarket electronics. Your local dealer should be able to help you with that.

 

[Chuck B]

Hi Robin and welcome!
I own a 1978 Ray too. Back in 1996 a bad noise occured and I found out that wiring/soldering were ok and something was wrong with the preamp. Those old preamps were covered with epoxy so you couldn't do anything with them. The local distributor first sent a new preamp to my dealer but the new one did not fit the 78 routing. Then I've got an old but newer than mine non-epoxy preamp and the bass now runs in the 4th decade...

 

[Caca de Kick]

and think it would be cool to give it an upgrade if it would help the overall tone.

Suggestions?

No it wouldn't be an "upgrade". Nothing will sound better than a factory preamp in that thing, and the factory pickup too.

Those old preamps in '78, during the first half of the year had black epoxy covering everything, the last half of the year didn't, which of course would be easier to service. But the op amp chips in the preamp are what typically went bad, but you should consult the appropriate repair center for proper diagnosis. EB was selling correct replacement preamps for these early things.

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Having flyer leads to the jack probably means you've zapped the IC. A replacement from EB (un-epoxied) is relatively cheap. This is the same pre-amp but with no epoxy. As you have to give your original in return I'd make sure that your pre-amp is, infact, zapped. Stay with Ernie Ball pre-amps!

If need be, contact Ernie Ball customer Service for advice:

[email protected]

If you need assistance or advice from me, my email is:

[email protected]