Aria SB-404/5 Bass

Here's an Aria SB-404/5 bass that, stock, would have featured active electronics, a Mahogany body, Maple/Nato five ply neck (thru body construction), 24 fret Rosewood fingerboard, 34 inch scale length, two BDS-5 humbuckers, black hardware, and a Stained Natural (SN) finish. However, looking at it today, the only stock features are the strings-through-body bridge, neck and body. The owner had long ago upgraded this bass with gold-plated tuners, EMG 45HZ pickups and a RAM Bass preamp system (master volume, pickup blend, and boost/cut treble/bass controls).

He loves this bass to bits, but was troubled by intermittent hum and noise. While evaluating the electronics, I noticed a couple of problems  i) the control cavity was totally unshielded, ii) the back of the control cavity cover was bare, iii) connecting wires had not been trimmed to length; and iv) the preamp module had simply been shoved into place.

I suspected the lack of shielding and excess wire length to be the main culprits behind the hum and noise. Thus said, I proceeded to 1) shield the control cavity walls with shielding paint and a ground tab, ii) add an aluminium plate to the back of the control cavity cover, iii) trim excess wire length and resolder components; and iv) secure the preamp module. I'm glad to report that these measures succeded in minimizing the problem.  

Further Reading

Aria SB-404/5 Ovangkol 5-String Electric Bass Guitar | Music123

Bass Review - For Bassist : Aria SB 405/5

Aria Pro SB-404-5 | Reverb

Schecter Stiletto Studio 6 LH Bass

Schecter Stiletto Studio 6 LH | Specifications

Model Name: Stiletto Studio 6 LH
Color: Honey Satin (HSN)
Dexterity: Left Handed (LH)
Country of Origin: South Korea
Construction: Neck-Thru with Ultra Access
Body: Mahogany
Top: Bubinga
Neck: Maple/Walnut Multi-ply with Carbon Fiber Reinforcement Rods
Fretboard: Rosewood
Inlays: Abalone Offset Dots
Scale: 35”
Frets: 24 Extra Jumbo
Fretboard Radius: 16”
Neck Shape: Thin ‘C’
Nut: Graph Tech XL Black Tusq
Truss Rod: Dual Truss Rods (2-Way Adjustable)
Pickups: EMG 45HZ (Neck/Bridge)
Power Source: 18V (9V Battery x 2)
Preamp: EMG B64rC (Bass/Mid/Treble, Boost/Cut)
Controls: Master Volume (500K), Blend (250K), 3-Band Active EQ
Hardware: Satin Gold
Bridge: Diamond Custom Bass
Tuners: Schecter
Knobs: Metal Knurled with Set Screw

Source: Schecter Website

Schecter Stiletto Studio 6 LH | Work Done

Now that we're done with specs, let's talk about work done on this particular bass. Besides action/intonation work, the owner wanted the electronics checked out thoroughly, as there'd been unwanted hum and noise of late. First of all, I checked out the shielding paint job and found it to be spotty in places, especially around the output jack. There was also minimal contact between the control cavity shielding and the metal foil on the back of the control cavity cover. I don't equate a blotch of shielding paint with adequate contact (see pic #9). To remedy the situation, I repainted the entire control cavity in a couple layers of shielding paint. Also added was a copper foil strip that would make firm contact with the foil on the back of the control cavity cover when closed. Behold, a Faraday Cage of sorts! 

I worked on the electronics next. Both the 500K master volume and 250K pickup blend pots were going kaput, and scratchy as hell despite loads of contact cleaner. The 250K mini pot was the worse of the two. Besides suffering from a corroded exterior and intermittent contact, it was near impossible to latch on to the center detent. Time to go, said I. On the other hand, the EMG B64rC preamp and its associated bass/mid/treble pots were working fine, much to my relief.

The owner eventually decided to go with a Jazz bass-style layout, ie individual Alpha 500K volume pots for both the neck and bridge pickups; which would feed into the preamp.

The final part of the job was rewiring the output jack. The original soldering job was so corroded that the ground wire simply snapped off while I was repositioning components. Glad I caught that in time. That's about it for my report, so let's look at some pics now.