[breakaleg]

i recently got a '66 eb2-d project. it didn't come with a bridge (or any hardware). according to the posts holes locations, the slight north/south misalignment, the original must have been a bar bridge. i bought a later model eb bridge with nylon saddles. against conventional wisdom i decided to put on the bridge on the bass.i had (heresy, i know) a luthier drill a hole so the bridge could be mounted on. my question is what does the choke (plastic cover in between the posts) does exactly?
thx,
dom
[attachment=0:18d4f73x]5c28_1.JPG[/attachment:18d4f73x]

[jules]

Hi Dom,

well it is a tone choke - when it is activated (with the push button) it creates a less drastic bass sound.

The button is often described as a bass boost button, but the 'boosted' bass sound is the normal EB humbucker tone (same as a single pickup EB-0). The EB humbucker at the neck gives a very rumbling muddy kind of a sound, and this tames it considerably.

[breakaleg]

thx for the info. i won't use it since i'll bypass the push button. i will put a dimarzio model one on. anybody outhere tried that?
i got an original neck pup but they're just too loud. played on an eb2 a few years ago and my band mate had no idea what i was playing!

[eb2]

The choke was designed to deal with the situation your guitar player was describing: it chokes off some of the bass frequency to give the notes more distinction. But installing a Model One will do that even more so, as they are far less ballsy than an original EB pickup. The EB2 body lends itself to mods easily with the DiMarzio. By not using the push button switch to take the choke in and out of the circuit you can use that hole for a mini-toggle with the DiMarzio, giving you series parrallel switching with no mods to the body. If you are not using the choke, then just leave it buried inside its routed hole under the bridge. Digging one out is time consuming, messy, and unrewarding.

[breakaleg]

thx boom,
a mini-toggle with the DiMarzio, that's a great idea. but i can't picture what parrallel switching would do soundwise to the Dimarzio.
i'd have the original toggle switch to mix in or not both pup's and the other toggle switch to change (boost?) the DiMarzio output?
yeah, i heard the model one is less balsy although the pup output is far more powerful than regular bass pup's outhere.
i read in another post that a gibson 2 pt saddle bridge couldn't fit in an earlier EB-2 body but it does, you have to drill though.
personnally, i don't care about keeping the instrument stock. i just want the best sounding instrument i can get.
BTW, this is a great forum. learned a lot of stuff i wish i read before moding my eb-2.
thx again,
dom

[eb2]

The boost switch is not a boost at all - it is a "strangle" switch that controls the choke now buried under that plastic cover and a half a pound of wax. So it won't make the DiMarzio louder, it will make it weaker. Not a very desirable effect for that pickup. Everything is subjective.

The DiMarzio is factory shipped with the ability of series/parallel switching via a mini toggle and its multi-wire output. The effect with that pickup is actually very nice and useful, and you can find the instructions on DiMarzio's site. It can be roughly described as switching into a wider growlier tone, with just a touch less output. Again, the EB2d body lends itself to outrageous hot rodding, with stock holes and room inside. You could even hook-up push-pull pots to have both lead and back pickups go series parallel, or have them both work as one giant coil. But maybe that is more than you want. I personally would use the series parallel switch on the Model One. Or you could even put the old push switch in and make it a standby switch, that allowing you to put your bass on a stand and get a beer with no feedback. You can do a lot without removing a spec of the original wood or finish. Think Stealth or Sleeper mods - no one knows what is coming.

I think most people avoid drilling through the later bridge as they are thick, worth a small fortune now and most people aren't fans of them to begin with. I do a similar mod to Kahler fixed bass bridges for my EBs. They are cheaper and a lot easier to find. You still have to drill a big hole for the stud.

[breakaleg]

thx for the info.
i'll check the Kahler bridge too.

[breakaleg]

hi,
i just got the original mudrucker. i will go with it instead of the dimarzio.
i read on an other post about how to get the true sound of the pup by performing a triple choke bypass (normal/choke/bypass): http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=287.0
inside the body i can see a ground wire that's attached to the bridge post and two other wires that seem to come from underneath the plastic cover. are they supposed to be connected to the choke switch?
if i choose to bypass the choke alltogether (no baritone sound or mudbucker) and go for the true pup sound (like an eb-0 they say) and following your great idea of using the switch for something else, what other mod can i perform? you told me about make it a standby switch which can be handy.
thanks