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Forum :: Mods / Repairs

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devastated TB-2000

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zupfhansl

Joined:
04 Jun 2008
Posts: 4
PostPosted: 06/04/2008 at 7:28 AM    Post subject: devastated TB-2000 link

Hi there,
I've got an early TB-2000 (#33) in front of me, which obviously wasn't always in good hands, so that a few things don't seem original anymore. I'd like to bring it back to its original state as far as possible and ask for assistance, as this is the forst Bean bass I have in my hands and I'm not familiar with the original details. Here are my questions:

1) The electronics have been modified by an amateur (soldering looks very unprofessional). Does anyone have templates diagrams, photos or other information about the original wiring??? Currently the pots are 1 MOhm and there are two capacitors for each tone pot which is a bit unusual. Is this correct so far???

2) The fingerboard is completely unradiused like on a classical guitar. Is this typical?

I'd be extremely grateful for any serious information I could obtain from anyone! I'll place some photos of the bass later on. It's disassembed at the moment, so it's not the right time to do it now.

Thank's a lot in advance.

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Chris Hall

Joined:
01 Jun 2001
Posts: 132
PostPosted: 06/05/2008 at 8:52 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

From what you've said, it sounds like it's all original to me.

Are the wires white with yellow stripes winding around them? If so, that's correct.

Are there 2 large caps and 2 small caps? Are they orange, and made by sprague? If so, that's correct too.

The 2 large caps should say:

Sprague 6PS-S50
.05 ± 600DC

The 2 small caps should say:

.01 ± 10%
100 V (1) and 225 written vertically


I'm not 100% sure how the caps should be wired, though. I own a TB4000 wedge and a lefty TB2000, but the wiring has been slightly modified a bit in both. I don't use the tone controls, so I've never bothered to change them back to stock.


The fretboard is supposed to have a 0 radius, so that is correct.

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admin

Joined:
01 Jun 2001
Posts: 1266
PostPosted: 06/05/2008 at 9:07 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

Hello zupfhansl

First off.. I want to welcome you to the board! That's great you want to put some work into the bass.. sounds like a fun project.

I'm hoping frankintank will be able to assist with a wiring diagram for the bass of some sort.. which would help answer those questions.

Thanks.. and good luck!
admin

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zupfhansl

Joined:
04 Jun 2008
Posts: 4
PostPosted: 06/07/2008 at 1:21 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

Hi everybody,
thank's so far for the very helpful information! Yes, the caps seem to be original. So it's only that somebody soldered around with the original parts. This will make things easier. Thank's also for the info about the fretboard. The flat fingerboard is really very unusual. I've never seen this before on any other electric bass!
Actually the bass has some other problems, which have to be solved: The fingerboard got partially loose from the neck and somebody tried to reglue it with some kind of strange semi-soft glue. Furthermore the (unfortunately non-adjustable) pickups are very high. The neck PU is practically flush tu the fingerboard level which is very high in my opinion. The bridge is also too high as even when the saddles are completely at the base, the action is still too high. It seems that this baby may need a completely new (slightly thicker) fretboard. However, I'll send some info about the progress occasionally. Thank's a lot once again!

P.S.
Still if someone has a wiring diagram or so, this would be great!



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Chris Hall

Joined:
01 Jun 2001
Posts: 132
PostPosted: 06/12/2008 at 1:32 AM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

How do you know that somebody soldered around with the original parts? Just by the way the solder joints look? Other than disconnecting them, I can't think of too many other things people would do with the caps.

The fingerboard issue shouldn't be too much of a pain. I think I actually once saw a tutorial online somewhere that used a TB bass as an example. I'd be afraid to try and remove the fretboard myself, you could probably have a good local luthier do it, though.

The neck pickups were a bit higher on the earlier basses. If you've ever heard the band Shellac, Bob the bass player makes use of this (which he didn't know). He karate chops his strings between the pickups, and since they're so close to the strings, he gets this crazy noise when the strings bridge between the pickups. He also does a similar thing with his finger between the bridge and the bridge pickup that makes a unique sound as well. I can't do it on my later bass, because the pickups are a bit lower.

I don't see how the bridge could be "too high", unless someone shimmed it up or something. The bridge sits right on the wood of the body when you take it off. You may not be able to see, but the screws that hold the bridge on are under the saddles.

Some pics of the bass would be great. We might be able to verify that the nut / fretboard, etc are all original for you. Maybe even put a pic of the control cavity up.

I'm sure someone else on here will be able to do that for you, eventually. I think less people read this board on a daily basis than you might think :)

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BoulderBean

Joined:
04 Feb 2004
Posts: 309
PostPosted: 06/12/2008 at 3:22 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

I definitely recall reading instructions for re-gluing a Bean fretboard on this forum. Search through the threads and check the repair section as well. It sounds like you will need to carefully clean off the old glue before re-attaching the fretboard. There are luthier web sites out there that can offer advice on removing all types of glue. Good luck.

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admin

Joined:
01 Jun 2001
Posts: 1266
PostPosted: 06/12/2008 at 3:30 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

This might be the thread you're looking for..
http://www.travisbeanguit.....fuseaction/forum.view.htm

admin


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BoulderBean

Joined:
04 Feb 2004
Posts: 309
PostPosted: 06/12/2008 at 3:39 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

That's the one. Thanks Admin. Kevin provides a very clear description of the fretboard gluing process.

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zupfhansl

Joined:
04 Jun 2008
Posts: 4
PostPosted: 06/26/2008 at 3:21 PM    Post subject: RE:devastated TB-2000 link

Hello again,
I'm really sorry for this extremely late reply, but I've been very buzy, out of town ...having just a very hard time at the moment!
Anyway first of all a little outing as I am actually a professional luthier. Before everybody mourns "Oooohhh he uses our forum for his mean commercial interests" please note that really nobody pays me for all these investigations. This simply has been my first Bean guitar in almost 15 years of my professional career and I'm one of these idiots who still care about their work. Furthermore I'm really attracted by this construction. The story went like this: Customer walks into my workshop with the bare Bean neck. fingerboard partially loosened and somebody had tried to reglue with some soft unsuitable glue. Frets played down.
We then agreed to try to reglue the fingerboard as good as possible and refret it. Some weeks after this was done he came back with the rest of the bass. He had removed the finish and it turned out that fingerboard again lost contact to the neck at another spot. Furthermore the action was still a bit high although the saddles were lowered as far as possible. So a new, slightly thicker fingerboard appeared as the best solution as it'd provide a long term stable connection to the neck again and also would solve the problem with the action.
However although I've made a very attractive offer to bring the bass in perfect shape again, my customer declined at least for the moment. Actually the bass is not in a really poor shape, but it is always unsatisfying to leave behind half-cured patients... So I've put the bass to the database in the state it is now: Fairly playable, electronics just reconnected (works again, thank you!), without laquer on the body.
I still hope that it will return after a while so that I can make a real pearl of the bass again. Then I will of course reup some updated ohotos.. By the way I really appreciate the warm atmosphere in this forum as well as the apparently high level of comprehension. This is actually the first internet forum, I've ever registered (!) and whenever I read a post somewhere else, I usually found tons of rubbish, myths and fragmentary-knowledge. . So I really have to make a big compliment to you!
O.k. enough of this, whenever I've got some news, I'll post it here.

Cheers everyone

zupfhansl from Germany

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