Pilot

Jeez, I can't access LTG for a few days and the only topic with nothing new is Bass.

So there's a guy on TheDudePit who wants info on a Pilot. Schematic or picture of the cavity. He has one with holes for 4 knobs/pots which is what he is interested in. Any Pilot owners here?

You rang?


I believe all SB-602 thru SB-605 Pilots have two volumes and a tone knob;




Even the SB-902 with the Bartolinis have three knobs;



However, the second generation "Pro" Pilots have four knobs;



There are two volumes, a treble EQ, and a bass EQ.

Yowsa! That SB-902 is a beauty to behold!

dklsplace said:

Yowsa! That SB-902 is a beauty to behold!

Click to expand...

Wait until I get a good picture of it!

Thanks. I suspect I garbled the question a bit. I posted links to here and Guilds of Grot and suspect he'll be in touch.

Hello everyone. Newbie here. I'm the "guy" that fronobulax posted this thread about, and it was suggested I check out your forum. (thanks frono).

I'm left handed and I recently purchased this rare lefty Pilot on ebay, which I' d like to restore. Needless to say it's pretty unique, and a great 80's time capsule (for better or worse, LOL). Please see pix:





I'm told it's an '87 (serial #BE102619) and the striped finish and Kahler bridge are original (I'm missing the tremolo arm though). You'll note in the closeup of the 2nd photo, however, that there's an empty 4th hole where a pot/knob would go. To my untrained eye, the placement of the hole looks consistent with a Pilot Advanced, but I'm wondering if it's possible that this was an early attempt by Guild at an Advanced model and somebody removed the preamp/4th pot, or if it's more likely that someone modded a standard Pilot with a 4th hole and then removed whatever they had put in there. According to what I know about Advanced Pilots, other specs on my bass are not consistent with Advanced specs (i.e mine has a rosewood fretboard, EMG PUPs, finish, etc), but sometimes companies do wacky one-off things, especially when it comes to lefties. Regardless, I'd like to restor the bass to an Advanced layout and fill in that unsightly hole, so I'm wondering if anyone also has a schematic or control cavity photos for a Pilot Advanced. (or, I may go with a 3 band EQ and single volume blend knob instead for further versatility).

Any help/info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Here are photo links in case some of you can't see the inserted pix. I have additional pix if interested:

http://home.comcast.net/~pjmuck/Guild_Pilot.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~pjmuck/Guild_Pilot_bridge_closeup.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~pjmuck/Guild_Pilot_back2.JPG

Guild had no fear of unusual paint jobs that's for sure.
Someone who knows what they're talking about should be along any minute. Cograts on the bass! My best friend is left-handed and it's difficult for him to get quality gear.

The fourth hole seems to be out in the middle of nowhere!

Doesn't look factory to me.

OK - I'm either officially confused or seeing things. Guilds of Grot - in the second picture you posted where you say "Even the SB-902 with the Bartolinis have three knobs," I see four knobs, and the fourth knob looks like it's in the same position as in the left handed one that pjmuck is asking about...

Oops! Well I'll be damned, there are four knobs!

I've got to quit posting at work so I can pay more attention to these things!

Well, I don't play that bass much and since the bottom of the picture is so dark I never saw the fourth knob!

On the up side, now I can take a picture of the control cavity for pjmuck!

Stay tuned!

The Guilds of Grot said:

Oops! Well I'll be damned, there are four knobs!

I've got to quit posting at work so I can pay more attention to these things!

Well, I don't play that bass much and since the bottom of the picture is so dark I never saw the fourth knob!

On the up side, now I can take a picture of the control cavity for pjmuck!

Stay tuned!

Click to expand...

kurt,

I am curious, what does this 4th knob do?
and welcome from germany, pjmuck! kewl pilot!

krysh said:

kurt,
I am curious, what does this 4th knob do?
and welcome from germany, pjmuck! kewl pilot!

Click to expand...

I don't remember, when I drag it out tonight for some photos, I'll plug it in and find out!

good news for me is, I'm not seeing things!

hieronymous said:

good news for me is, I'm not seeing things!

Click to expand...

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone, and thanks for helping me out. A guy on another site was kind enough to send me an extra knob that he had lying around, so all I'll need to do is get the corresponding pot and wire it up (once I figure out what the 4th knob does) and a Kahler tremolo arm (which I can order directly from Kahler if needed; I didn't know the arms came lefty or righty, but apparently you can get a lefty-specific arm). I never had a bass with a tremolo before. Might be fun.

pjmuck,

You might have noticed that the first of my pictures, the SB-602 has the Kahler tremolo on it.

I use it more then you would think. Like at the end of the chorus of Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance".

Sometimes when you have whole notes it's nice to give them a little wiggle!

You have to watch the big dive bombs though because it will knock the bass out of tune. (At least mine does).

Okay, I've checked out my SB-902.

While I had it out, I shot some pix against my new background;










Now for what you've all been waiting for;



The fourth pot appears to have some other kind of adjustable pot attached to it.

Also in the cavity below the battery is a rectangular epoxy filled box with the letters "TCT" on it.

So what does the knob do? It seems to boost the bass.

Sorry if that's not much help, but electronics are all "magic" to me!

hey kurt,

ok, it seems to be the bartolini tct 2-band preamp (active treble and bass, the trim-poti on the 4th pot might be for the bass frequency of the boost), here a fast link to a talkbass-forum thread here:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archive/i ... 97137.html

@pjmuck: i would agree to the guys in the forum, this preamp is an old one and might work with the bartolini pickups well which were stock including the preamp on the 902 (I believe). BUt Bartolinis are not fancy anymore now and development has gone further and you have several great solutions to choose from.
i.e. I use a sadowsky 2-band preamp (with stacked volume pot, so I only have to use the original three pot-holes :wink:, in my pilot with new handmade Delano ( http://www.delano.de/english/index-eng.html ) humcancelling pickups and it sounds awsome (like these 3000$ and up basses - my pilot has a fantastic mid-growl -maple body- so no need for active mids anyway ) . Glockenklang made a new highend electronics which is also a great choice, but of course this stuff is always a matter of taste. If you like to mod your bass, You could easily use a 3-band electronics with a stacked volume pot because of the 4 holes, and probably the bass would be worth it if growles as good as mine :wink: .

edit: 2

Thanks for the additional info Michael!