Sunday, April 26, 2020

Aria Pro II SB-Black 'n' Gold Modification with PJ Marx pickup (ala Cliff Burton)

Alon, from Talkbass, sent me some info about his PJ Marx modded Black 'n' Gold. The mod was inspired by Cliff Burton's PJ Marx loaded Black 'n' Gold. This might be the least well known mod done by Burton and I believe it was done not too long before he died. There is only one photo I've found of Cliff actually with his Aria w/ PJ Marx. He is seen in what looks to be a sound check with Metallica during the "Puppets" tour. John Marshall, filling in for James, can be seen with an acoustic guitar, leading me to believe he was using it on "Fade to Black".




See more from my original post on the PJ Marx mod here:

http://ariabasses.blogspot.com/2013/09/cliff-burton-aria-bass-w-modification.html

Alon was kind enough to send some pics and sound samples of his PJ Marx mod. Notice, the pickup is also wired to the two way switch to allow for humbucker or single coil mode.


He did need to create a pickup ring to allow the smaller pickup to fit the stock MB pickup cavity.

Finally, here is a sound demo of the SB loaded with the PJ Marx. Thanks Alon!



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