Are basses wired the same as guitars?

[morglan]

I posted this in the Luthiers forum, but figured I might get a quicker response here.

I've wired many guitars, and now my brother has asked me to wire 2 of his basses.

Both are 2 'humbucker' basses, with V/V/T, and he wants them to be V/T. Can I just follow a guitar wiring diagram to do this?

Also, what value pots should be in these basses?

Thanks!

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Yes, they are essentially the same.
500k Ohm Linear taper for volume
500k Ohm Audio taper for tone, if you want it a little brighter.

Use 250k Ohm pots if you want vintage or a darker tone.

Doesn't he want a three way switch?

 

[morglan]

Thanks! Yes, just spoke with him, and I'll be installing a switch and replacing the pit's as well.

 

[StratoCraig]

Yeah, it's pretty much the same. For a master volume/master tone setup with a selector switch, you'll want to have the pickups go to the switch first, then send the switch's output to the volume and tone controls. I did more or less the same thing with my Fender Jazz, except I actually used a four-way rotary switch so I could have the options (1) neck only, (2) neck + bridge in series, (3) neck + bridge in parallel, (4) bridge only. Had to use a Dremel to remove some wood because the switch was just a little too big, but in the end it worked out really well.