Time to cut some wood!

[hags2k]

I've been pondering the effects of pickup orientation and configuration on sound, and I have really started to love that sound a good pickup near the bridge can give, and I'd like to add a little something to my P-bass.

 

I first came to the realization of the power of the bridge pickup last summer when I played a gig for the first time with my jazz bass. I was playing around with pickup arrangements, and I soloed the bridge pickup. I hadn't liked that tone when playing by myself, but when I started playing with the rest of my band, I realized for the first time what it means to "cut through". That burpy, growly tone was right up front, and I (and the audience) could hear me like never before. I play in a rock setting, and usually fingerstyle, and it really helped me poke through the guitars. I've since learned to love that tone in many cases.

 

Now, I've heard Sting-Rays, and Jazz Basses with single coils and humbuckers in the bridge position, and the tonal qualities that I am really after they all seem to share, more or less. Prominent mids, a "burpier" sound, and a bit punchier, though more shy in the low-end. That's fine, since I can mix in some of the P pickup to round out the bottom, ya know?

 

So, I already know I'm going to have to rout the body. I've got a guy who will do it, and do a fine job, judging by all the guitars he's built from bare wood. I don't trust myself with that stuff...

 

I'm now trying to decide what direction to go as far as a pickup goes. I'm leaning towards a music-man style humbucker, though many of the ones I've looked at are either active or come with replacement preamps, assuming the guy doing the mod is replacing a pickup system in a Stingray. I'd really rather not go the active route, if possible. Does anyone have any suggestions for a music-man style replacement pickup that will work just fine in an all-passive bass?

 

I'm totally open to other types of pickups, though I'd like to stay in the realm of soap-bar style humbuckers, as I am not looking for a single-coil replacement, or even a pickup designed to sound like a single coil specifically. I'm not as familiar with other types of humbuckers, however, and I've rarely heard any of them in a passive situation. The EMG-HZ series looks interesting...

 

As I said earlier, a lot of the tonal qualities I'm looking for seem to be affected primarily by pickup placement and coil arrangement, so I'm not terribly worried about the differences between similarly designed pickups, and I'm willing to take a chance at buying something sight-unseen (or the auditory equivalent), as it will be a good learning experience either way, I'm sure. The reason I was thinking about music-man style humbuckers was that it seemed that there is a wider variety of larger humbucker pickups in that form factor to choose from than other soap-bar designs, so once I'd done the body routing, I would still have a variety of options.

 

No matter what, I'll end up with a more versatile p-bass, and this is something I've been aching to do for a while. I've seen several p-basses with similar mods before, and I even like the look, so I don't feel I'd be sacrificing anything by doing this, except perhaps a little time and money

[g.]

Get a Q-Tuner. I know some of the text there doesn't do too well to either be technical or NOT technical - kind of like a walk through New Age Crystal Land as written by an drug-whacked expatriate from the Stanford Linear Accelerator or something.

 

But that stuff is just FRESH and deep and flexible. If I was to route there is absolutely nothing else I would consider. In fact it has me thinking about doing some routing in SPITE of having good pickups.

 

http://www.q-tuner.com/

[bubba upright]

Much as I hate to drop the B-word when talking replacement pickups.....

 

......the Bartolini MMC is a Music-Man style replacement. It has ceramic coils, which keeps it from getting too sizzly without active electronics. Kent Armstrong also makes some cool-sounding hummers.

 

For the record, your easiest wiring solution is to route for a jazz-style pickup; you'll also likely have more choices as far as brand is concerned.

 

Sounds like a fun project.

[hags2k]

Originally posted by greenboy:

Get a Q-Tuner. I know some of the text there doesn't do too well to either be technical or NOT technical - kind of like a walk through New Age Crystal Land as written by an drug-whacked expatriate from the Stanford Linear Accelerator or something.

 

But that stuff is just FRESH and deep and flexible. If I was to route there is absolutely nothing else I would consider. In fact it has me thinking about doing some routing in SPITE of having good pickups.

 

http://www.q-tuner.com/

Ah, the Q-tuners. Thanks for reminding me about those. And, yes, reading the website I sense more than a little pretentious techno-babble. I particularly like the way they say that one who listens to the demo file needs to face the "perceptual challenges", and the not-so-subtle suggestion that most people aren't "smart" or "knowledgeable" enough to get what is going on. Ironically, someone with real knowledge would undoubtedly find the phrasing on the site to be "off".

 

Regardless of the writing (which rubs me the wrong way, for sure), the pickup design and sound clips are REALLY interesting, and I think I might just have to give one of those bad boys a try. 150 bucks seems a bit pricey compared to other pickups I've been looking at, but then again these things are pretty damn cutting-edge, it seems.

 

I wouldn't mind hearing some opinions on those pickups, but it seems like they're still new in the bass world. I might have to face the music that goes along with being an "early adopter". Bleeding-edge, and all that.

 

Oh, and I heard the sound clips of the Knuckle bass, but I hardly think that a ultra-long scale, high-end, custom-built, high-quality 6-string bass is going to give me an accurate picture of how the thing would sound in a 34" scale, bolt-on, somewhat-less-than-boutique, 4-string bass. But that's just my opinion

[hags2k]

Q-tuner follow up:

 

So, I gather that the design is supposed to allow one to adjust three rows of "pole-pieces" in order to change the way the pickup sounds in pretty dramatic ways... If you really can change the pickup response from balanced, to bright and trebly, to mid and bassey by adjusting the rows of pole pieces...THAT'S pretty cool. I want to try one of these out just to see how flexible the thing really can be in terms of sound. A pickup whose response can be altered dramatically just by turning a few screws...VERY interesting.

 

Dammit, this is getting more and more tempting by the minute!

[Fred TBP]

Originally posted by hags2k:

 

I've got a guy who will do it, and do a fine job, judging by all the guitars he's built from bare wood. I don't trust myself with that stuff...

 

As I said earlier, a lot of the tonal qualities I'm looking for seem to be affected primarily by pickup placement and coil arrangement...

My concern is "pickup placement". Have you decided on the bridge model and how far to route the bridge pickup from that point? These choices can make a difference in your sound as well as pickup choices.

 

Otherwise, good luck, I know you'll enjoy playing a bass "custom built for YOU!" Just the sound of that...

[g.]

hags,

 

The thing is, Knucklebass has heard a lot of other pickups in that context (one that is challenging for tonal and string balance reasons since the strings get up to .195, among others), and a more standard context as well. He's impressed as hell. We talked about it on the phone for probably half an hour before moving on to other stuff; I can tell there is a great ear and mind there. I trust by the comparisons and the descriptions.

[hags2k]

Originally posted by greenboy:

hags,

 

The thing is, Knucklebass has heard a lot of other pickups in that context (one that is challenging for tonal and string balance reasons since the strings get up to .195, among others), and a more standard context as well. He's impressed as hell. We talked about it on the phone for probably half an hour before moving on to other stuff; I can tell there is a great ear and mind there. I trust by the comparisons and the descriptions.

Sounds pretty convincing to me, as well. Testimony like this is more than enough to assuage my fears about buying a pickup without having "used" it personally. I'm pretty much convinced now about using the Q-tuner.

 

Bubba, thanks for the suggestion. The Bart pickups were actually the first ones I looked at. I don't think they'd be a bad choice at all. I think I'm just a little more excited now about the Q-tuners.

 

Fred, you bring up another excellent point. I was thinking I'd use either Jazz bass pickup placement or Music Man placement as my guide (middle of pickup to bridge). Maybe even right in between the two (if there is a big difference, I haven't checked yet). Any suggestions of a better way of making that determination?

[g.]

Remember, an exact "sweet spot" for placement mostly only matters during the time an OPEN STRING is played. The importan thing is if you want more general warmth, head toward the neck, and too close to the bridge may lack fundamental AND have low output. In general the J bridge pickup placement seems to be just about right for all ocassions if you already have a P location.