Hi all,

First off, be patient wiht me, im a drummer. I have always loved the bass guitar, and despite being hopeless at playing it, i thought id give a shot at making one.

I have all the materials, but i am still undeccided when it comes to electronics. I want to use a single humbucker, open coil, covered with a wooden pickup cover.

For this i have been looking at the Seymour Duncan SMB 4a (Musicman style pickup).

However, this normally has an attached preamp to make it active, but having only a small budget, i was wondering if i could wire it without a preamp and use it as a passive pickup?

Apart from the pickup, what else will i need to purchase to get the bass guitar picking up?

I only need tone and volume control, but am unsure where or what to purchase, a detailed description of what i would need to run a SMB 4a passive with volume and tone control.

All help is greatly appreciated!

I posted this in the pickup section and didnt really get any answers, was told to try here, different strokes for different folks i guess!

I did the exact same thing as you. I added a toggle switch to go between series/split/parallel on the pickup though. Very cheap way to give it more options than a tone knob.

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5548/img13051sz4fw0zw.jpg

Soundclip
http://12.165.52.143/~jcbasses/blackwidow4sound.mp3

The toggle switch
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/Mini_Toggle_Switches.html

Pots
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Potentiometers_and_push-pull_pots/1/Potentiometers_and_Push-Pull_Pots.html

very cool! I am using the open coiled humbucker mainly to simplify the build process, and enabling me to put a matching pickup cover over it (made from australian jarrah)]

Are you able to give me a rundown or list of the elements/wires/circuits and all the pieces i will need for the circuitry to get the pickup working?

Many thanks for the speeyd reply!

All you are going to need is the two pots, one tone and one volume, and an output jack. The pickup should come with the instructions needed to wire it right. Come to think of it, I think mine came with the two pots and output jack actually.

How is the output out of the humbucker when it is wired passive?

I just got off the phone to the australian supplier of the seymour duncan smb4a and he said he couldnt gaurantee a very high output out of it.

The recording sounds fine, the guy wasnt quite sure of how much it would affected, but it sounds fine.

Just to be a pain, would you be able to draw a diagram to show how the parralel'series switch is connected to the pots and the output? Im also quit enew to electronics, the simpler the better!

It is one of the loudest passive basses I've played, so don't worry about that.

This is the best that I have right now. Just pretend the blend pot isn't there. The wire going from the switch just goes to the volume instead.
http://12.165.52.143/~jcbasses/wirediagram.jpg

Do i have to careful when choosing a bridge for this pickup? Is there any special requirements or string spacings?

You just have to make sure the string spacing is right. I went with a Hipshot A bridge.