Should you use standard pickups (barts, seymour duncans, etc) with a bass guitar with fanned frets or do the pickups need to be cutom built if they are to be placed at the sweet spot underneath the strings?

Pleas enlighten me.

- bsb

It's best to use extended poles and as wide as possible. Of course a lot depends on how much of an angle you're mounting them at.
I had to try 2 different model Barts to get mine right. They always list what the width range they can handle. Once you figure out how wide the area will you can see if the PUP will handle it. Also remember when you tip the pickup you're losing the direct or straight strings over the coils/bar.
Dirk

Should you use standard pickups (barts, seymour duncans, etc) with a bass guitar with fanned frets or do the pickups need to be cutom built if they are to be placed at the sweet spot underneath the strings?

Pleas enlighten me.

- bsb

Measure from outside string to outside string at the angle you want the pickups and also take into consideration the width of the pickups coils if they are dual coils. You dont want the end of coil A on one outside string and coil B on the other.

Also, forget about "sweet spots" - once you fret a note youre dealing with a different string length and its gone. Mimic pickup placement of your favorite basses etc if you are in doubt.

This is what worries me. Fanned frets are new territory for me and I want to make sure it is right the first time. Sheldon Dingwall angles his pickups quite a bit but manages it quite well. I suppose I could mimick the pickup placement on his guitars. The difference between the Z1 and Z2 would give me some guidance.

And you are right about the sweet spot. Placement is mainly for open string ring but I would tend towrds the bridge since you typically don't just play open strings. At least I don't.

In fact I tend to spend quite a bit of time between the 5th and 12th frets.

- bsb

Also, forget about "sweet spots" - once you fret a note youre dealing with a different string length and its gone. Mimic pickup placement of your favorite basses etc if you are in doubt.

Amen on the sweet spot thing! It's a marketing term stolen from tennis rackets and applied to guitars because it sells. There are no magic spots that if missed by a 1/4 inch will ruin anything. Pickup positioning is all about taste and preferred tone.

IMHO of course :)

This is what worries me. Fanned frets are new territory for me and I want to make sure it is right the first time. Sheldon Dingwall angles his pickups quite a bit but manages it quite well. I suppose I could mimick the pickup placement on his guitars. The difference between the Z1 and Z2 would give me some guidance.

There is a rather clumsy way to find your favorite spots but I've done it before. Don't route pickup holes before you build the bass far enough to string it up. Then have someone play it while you hold the chosen pickup over the strings that's wired to a jack and is plugged into an amp. You can slide the pickup around to find the place you think you'd like it to be. You have to kind of rest it on your fingertips to keep it off the strings. You can also experiment with twisting the pickup to see if you want to go counter clockwise to minimize the difference in tone between strings or clockwise to exaggerate it.