I have some stupid questions which I probably already know the answers to, but I just wanted to confirm with anybody who has played these basses extensively. If you completely turn down the bridge pickup on an SB-2, will it sound exactly like an SB-1? Is the split coil pickup in the same place? Also, is the pickup placement exactly the same on an LB-100 as an SB-1? I know that split coil pickups tend to be in the same place, but as we've seen with the L-1000, L-1500, and L-2000, sometimes the pickups would be in different places than expected.

Anybody? I'm sure there's quite a few of you who can at least answer the pickup placement question.

IIRC, the P-pickup is in the same location on both the SB-1 and SB-2. However, I believe that the SB-1 has a tone control pot, so the answer is maybe. Sort of.

I think the SB-2 and SB-1 are identical but haven't measured. My 2 are a generation apart though the SB-1 is the seconde iteration early split coil style '84 ish and the SB-2 is about a '93-'94.

Jim

I have some stupid questions which I probably already know the answers to, but I just wanted to confirm with anybody who has played these basses extensively. If you completely turn down the bridge pickup on an SB-2, will it sound exactly like an SB-1? Is the split coil pickup in the same place?

I think the lack of a tone control on the SB-2 seems to make the split pickup sound a bit less "p-bass" than the SB-1. On my bass, you need to pull the bridge pickup in at about 10% to get a good p-bass sound.

hth

I don't know about the SB-1, but the P pickup on the SB-2 is about 1/2" or so closer to the bridge than a standard Fender P...

Karl

would that half inch make for an audible difference? A big one?

Thanks for the input guys. As for whether it would be an audible difference, I'm not entirely sure. I'd have to hear it for myself, but there's many that say some types of basses can't quite get other types as far as copping sound due to pickup placement. One example is the L2K and the Stingray since the L2K pickups don't quite hit the "sweet spot."

For me a good sound is a good sound regardless (and it's tough finding a G&L without a good sound!), but I was wondering how close an SB-1 is to an SB-2 so I could decide on future purchases. Plus I was curious. The fact that it's closer to the bridge than a P is quite interesting as I'm more of a pluck towards the bridge type of person and it's a little weird switching from plucking over a P pickup to plucking over the back L2K pickup when switching basses.

I don't know if this factors into yr decision regarding SB-1 vs SB-2, but the SB-1 features a P styled neck while the SB-2 sports a J-styled neck. Also, I take it you realized that SB-1s (and LB-100s for that matter) are discontinued so any of the 2 latter models you find will definitely be used or NOS at best.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

r