azzyrazzy
06-28-2008, 06:25 PM
Thought it would be nice to have the Bartolini article from the Ibanez site here on TB for reference, should Ibanez remove it from their site. Enjoy ! (http://ibanez.com/features/btb_bartolini_feature)
Bill Bartolini and Ibanez’s top engineers took two years to develop the fantastic MK-2 bass pickups and it’s a partnership that has pleased everyone, especially new BTB owners!
My relationship with Ibanez began in 1995 when they requested some samples. Ibanez started using our products on some models in 1996. In 1998 the (former Ibanez president) and I had a meeting at the Frankfurt Messe and I agreed to work with Ibanez on the Gary Willis Bass project. After sending Gary many samples he approved the pickup and the electronics for his signature instrument.
Since then, we have supplied Ibanez with many bass pickups and various electronics. Before this time, in the earliest years of our history, there was far more emphasis on neck-through construction and enhanced lows and low-mids. In the mid 90's the emphasis shifted to bolt-on construction with more mid and treble emphasis.
We always try to satisfy as many bass players and builders as we can, so we developed designs to satisfy the new requirements and tastes. Most builders were satisfied with an approximately equal tonality from bridge and neck pickups. The neck pickups were always a little brighter with slightly less output than the bridge pickups. But some builders and players preferred putting neck pickups at the bridge and bridge pickups at the neck intentionally. Ibanez was the first to ask for much deeper tone from the neck pickup while retaining a bright tone for the bridge.
When Ibanez asked for special pickups exclusively for Ibanez BTB series, they also asked me to try to blend the older enhanced lows and low mids with the newer, brighter tone in a narrower soapbar design. Could we go beyond what had been achieved in this direction?
The process of designing the final product is always a little bit like making a good salad: there are many ingredients, their characteristics are learned over many years and the final result depends on the mix. Our quad-coil design can yield many other tonalities but, in this case, the desired result was the deepest Deep Neck tone that balanced well with a Bright Bridge tone and retained this tonal balance with the Ibanez designed 4-, 5- and 6-string basses. After several tests and improvements, we reached our goal with the MK-2. Enjoy the wide tonal range!
Bill Bartolini and Ibanez’s top engineers took two years to develop the fantastic MK-2 bass pickups and it’s a partnership that has pleased everyone, especially new BTB owners!
My relationship with Ibanez began in 1995 when they requested some samples. Ibanez started using our products on some models in 1996. In 1998 the (former Ibanez president) and I had a meeting at the Frankfurt Messe and I agreed to work with Ibanez on the Gary Willis Bass project. After sending Gary many samples he approved the pickup and the electronics for his signature instrument.
Since then, we have supplied Ibanez with many bass pickups and various electronics. Before this time, in the earliest years of our history, there was far more emphasis on neck-through construction and enhanced lows and low-mids. In the mid 90's the emphasis shifted to bolt-on construction with more mid and treble emphasis.
We always try to satisfy as many bass players and builders as we can, so we developed designs to satisfy the new requirements and tastes. Most builders were satisfied with an approximately equal tonality from bridge and neck pickups. The neck pickups were always a little brighter with slightly less output than the bridge pickups. But some builders and players preferred putting neck pickups at the bridge and bridge pickups at the neck intentionally. Ibanez was the first to ask for much deeper tone from the neck pickup while retaining a bright tone for the bridge.
When Ibanez asked for special pickups exclusively for Ibanez BTB series, they also asked me to try to blend the older enhanced lows and low mids with the newer, brighter tone in a narrower soapbar design. Could we go beyond what had been achieved in this direction?
The process of designing the final product is always a little bit like making a good salad: there are many ingredients, their characteristics are learned over many years and the final result depends on the mix. Our quad-coil design can yield many other tonalities but, in this case, the desired result was the deepest Deep Neck tone that balanced well with a Bright Bridge tone and retained this tonal balance with the Ibanez designed 4-, 5- and 6-string basses. After several tests and improvements, we reached our goal with the MK-2. Enjoy the wide tonal range!