Magnetic pickups for a bowable neck?

[pdeon99]

Anyone know of a magnetic pickup designed to fit a bowable neck? I want to add a magnetic pickup to my Piezo-only EUB, but all I can find are conventional (flat-top) pickup sets. I need to span 4 strings on a curved neck (bowable), total distance 2" (just under 3/4" between strings).

[Bofee]

Check out the String Charger and the Schaller DB pups.

[fdeck]

Conventional magnetic pickups won't pick up bowed sound.

[pdeon99]

My objective here is to reduce the annoying "thump" produced by the piezo pup when my finger comes to rest on the next string. ("Bowable" was referring to the neck radius being pronounced, which creates a problem for fitting conventional BG pups.)

[ToneRanger]

Originally Posted by pdeon99

My objective here is to reduce the annoying "thump" produced by the piezo pup when my finger comes to rest on the next string. ("Bowable" was referring to the neck radius being pronounced, which creates a problem for fitting conventional BG pups.)

What pickup are you using? I don't have that problem on my Paulin EUB with home-made piezo under the bridge - and it works fine for arco.
(pickup: www.fittell.id.au/piezo ). It seems to me the 'under the bridge foot' pickups need less gain and hence have less problems with mechanical noise and feedback.

[pdeon99]

This pickup is Zeta's own, albeit an early model that has since been superseded. The piezo crystals appear to integral to the bridge itself, because the wire runs out the bottom and into the body. BTW, I heard from someone who has the later version, and he does not have the thump problem.

I temporarily put a guitar sound-hole mag pup under the strings, and confirmed that there is no thump. My choices are to upgrade to the new bridge and electronics (not cheap to do) and hope that the thump goes away, or to add mag pups and mix it in to reduce the relative influence of the thump. Some thump is good, just not too much.

[Dan in NJ]

http://www.biesele.org/pickups/

not sure if you can mount this on y bass tho--

[pdeon99]

Originally Posted by Dan in NJ

http://www.biesele.org/pickups/

not sure if you can mount this on y bass tho--

I contacted this guy. First class unit, but it won't fit because I have only 7/8" available between the fretboard and the body. (And it's a bit more expensive than I need for this project.)

[ToneRanger]

Check out the Magentic Spot Pickups from here:
http://www.windworld.com/products/catalog.htm#hardware
Haven't tried them but 4 of these would seem to be a good solution.

[pdeon99]

Originally Posted by ToneRanger

Check out the Magentic Spot Pickups from here:
http://www.windworld.com/products/catalog.htm#hardware

These ones are the best fit yet. They are only 5/8" wide, which fits in the space I have available. I think you may have nailed it for me, ToneRanger. Thanks!

[shwashwa]

there seems to be an 8" magnetic strip on that page too... maybe you can bend it to fit the curve of the fingerboard. string charger will bend, but i'm not sure it's thin enough for you. if you take a fender P bass split pickup you can angle it so each side picks up 2 strings. you can make it look like a V, but i'm not sure how you would mount it. i saw a guy with one on a DB and it sounded pretty full...

[ToneRanger]

Originally Posted by shwashwa

there seems to be an 8" magnetic strip on that page too... maybe you can bend it to fit the curve of the fingerboard.

I've tried that - works OK, but their little 1/2" tabs work just as well under each bridge foot.

if you take a fender P bass split pickup you can angle it so each side picks up 2 strings. you can make it look like a V, but i'm not sure how you would mount it. i saw a guy with one on a DB and it sounded pretty full...

Not sure whether it works for arco.
My temporary P-Bass pickup mount: Cut a block of foam so it fits snugly between body and fingerboard and extends beyond the fingerboard by the width of the pickup. Shape it to support the pickup in the right position and wrap a piece of tape or velcro around the whole pickup/foam assembly.
Doesn't look pretty, but it's easy to take on & off for experimenting while you figure out whether you want to mount a pickup permanently.

[ricobasso]

The main problem I found with a magnetic pickup and arco was that it had very little sensitivity to side2side string vibration, which is what you mostly get from a bowed string .

I had a Schaller magnetic DB pickup which was curved and matched the end of the fingerboard very well. It was just too quiet. I would estimate it was at least 20dB quieter when bowed, compared to when plucked. Same bass, same strings, same player.

I went over to an Ashworth piezo wedged into the bridge wing when I stopped playing slap with an electric blues band and didn't need as much immunity from feedback that you get with a magnetic pickup.

If you do experiment with the individual single coil pickups, I would suggest that you mount them at an angle so that they have a chance of picking up some side2side string motion as well as the up-down .

[shwashwa]

the origional poster doesnt indicate that he wants to use the magnetic pickup while playing arco. he just used to term "bowable neck" to indicate a curved fingerboard unlike an electric bass guitar fingerboard which is flat, and therefore the conventional magnetic pickups associated with ebg wouldnt be appropriate.

[Francois Blais]

Originally Posted by ricobasso

I went over to an Ashworth piezo wedged into the bridge wing when I stopped playing slap with an electric blues band and didn't need as much immunity from feedback that you get with a magnetic pickup.

Are they distributed in the US or Canada?
The price in pounds seems quite high, converted in CDN$.
You're using the AJ301 or AJ301P?

Regards,
François

[pdeon99]

Originally Posted by shwashwa

the origional poster doesnt indicate that he wants to use the magnetic pickup while playing arco. he just used to term "bowable neck" to indicate a curved fingerboard unlike an electric bass guitar fingerboard which is flat, and therefore the conventional magnetic pickups associated with ebg wouldnt be appropriate.

Quite right. It is bow"able", but I don't do arco. (not yet, at least.)

Aside: shwashwa, I gotta tell you, I am very impressed that you took the time to pick that out. This list is outstanding for the quality of participants and general courtesy, not to mention the solid information.

[ricobasso]

I have both Ashworths http://www.ashworthelectronics.co.uk/ .

I bought a single for around 80GBP a while back. They're listed at 95GBP by Stentor now . I later got a double on ebay for around half that . I'm planning to use that on my homemade EUB.

They all do seem very expensive for what they are, but then getting a robust electrical and mechanical termination for the cable is a real pain to do. I know, I've tried it and I'm an experienced electronics engineer.

[ricobasso]

I've just worked out what the pdeon99 / shwashwa exchange was about. If you just want a curved pickup and don't need it to work arco, the the Schaller is fine. Bad news is that I don't see it listed any more and I sold mine some time ago.