Pickup, Pot and Cap advice needed

[GBassNorth]

I should have some time off over the holidays and thought I'd finally start a short scale Bronco bass mod that I'd been considering for some time now. I'm going for a surf type bass with Dano type tones and thought the GFS Strat guitar lipstick pickups would be a good replacement for the current stock strat pickup in the Bronco bass. It looks like either a single coil or humbucker will fit in the existing body route.

If I go with a GFS single coil lipstick pickup I had planned on using a 6k one and I'd team it up with 250k pots and a .047mf cap. Is that a good combo or should I consider different values for this option?

If I go with a GFS lipstick humbucker option I'm not sure where to start. I assume the humbucker option would give me a fuller sound (maybe not as Dano as the single coil option, I guess I could put a coil switch on it if needed) but don't know if I should go with the 9k or 12k option, and if I do, what pot and cap values would go best with it?

I've spent most of the day digging through the search function on this topic but it's kind of like looking up the name Johnson on the internet. Just hoping for a more concise answer from the Luthier base at TB. Any help is appreciated.

[GBassNorth]

Any ideas from the TB pros (and hacks) is appreciated. I know a couple of folks on here have dropped humbuckers in their Broncos. What would work nicely on a short scale Bronco bass with flats - a 9K or a 12K GFS Lipstick humbucker or should I just can the humbucker option and go with the single coil lipstick option?

[GlennW]

Every time I do something like that I test a bunch of caps and make my decision AFTER I've heard them. That's the best advice I can give you.

Don't bother soldering every cap. Instead run a couple of wires long enough so you can change caps by twisting or alligator clipping them to test. Once you figure out what gives the sounds you want, then solder it up.

[GBassNorth]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Every time I do something like that I test a bunch of caps and make my decision AFTER I've heard them. That's the best advice I can give you.

Don't bother soldering every cap. Instead run a couple of wires long enough so you can change caps by twisting or alligator clipping them to test. Once you figure out what gives the sounds you want, then solder it up.

Good advice on the caps. I can pick up a couple of .100mf and .047mf orange drops and maybe some other values if available, they aren't very expensive. Harder to do that with the pickups due to cost (although the GFS pickups are dirt cheap so I have considered goint the trial and error route on those as well if I can't get any good answers here).

[GlennW]

In case you don't know, cap values add when they're in parallel. If you think a .047 is a little too bright you can add a .022 to it to darken it up a bit.

[GBassNorth]

OK, GlennW has helped sort out the cap options, and I have a couple of 250k pots laying around I can try.
Any one else have any advice on using a 9k humbucker vs a 12k humbucker on a Bronco or should I just stay with a single coil option at 6k?

[walterw]

the bigger humbucker will split into the same as the 6k single, but the smaller humbucker might sound clearer in humbucking mode (being not quite as hot).

[line6man]

Originally Posted by GlennW

In case you don't know, cap values add when they're in parallel. If you think a .047 is a little too bright you can add a .022 to it to darken it up a bit.

Capacitance also decreases when capacitors are placed in series.

The formula you can use to determine capacitance is:
Parallel= C_Total=C₁+C₂+...C_n
Series= C_Total= 1/([1/C₁]+[1/C₂]+...[1/C_n])

[GBassNorth]

Thanks guys, based on the info you've provided I'll probably go with the GFS 9k lipstick humbucker and 250k pots and I'll start with a .047mf cap and go up from there as needed. After researching the Dano sites it appears the original longhorns used 4.6k pickups so if I put a coil switch on the 9k humbucker it should drop me down to about a 4.5 single coil and in the ball park of some early danos. Thanks again for the help, I'll be sure to post some picks when done.

[GlennW]

I tried a Dano RI lipstick pickup (about 4K) by the neck in my P bass. It was very trebly compared to the split P pickup with the same tone settings. Here's a pic so you'll have an idea where it was.

[GlennW]

Originally Posted by line6man

Capacitance also decreases when capacitors are placed in series.

Caps in series would get bright in a hurry. Usually I prefer nothing smaller than a .033, in some cases a .022 .

[madmatt]

Originally Posted by GlennW

In case you don't know, cap values add when they're in parallel. If you think a .047 is a little too bright you can add a .022 to it to darken it up a bit.

.047 + .022 =.069!
Giggidy!

But seriously, I have found that a split P type pickup sounds best with a .047uF cap.
If there are P/J pickups involved than I like a .022uF.
If J pickups a .033uF will do.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Caps in series would get bright in a hurry. Usually I prefer nothing smaller than a .033, in some cases a .022 .

It's useful when you need to combine caps to get a certain value that you don't already have on hand.
For example, if you have 0.1uF caps, but not 0.047uF caps, you can put two 0.1uF caps in series to achieve the value.

[GlennW]

Originally Posted by line6man

It's useful when you need to combine caps to get a certain value that you don't already have on hand.
For example, if you have 0.1uF caps, but not 0.047uF caps, you can put two 0.1uF caps in series to achieve the value.

That may be true and work in a pinch, but two OD .1 caps will take up a lot of space, and anyone working on a tone circuit should have a few .022s and .047s on hand before they get into it.