Pickup Routing On The New Mark Hoppus Basses

[MichaelThomas]

Let me begin by saying that I got to catch these guys last night again for the first time since I was 16. Amazing show. It's awesome to see how far they've gotten. I also wanna please ask to refrain from dumb comments like "yadda yadda he's ghey, why does he have a sig, blink sux, omg he can't play because he doesn't have a tone knob, etc..." (: Seriously it's useless, let's talk about the bass.

Now last night his tone was phenomenal. Perhaps not the best for jazz or slap, but a great straight forward rock sound which is what I'm looking for. Some time ago he experimented with reversing and rotating the positioning of his quarter pound p bass pickup so the higher split covers the G and D while split closer to the bridge covers E and A. Basically this gives you more low end on your high strings, and more high end on your low strings. Pretty smart design.

Here's a visual example on his myspace: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=17926048

Anyways I'm planning on building a new bass out of warmoth parts and I was thinking about trying this concept out. Has anyone else had any experience with this configuration? If you have share your input (: I'm also not sure where I could even get a P bass body with the routing carved out in this reverse configuration. I'm not trying to be Hoppus, just experimenting with something new. Your thoughts? Is it even worth it?

[walterw]

sure, i've seen this on lots of instruments and it makes perfect sense.

the bass body is the easy part, as it likely has a big rout that would clear either way, and if not, routing a little extra wood away under a pickguard is no big deal.

the harder part would be finding the pickguard.

[line6man]

The reverse P setup is extremely common. Check out a Spector bass if you are curious about the sound.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by walterw

the harder part would be finding the pickguard.

Why?

Warmoth offers pickguards with no routing, so you can just route the pickup when you do the body.

[MichaelThomas]

Originally Posted by line6man

Why?

Warmoth offers pickguards with no routing, so you can just route the pickup when you do the body.

Well the pickguard wouldn't be a problem because I wanna try this on Warmoth's '72 P-bass body. :/ The pickguard doesn't cover the carving for the pickups.

http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/P-Bass/72Pbass.aspx

lol can't i just ask them to carve it backwards?

[line6man]

Originally Posted by MichaelThomas

Well the pickguard wouldn't be a problem because I wanna try this on Warmoth's '72 P-bass body. :/ The pickguard doesn't cover the carving for the pickups.

http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/P-Bass/72Pbass.aspx

lol can't i just ask them to carve it backwards?

Ok.

I'm not sure whether or not Warmoth offers a reverse P route.
They do custom pickup locations for $45, but AFAIK, they don't do custom shapes.
Maybe you could request a left-handed pickup route, but I'm not sure if that would tie in with the CNC program for a whole left handed body.

PM "Wyliee" and ask him.
He's a Warmoth employee that hangs out on TalkBass a lot.

[MichaelThomas]

Thanks man I'll hit him up. I think they might. If you check the gallery in the customer p-bass section you can see two basses that have this exact routing right on the body. So maybe....or maybe they just ordered the slab and routed it elsewhere. This would be such a fun concept if it works, its like a dream bass ha! Gonna look for one of those Spectors and try it out see if the sounds balance differently.

[rollcall]

schecter makes a reverse rout one. and the reggie hamilton is a way better bass than the hoppus and the hoppus is a one trick pony.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by rollcall

schecter makes a reverse rout one. and the reggie hamilton is a way better bass than the hoppus and the hoppus is a one trick pony.

I thought the Reggie Hamilton bass had a regularly oreiented P pickup?

[MichaelThomas]

bump