Pickups across the strings...attuned to a frequency?

[RoosterRusek]

OK, let me be clearer...I threaded earlier about doing a 5 string, but instead of the low B which I never ever use, have the high C.

Question is, with a normally tuned 5 string, are the pickups attuned to be picking up a certain frequency, or is it just the pole pieces picking up the particular frequency of the string regardless of what said string is tuned to?

Thanks...

[ric stave]

Pickups as a whole or seperate pole pieces of a pickup are NOT made for specific strings or frequency ranges.

[RoosterRusek]

Originally Posted by ric stave

Pickups as a whole or seperate pole pieces of a pickup are NOT made for specific strings or frequency ranges.

Pleased am I this confirmation! (in my best Yoda voice)

Thanks!

P

[FunkMetalBass]

To summarize in advance, yes, pickups are tuned to let certain frequencies in better than others, but your bass will be fine and you wont need special pickups for the high C, but some pickup height adjustment may be necessary.

In general, the fundamental is not the prominent note that you hear because your ear tends to hear certain frequencies better than others (specifically, the mids, so when you see something with scooped mids, your ear is actually hearing everything fairly evenly) and a string's construction actually dictate that the second and third harmonics are the most prominent.

All that being said, while your pickups may have a group of frequencies that it likes to pick up more, it can't be as limiting to a certain small band of frequencies as the frequency of every nth-order harmonic is 2^n times that of the fundamental (for example, A 110Hz has harmonics at 220Hz, 440Hz, 880Hz, etc...), and you have numerous notes per string. Your pickups have to be able to pick up a very wide range of frequencies.

The poles are nothing but magnets and are not inherently tuned, but rather, work in conjunction with the wire windings inside to pick up frequencies. The vibration of the string in the magnet's field causes an electric current that the wound wire (a solenoid) transmits into the bass' circuitry and out to your amp.

Your pickup will grab frequencies all the way to the edges of your hearing, which is far beyond the high C string notes. You have nothing to worry about unless you hate the tone of your pickups.

[recnsci]

Originally Posted by FunkMetalBass

... and a string's construction actually dictate that the second and third harmonics are the most prominent...

Care to provide more info about this?

[FunkMetalBass]

Originally Posted by recnsci

Care to provide more info about this?

Listen to flatwounds and listen to round wounds; obvious differences in string construction and obviously different tonal qualities. Someone who actually works in the string business (Skip, requesting backup) can give specifics as to why this is, but I have a few plausible ideas:

The flats have more outer-wrap surface area touching the string's core. This, in turn, forces the string to act more like a single vibrating string of X thickness and produces a stronger fundamental (this is why your flats are generally "bassier" by design).

I believe it also has to do with the compression waves of the outer winding(s). Flats use wide, flat windings, rounds use narrower round windings. If you were to use the outside winds as a spring, the round windings would be much more free to move around than the flats would - this would be equivalent to a secondary vibration longitudinally that affects the cores vibration and produces harmonic overtones. This probably attributes to the difference in string tension (even between identical gauge and pitch) as well.