Versatile Pickups for an Ash Body (EMG)

[Thump_it]

I am building a bass and I dont really know a whole lot about the tonalities of certain pickups coupled with the tone woods as they relate to a bass. I am hoping to use EMG's as I like their overall tone, but I'm certain which one's to use (neck pos, bridge pos).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Seth

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by Thump_it

I am building a bass and I dont really know a whole lot about the tonalities of certain pickups coupled with the tone woods as they relate to a bass. I am hoping to use EMG's as I like their overall tone, but I'm certain which one's to use (neck pos, bridge pos).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Seth

FWIW:

in my experience the acoustic properties of a bass are fundamentally not controllable in advance - you'll know what you've got when it's done. So good luck with that one.

Early hand wound pickups are the same way but latter day pups are a totally different story, extremely predictable and basically indistinguishable for all intents and purpose (comparing identical model/brand). Also active EMG's tend to sound more alike regardless of the bass they're stuck in than any other pup brand I've run across. Like any other pup, different models of active EMG's don't sound alike.