Where to mount the J Pickups...

xsogol · #1 08-31-2009, 08:23 PM

Here's the situation...I have a nice Fender J neck, a very mod-able SX PBass body, a Model P pickup...and two model J pickups.

I'm thinking of having a 3 pickup bass with the P pickup in its traditional location. So this leads me to some J pickup placement questions...

Question 1. On a 34" scale Fenderish bass, where would one mount the neck J pickup to have it in roughly the same sonic area as a Rickenbacker 4001/3 neck pickup?

Question 2. Should I mount the bridge J pickup in the 60s J bridge position or the 70s?

Optional Question 1 (aka Question 3). Should I put one of my Schaller Humbuckers or a Thunderbird pickup in the bridge position instead?

I play mostly blues, rock, and reggae, btw.

Thanks!

Number27 · #2 09-01-2009, 04:41 AM

1. maybe an inch below the neck pocket?
2. 60's, that's where jack casady's was
3. no

you're welcome.

xsogol · #3 09-01-2009, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Number27

1. maybe an inch below the neck pocket?
2. 60's, that's where jack casady's was
3. no

you're welcome.

Thanks! Any other opinions?

ctmullins · #4 09-01-2009, 07:10 AM

Hmm. Since you mentioned reggae, I'm thinking maybe one of your humbuckers might be nice in the neck position - you know, for super-deep bass. Is the Schaller a four-wire humbucker? If so, you could coil-split it for both humbucker and single-coil sounds.

If that doesn't appeal to you, then you might also consider adding a series-parallel switch for the two Js - or perhaps a switch to put all three pickups in series - that should yield some nice deep lows!

xsogol · #5 09-01-2009, 02:23 PM

Any more info on the Ric neck pickup placement?

ctmullins · #6 09-01-2009, 08:55 PM

According to this site, the earlier instruments placed the neck pickup a little further from the bridge than later ones.

Judging from measurements taken from various photos on the Web, the neck pickup appears to be 27% of the scale length from the bridge on 1974 and earlier models, and 23% of the scale length for post-1974 instruments. But that's just me holding a ruler to my laptop...

xsogol · #7 09-02-2009, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctmullins

According to this site, the earlier instruments placed the neck pickup a little further from the bridge than later ones.

Judging from measurements taken from various photos on the Web, the neck pickup appears to be 27% of the scale length from the bridge on 1974 and earlier models, and 23% of the scale length for post-1974 instruments. But that's just me holding a ruler to my laptop...

Hmmm, that's very interesting! I've always been wary of measuring from a picture, but, then again, a percentage is a percentage regardless of the scale! Thanks ctmullins!

I think I may try the 27% of scale length from the bridge for the neck J and the 60s position for the bridge J. Thanks everyone!

Darkstrike · #8 09-02-2009, 06:13 AM

Imagine this with a P in the middle.....