Looking for quick install non-invasive pickup. Bass Max?

[tbassist4]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a pickup that I can easily switch out between basses. I have two basses at home and will also need to temporarily install the pickup on rental basses when I travel to out of state gigs. I'll be playing mostly bluegrass with it, which will require a little bowing, but I plan on doing jazz and pop gigs as well.

The bass max seems to have all the right features and the right kind of sound for what I need, but I'm a little worried about installation. It seems easy enough to put in the bridge wing, but Bob Gollihur's website mentioned that since all bridges are different, each one may or may not require shaving/shimming of the wing depending on if it's too wide or too narrow. I can shim rental basses but not shave.

Would a pickup that goes under the bridge foot be better for me? This seems more tedious, but at least it would be a sure thing for installation.

Thanks so much in advance!

Tyler

[Jake deVilliers]

I like the Bass Max fine but the Underwood fits many bridge wing slots without any modification to the bridge. Take an Underwood and some sax reeds and you're in good shape.

[Marcus Johnson]

K&K DBT.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

I like the Bass Max fine but the Underwood fits many bridge wing slots without any modification to the bridge. Take an Underwood and some sax reeds and you're in good shape.

Thanks! I'll take a look at that as well - it looks just like a two-wing version of the bass max. Couldn't I potentially run into issues if the wing slot is too narrow though?

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

K&K DBT.

I was looking at that one as well. Doesn't that require some adhesive film?

[Wallyphonic]

the Barcus Berry pickup seems like the easiest to take on and off and would fit any bridge... But I've never used one so I can't vouch for the sound quality.

[Barcza]

Fishman BP-100 is also easy to install and remove!

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by tbassist4

I was looking at that one as well. Doesn't that require some adhesive film?

Yup, double-sided film.... the pickup comes with enough of it to do 2-3 installations. Except for the jack on the afterlength, you can't see it at all. From the bottom, it kinda reminds me of the alien's hand that comes creeping out of the UFO in "War Of The Worlds".

I'm not sure how the switching out between basses would work over time. Maybe the tape would degrade in that situation. But the price is good; I'd just buy a couple of 'em.

I love mine... I have no pickup GAS at all. Great pizz and arco.

Woops... the rental bass thing's an issue. Maybe the Underwood + sax reeds is your best bet. Nice and thin, there won't be many bridges that it won't slip into. BP-100 would work too... but I've never been able to get a decent sound out of it. If I were getting either one of those, I'd throw one of Fdecks little preamps in the road bag as well.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by Wallyphonic

the Barcus Berry pickup seems like the easiest to take on and off and would fit any bridge... But I've never used one so I can't vouch for the sound quality.

This looks great in terms of installation. However, that sound quality thing is an important issue, haha. The clip system doesn't look all too bad since it has adjusters. The first entry I found on google was from a bluegrass website, so hopefully it would work well for that. It also attaches in the same general region as the Bass Max, so I assume it might sound similar and be good for the same things. It's really cheap too, so I suppose no harm done if it doesn't work out.

Originally Posted by Barcza

Fishman BP-100 is also easy to install and remove!

This looks good too in terms of installation. Will this give a full enough tone for jazz/bluegrass?

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Yup, double-sided film.... the pickup comes with enough of it to do 2-3 installations. Except for the jack on the afterlength, you can't see it at all. From the bottom, it kinda reminds me of the alien's hand that comes creeping out of the UFO in "War Of The Worlds".

I'm not sure how the switching out between basses would work over time. Maybe the tape would degrade in that situation. But the price is good; I'd just buy a couple of 'em.

I love mine... I have no pickup GAS at all. Great pizz and arco.

Woops... the rental bass thing's an issue. Maybe the Underwood + sax reeds is your best bet. Nice and thin, there won't be many bridges that it won't slip into. BP-100 would work too... but I've never been able to get a decent sound out of it. If I were getting either one of those, I'd throw one of Fdecks little preamps in the road bag as well.

Yeah, the rental bass issue is a little bit of an obstacle. I like the idea of an Underwood or Bass Max pickup with shims, I just don't want to run into a bass with bridge wings that are too narrow, because I can't alter a rental bass.

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Thanks so much for the suggestions guys, I'll be looking into a few of these...

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by tbassist4

I can't alter a rental bass.

Hmmm... an Underwood, some sax reeds.... and a flat file.... and no forwarding address....

[Mark Perna]

You gotta be careful with the BP-100. It is my pickup of choice on my
'28 Juzek, on my '32 Juzek before it was damaged and on my '06 Kolstein travel bass. It sounds godly on all of those. On my '74 Juzek, '07 Kolstein travel bass, and a few other basses that I've owned, it totally sucked (not to put too fine a point on it). When it works, it works great but it doesn't work with all basses and if it doesn't work, it's fingernails on a blackboard time. Believe me, I tried everything to get it to work on those basses too.

Based on my experience, you've got a better shot at it working with older carved basses. I've had minimal or no luck with it on newer carved basses or plywoods. While I'm sure that there are folks that have gotten it to work fine on newer carved basses and plywoods, the point is the odds are really stacked against you if you want to use it on a lot of basses.

mark

[Michael Glynn]

The new Vektor pickup sounds great and is an easy and non-invasive install. The only downside is that it can start to feed back at high volumes.

[kaybass1952]

I've haven't tried the Planet Wing.but by all reports,it's a very good sounding pick-up -
"Dimensions: diameter 0.826"/21 mm - thickness 0.185"/4,7 mm. "
I don't know how this how this compares in size with the Underwood.

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Hmmm... an Underwood, some sax reeds.... and a flat file.... and no forwarding address....

Haha, actually not a bad idea. Who'd notice a few millimeters as long as it was a clean job? I'd be a bass shaving ninja. Also, I'm sure later renters would appreciate the added space if they had a similar pickup.

Originally Posted by calivox

You gotta be careful with the BP-100. It is my pickup of choice on my
'28 Juzek, on my '32 Juzek before it was damaged and on my '06 Kolstein travel bass. It sounds godly on all of those. On my '74 Juzek, '07 Kolstein travel bass, and a few other basses that I've owned, it totally sucked (not to put too fine a point on it). When it works, it works great but it doesn't work with all basses and if it doesn't work, it's fingernails on a blackboard time. Believe me, I tried everything to get it to work on those basses too.

Based on my experience, you've got a better shot at it working with older carved basses. I've had minimal or no luck with it on newer carved basses or plywoods. While I'm sure that there are folks that have gotten it to work fine on newer carved basses and plywoods, the point is the odds are really stacked against you if you want to use it on a lot of basses.

mark

Ah, well that would be a problem then. Probably very few of the rental basses I use will be carved. I may still look into this just because of the easy install. I wonder it I could mount the pickups somewhere else on the bridge; maybe one towards the top and one in the middle? That way I could get better overall results by custom placement for each bass I use.

Originally Posted by Michael Glynn

The new Vektor pickup sounds great and is an easy and non-invasive install. The only downside is that it can start to feed back at high volumes.

The only one that I found looked like it required some drilling. Are you talking about the one listed on their main site? That's all I could find.

Originally Posted by kaybass1952

I've haven't tried the Planet Wing.but by all reports,it's a very good sounding pick-up -
"Dimensions: diameter 0.826"/21 mm - thickness 0.185"/4,7 mm. "
I don't know how this how this compares in size with the Underwood.

This really looks awesome. It wouldn't work for switching between my basses and rental basses though because, "For installation, a hole must be drilled into the bassbar-side bridge leg."

I could definitely shave a bit off of a bridge wing without anyone noticing, but I don't quite have the ninja skills to drill a full on hole undetected.

[kaybass1952]

[quote]This really looks awesome. It wouldn't work for switching between my basses and rental basses though because, "For installation, a hole must be drilled into the bassbar-side bridge

tbassist4-
I think you were looking at the "planet plug' I was referring to this: http://www.planet-pickups.com/?show=2 No mod required to install- similar to a BassMax

OT - how does the "-Originally posted By" Quote/Highlight thingy" -works?

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by kaybass1952

This really looks awesome. It wouldn't work for switching between my basses and rental basses though because, "For installation, a hole must be drilled into the bassbar-side bridge

tbassist4-
I think you were looking at the "planet plug' I was referring to this: http://www.planet-pickups.com/?show=2 No mod required to install- similar to a BassMax

OT - how does the "-Originally posted By" Quote/Highlight thingy" -works?

Oh, my mistake, thanks for pointing that out. The picture was confusing so I thought I was looking at the bottom of the planet plug or something, haha. That looks sweet, but might also require some wing shaving is the slot is too narrow, correct?

To use the quote function, go to the post you want to quote and click the "quote" button on the lower right hand side of the post and it will set you up on a new page.



Tyler

[dvmweb]

I've used one for a few years with a Fishman Platinum Pro Bass Preamp. You will need a preamp with this to make it sound good.

I have used it on other peoples' basses with no problem. I put it in the G string wing. You don't want to shim it too tight or too loose, you know, just right. My bass doesn't need a shim. My friend's needs a little bit of wood. Like the saxophone reed mentioned above.It would be a problem if the space in the wing is too narrow, though. It takes about 10 seconds to put in place.

Walt MI/USA

[tbassist4]

Originally Posted by dvmweb

I've used one for a few years with a Fishman Platinum Pro Bass Preamp. You will need a preamp with this to make it sound good.

I have used it on other peoples' basses with no problem. I put it in the G string wing. You don't want to shim it too tight or too loose, you know, just right. My bass doesn't need a shim. My friend's needs a little bit of wood. Like the saxophone reed mentioned above.It would be a problem if the space in the wing is too narrow, though. It takes about 10 seconds to put in place.

Walt MI/USA

Thanks for the heads up on the preamp - I'll make sure to get one before I leave.

So with this "not too tight, not too loose" business with fitting the pickup, I assume that means that I make sure its only tight enough to stay in place, but nothing more, correct?

Thanks so much for your input,

Tyler

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I've used both the Bass Max and the Underwood. The Bass Max sounds bottom heavy but good (the "Sometime Ago" clip on my site was recorded live using a modified Bass Max many years ago), while the Underwood tends to sound brighter and more detailed. Based on your situation, I'd probably go with the Underwood because it's thinner than the Bass Max, meaning that it's more likely to fit in a normal bridge and/or will fit with a shim. The Bass Max, which is a good deal thicker, will often require filing/shaving of the bridge wing in order to fit.

Good luck, either way.

[Wallyphonic]

The BassMax is thicker than the underwood and the Planet Wing. I have used the Bass Max on quite a few rental/borrowed basses. If the bass has not previously been fitted with a wing pickup it will almost certainly need to be shaved/sanded down to fit. I bring a fingernail file (the kind with sandpaper on a stiff foam backing) with me to file out the wing slot to fit. I hate having to do covert lutherie! Also I have run across some bridges where the wing comes to a point and doesn't fit the pickup well at all.