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3 pup jazz bass?

F

fraco

Jun 29, 2011
38
12
Norway
#1
The next bass I`m getting is definetely a Jazz bass. probably a copy buildt from scratch. But I like to get most possible sounds out of an instrument so I got the idea of adding a 3rd pickup...
as i look upon a j-style bass, it kind of looks like it has a bridge and a middle pickup. my point being that the neck pup is pretty far from the neck. the deep end of the instrument isnt really captured with that pup placement.

the bridge pup could also be closer to the bridge, for a more brighter sound. my idea is then to move both of the original pups closer to the bridge. and then add a 3rd pup very close to the neck. why move the original pups? because if I want the spacing between the pickups to be symmetrical. this could be solved by moving just the neck, but I could at least go with a 70s spacing bridge.. right? for more versatility.. because I have to custom order this body anyways..

my third plan is the to add a volume and tone stacked pots (like original 1960 jazzbass) for all pickups. and maybe experiment with series/paralell switching

anybody with experience in moving the original pickups have some insight to spare? I would like to get a jazz bass tone out of the instrument. but It doesnt matter if the original pups will just be a bit brighter sounding.. I have the 3rd pup that I can add into the mix:)

will adding a third pup interfere with the hum-cancelling aspect og the two original ones? I have no experience with 3 pickups going at the same time, and dont know enough of electronic theory to understand.. do you?
 
#2
fraco said:
The next bass I`m getting is definetely a Jazz bass. probably a copy buildt from scratch. But I like to get most possible sounds out of an instrument so I got the idea of adding a 3rd pickup...
as i look upon a j-style bass, it kind of looks like it has a bridge and a middle pickup. my point being that the neck pup is pretty far from the neck. the deep end of the instrument isnt really captured with that pup placement.

the bridge pup could also be closer to the bridge, for a more brighter sound. my idea is then to move both of the original pups closer to the bridge. and then add a 3rd pup very close to the neck. why move the original pups? because if I want the spacing between the pickups to be symmetrical. this could be solved by moving just the neck, but I could at least go with a 70s spacing bridge.. right? for more versatility.. because I have to custom order this body anyways..

my third plan is the to add a volume and tone stacked pots (like original 1960 jazzbass) for all pickups. and maybe experiment with series/paralell switching

anybody with experience in moving the original pickups have some insight to spare? I would like to get a jazz bass tone out of the instrument. but It doesnt matter if the original pups will just be a bit brighter sounding.. I have the 3rd pup that I can add into the mix:)

will adding a third pup interfere with the hum-cancelling aspect og the two original ones? I have no experience with 3 pickups going at the same time, and dont know enough of electronic theory to understand.. do you?
Click to expand...

Check out the J. Backlund Design JBD-800B bass. Has exactly what you are thinking. jbacklund.com

If you are interested, PM me, I own serial #1
 
#3
There are a couple of considerations to make:

1. The JB neck and bridge pickup are different sizes to compensate for the strings, you will need a narrower-than-standard pickup to support the string spacing at the neck joint.

2. Standard Jazz Bass pickups are RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse polarity) for hum-cancellation; for this to work with your 'neck' pickup, you would need it to be wound similar to a bridge pickup. So that the neck and bridge pickups hum-cancel against the middle pickup - like a Strat.

So you need a pickup that is narrower than a neck pickup and wound like a bridge pickup, it would probable best to get a set of three custom-made by someone to avoid impedance mismatches etc.

Otherwise this could work really well. Looking forward to pics :hyper:
 
#4
Tom: that looks cool, but I was going for a jazz bass look and feel. just with an extra pup for more tonal versatility. but that bass seems nice though.. I bet you can get lots of tones out of it.

cotsey: I know about the rwrp middle/neck and how the neck should be wound like the bridge.. the narrower string spacing had not come to mind, though.. so thanks.

I already own a strat and know how that works. i think the strat was an inspiration for the idea. however, I wanted to have three volumes instead of a five-way shift. and on the strat there are never more than two pickups going at once(because of the five-way-switch). and this is my concern..

on the J backlund design, there`s also a five-way-switch..

I`ve never heard of a (bass)guitar having three pickups in the signal going at once. except the brian may guitar..

and thats my main concern. that adding a third pickup to the signal of the already existing two, will somehow kill the tone...
 
#5
"3 jazz bass pickup basses" that are out there you could check out...off the top of my head.

1) Gibson G-3
2) PRS (Paul Reid Smith)
3) Musicman Big Al

Also, a lot of people throw a Dimarzio in the "neck" position you're talking about like on Gibson EB basses.
 
#7
The late great Mark Adams of Slave:

8883re2.jpg
 
#10
I have a Fender HM bass, similar to this one:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/fender-hm-bass-anyone-anyone-669678/#post9316327

The bridge pickup is pretty useless unless you're looking for a daffy duck tone. I've seriously considered removing the 5 position selector (it works like a strat now) and putting a 3 way in place that allows the middle and bridge pickup to work like a split humbucker, switched series/parallel. Then I'd do a stacked volume to get a V-V-t setup without having to modify the body.

The only reason I haven't done anything with it is that it will probably require a lot of trial-and-error to get something workable, and I'm really not sure it's worth the effort.
 
#11
fraco said:
Tom: that looks cool, but I was going for a jazz bass look and feel. just with an extra pup for more tonal versatility. but that bass seems nice though.. I bet you can get lots of tones out of it.

cotsey: I know about the rwrp middle/neck and how the neck should be wound like the bridge.. the narrower string spacing had not come to mind, though.. so thanks.

and thats my main concern. that adding a third pickup to the signal of the already existing two, will somehow kill the tone...
Click to expand...

I've thought about adding a third neck pickup to a Jazz. But I haven't done it yet. But there was a dude on alt.guitar.bass who did vintage Fender repairs who built himself a Fender with three pickups. He played in a Blues band and I had an MP3 somewhere of it. The neck pickup gives you the option of a very deep tone...almost muddy which is a worry...that worked very well in his blues band.

But so far I simply added a series switch rather than a third pickup for deeper tone. I still may go that way someday when I get the projects caught up.

Let me also add that My Modulus has three Bart pickups. Basically they are Neck, "sweet spot" and Bridge. Each one has a switch and that gives you a wonderful variety of tonal choices. Most commonly I use Neck+bridge or "sweet spot" alone. But other combos are quite useful too.
 
#12
fraco said:
I already own a strat and know how that works. i think the strat was an inspiration for the idea. however, I wanted to have three volumes instead of a five-way shift. and on the strat there are never more than two pickups going at once(because of the five-way-switch). and this is my concern...
Click to expand...

If you're going for the three-pickup option, make sure you use 500K pots, minimum (1M pots would be ideal if you're going Vol-Vol-Vol-Tone). This has to do with pickup loading - resistance parallel to the pickups created by the controls, which is at its highest with all pots fully open. The lower the total loading, the duller the bass will sound, the higher it is, the brighter and more hi-fi the bass will sound.

When you turn all the pickups up, with 250k pots the total parallel resistance would be 72,5k - that's very low.
With 500k pots there'd be 125k parallel resistance - close to what Fender has on their reissues for the vintage tone.
With 1M pots the loading gets up to 250K which is used in modern basses with a brighter sound. It's up to you.

And it's true, the more pickups you have the more notch filtering happens between them. Notching happens anytime you sense one thing (string motion, in this case) with multiple sensors (pickup coils, in this case) because they don't sense it the same way. But depending on where you put the neck pickup, you are very likely to get a usable "all-on" sound.
 

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