Hey all. Beginning of the summer I routed out a big ol' spot for a Thunderbird pu in the middle of my Gibson SG.. (Neck: Dimarzio Model 1 - after trying out a lot of pu's in that position.. Bridge: Epi Rumblekat neck (10k) mini humbucker.. for now)
Turns out, a Thunderbird pickup is a little too dark for me. So I got a Serek LZN B90.. and it is a great sounding pickup, but with the mix of pu's I've got, it's not the one for this bass. I like it in Single the most (should have probably just got the regular single B90). Parallel is good... but a little dark up top, Series has punch for days, but is like a light blanket over my upper frequencies, graet sound, but I want something more open up top in this bass. Tried a mini humbucker (Rumblekat) in that position.. it rips.. like a wooly chainsaw, like syrupy flapjacks.. which I LOVE, but in this combo of pickups, I need it to be a little more open there (even straight to jack it's kind of like a blanket up top, let alone putting a couple 500k pots on the signal).
*cool extra chunk I took out of the body on the top of that t-bird route..
So, it brought me to one of my favorite middle position pickups.. the mustang. JMJ is my favorite Mustang pu, but not possible to get, so I took a shot on the Nordstrand NM4.. The spacing is a little off.. but since I can (and have to) move the coils a little closer, it splits the difference just fine). It sounds great, but, it looks kind of goofy. I tried putting it under a thunderbird cover.. but to raise it to proper height for volume/tone, the cover is just out of the route, which looks terrible. Then I made a little adapter out of some acrylic I had around and it's ok-ish. I'd like a more elegant solution. To note: the string to body on the SG is quite a bit higher than a Mustang.
I'd be cool with the exact same tone.. or a little closer to a vintage P. Spacing over that spot is close to 16mm (17mm at bridge). I don't want to limit to blades though, because some builders can hit the right spacing with poles. Thought about a Musicmaster pickup, but hum cancelling (or low hum) would be great.. I definitely prefer split coils to a side by side humbucker (at least the ones I've tried, unless they're more narrow aperture like the mini humbucker.. but most sound a little too compressed and muted up top). In a different direction, The Novak H22 is really catching my ears.. and I can make a new guard to cover the route.. I just don't know. I'm half tempted to just rock it with the NM4, but the mustang is quite a bit quieter than my other pickups, and pretty sensitive to 1mm difference in hight to string, so dialing in the E to A volume is harder with it raised to the max as it is currently. Anyone ever try a firebird pu on a bass? Those Epiphone twin blade humbuckers sound fantastic on guitar.
Turns out, a Thunderbird pickup is a little too dark for me. So I got a Serek LZN B90.. and it is a great sounding pickup, but with the mix of pu's I've got, it's not the one for this bass. I like it in Single the most (should have probably just got the regular single B90). Parallel is good... but a little dark up top, Series has punch for days, but is like a light blanket over my upper frequencies, graet sound, but I want something more open up top in this bass. Tried a mini humbucker (Rumblekat) in that position.. it rips.. like a wooly chainsaw, like syrupy flapjacks.. which I LOVE, but in this combo of pickups, I need it to be a little more open there (even straight to jack it's kind of like a blanket up top, let alone putting a couple 500k pots on the signal).
*cool extra chunk I took out of the body on the top of that t-bird route..
So, it brought me to one of my favorite middle position pickups.. the mustang. JMJ is my favorite Mustang pu, but not possible to get, so I took a shot on the Nordstrand NM4.. The spacing is a little off.. but since I can (and have to) move the coils a little closer, it splits the difference just fine). It sounds great, but, it looks kind of goofy. I tried putting it under a thunderbird cover.. but to raise it to proper height for volume/tone, the cover is just out of the route, which looks terrible. Then I made a little adapter out of some acrylic I had around and it's ok-ish. I'd like a more elegant solution. To note: the string to body on the SG is quite a bit higher than a Mustang.
I'd be cool with the exact same tone.. or a little closer to a vintage P. Spacing over that spot is close to 16mm (17mm at bridge). I don't want to limit to blades though, because some builders can hit the right spacing with poles. Thought about a Musicmaster pickup, but hum cancelling (or low hum) would be great.. I definitely prefer split coils to a side by side humbucker (at least the ones I've tried, unless they're more narrow aperture like the mini humbucker.. but most sound a little too compressed and muted up top). In a different direction, The Novak H22 is really catching my ears.. and I can make a new guard to cover the route.. I just don't know. I'm half tempted to just rock it with the NM4, but the mustang is quite a bit quieter than my other pickups, and pretty sensitive to 1mm difference in hight to string, so dialing in the E to A volume is harder with it raised to the max as it is currently. Anyone ever try a firebird pu on a bass? Those Epiphone twin blade humbuckers sound fantastic on guitar.
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