Adding 3rd pickups to P/J bass??

[geckoman1220]

hope this is the right section.

I've been thinking about adding a 3rd pickup right under the neck of my P/J. Kind off like the Rickenbacker pickup location ( I know it wont sound like a rickenbacker, i just like the location.) I want to be able to use the p bass pickup and the new extreme neck. so i know i'd have to route a place for the pickup and the new volume pot.

so my questions:

1. could i tie the new pickup into the tone pot, to make it control the tone of all pickup?, then i would have a volume knob for each pickup. i also guess i could do 3 concentric, but it sounds a bit more confusing.
2. do you think a '50s p bass pickup ( the 4 magnet) would be a good choice? i dont want a bulky p or j pup.

 

[Ric5]

You mean like this ...

 

[Stealth]

1. could i tie the new pickup into the tone pot, to make it control the tone of all pickup?, then i would have a volume knob for each pickup. i also guess i could do 3 concentric, but it sounds a bit more confusing.
2. do you think a '50s p bass pickup ( the 4 magnet) would be a good choice? i dont want a bulky p or j pup.

1. Sure you can, one volume each and then a tone. However, in order to avoid getting a very dark sound out of the bass with all three pickups engaged, you'll have to make the wiring using 1M pots instead of 500Ks, or 500K pots instead of 250K, depending on what's inside at the moment.

2. A '51 P-bass pickup would be an interesting choice, but it depends on the pickup's own resistance - a big difference in resistance will result in a dull tone.

The first one just requires getting new parts. If you have a multimeter (analog or DMM) you can check the second one easily. There's also the third option of not using a V/V/V/T layout, but something completely different, like the Stu Hamm wiring.

 

[Nightvision]

Great idea.
I'm going to do the same thing with my NAS Precision Bass. J pickup at the bridge (Duncan SJB1) and a Rick 4003 Hi Gain neck PU on neck position.
Wired with Vol, Tone and a 5 way selector switch.

 

[WorkingBassHero]

You mean like this ...

Do you have any sound clips of those?

 

[geckoman1220]

oh, i didnt even think about having to switch to 500K. i dont think ill ever use all 3 pups at once, mainly just the p pickup and the new neck pickup.

and i dont know the resistance of the pick ups, the p bass pup is a fender 62 original (threw the box away so i dont know the resistance.) and unsure of the j bass bridge.

so do i need to keep the new neck pickup in similar resistance to the p bass pickup?