Advice for pickup replacement on hollowbody?

[scottferreter]

Hey all, thanks in advance for your help.

I scored a bass that I really love-- a nameless Japanese violin-bass that's larger than a Hofner and has a scroll headstock. Plays like a dream.

The current bridge and neck pickup look like EB-series Gibson knockoffs, and the big mudbucker one works, but the neck pickup seems dead. (reads .5k and hardly makes any sound).

The current pickup is a mini-humbucker sized, but I think I'd prefer a single coil to match the other pickup and beat the buzz with both on. Tonally, I'm trying to steer away from the midrangey-ness of the bass and get into that plunky, fat zone.

I like Pino Palladino and James Jamerson a lot, and tend to play somewhere in the folky, R&B, soul zone that generally has me needing a big, warm, gentle sound, like an upright.

Any advice?

 

[SulzerType2]

I don't think you will get close to big warm tones with any sort of replacement pickup in the bridge slot of a violin bass. It is too close to the bridge and no compatible design is going to put enough coil under the strings there. You will get varyingly bright, nasal tones depending on pickup type.

Upgrading the neck pickup will get you warmer fatter tones, closer to the artists you mentioned.

 

[scottferreter]

Thanks for this! Yes, I should have been clear that they are installed in reverse, so the mudbucker is in the bridge position (currently the only working pickup), and the dead mini-bucker sized pickup is in the neck position.

 

[SulzerType2]

Do you have a photo? That sounds a bit unusual!

 

[scottferreter]

Do you have a photo? That sounds a bit unusual!

 

[SulzerType2]

Somebody has had fun modding that! Looks like an old Eko or similar. My wild card suggestion would be to find a Firebird guitar pickup as these have blades and don't have a prominent mid spike.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

The bridge pickup would have originally been the same as the neck. I believe any of the Gibson style bass/ mini humbuckers will fit.

 

[scottferreter]

Excellent. I'm wondering what would be a good pickup in that size to mitigate the midrange-heavy sound of the instrument iself?

 

[SulzerType2]

Excellent. I'm wondering what would be a good pickup in that size to mitigate the midrange-heavy sound of the instrument iself?

Cut your losses? A short scale bass with a pickup at the end of the neck will always be heavy on the mids. A good outboard preamp might help sweeten things?

Your pickup choice and performance is limited by the available space and location.

 

[deepestend]

I put some TV Jones Thunderblades in my lakland hollowbody and really like them.