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Bass with 3 pick ups?

#2
Here's my Phantom Custom. The Burns Bison has 3 p/us.
ouchnbc041.jpg
 
#5
Roscoe used to make one. "Skyline" I think it was called. I almost bought one a few years ago that turned up on Elderly's used list.
There's also the Mouradian CS74 (can't find any pics).
Fender's Stu Hamm signature.
 
#6
Joe Turski's Stambaugh does, some Basslabs do. Musicman HS models also have 3 pickups, but one of the pickups is under the pickguard and only acts as a ghost coil to cancel the hum from the single coil.

dbfinal7.jpg


apparently this Nordstrand has a set of Js and a P under one cover.

i don't really think there is a use for triple pickup basses, but they're cool nonetheless.
 
#8
the reason for 2 pickups is, i believe, 3 fold.

firstly, fender made it 2 with the jazz. everyone copied him.

secondly, 2 pickups cancel hum ideally when run in full. 3 single coils on a bass would hum in any configuration except bridge+mid and mid+neck (sort of like a strat). 3 pickups together would require one pickup to be a split coil/humbucker in order to cancel hum perfectly.

thirdly, the less magnets you have near your strings, the freer they vibrate. i guess few people found the extra pickup worth it when compared to the vibrational losses caused by the magnetic field 3 pickups would generate.

then again, many basses DO come with 3 pickups, altho sometimes its visually hard to tell. a MM+J config with coil split switch could technically count as a 3 pickup config, and J+J+piezo would probably count as one as well.

there are also basses with more than 3 pups, and im not talking about double humbucker configs.
 
#9
mkettner said:
That is one sweet looking bass. What kind of sound do you get out of it. Do you notice a big difference in having 3 pick-ups compared to 2?
Click to expand...

The bass has a great sound, espacially when the Middle p/u is in the circuit. The 6-position rotary p/u switch is:

Neck
Neck+Middle
Middle
Middle+Bridge
Bridge
Bridge+Neck
 
#12
Fender also made the HM series bass in 4 and 5 string. I have two of the HM IV's. It has the traditional Jazz Bass set up with 3rd J put in the bridge position. By the way, anyone with a 5 string version interested in getting ride of it let me know....
 
#18
Jaco only needed 2 pickups ;)

Actually, he only really used the bridge, anyways. But yes, 3 pickup basses are pretty cool, i played an Eastwood version of that squarey one at the top and it was pretty neat.
 

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