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Bridge Pickup to Compliment Lollar Precision 90 in Warmoth Build

Evan38109

Evan38109

Sep 14, 2022
107
466
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
#1
I'm planning my next Warmoth bass. For the neck pickup, I've chosen a Lollar Precision 90 that needs a home. It's a great, hot, grindy-growly split-P pickup. I just can't make myself build a single-pickup bass and let that bridge position go to waste, though, so...what second pickup should I put in the bridge position?

I already have a P-J (Klein Epic '62 P + Lollar J) and a dual-P (G&L Matador with Novak PB-CC's), and I don't want to duplicate those configurations.

I tend to play original rock / alt-rock where the bass needs to fill a lot of musical space.

Warmoth offers routs for Music Man and Bartolini BC, and there are tons of pickups that fit those footprints. What would you suggest?
 
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#3
Evan38109 said:
I'm planning my next Warmoth bass. For the neck pickup, I've chosen a Lollar Precision 90 that needs a home. It's a great, hot, grindy-growly split-P pickup. I just can't make myself build a single-pickup bass and let that bridge position go to waste, though
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do it!

there's no "waste", a good P pickup in its proper position needs nothing else and the extra stuff just takes away from it and clutters it up

i'll bet even money that if you make it a straight P bass, after a while your bandmates and the soundguy will all start asking you to "just bring that one"
 
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#4
walterw said:
do it!

there's no "waste", a good P pickup in its proper position needs nothing else and the extra stuff just takes away from it and clutters it up

i'll bet even money that if you make it a straight P bass, after a while your bandmates and the soundguy will all start asking you to "just bring that one"
Click to expand...

Ha! No need to sell me on the virtues of the P-bass. I have...sixteen?...P pickups sitting around here that I've been auditioning in various instruments. I'll always install a 3-way pickup select switch on an instrument like this, too, so that I can isolate that split coil pickup in the sweet spot and get that classic P tone.

I guess my motivation for thinking about that second pickup is two-fold.

First, I do a whole lot more recording than performing. It's handy to be able to play around with tones to find what works for an arrangement. Sometimes you need to nudge a bass part into a different space to make room for a guitar or whatnot, or fill a gap left by an otherwise sparse arrangement. I really enjoy that part of the production process, and find it can make a big difference in terms of how a recording comes together.

The second reason is...fun. Just fun. I enjoy playing around with this stuff, and I'll be honest, this is a hobby for me. I know I can get the job done with a classic P, but I get a kick out of exploring the musical space with other sounds. Practical? No. But I can always grab the regular P when I'm in a pinch and just need to Get It Done.
 
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#5
Evan38109 said:
Ha! No need to sell me on the virtues of the P-bass. I have...sixteen?...P pickups sitting around here that I've been auditioning in various instruments. I'll always install a 3-way pickup select switch on an instrument like this, too, so that I can isolate that split coil pickup in the sweet spot and get that classic P tone.
Click to expand...
fair enough :)

i guess if you've already got the P/J thing and the P/P thing then the other option is to stuff a soapbar back there

i'm not a big fan of that just because a wide pickup really close to another wide pickup sounds kind of blah when they're both on
 
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#7
Evan38109 said:
I'm planning my next Warmoth bass. For the neck pickup, I've chosen a Lollar Precision 90 that needs a home. It's a great, hot, grindy-growly split-P pickup. I just can't make myself build a single-pickup bass and let that bridge position go to waste, though, so...what second pickup should I put in the bridge position?

I already have a P-J (Klein Epic '62 P + Lollar J) and a dual-P (G&L Matador with Novak PB-CC's), and I don't want to duplicate those configurations.

I tend to play original rock / alt-rock where the bass needs to fill a lot of musical space.

Warmoth offers routs for Music Man and Bartolini BC, and there are tons of pickups that fit those footprints. What would you suggest?
Click to expand...
See if Warmoth will build you a reverse-P with bridge pickup, a la the Yamaha BB2000. I didn't like PJ basses until I tried one with a reverse P. I have a reverse P BB300, now, but it's just a single pickup.
 
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#9
Evan38109 said:
I'm planning my next Warmoth bass. For the neck pickup, I've chosen a Lollar Precision 90 that needs a home. It's a great, hot, grindy-growly split-P pickup. I just can't make myself build a single-pickup bass and let that bridge position go to waste, though, so...what second pickup should I put in the bridge position?

I already have a P-J (Klein Epic '62 P + Lollar J) and a dual-P (G&L Matador with Novak PB-CC's), and I don't want to duplicate those configurations.

I tend to play original rock / alt-rock where the bass needs to fill a lot of musical space.

Warmoth offers routs for Music Man and Bartolini BC, and there are tons of pickups that fit those footprints. What would you suggest?
Click to expand...
Nordstrand big man.
 
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#10
ooh, nordy! forgot about them

a big split might be appropriate; fatter than a bridge J but still keeping a single coil vibe, it would likely balance well with the P pickup (since it almost is a P pickup)
nordstrand_audio_BigSplit_4_soapbar_front_2000x.jpg
 
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#12
Evan38109 said:
I think I need to look more into the Nordstrand soapbars and Musicman-sized pickups. Those look like they'd make a great match. Still a tough decision, but I feel like I'm at least in the neighborhood now.
Click to expand...
MM type pickups are cool and all but to my ear they belong in the MM position (which almost overlaps the P position) and they sound more like they should when wired in parallel and through a preamp
 
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