- Aug 25, 2004
- 939
- 1,337
- Disclosures
- Builder: Martin Keith Guitars
Hi Guys,
I've had this conversation with a few folks, so I figured I'd share my approach to "calculating" (or, really, appropriating) pickup positions from existing instruments.
All you need is a clear, reasonably good, straight-on photograph of the instrument, and some measuring device.
I use calipers, but you can even just use a pen and the edge of a piece of paper.
The idea is to mark the distance from the 12th fret (or any fret - I use the 12th) to the centerline of the pickup.
Then, slide that marked measurement along the scale until you find a pair of frets that line up.
For example, in the picture, the Fodera MG bass (#2) has a 12th-to-bridge-pickup distance that is equal to the distance between 6th and 22nd frets.
The nice thing about this approach is that it takes scale length out of the picture. It's simply a proportion of the fret scale, so it doesn't matter what the "source" instrument is - the measurement will automatically scale up or down to whatever scale length you're using.
If you're ever curious about relative positions, it's also easy to line up several basses in a simple Paint program, and use horizontal lines to get them in sync, scaling them up or down until the nut, 12th and hopefully 20th frets are all lined up. Then, draw a reference line through a pickup, and see how the others compare.
I've attached an example here.
The basses are a J-bass, 3 Foderas, an Ibanez GWB, a P-Bass, and one of mine.
Cheers!
Martin
I've had this conversation with a few folks, so I figured I'd share my approach to "calculating" (or, really, appropriating) pickup positions from existing instruments.
All you need is a clear, reasonably good, straight-on photograph of the instrument, and some measuring device.
I use calipers, but you can even just use a pen and the edge of a piece of paper.
The idea is to mark the distance from the 12th fret (or any fret - I use the 12th) to the centerline of the pickup.
Then, slide that marked measurement along the scale until you find a pair of frets that line up.
For example, in the picture, the Fodera MG bass (#2) has a 12th-to-bridge-pickup distance that is equal to the distance between 6th and 22nd frets.
The nice thing about this approach is that it takes scale length out of the picture. It's simply a proportion of the fret scale, so it doesn't matter what the "source" instrument is - the measurement will automatically scale up or down to whatever scale length you're using.
If you're ever curious about relative positions, it's also easy to line up several basses in a simple Paint program, and use horizontal lines to get them in sync, scaling them up or down until the nut, 12th and hopefully 20th frets are all lined up. Then, draw a reference line through a pickup, and see how the others compare.
I've attached an example here.
The basses are a J-bass, 3 Foderas, an Ibanez GWB, a P-Bass, and one of mine.
Cheers!
Martin
