Double Bass FC screwed on the soundpost

[bassailor]

it came to me in a dream: a fishman FC directly on the soundpost
in order to get amplification and to adjust the tightness of the soundpost itself.i've read somewhere mr. Ron Carter had once a pickup fitted on the soundpost.Good idea or not?
ciao to everyone from a sunny (and cold) Italy

 

[DoubleMIDI]

If you want to put something pressure sensitive on the soundpost, you might put it under the G bridge foot instead. The is a difference of course, because the soundpost is not directly below the G string bridge foot, but I guess not very much.

The lower end might be a bit weak there (in both cases), but it depends on the instrument. You never know before you tried it ...

 

[PB+J]

That's an interesting idea. You could then have an adjustable soundpost. Although most of the adjustment of a soundpost involves changing its physical postion, not its height.

I doubt it would sound good. As I understand the physics (which is not well) the soundpost isn't vibrating much, it's acting as a...(whats the word here? fulcrum? pivot point?) for the movement of the bridge and top. So I don't think you'd get anything better than you'd get by having it on the bridge

 

[Mike Goodbar]

That's an inspired idea, but the way the Full Circle is designed, I think it is dependent on the surface area and square shape of the bridge feet to get the optimum sound. The sound post may not be thick enough.

It makes so much sense, that I can't image that an adjustable-length soundpost for bass has not been though of before and rejected for some reason (not trying to be facetious with that statement). I know that there is a least one pick up that attaches to the sound post (not adjustable, though).

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Someone with an Ehrlund or a similar contact microphone can place it on the top over the soundpost to find out how it might sound.

Just an idea ...

 

[longfinger]

It seems like a bad idea...

- hard to install and adjust a two piece sound post
- hard to reach, player cannot adjust the wheel
- ugly to run the cable out to an output jack, (a wire has to come out somewhere)

that is before dealing with sound quality... which has to be tried first to find out.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

IIRC, it's already been done and it didn't sound good. There used to be a pickup that was mounted on the soundpost and nobody cared for it and it has virtually disappeared from the market. It's like sticking a microphone INSIDE a drum or the bell of a horn instead of catching the sound from above.

My thinking is that the top will mute alot of highs you get. Should sound mostly like mud, like when you move a contact pickup (Ehrlund) too far away from the bridge. Empirical evidence is best but I really doubt it would sound decent.