Fingerstyle over the bridge pickup

[spazman]

Hi folks,

With any luck, a pic of my PJ should appear below, an ESP LTD Vintage-204... set up with flats, a pickup cover, and a thumbrest. Pretty sweet after a little work.

I installed the thumbrest because the precision pickup's sweet spot can really be heard when I balance my right thumb on the neck, but it was uncomfortable to be that close to the fretboard. Resting the thumb on the pickup (my usual technique) was all thump, no tone.

The growly jazz bridge pickup really shines when I balance my thumb on the end of the pickup cover and dig in. However - that tires me out pretty quickly. I would appreciate advice on how to pull a good, growly tone out of the J pickup without hurting myself.

In the meantime, I am turning up and lightening my touch... but it's a little thin sounding that way.

Thanks!

 

[superking]

Nice bass. The paint chipping along the edge looks just right IMHO.
Have you considered adjusting your pickup height? That will influence your tone quite a bit. Proceed with caution though. Pickups too low or too high are a bummer. Take good measure of where the pickup height is now before you turn one screw, as they may already be at or near optimal height.

Alternately, a basic preamp pedal can do subtle wonders for tone. I too play flats on a passive bass, and I favor the MXR Micro Amp. Aww yeah.

Good luck!