Humbuckers for Jazz Bass

[LamarqueGuitars]

Hello

My name is Antoine Lamarque and I build guitars, basses and pickups in Scotland.

I've designed what I believe to be the first 'proper' humbucker for Jazz Bass. I call them 'Short-Range Humbuckers'

They are currently for sale on my website (LamarqueGuitars.com) and were reviewed by Bass the world on YouTube. The video got 18k views but this hasn't translated into the level of sales I was hoping for.

I suspect that I need to get my name 'out there' in order for people to have the confidence to buy something that's so different to everything else that's on the market. Therefore I'm willing to give away free sets to people who have some sort of social media presence and enjoying posting content about gear.

Would anyone be interested? I'm limited to how many I can give away but so please only get in touch if you think you'd be able to try them out fairly soon and share them with your followers etc if you like them or give constructive feedback if you don't

Thanks

Antoine

 

[LamarqueGuitars]

Can you send me a link to the reverend pickups please?

I figured I'd make something that fits in the millions of jazz basses that are out there.

If I sound standoffish that's because I paid a lot of money for a review and don't feel like I got treated with the same respect other products got. The term humhucker is ambiguous because nobody could be bothered to do them properly for jazz bass etc and misused the term. You wouldn't call a stacked p-90 a humhucker. Not ever.

If you can show me that someone else has done what I've done then I'll make the necessary changes to my product description

Thanks

 

[LamarqueGuitars]

thanks. You summed it up really nicely

 

[HueyFreeman]

Sonically, what are the differences between a stacked vs parallel design?

 

[sikamikanico]

Can you send me a link to the reverend pickups please?

I figured I'd make something that fits in the millions of jazz basses that are out there.

If I sound standoffish that's because I paid a lot of money for a review and don't feel like I got treated with the same respect other products got. The term humhucker is ambiguous because nobody could be bothered to do them properly for jazz bass etc and misused the term. You wouldn't call a stacked p-90 a humhucker. Not ever.

If you can show me that someone else has done what I've done then I'll make the necessary changes to my product description

Thanks

I think it’s pointless to quibble about language, as it’s a natural thing that evolves over time and place. I can see why someone would call a stacked P90 a humbucker, but I also see why not. Tho, where exactly is the line between a humbucker and a non-humbucker? Either way, when it comes to marketing/professional communication, you probably want to play it safe, and not get into technical, linguistic, and other similar discussions…

Links to Reverend and Joe Barden:
Invalid Link Removed

J-Style Pickups for Jazz Basses - JBE Pickups

J-Style Bass Pickups offer the same great JBE tone, power, and response for the bass guitar as our ground breaking dual-blade guitar pickups have done for the last 25 years. Available in 4 and 5 string models, our J-Style pickups were designed to maintain authentic J-Bass™ tone and character...

jbepickups.com

 

[LamarqueGuitars]

Sonically, what are the differences between a stacked vs

I think it’s pointless to quibble about language, as it’s a natural thing that evolves over time and place. I can see why someone would call a stacked P90 a humbucker, but I also see why not. Tho, where exactly is the line between a humbucker and a non-humbucker? Either way, when it comes to marketing/professional communication, you probably want to play it safe, and not get into technical, linguistic, and other similar discussions…

Links to Reverend and Joe Barden:
Invalid Link Removed

J-Style Pickups for Jazz Basses - JBE Pickups

J-Style Bass Pickups offer the same great JBE tone, power, and response for the bass guitar as our ground breaking dual-blade guitar pickups have done for the last 25 years. Available in 4 and 5 string models, our J-Style pickups were designed to maintain authentic J-Bass™ tone and character...

jbepickups.com

I haven't come across these pickups before. Looks like I was wrong. Thank you for pointing this out.

My pickups feature alnico magnets instead of ceramic blade magnets used in these designs but regardless of this, I was mistaken in believing that there wasn't parallel coil humbuckers for jazz bass on the market.

Thanks again for making me aware

Antoine

 

[CoughSyrup]

I haven't come across these pickups before. Looks like I was wrong. Thank you for pointing this out.

My pickups feature alnico magnets instead of ceramic blade magnets used in these designs but regardless of this, I was mistaken in believing that there wasn't parallel coil humbuckers for jazz bass on the market.

Thanks again for making me aware

Antoine

Nordstrand also has the J blade, another parallel coil/sidewinder design. Since there's nothing new about noiseless jazz bass pickups in general, or parallel coil jazz bass pickups for that matter, I wouldn't spend much energy describing how "innovative" the noiseless aspect of your pickups is. Your marketing copy should focus on differentiating your design's tonal properties from other noiseless jazz bass pickups on the market. I'm not sure how many bass players also play guitar, so the PAF and Filtertron comparisons might miss the mark when trying to relate to them.

 

[gcb]

On my product description I go into great detail that it is the first humbucker for jazz bass with 2 parallel coils similar to a gibson PAF or Gretsch Filtertron. I also include a highly detailed diagram with every single component in the form or an exploded-view diagram. If this isn't enough for people then I don't know what it. Gregor is a very nice guy but is 100% wrong. It's as simple as that. If someone shows me a jazz bass pickup with the same design/construction then I'll remove the claim immediately.

This is a product for people who know what a humbucker is.

Fender Modern Player Jazz Bass had paralell coils HBs.

 

[iiipopes]

Since you are in Scotland, have you thought about working with Dr. Kemp at St. Andrew's University and his lumped bass strings for a co-op arrangement?

Lumped bass guitar strings from Kemp Strings!

University of St Andrews and Kemp Strings inventor Dr Jonathan Kemp has just developed a new concept in bass guitar strings design which reduces inharomicity, improving tone when playing high up th…

kempstrings.com

 

[sumeursault]

There are inline hum cancellers that also sound like single coils

I can see how these pickups might make parallel coil humbuckers behave more like single coil if we're starting with that as a constraint. But given there's also the option of an inline/stacked architecture, what feature(s) do these provide that doesn't already exist in the market elsewhere?

 

[micguy]

I can see how these pickups might make parallel coil humbuckers behave more like single coil if we're starting with that as a constraint. But given there's also the option of an inline/stacked architecture, what feature(s) do these provide that doesn't already exist in the market elsewhere?

Inline hum cancelers have a magnetic vslley/dead zone that can kill your A and D strings a bit - you can lose a lot of output on the D string if you bend it.

Stacks have a lot less output. In an attempt to gain some of that back, the coils are often loaded with more turns, and often finer gauge wire. That adds a lot of DC resistance, which damps the resonant peak, stealing some of the attack of the note.

This design doesn’t have those drawbacks.

 

[sumeursault]

Inline hum cancelers have a magnetic vslley/dead zone that can kill your A and D strings a bit - you can lose a lot of output on the D string if you bend it.

Stacks have a lot less output. In an attempt to gain some of that back, the coils are often loaded with more turns, and often finer gauge wire. That adds a lot of DC resistance, which damps the resonant peak, stealing some of the attack of the note.

This design doesn’t have those drawbacks.

Got it, thanks for the explanation!