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Double Bass Installing pickups from vintage rhodes, pointers?

A

andershardeland

Apr 5, 2013
6
0
Norway
#1
So, a good friend of mine had been told by a db player that the best pickup for db use are the ones from original Fender Rhodes 71. So, my good friend has a lot of vintage keyboards, and says he'll give me four. Thats awesome, but i dont know how to mount them best way possible, and how to interconnect them, and get it out to a jack output. Any thoughts?

I am really looking forward to eliminating monitor feedback. Currently using Fishman bp 100. Sound is awful. But mixed together with a magnetic pickup, it might work.

Please, excuse me if the language is a bit off, not a native english speaker.
 
#2
Probably any other pickup is better than the BP100.

You need to mount the magnetic Rhodes pickups at the end of the fingerboard, metal end showing to the strings. Have a look at the magnetic Schaller double bass pickup to get an idea how to do it. Connect the pickup coils in series, that's what is done with the Rhodes (in groups of six, I think).

But I would prefer a better piezo or contact pickup. You only need a magnetic one if you need to get really loud (loud electric blues band, rock band etc.). Any piezo pickup I use works with our big band, which can get rather loud sometimes. No feedback problems.
 
#3
Obviously, if i had money to actually spend on equipment, i would. Since i dont, i will have to rely on what i have, and what i can get my hands on cost free. Also, i was considering attaching them down at the bridge, but there is not as much string movement down there. I`m thinking that if i attach them at the end of the fingerboard, its probably gonna need some sort of a casing, so that its not wound copper shining all around.

As said in original post, i would use this for a live setting, where i need proper (loud) monitoring, without feedback, and the sound engineer will probably have a proper microphone that is better suited for the PA, but I NEED to hear myself.

Also, obviously, I love to experiment, and enhanching the sonic possibilities of the instrument is very interesting to me. Suddenly, you can have effects on the beast, and use it for non-acoustic stuff.

And again, excuse my english.
 
#4
I did something like this with a P-Pass pickup once. You will probably need a string ground to keep the hum down, and steel strings of course. For the mount you might try cutting up a piece of plastic plumbing pipe which matches the radius of the cutout under the FB, and attaching it with velcro.
 
#5
robobass said:
I did something like this with a P-Pass pickup once. You will probably need a string ground to keep the hum down, and steel strings of course. For the mount you might try cutting up a piece of plastic plumbing pipe which matches the radius of the cutout under the FB, and attaching it with velcro.
Click to expand...

How did it sound? And what do you mean by string ground? Thin wire going down to one of the strings below the bridge?
 
#6
andershardeland said:
How did it sound? And what do you mean by string ground? Thin wire going down to one of the strings below the bridge?
Click to expand...

Well, it sounded like a magnetic pickup! It worked well for some blues gigs on large stages I was doing at the time, but definitely not very acoustic. A Rhodes pickup might sound better though, being presumably designed to grab more highs than a slab bass pickup.
String ground - yes, a thin wire running down below the bridge somewhere and touching all strings.
 
#7
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0FEDCADC-9DBD-4F56-A8EC-A6BDC44A24B4.jpeg
I did this on my electric cello (I already use a Krivo on DB) I used heat shrink and drilled into the fingerboard. These are carbon fiber plates. They are wired in reverse one to the other to cancel noise.
 
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#9
robobass said:
Well, it sounded like a magnetic pickup! It worked well for some blues gigs on large stages I was doing at the time, but definitely not very acoustic. A Rhodes pickup might sound better though, being presumably designed to grab more highs than a slab bass pickup.
String ground - yes, a thin wire running down below the bridge somewhere and touching all strings.
Click to expand...
Krivo sound better, but definitely more of an ebass sound.
 
#11
I was trying to duplicate a cross between the Krivo, bowtronics, and a European design for 1/10th the price on my cello. The piezo that came with it was dreck. I got the pickups for about $3.50 a piece. The carbon plates and screws were about $12. Not something I would play out professionally, but for silent practice or processed, it’s ok. String balance on cello is a problem when you play in the upper positions.
 
#13
etorgerson said:
View attachment 4236723 I also tried this, but the two sounded better and was easier to balance. Four were tight on cello string spacing but barely worked. Probably has to do with the vibration mode compared to guitars.
Click to expand...

I think bowed strings have relatively large side to side motion with the vertical component more damped. So I guess the two pole pickup works better because it's detecting the strings moving in and out of the magnetic field laterally, rather than towards and away from the poles vertically. I never managed to get acceptable bowed response with the magnetic double bass pickup I had, a Kent Armstrong with four poles.
 

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