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Jazz bridge p'up location vs. MM "sweet spot"

OriginalCrash

OriginalCrash

Apr 5, 2007
1,007
10
Metro Atlanta
#1
How close are they, going by the bridge end of the pickup? I ask because I'm considering the Delano Hybrid pickup in the future. From what I've read it nails the passive, single coil jazz tone and does a pretty good job of the MM tone... I'm just wondering how much of the difference between "nailing" and "pretty good" is due to pickup location. I guess I should specify that this would be a 70's jazz spacing (due to where the set screws are on a jazz pickup and a MM/Hybrid... my bass has 60's spacing but to cover up the route for the stock pickup I'd move the "jazz" half of the Hybrid down to the 70's position... make sense?). And I've seen pics of all these basses, so I have a pretty good idea. But I've never had the chance to actually take measurements or set the basses side by side to compare. On that note, I saw someone take pics of a Jazz, Corvette, and Thumb, set 'em next to each other, and line 'em up according to scale length so you could see how the pickups align... That person isn't reading this now, is he? ;)

Brian
 
#2
as the jazz bass is concerned... the neck PU is always in the same spot... about 6` from the bridge... the bridge PU changes according to the year = 60´ or 70´
the 60 is closer to MM position cuz its further away from the bridge than 70 position...

from me moding a lot of basses i have found that the brand of PU doesn't change the tone that much (except EMG, alembic... these are very different sounding PU than standard)
but Pu position changes the character a lot!!!
 
#4
I don't have a Stringray, but a G&L L-1500, a Leo design which also has a "sweet spot" humbucker. I measured last year out of curiosity, and found it sits just inside the bridge pickup on my Am. Ser. Jazz with 60's spacing. The bridge side of the G&L pickup's cover would but up right against the J's bridge pickup cover.
 
#6
Thought I'd bump this to see if anyone else has something to add... Anybody got a Jazz and a Stingray (1 or 2 p'up... I know that affects pickup position, but I won't be that picky... after all, the two pickups Rays are great in their own right) that they can compare/measure the distance from the bridge to the pickup?

Brian
 
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#9
OriginalCrash said:
Bump... Can ANYONE compare/measure the distance from the bridge to the pickup on these two basses?
Click to expand...

I don't have it with me right now to confirm the measurement, but IIRC, on my L2000 the bridge PU is approx. 2.5" center-of-bridge-PU to the saddles. Course that's an approximation because the saddles aren't all lined up.

The L1500 has the pickup slightly further towards the neck, I'd say about another 1/2"? That's pretty much the MM position - around 3" from the bridge...

It's funny - PU position is one of the things that has the hugest affect on tone but is also one of the most ignored/screwed up things on so many basses. Too close to the bridge is the main design error I see over and over. There're even multi-thousand buck boutiques out there with the bridge PU practically right up against the bridge. Awful design - leads to a very weak, nasally sound from what would otherwise be a perfectly good pickup.

The MM position seems to be the ideal for 34" basses to get a clean, but versatile sound out of that pickup. Leo Fender got this absolutely perfect. In fact, it's such a sensitive fit issue for me this is in the top 2 or 3 things I look for in a bass (i.e. the Carvin bunnies put the humbucker right there which is why they sound so good).

I never measured this distance on my 70's jazz bass (lots of time and beer inbetween now and then so my memory is fuzzy), but I do recall the bridge PU being a little too close to the bridge.

Other jazz's that have the spacing with the PU further away are right in the sweet spot and have a different tone because of that....

LS
 
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#10
If I recall, someone recently had pics showing the P pup overlapping the J, with the treble coil closer to the bridge, and the MM being very close to the P, on the bridge side.

Looked like it would be to the neck side of the J bridge pup, but very close.

LOL, 8 months since the OP, and you can't bring a ruler to GC??
 
#13
I found this pic, sans 'Ray on here before. I always kinda wondered if the hybrid pup would line up, guess the answer is no. :crying:

Untitled-1copy.jpg
 
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#14
I have a vintage 1979 MM (pre ernie) 4 string with a single pu and a new 2009 MM 5 string with single pu and a 2005 Fender Jazz 5 string that I can get the measurements on tonight when I get home. You noted distance from the bridge so I'll assume you mean the center of the G string saddle to the center of the pickup. It may actually be more accurate to measure from the 12th fret to the center of the pickup so I'll give it to you both ways. Let me know if that's not what you want or if the measurement on a 2005 jazz 5 doesn't work for you.
 
#15
DerHoggz said:
I found this pic, sans 'Ray on here before. I always kinda wondered if the hybrid pup would line up, guess the answer is no. :crying:

Untitled-1copy.jpg
Click to expand...

I've always found these pics helpful but have an underlying questions about them. If all the basses shown are 34" scale why don't their G string bridges line up fairly close. Exact wouldn't be needed due to intonation adjustments but look closely at them there's as much as an inch difference between the Stingray and the 70s Jazz. Other than a lousy set up, how could one explain this?
 
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#16
GBassNorth said:
It may actually be more accurate to measure from the 12th fret to the center of the pickup so I'll give it to you both ways.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU!

Even better, Measure from the nut. Scale length is the distance from the nut to the 12th fret X 2, Not nut to bridge. In any well made bass, the bridge will line up where it should be, but it's an error we can negate just by measuring from a more solid landmark.

I'm not a builder, But I don't see any reason not to be precise.
 
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#17
GBassNorth said:
I've always found these pics helpful but have an underlying questions about them. If all the basses shown are 34" scale why don't their G string bridges line up fairly close. Exact wouldn't be needed due to intonation adjustments but look closely at them there's as much as an inch difference between the Stingray and the 70s Jazz. Other than a lousy set up, how could one explain this?
Click to expand...

Everything else seems to line up fairly well, so I don't really know. Could be an angle?
 
#18
GBassNorth said:
I've always found these pics helpful but have an underlying questions about them. If all the basses shown are 34" scale why don't their G string bridges line up fairly close. Exact wouldn't be needed due to intonation adjustments but look closely at them there's as much as an inch difference between the Stingray and the 70s Jazz. Other than a lousy set up, how could one explain this?
Click to expand...

Scale length being 34", there could be a lot of factors. String diameter, tuning, setup, intonation. a thicker string will be longer and achieve the same note compared to a thinner string.

This is one of the reasons that a fanned fret bass works. it's multi-scaled, and each string gets it's own bridge and adjustment rage for intonation. If I slap thicker strings on a Dingwall, it will likely need an intonation setup (Possibly some nut work, yada yada yada...)
 
#19
ooh, and you can't trust the pictures completely. they could have been mangled, compressed, streched, re-compressed, ect. I believe that they are fairly accurate, but nothing compared to a set of measurements from the nut.
 
#20
Either from the bride saddle, nut, or 12th fret is fine with me. As this pertains to the Delano Hybrid pickup, though, I would say to the center of the pickup for a Jazz and the center of the bottom pole pieces (as that's the part of the Hybrid that would sit in the bridge Jazz position) on a 'Ray. Thanks!
 

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