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

#21
Got it - I'll give you the measurements from:
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the jazz neck pu
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the jazz bridge pu
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the vintage MM pu
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the vintage MM pole pieces closest to the bridge
- the crown of the 12 fret to the centerline of the modern MM pu

should have it to you in a couple of hours. Keep in mind this is a 2005 Jazz 5 and a pre ernie ball stingray and modern stingray 5
 
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#22
GBassNorth said:
Got it - I'll give you the measurements from:
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the jazz neck pu
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the jazz bridge pu
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the vintage MM pu
- the crown of the 12th fret to the centerline of the vintage MM pole pieces closest to the bridge
- the crown of the 12 fret to the centerline of the modern MM pu

should have it to you in a couple of hours. Keep in mind this is a 2005 Jazz 5 and a pre ernie ball stingray and modern stingray 5
Click to expand...

Ok - here ya go... all measurements are from the crown of the 12th fret:
2005 Jazz 5 string
- to CL of neck PU = 10 7/8"
- to CL of bridge PU = 14 3/8"

1979 Stingray 4 string single PU
- to CL of PU = 13 5/8"
- to CL of Bridge Poles on PU = 14 1/8"

2009 Stingray 5 string single PU
- to CL of PU = 13 9/16"
- to CL of Bridge Poles on PU = 14 1/16"

:bassist::bassist::bassist:Have Fun:bassist::bassist::bassist:
 
#24
Interesting... So the newer Stingrays have moved just a hair closer to the middle of the body. And the difference between vintage 'Ray and Jazz is a quarter of an inch... Isn't the difference between 60's and 70's spacing on a Jazz (which, if I did this, I'd go with the 70's spacing... so the "MM" pickup position would wind up being just under an inch away from the "sweet spot," I believe) about half an inch?
 
#25
That sounds about right to me.
So the jazz pickup could sit flush under the MM pickup and be in a correct 70's placement.
Except the tabs, which would get in the way...which is why I have been considering either a Delano or Bart single coil pickups that don't have tabs along the length.
Does that sound right?
 
#26
FWIW - some time ago I decided that my favorite two PUs were the Precision and the MM. So I went on a quest to find a way to combine those two PUs in a single bass. After a lot of sound testing and about 10 iterations on locaton I got what I felt was the perfect placement for that combo. I had a preamp custom designed to to my specs to take advantage of the two PU's and now it's by far the best sounding bass that I've ever heard or owned (look at my profile, I've got some nice ones).
What I learned in the process is that the MM PU is a very forgiving PU. I could move it as much as a couple of inches closer to the neck and still maintain a Stingray sound. The Precision pu was less forgiving, too close to the neck and I lost definition and too close to the MM and I started to get too much magnetic concentration in a small space which effected tone and sustain. I looked at the Delano MM/J combo PU but didn't take the dive.
I'll be interested in how your modifications come out. Be sure to keep us posted.
 
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#27
So the jazz pickup could sit flush under the MM pickup and be in a correct 70's placement.
Click to expand...

Not quite. If you're talking about this in the context of the Hybrid pickup, to get the bottom of the pickup to line up with a 70's jazz pickup (as the bottom half of the Hybrid is where the jazz half resides... and moving it to the 70's position would cover up where the screw holes on the stock pickup were), it'd sit about 14 7/8" (add an extra half inch to what I believe were 60's spacing measurements) from the twelfth fret, I believe. So the "MM" position of the Hybrid would be about 6/8" closer to the bridge than on a real Stingray. That said...

What I learned in the process is that the MM PU is a very forgiving PU. I could move it as much as a couple of inches closer to the neck and still maintain a Stingray sound.
Click to expand...

That's very encouraging news! Though it looks like this would be closer to the bridge, but hopefully the same forgiveness applies. And I'll definitely keep y'all updated if/when I do this, but it'll be a while yet, as I just got a new cab...
 
#28
OriginalCrash said:
Not quite. If you're talking about this in the context of the Hybrid pickup, to get the bottom of the pickup to line up with a 70's jazz pickup (as the bottom half of the Hybrid is where the jazz half resides... and moving it to the 70's position would cover up where the screw holes on the stock pickup were), it'd sit about 14 7/8" (add an extra half inch to what I believe were 60's spacing measurements) from the twelfth fret, I believe. So the "MM" position of the Hybrid would be about 6/8" closer to the bridge than on a real Stingray. That said...



That's very encouraging news! Though it looks like this would be closer to the bridge, but hopefully the same forgiveness applies. And I'll definitely keep y'all updated if/when I do this, but it'll be a while yet, as I just got a new cab...
Click to expand...


Just a quick heads up. The Stingray PU is forgiving if you move it closer to the neck. I tried going closer to the bridge and found significant changes in the tone in as little as 1/2" closer to the bridge. I've also found that to be true with most other PUs as well. The closer to the bridge you get the less room you have for error. In my testing, I found a sweet spot that went from about 1/2" south of the bridge poles on a MM PU to about 5" north of that (north being closer to the neck, south being closer to the bridge). So there is a sweet spot to be sure, but within that range the MM PU is very tolerant.
 
#30
You may be ok, but you are riding on the edge. What might be interesting is to find someone with a Warrior bass (be sure to get a 34" scale one) and have them provide the PU locations. I know these sound great but don't currently own one. Note the MM PU is significantly more towards the neck and the J PU is about where a normal MM PU would be. It may give you one more data point to go by. Here's a link to the bass I'm talking about.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#32
"
OriginalCrash said:
Not quite. If you're talking about this in the context of the Hybrid pickup, to get the bottom of the pickup to line up with a 70's jazz pickup (as the bottom half of the Hybrid is where the jazz half resides... and moving it to the 70's position would cover up where the screw holes on the stock pickup were), it'd sit about 14 7/8" (add an extra half inch to what I believe were 60's spacing measurements) from the twelfth fret, I believe. So the "MM" position of the Hybrid would be about 6/8" closer to the bridge than on a real Stingray. That said..."



No no no.....sorry I should have been clearer.
I was talking about adding single coils...intead of the MM pickup.
Or as well as, so the bridge single coil will sit flush against the MM pickup. and still be in 70's position
Jazz...MM....jazz
Click to expand...
 
#33
I found the bass you were referring to, but it's still not quite what I'm looking at. In case you're not familiar with it, here's a link to the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] pickup. As the jazz half of it would sit in the actual 70's jazz bridge position, I'm not too worried about it. It's the fact that it looks like that would by default put the MM half (as it's all one pickup) further south than the usual sweet spot. And as your experience shows that it's less forgiving when moving closer to the bridge, I'm hoping that it would still give a pretty solid 'Ray tone. Then of course, this would be match with one of Delano's single coil jazz pickups in the usual neck position.

ETA: Here's a pic of a Clover bass with the pickups I'd want (though I can't tell from the pic if it's 60's or 70's spacing)

clover_apeiron4_tts01.jpg
 
#35
Wow, last post was in 2009, but I actually just measured the spacing of the MM-style humbucker that's in the "sweet spot" location on my 2009 Modulus Funk. Here's the info in case it's of help...

The center of the humbucker is 3" from the end of the bridge (a Bad Ass II) with the close edge of the P/U 2" from the bridge and the far edge 4" from the bridge. Cheers!
 
#36
I know this is an old post, but if anyone can help with an accurate measurement from the 12th fret (or line) of an Ibanez Gary Willys 5 stringer, from the 12th line of the A string, to the center of the pickup case, it would be of great help for me. A friend did a quick check and call me back with 37cm, which sounds like it's in the ball park, but I'd rather be sure before I get to work on the routing process. Many thanks in advance.
 

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