Neck pickup location

[LetItGrowTone]

I then realized it’s a far superior bass with the neck pickup.

Yes, after struggling with a real Fender J my Ric neck pickup was a revelation.

I had falsely blamed strings, amp and cab, but since then I've revisited those, like La Bella flats (now LTF or 760FX) and 15s. Someday soon I should pull out my 2x6L6 amp (which I also to some extent falsely blamed for having not enough speaker damping), because it would probably redeem itself.

 

[lug]

I built a bass in woodshop in high school with a DiMarzio fairly close to the neck. It sounds like a foghorn had sex with a large pipe organ. If I need that sound, I've got it!

 

[AboutSweetSue]

I built a bass in woodshop in high school with a DiMarzio fairly close to the neck. It sounds like a foghorn had sex with a large pipe organ. If I need that sound, I've got it!

You’ve captured my interest with the visuals, and now you have my curiosity as to what this baby sounds like. Record, please. I want to hear this freak of musical nature.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

I don't remember Warmoth offering a route that far up. I haven't asked them but surely they could.

Yup, I recently got a G4 body from them and they accommodated my custom pickup location request. IIRC there was a $45 fee for it, same fee they charge for 70's jazz bridge pickup re-location.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Yup, I recently got a G4 body from them and they accommodated my custom pickup location request. IIRC there was a $45 fee for it, same fee they charge for 70's jazz bridge pickup re-location.
View attachment 4260766

Thank you for the information.
Is that other pickup in the Stingray position?

 

[Acidic Pool]

I've been interested in this kind of setup for awhile...I love plucking at the end of the fretboard and am aiming for a more "thumpy" tone these days, but the bass loses quite a bit of power when it's being played so far from a pickup. Maybe an old Epi EB-3 is in my future. I wish those Squier 72 TBs weren't so rare.

 

[thisheregiraffe]

Thank you for the information.
Is that other pickup in the Stingray position?

Yes, the bridge pickup is in the MM sweet spot. I wanted something along the lines of an HS StingRay, but with the neck pickup moved closer to the neck, closer to the neck pickup location on a Ric. I quite like how it turned out.

 

[lug]

You’ve captured my interest with the visuals, and now you have my curiosity as to what this baby sounds like. Record, please. I want to hear this freak of musical nature.

looks like....

Sounds like...

https://app.box.com/shared/static/j3ak6p1nnn.mp3


Remember, I was still an idiot in High School!

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Wow, sounds great!

 

[lug]

Wow, sounds great!

^^^ a sign of day-drinking ^^^

 

[Ric5]

I have been thinking about this and it seems like, among current basses, the only ones that have a neck pickup VERY near the neck are the Sheehan Attitude and the Gibson/Epi EB basses. Are there others? This so totally matters from a physics perspective; I am really surprised more are not doing this?

my first 4 basses all had a true neck pickup. I had a Hofner copy, a Hofner, a Gibson EB, and a Rickenbacker 4001. So for many years I only played basses with a neck pickup that was around where a 24th fret would be.

Entwistle quit playing p-basses because when he turned up the volume and opened up the treble and mids he lost the low end, Entwistle moved on to other basses with more low end and finally active basses gave him what he wanted. Billy Sheehan fixed his p bass by adding a neck humbucker. Most of my basses have a true neck pickup because I love the tone. It is a way to get low end out of a bass without rolling the treble way down.

 

[AboutSweetSue]

looks like....
View attachment 4260814

Sounds like...

https://app.box.com/shared/static/j3ak6p1nnn.mp3


Remember, I was still an idiot in High School!

Haha, the description is accurate. I could find a use for it.

 

[GretschWretch]

I built a bass in woodshop in high school with a DiMarzio fairly close to the neck. It sounds like a foghorn had sex with a large pipe organ. If I need that sound, I've got it!

What about tonewood?

 

[mexicanyella]

^^^ a sign of day-drinking ^^^

Great chuckalicious tune choice for a bass tone demo, if you ask me. The tone of such a wide-aperture pickup more or less in the P-bass position reminds me of one of my experiments, which sounded similar.

Plenty of output, and it bucks the hum, but it sounds like a metallic distorted electric tuba. Less focused punch than a split-P pickup. It takes more radical EQ moves to get it into my sonic comfort zone.

I also tried a Strat-type pickup, Bronco-style, but forward slanted so the low E and high G were sensed about where a split-P pickup would be, and liked that much better, despite being noisier and lower output.

But that’s me, my hands and my rig. I can see how there might be a good application for that sound somewhere, from someone.

Also, you built the whole bass—in high school—which is cool. I routed a bigger hole in a grungy Johnson P copy someone gave me. I’m a hack.

 

[iiipopes]

Let's see, in addition to the above:
One version of the Squier Tele VM Bass - Fender's version of a mudbucker and a J-bridge pickup;
Ibanez Artcore basses;
Epiphone Alan Woody and Viola basses;
Fender Coronado, Starfire, and "real" Telecaster basses;
Probably more; that's all I can think of other than all the Gibson variants.

 

[iiipopes]

I built a bass in woodshop in high school with a DiMarzio fairly close to the neck. It sounds like a foghorn had sex with a large pipe organ. If I need that sound, I've got it!

That's called a theatre organ diaphone.
Encyclopedia of Organ Stops

 

[Altitude]

There is or was a Dean Jeff Berlin bass that has the front pickup placed forward of normal.

I'm sure Jeff knew exactly what he was asking for. In my mind, if I'm playing a lot of heads and solos, that pickup placement doesn't work as well as moving the neck pickup back a little would work, like the newer set of NYC cats have done who play their 5-strings EADGC.

 

[GreyBeard]

Whatever the location of a pre-CBS jazz is, that is my favorite neck pup location. It is my favorite bridge location too.

 

[shoulderpet]

I have been thinking about this and it seems like, among current basses, the only ones that have a neck pickup VERY near the neck are the Sheehan Attitude and the Gibson/Epi EB basses. Are there others? This so totally matters from a physics perspective; I am really surprised more are not doing this?

I own a Hofner club bass that has the pickup right up against the end of the fretboard.
I was curious about how much the pickup location affected the sound so I unscrewed the pickup from its surround and moved it about, I was quite surprised to find that it was only really when the pickup was at or was close to the middle position that the sound noticeably changed so there was a good inch or two movement that made no discernable difference to the tone , the bridge pickup however was a different story, much more sensitive to pickup position

 

[Pyrat]

I have a couple of the FMIC Modern Player Telecaster basses with a neck p/u located right up at the neck, but they also have one buried right at the bridge! Pretty cool and well-made basses that perhaps just didn't meet the mark for a larger audience. They sound huge and fit into many styles~