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New Nordstrand BigMan

#41
MarkA said:
Are you thinking separate volume controls to go along with the switching, or just one master volume? I was going to stay entirely clear of single coils because of hum, but I like where this is going. I also like to play with favoring one pickup or another slightly, so I might be looking at some hum, but it could be worth it. If you're willing to put up with the hum of just playing one coil, you could have even more options with a 5-way, Strat-style switch, or a combination of switches.

Based on the Pope and W&T vids, I think even a route that allowed half-an-inch of adjustment would make a significant difference! If you figure out a way to do it as slickly as they do, let me know!

There's still the issue of all that magnetic pull... but maybe it wouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...
I was thinking keep it simple; just one master volume to control the coil pair selected and no blend. For me, 3 different pairings with series/parallel switching would provide enough tonal variety. The routed hole on that Fodera Pope is about the size of the BigMan. There might be about 3/4" separation between the two BigMan coils so coil selection would affect the voicing.
 
#42
5StringPocket said:
I was thinking keep it simple; just one master volume to control the coil pair selected and no blend. For me, 3 different pairings with series/parallel switching would provide enough tonal variety. The routed hole on that Fodera Pope is about the size of the BigMan. There might be about 3/4" separation between the two BigMan coils so coil selection would affect the voicing.
Click to expand...

Thinking about this again last night I realized it wouldn't work. For the BigMan to be humcancelling the coils would need to be RWRP. Which means a Big Single in the neck could be setup to humcancel with ONE of the BigMan coils but not both.
 
#44
Jared Lash said:
Thinking about this again last night I realized it wouldn't work. For the BigMan to be humcancelling the coils would need to be RWRP. Which means a Big Single in the neck could be setup to humcancel with ONE of the BigMan coils but not both.
Click to expand...

I came here to post this.

I'd like to set it up so the neck is him canceling with the forward big man coil. You could probably get a great series sound running those coils together.
 
#45
Jared Lash said:
Thinking about this again last night I realized it wouldn't work. For the BigMan to be humcancelling the coils would need to be RWRP. Which means a Big Single in the neck could be setup to humcancel with ONE of the BigMan coils but not both.
Click to expand...

Dude... you're right. I don't see a way around that -- doesn't mean there isn't one, I just don't see it.
 
#46
Jared Lash said:
Thinking about this again last night I realized it wouldn't work. For the BigMan to be humcancelling the coils would need to be RWRP. Which means a Big Single in the neck could be setup to humcancel with ONE of the BigMan coils but not both.
Click to expand...
In that case it looks like you'd have to order either a bridge or neck Big Single depending on which coil of the BigMan you wanted to make a humcancelling pair with. Say you choose the Big Single position which hum cancels with the BigMan front coil. Two pairs to select from would still expand your tonal choices. Ending up with BMrear/BMfront for a MM vibe and BMfront/BSneck for more of a Pbass vibe with series/parallel switching would give you 4 different lineups. That 4-position rotary switch mentioned earlier could handle all the switching and keep the control layout clean:
  1. BMrear + BMfront in parallel (MM vibe)
  2. BMrear + BMfront in series (aggressive)
  3. BMfront + BSneck in parallel (deep & round)
  4. BMfront + BSneck in series (P-bass vibe?)
I would guess the existing vM5 electronics would probably work with this configuration because all 4 positions feed the preamp a pair of Big Single coils in hum cancelling alignment.
 
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#47
Jared,

Thanks for pointing out the weakness to me; something seemed wrong and I couldn't put my hand on it! I run 3 Bartolini X45J pickups in my Stammie which are hum-cancelling dual inline coils. The two combinations I use most frequently are Neck + South Bridge (Jazz mode) and Neck + Both bridge pickups in parallel; I then blend slightly in either direction if needed. Occasionally, I will use Neck + North Bridge for a darker/thicker J sound or solo out something. I haven't found the Neck+North Bridge to sound more P-Bass.

I'm hoping Carey will pop in a let us know if he has plans to pursue more dual jazz configurations in the MM pickup shell; especially in the hum-cancelling line up. There are a lot of J+MM basses out there, and I've avoided all the traditional MM sounding pickups because they aren't really what I'm looking for these days.
 
#49
If they are the same size as the MM pickups it should be an easy but expensive swap to see how they work. If they didn't float your boat they would be easy to sell and recoup the cash. I have a sliding pickup design I think would be inexpensive but effective to use with a BigMan. Wondering what would be the best low cost single pickup bass to modify for this experiment. A single pickup Stingray comes to mind or a Tobias Growler but they are a bit pricey for an experiment. Something under $600 would be acceptable. Electronics and pickups don't matter because they would be replaced but it has to have a good neck, bridge, and tuning keys and play well. Any suggestions?
 
#50
5StringPocket said:
If they are the same size as the MM pickups it should be an easy but expensive swap to see how they work. If they didn't float your boat they would be easy to sell and recoup the cash. I have a sliding pickup design I think would be inexpensive but effective to use with a BigMan. Wondering what would be the best low cost single pickup bass to modify for this experiment. A single pickup Stingray comes to mind or a Tobias Growler but they are a bit pricey for an experiment. Something under $600 would be acceptable. Electronics and pickups don't matter because they would be replaced but it has to have a good neck, bridge, and tuning keys and play well. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you can find an older, USA Sub, I think it would fit the bill. A friend has one and it plays great. Or, if you can find a neck and hardware you like, you could order an unrouted body from USACG or Warmoth or even some ebay seller... not sure how cost-effective that would be, but you'd have a blank slate, pickup-position-wise, if that's what you wanted.
 
#52
bareass said:
i just ordered a pair to throw into my Stringray 5HH.
My Brother has a stingray 5HH too, so i will A/B them in all 5 selector positions.
I'll let you guys know when its done!
Click to expand...
What, are you guys twins?

Very much looking forward to the results. If you're able to make audio clips, even better.
 
#55
From the Nordstrand Facebook page:
These are available as drop in replacements for standard 4 and 5 string MM sizes, but we can accommodate your specific string spacing as well.
Click to expand...

With the description sounding like they just put two Big Singles in an MM shell, I wasn't sure the brought the spacing down from the standard 19mm, but it appears they did. I really wish they would put that information on the website. I HATE going to facebook for stuff like this. Ok, I hate that I go to facebook for anything, but this stuff is bread and butter corporate website information.


Matt
 
#56
Jeff Moote said:
I'm curious as to the default (and possible custom) spacing on these. The soapbar style SR5 pickup cover pictured would be default 17 mm spacing but Big Singles are typically 19 mm unless custom ordered.
Click to expand...

Considering the market he's going after I would assume these are Stingray spacing (17mm or thereabouts) but he can do anything.
 
#58
I chatted with Carey recently as I am considering a J/Big Man set to put in my Brubaker Brute. he already has Brute and Lakland templates so it will be no issue to make me what I want. The single cut in my avatar has a three way switch and IMO the best slap sound I get is with the single front pickup and isolated south coil on the MM Pup. Running the front J and the front coil on the MM does not give it that much of a special sound IMO. Sooo if I make this happen I'll have my setup for the J/Big Man with a two way split parallel and south coil. I can change my blend, backoof the bass and increase Mids to get a nice jaco fingerstyle burp and punch. I do not need the series option for the MM pup. I'm basing this on the Bass in my avatar as well as I have a 3 way splitter north/series/south. I don't like the front J and MM series slap tone.
 
#59
bareass said:
Not twins
GC had a sale so he bought one at a steal for his studio, but i bought mine first!

they come standard to the MM string spacing, but i was advised to get a custom one for the front pickup.
a custom string spacing is $25 more
Click to expand...

Cool -- thanks for the info! Makes sense about the spacing on the front pup, since the strings would be closer together. I guess that means the folks at Nordstrand feel the pups are fairly sensitive to having the strings lined-up over the poles. I've heard differing opinions on how much this matters (on pups in general, not the Nordies specifically). I'm sure some of it depends on the design. I wonder, though. My fretless fiver has a 19mm Hipshot bridge and one Nordie dual-coil (in or close to 60s Jazz position). I've got the spacing set to 18.5 mm currently. I was going to say it's not an issue, but, now that I think about it, the G string does stick out... that might be an acoustic property of the bass, or related to the fingerboard radius (curved 'board, flat pickup), but I'm going to try putting the spacing back at 19mm and see if it makes a difference.

Oh, and you're obviously the cooler twin (fretless P in your sig!) ;) Really looking forward to your comparisons (did I mention that soundclips would be nice?).

phillybass101 said:
I chatted with Carey recently as I am considering a J/Big Man set to put in my Brubaker Brute. he already has Brute and Lakland templates so it will be no issue to make me what I want. The single cut in my avatar has a three way switch and IMO the best slap sound I get is with the single front pickup and isolated south coil on the MM Pup. Running the front J and the front coil on the MM does not give it that much of a special sound IMO. Sooo if I make this happen I'll have my setup for the J/Big Man with a two way split parallel and south coil. I can change my blend, backoof the bass and increase Mids to get a nice jaco fingerstyle burp and punch. I do not need the series option for the MM pup. I'm basing this on the Bass in my avatar as well as I have a 3 way splitter north/series/south. I don't like the front J and MM series slap tone.
Click to expand...

I've got a 4-string Brute (doublecut) with Bartolini MM/J. Back pickup is on a switch -- I think it's series/parallel rather than a coil tap (one setting is hotter and more middy than the other). Will be interested to hear how your proposed setup works, if you try it. Coil-splitting with the Big Man seems like it can yield a lot of really cool options, but you have to put some thought into which combos will/won't have hum.
 
#60
Hey everyone. Super glad this pickup has a lot of folks excited. It's a fun beast.

I just notified my web guy that we need to have the same selections for covers and spacing that we have for the MM5.2. Hopefully that'll get updated within a week. Sorry for the oversight.

I think a BigMan bridge and Big Single neck would be a killer setup, but it would not be hum cancelling with the BigMan in parallel or series mode with both pickups on. I think I might prefer that to not be an option anyway though, at least on a setup like that.

I am planning to shoot some demo footage of the pickup in one of our vM5's very soon, as soon as my video guy can get here in the shop. This bass has our MM2b preamp so it will give some idea how the pickup works in a very original bass. Also want to do a demo of the vM4 that's coming along. That one will have a dual volume setup with our 2 band preamp. Should be killer and will definitely be a more modern and versatile option than the vM5 above.
 
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