Newbie Question: MM pickup placement on P-Bass

[tothemax]

I'm new to the site and haven't figured out the search functions yet, so excuse this if there is a similar post already here somewhere.

I'm modifying an old Yamaha P-style bass with GFS Musicman and P-Bass pups. I've done a few things to the bass already, changed to a short scale neck and moved the old bridge (I'm primarily a guitar player). I need to move the bridge again to get the correct intonation on the E & A strings and have decided to go with a MM style bridge.

My main question is where the best place will be to mount the MM pup and how close can it be to the P-Bass pup? I'd like to minimize routing if possible but am willing to do what is needed for the best functionality.

I'm using the SD Tele style SC/HB with a 3-way switch wiring with a pushpull switch to coil split.

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I've already mounted the neck and it plays pretty well, so now I'd like to get some feedback before working on the pups & wiring.

Will appreciate any feedback or comments...

Max

 

[senp5f]

The traditional sweet spot on an mm bass overlaps the p bass pup by a few mm.

You can accommodate both by flipping the bass coil of the p bass pups to the neck side of the treble coil. You'll need a new pick guard cut.

Keep in mind that the mm sound also comes from the preamp. If that's what your after, I have seen the new sterling by music man ray34 going for as low as $450 on the classifieds. That might be a more elegant solution.

 

[senp5f]

And here's the location of the sweet spot:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/music-man-sweet-spot-308157/

 

[tothemax]

Thanks senp5f... who would have thought to search on "Music Man Sweet Spot" duh... 13 1/8" from the 12th fret.

2nd dumb question: - will that make a difference with this being a 30" short scale?

3rd dumb question: Using that measurement it leaves about 1" of space between the existing P-bass pup and the new MM location. How much space should there be between pup's looking at my Tele, Strat, and LP none of the pups are spaced that closely.

I've had this bass around forever to use when I have to fill in on bass. I came across this new SS neck for $30. So when it played so nice with the SS that I figured I could kick in another $100 to see if I could get it to sound decent. It's become kind of a fun project so I'd like to give it my best shot.

Worst case it will play and sound better than it did.

 

[tothemax]

Routing is done, turned out not to be so much of an issue... There really only one place to mount the MM pup without putting against the bridge.

Posts are pressed for the MM style bridge, should be able to have it wired and back together tonight.

Thanks for the feedback...

 

[tothemax]

Got everything assembled and it seems to play OK... so no re-engineering required. Will get it setup properly today. The one thing I noticed was the GFS P-Bass pup is exceptionally bright and sounds great. The coil split on the MM pup is really nice to cut the "boom" out. The Tele control plate allowed me to make use of the existing cutout. I'm ordering some p/g stock today which should really help out the look.

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My amp is not that good and upgrading the guitar is really showing that... considerable speaker rattle that the stock Yamaha pup never produced - I guess that's the difference between a strong signal.