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Perfect number of pickups?
- Thread starter Greenman72
- Start date
It depends on the positioning and size of the pickups.
A j style bass with 3 or 4 pickups makes sense they take up little space from picking or slapping. An mm style one not so much, they take up a lot of space you probably want 2 tops, though sinc they are dual coil, you sort of have 4 anyway. If you want to blend pickups rather and on/off switch you probably don't want more than 2 either.
The pickups/switching/controls is all a sort of holistic design. Every bass should have a handful of sounds, but it doesn't nessecsrily need multiple pickups to do so.
A j style bass with 3 or 4 pickups makes sense they take up little space from picking or slapping. An mm style one not so much, they take up a lot of space you probably want 2 tops, though sinc they are dual coil, you sort of have 4 anyway. If you want to blend pickups rather and on/off switch you probably don't want more than 2 either.
The pickups/switching/controls is all a sort of holistic design. Every bass should have a handful of sounds, but it doesn't nessecsrily need multiple pickups to do so.
My first real American bass was a Stingray 4H. Lets just say, I traded up for a Stingray Special 4HH. Problem solved.
Jazz bass type prefered here, so two for me… and I use the blend pot alot back/front/both for where it fits best. 
That will prevent neck dive for sure.
Once I put Ultralite tuning keys on the 4005WB (with the standard two toasters
) the bass balanced perfectly. 
All of my current basses sport two pickups.
I've come to the conclusion that a single pickup bass just doesn't do it for me. OTOH I could - and have in the past - live with a three-pickup unit.
I've come to the conclusion that a single pickup bass just doesn't do it for me. OTOH I could - and have in the past - live with a three-pickup unit.
- Apr 18, 2008
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- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
What’s the perfect number of polls to create on a music forum?
I chose two specifically because I like to have as much versatility as possible, but my favorite pickup configurations would interfere with one another. I can only get about two on an instrument realistically. For example a single coil p pickup would be in the way of a split p pickup. Or the typical jazz bridge single coil would be in the way of a music man bridge humbucker.
I don't know if there is such a thing as the perfect bass. Perfect for what?
I don't care that much about "versatility," but I generally prefer a two-pickup bass because my favorite bass sound is a two-pickup bass (preferably with single coils) with both pickups full-on.
My perfect number and actual p/u, the SCPB.
"To each his own."
"To each his own."
My main two basses: Fender Jazz, Warmoth P/MM
Covers all the sonic territory. Can you get job done with one pickup? Certainly, but having a pickup to switch to for an alternate sound or to blend with the other pickup allows you to play just that bass. Problem with one pickup bass, when a song rejects the sound, you have to swap. That’s partly why people end up with stables of P-Basses. Lovely bass if you only need the one trick.
Also don’t forget a second pickup can also be helpful if only for a thumb test.
Covers all the sonic territory. Can you get job done with one pickup? Certainly, but having a pickup to switch to for an alternate sound or to blend with the other pickup allows you to play just that bass. Problem with one pickup bass, when a song rejects the sound, you have to swap. That’s partly why people end up with stables of P-Basses. Lovely bass if you only need the one trick.
Also don’t forget a second pickup can also be helpful if only for a thumb test.
