pick up position

[Deanbassist445]

Hey everyone i am working on my first electric bass, and i was curious as to where i should put the pick up, obvisouly under the strings. but how far should i put it inbetween the end of the neck and the end of the bridge

thanks for the helps

 

[mikeyswood]

This is where the art comes into play. The three most famous positions took over twenty years to figure out. You could try one of them or you could experiment with your own placing.

 

[Deanbassist445]

Hey thanks mikey, so it sounds to me like i am jsut going to have to make a choice and go with it. the pick up i am going with is EMG 40TW and it says that 3.125 is max recomended string spacing, so is that what i should aim for is some where around that spacing?

 

[lunarpollen]

Well most pickup height is adjustable, so maybe wherever you put it, just make sure it can't be lowered more than 3.125 from the strings.

 

[mikeyswood]

The string spacing refers to the maximum with of the strings across the pickups response field. It has nothing to do with the height or distance from the bridge.

 

[Rocky McD]

I would place it where the poles line up under the strings, like it was designed to do.

 

[mikeyswood]

The EMG should be a blade magnet.

 

[Musiclogic]

If you are using just 1 pickup, look towards the center of the pickup being 3.5" to 3.75" from the saddles. Emulating the Stingray placement could give you the balanced response you require from a medium aperature pickup like the 40TW

 

[sikamikanico]

wow, you're building a bass and don't know this? why are you doing this then, looks?

anyway, classic pickup spot is about 6 inches away from the bridge - Precision and Jazz bass are an example... What Musiclogic said also makes sense, especially if the pickup was designed in that way...

Also, check the recommendations by the manufacturer...

 

[millsbass5]

Well,you could start with the foundation of some of your favorite basses.....

Do you like the punchy spank of a Music Man??

Or,do you like a "60's,or 70's" J-Bass tone?? My personal of the J-Basses is the "70's" pup position.

It's just a matter of what suits your ear,sonically.

 

[Deanbassist445]

wow, you're building a bass and don't know this? why are you doing this then, looks?

like i said to start this is my first bass and im not working with a luthier on it just pretty much going blind and using lodgic to work my way through it. its a learning process so if i want to make another i have a little more expierence with what NOT to do

 

[Beej]

Deanbassist, try stringing it up, wiring the pickup to the jack, plugging it in and then hovering it over the strings in various positions to note the differences. This will at least give you a chance to hear it in several spots in order to narrow it down to what you like best. Once you have a spot, install it there and don't assume that the "classic" spot will give you the tone you like best...

 

[Musiclogic]

+1 on that, great point Beej

 

[vintager]

i did this with success, for height-error elimination i placed a wooden stick (2cm square profile) with double sided tape on each side of the string group and used it like a rails to slide the handheld pickup. but ofcourse you should start with observations, checking basses that produce the sound you like

 

[Jools4001]

As well as considering the P,J and MM positions, I'd put it around 4.25" from the bridge so that it was in the same position as a Rickenbacker 4000 (or the 'bridge' pup on a Rickenbacker 4001) but that's just me. If I were you, I would do what Beej suggests.

 

[Deanbassist445]

Hey thanks guys, thats really great advice

 

[Ric5]

As well as considering the P,J and MM positions, I'd put it around 4.25" from the bridge so that it was in the same position as a Rickenbacker 4000 (or the 'bridge' pup on a Rickenbacker 4001) but that's just me. If I were you, I would do what Beej suggests.

The Rickenbacker bridge pickup is in about the same location as the Musicman Sting Ray pickup location. The guy who designed the first sting ray worked for Rickenbacker.

 

[M0ses]

like i said to start this is my first bass and im not working with a luthier on it just pretty much going blind and using lodgic to work my way through it. its a learning process so if i want to make another i have a little more expierence with what NOT to do

I think what he's trying to say is this:

Building a bass is not a simple or easily accomplished task. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of thought. You need to know what you are doing, before you do it. It is best to do a lot of research before trying anything. The question you're asking makes it seem like you haven't put a lot of thought into it or done a lot of research. If that's the case, it would probably be inadvisable to blindly run into this project.

 

[GotRoot?]

Deanbassist445,
Out of curiosity regarding pickup placement I did a forum search. Check out the following threads:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=633640

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=640984&highlight=pickup+positions

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=623795&highlight=pickup+positions

The first thread may answer the question right off the bat but there are plenty more threads...

I used the term "pickup positions" in search.....these should get you started....

GotRoot?