Pickup Placement Experiment Pic

[aigman]

Hey everybody, I was tinkering with an app called "Union" on my iPad and decided to see how the sweet spot on my holy grail bass, Aria Pro II SB 1000, compared to other basses, both with a PUP in the sweet spot and in other positions: it is very crude, but a good visual to understanding why you may or may not prefer the sound of certain basses over others.

The experiment started when I noticed that the Flea bass (the bass with blue/yellow swirl) has a PUP in the same spot as the Aria, and thus has a similar quality to the sound. I temporarily put kubicki PUPs in my music man 4hh bass and got a similar pleasant surprise: that sweet spot sound.

I tried aligning the 12 fret and the bridges, could be some inconsistencies... but you get the gist.

Left to Right: Singray 5, Flea Bass, Aria, PJ, Jazz, Modulus Funk Unlimited

 

[JimmyM]

Absolutely placement has a lot to do with why we like some basses and don't like others, and why some basses sound similar to others. There's more to it, since I have basses with similar placement and pickups but don't sound the same, but placement certainly enters into it.

 

[Ballin'bass]

Yea that's a cool picture. Btw your flea bass is super cool lookin. Badass paint job.

 

[ex-tension]

...how the sweet spot on my holy grail bass, Aria Pro II SB 1000, compared to other basses, both with a PUP in the sweet spot and in other positions...

Let's cross-link the similar threads:
Calculating pickup positions, with a fun picture | TalkBass.com
Jazz bridge p'up location vs. MM "sweet spot" | TalkBass.com
P/J pickup spacing, only Sadowsky measures up. | TalkBass.com

 

[aigman]

Yea that's a cool picture. Btw your flea bass is super cool lookin. Badass paint job.

Ballin’bass I wish I did own it, it’s someone else’s treasure. All web pics.

Let's cross-link the similar threads:
Calculating pickup positions, with a fun picture | TalkBass.com
Jazz bridge p'up location vs. MM "sweet spot" | TalkBass.com
P/J pickup spacing, only Sadowsky measures up. | TalkBass.com

Thank you, these are great links! Holy S*** that guy went to town with detail. Humbled, am I

 

[Awesome Sauce]

I've found this one very useful, as well.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Many years ago, I did an experiment.

I took an old bass body - alder - and routed out a rectangle from near the bridge to near the neck. Then I took different pickups, mounted them in random spaces, mounted a neck / strung it / tested it.

Big freaking shock: I found that the spacing your find on most Fenders or Fender type bases sounded the best. My guess? 50 or so years ago, When Leo & crew were sorting this all out, they did something similar: an alder or ash block and several p'ups - moved them around until they said "AH HA!!" - In my case, I was merely satisfying curiosity with a mild hope of finding something more better.

 

[JimmyM]

Many years ago, I did an experiment.

I took an old bass body - alder - and routed out a rectangle from near the bridge to near the neck. Then I took different pickups, mounted them in random spaces, mounted a neck / strung it / tested it.

Big freaking shock: I found that the spacing your find on most Fenders or Fender type bases sounded the best. My guess? 50 or so years ago, When Leo & crew were sorting this all out, they did something similar: an alder or ash block and several p'ups - moved them around until they said "AH HA!!" - In my case, I was merely satisfying curiosity with a mild hope of finding something more better.

Good guess, because that's exactly what they did, although they used different bodies instead because Leo could afford it.