Pickups effecting slap

[forte]

I've heard that when a neck is too close to a pickup, it's extremely difficult to produce a good slap sound.

And I was reading a thread here today and heard someone say if the pickups are near the bridge (on the P bass), same thing.

Also, my friend has an old Rickenbacker from the 70s. He says you can't slap it. Is that because the pickup is right by the neck? But one of the pickups on his bass is broken, don't know which.

Oh, I must know.

 

[vindy500]

depends what you think a good slap sound is

 

[Spencer!]

I've heard that when a neck is too close to a pickup, it's extremely difficult to produce a good slap sound.

I've never heard of a neck being too close to a pickup. I have, however, heard of a pickup being too close to the neck.

Seriously though, I wouldn't worry about it. You can slap regardless of where the pickup is. Hell, I can get a good slap tone using just the bridge pickup, and then it doesn't matter where the neck pickup is.

 

[forte]

Aha I was thinking about how to word that. Neck to pickup, or pickup to neck, so to speak.

I was reading reviews about some lower end Ibanez. Actually I'll link it. But this wasn't the only review, I read similar reviews for the same bass, and a couple other guitars, a couple of which were also Ibanez (I was heavily researching them due to popularity).

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/bass_guitars/ibanez/sr305dx/index.html

"It's perfect for my style with one small flaw, the small gap between neck pickup and neck means it's not particularly easy to play slap on, but apart from that, it's brilliant."

 

[vindy500]

he probally means its hard for him to get his finger in to pop

 

[KeithBMI]

I'll trade you my Geddy Lee for your 70's rick, then you'll have a slap machine and I'll have decent fingerstyle bass... I guess I'll manage.

 

[forte]

Not mine, I wish! It was just lying around my friend's house. His dad purchased it back in the 70s but doesn't play any longer. So my friend got lucky.

Actually he hates slap and doesn't do it. I just think he can't do it and is sooo jealous.

It's a hot bass. Brown. Just needs a new pickup, one doesn't pick up sound.

 

[bongomania]

he probally means its hard for him to get his finger in to pop

Exactly, it has nothing to do with tone, and everything to do with whether your finger(s) can fly in and out of there without hitting the hardware.

 

[KeithBMI]

Does it have the cover on it? Might want to the pickguardian mod to it.

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[forte]

I don't remember.

 

[jazz-e-j]

well in my experience, ive found the same problem. ive played nothin but jazz style fenders. ive found that 20 and 21 fret necks are situated further from the neck pickup allowing less neck interference when slapping, which gives a richer, fatter slap tone. i also have a 22 fret jazz(which if you measure, its 1in longer that the others). this closes the gap between the neck and neck pickup, which changes the tone! 24 frets are even worse. now this all depends on what one wants to hear in a slap tone. i personally prefer 20 or 21 fret. marcus miller has a 20 fret jazz! look at different pictures of basses and count the frets. the more frets u count, you'll notice the different placement of pickups

 

[BassyBill]

Slapping a Rick? Surely not!!

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[forte]

That Rick sounds nice.