Double Bass Polytone

[TroyK]

Lookie what I played today. I didn't know they were real. It was like a Bigfoot sighting.

 

[lurk]

So, how'd you like it? I loved mine, but that was long ago (and often, far away). The bridge on my Pollman still bears the marks. Each new pickup that came out I thought "This is it!"

 

[CaseyVancouver]

Good enough for Ray Brown…

Yeah they were great. Paired with a fliptop tube Ampeg it was a classic sound.
Still have the tiny craters on my Pöllmann bridge.
Mine started acting up so I went with an Underwood from Don Thompson.

 

[TroyK]

Tough to say how I like it. It was an unfamiliar Kay into a NOS amp at a jam session.

I didn't hate how it mounted, though. Seems like not a bad system.

 

[Don Kasper]

Set the Wayback Machine to "Polytone Pickup", Sherman!

 

[dylanjohnson]

Two words… hot spots

 

[SAlcott]

My first pickup.....

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Yeah, I had one, too. The little screw on connection from the pickup to the cable was odd and proprietary and when it crapped out, that was that.

 

[Earl]

Very heavy and mutes the bridge a lot. I dug mine out last year and was surprised that it actually sounded pretty good. I sold it though because of the heavy muting.

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I never liked it. Coming loose was the main problem. Switched to a Barcus Berry stick on which was much better. Underwood came later.

 

[TroyK]

The good news is all this: I've been going to a lot of jam sessions this year. I used to really struggle adjusting to unfamiliar basses, but I adapt pretty quickly to most basses, strings, pickups, amps, whatever. I'd still much rather play my own, but it doesn't throw me like it used to.

 

[Ric Vice]

If the inside arch of the bridge was to small the Polytone would’t fit straight across the arch. I had to have the knurled adjuster shortened
and even then it sounded pretty awful on my bass. I essentially gave up pickups until the Underwood and I never really liked them. Just my take
The Realist Life Line is so much easier to use than those early pickups. The pressure on the ceramic composite inside the Polytone would eventually crack.

 

[eh_train]

Borrowed one for a summer when I was just starting on upright. Meh. But my skill level probably had something to do with that rating.

 

[Don Kasper]

Does anyone here remember the Polytone Hack of installing it from the foot of the bridge to the upper curve of the arch? I do. (i.e. - NOT parallel to the top plate, but at about a 45 degree angle.)
It produced a "different" response - not necessarily BETTER, just "different".
Boy, am I old.

 

[statsc]

Does anyone here remember the Polytone Hack of installing it from the foot of the bridge to the upper curve of the arch? I do. (i.e. - NOT parallel to the top plate, but at about a 45 degree angle.)
It produced a "different" response - not necessarily BETTER, just "different".
Boy, am I old.

That was a hack? I thought that was how you were supposed to do it (older than you!).

 

[Earl]

Does anyone here remember the Polytone Hack of installing it from the foot of the bridge to the upper curve of the arch? I do. (i.e. - NOT parallel to the top plate, but at about a 45 degree angle.)
It produced a "different" response - not necessarily BETTER, just "different".
Boy, am I old.

Yes!

 

[TroyK]

Circa 2035 Talkbass me:

Remember that hack when we imported a single element Yamahiko from Japan during the pandemic against a weak yen and stopped worrying about it?

 

[Bruce Calin]

You guys are making me feel really old. I don't remember what happened to mine(another sign) but I still have the bridge with the multiple holes from different angles I tried. I guess it's a kind of relic.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Want one of your own? It’s worth its’ weight in pennies!

 

[eh_train]

"You can mount it at a 45 degree angle..."