Probly a stupid question

[Mickey666]

I'm looking for a neck position pickup that has a very dark/woody sound... something that can easily be covered with wood.

Not concerned with highs or mids. I want something passive that won't need a ridiculous amount of wiring, a preamp or knobs. It would be wired directly to the jack.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[crguti]

Mudbucker

/thread

 

[Mickey666]

Mudbucker

/thread

That was my original thought, but I have no experience with humbuckers of any kind ( had a MM once... we didn't get along), all I know is p pickups. So a decent maker would be extremely helpful.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

Whatever's in an Epiphone Jack Casady.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Not interested in highs or mids?
Thats pretty much the dictionary definition of a mudbucker.

 

[Iristone]

I'd go with the Epiphone version of mudbucker for "woody", if you use flatwoumd strings. A real mudbucker may mask the "woody" frequency or not, depending on the wiring.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

View attachment 7528643

Whatever's in an Epiphone Jack Casady.

Oops!

BBB

 

[Hans on Bass]

Nicely woody but not as undefined as a mudbucker: A kind of Hofner neck PU. In three of my basses I've installed cheap but absolutely fine clones made in China.

 

[Mickey666]

I'm planning on coated strings... wiring will be bare minimum, straight to the jack... no pots

I would like to be able to put a wood cover on it

 

[grubdumpling]

If you can get the tone you want from a Pbass with the tone knob, you could still use it but wire a permanently set tone cct to get it to where you want, no knob or pot, just a cap. Anything can have a wood cover made for it.

 

[Mickey666]

The original version was piezo bridge... no metal except the tuners.

That turned out to be way more complicated than I think necessary... Just wanted plug and play.

The basic design is a fretless explorer, I want the most resonance possible... with the least amount of coloring...

 

[Kenan]

A piezo bridge pickup and a dark, woody neck pickup are about as opposite as can be.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I'm planning on coated strings... wiring will be bare minimum, straight to the jack... no pots

I would like to be able to put a wood cover on it

My take would be different than some recommendations already given. I would look to find ANY pickup makers that have wood or wood-look casing/covers, and then decide from there. Unless you can literally make wooden pickup covers yourself. Then the sky's the limit, I suppose.

 

[Mickey666]

A piezo bridge pickup and a dark, woody neck pickup are about as opposite as can be.

I saw/heard a piezo only solid body( similar to the wasburn Rudy sarzo) that sounded perfect, but was fretted and had roundwounds... just can't remember who built it.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I saw/heard a piezo only solid body( similar to the wasburn Rudy sarzo) that sounded perfect, but was fretted and had roundwounds... just can't remember who built it.

Gibson made the Shadow explorer bass. I think it was late 80s. That’s when they were doing the designer series paint jobs the white and black one has. I don’t recall what, if any additional preamp or electronics it had. Good luck on finding one, I’ve only even heard of one out in the wild and that was years ago, and have a check with more than a couple of zeros on the end.

 

[Mickey666]

I remember when those came out, thought they were kinda weird at the time.

The bass I am thinking of was unpainted, and fretless but it had a badass bridge and a headstock shap similar to the newer Yamaha trbx series.

Most likely a custom build.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

AI copy pasta...

[redacted AI generated misinformational clip as a courtesy]​

 

[klyph]

I would actually go single coil, and stick it right next to the neck. It’s a great sound IMO. A Nordstrand big single would do the trick. I think that would be easy to encase in wood, but I’ve never tried.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

That was my original thought, but I have no experience with humbuckers of any kind ( had a MM once... we didn't get along), all I know is p pickups. So a decent maker would be extremely helpful.

A p pickup is a humbucker pickup. Just in two halves. So you do have experience with humbuckers.

 

[KidAmnesia]

AI copy pasta...

The Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass is equipped with a single JCB-1 Low-Impedance Humbucker pickup.​

​

Key specifications and features include:​

​

• Design: It is a custom low-impedance humbucker designed to correct tonal definition issues found in earlier models.
• Magnets: The pickup typically utilizes Alnico VII magnets.
• Impedance Control: It features a three-position rotary switch (Varigain) that selects output impedance levels of 50, 250, or 500 ohms. Lower impedances (50 ohms) provide a clearer, more acoustic tone, while higher impedances (500 ohms) yield a fatter, bass-heavy profile.
• Alternatives: If the original pickup is missing or desired replacement, Mama Pickups offers specific replacement units, and users sometimes mod the bass with standard humbuckers like the Nordstrand NP4A or Seymour Duncanmodels.

As far as I know, Alnico VII (7) does not exist.

Trust AI at your own risk, but it would be nice not to replicate unverified information.