SBO 24 - String Spread over a Blade Pickup

[Alex Xander]

Hi Folks,

I have this snazzy Dimarzio X2N7 that I am hoping is wide enough to be a 5 string bridge pickup on a fretless build I am planning.

I’m thinking a black and gold theme has merit, especially with an ebony body and fretboard. The fact that it’s black and gold is pretty well the only reason I bought the pickup. Now it needs a home!

I’m comfortable with 15.5mm spacing on a fretless 5, which gives a string spread of 62mm. The pickup blades measure 66mm between extremities.

Is this enough wiggle room to get even response, on a 5 or will I be stuck with a bass with weak B and G strings?

I have done a search and get conflicting information. On one hand, people state the magnetic field extends well beyond the poles or blades, on the other, you get people with mudbucker equipped basses modding the pickups with Allen keys etc trying to widen the field and improve E and G string performance.

I’m hoping one of the LC tinkerers can provide something more definitive.

My suspicion is that the mudbucker issue people experience has more to do with where they’re located and how much the strings move there, which means slamming this close to the bridge, where string movement is minimised might mitigate any issues.

This will be routed into a solid ebony body, so I’m not taking any chances!

Thanking you in advance

 

[ardgedee]

15.5mm spacing on a fretless 5, which gives a string spread of 62mm

That's center-to-center on the strings, right? You'd still have the radius of the outermost strings to take into account.

 

[Alex Xander]

That's center-to-center on the strings, right? You'd still have the radius of the outermost strings to take into account.

That is correct. It would put the outside of the B string a fraction of a millimetre inside the blade.

 

[ctmullins]

I have had good results all the way out to the ends of the blades, or within a couple mm anyway.

String spacing over the pickup will be somewhat narrower than at the bridge saddles.

 

[LowG]

Might not be too hard to rig up a string between 2 clamps on your workbench, wire the pickup to a jack, and move it around under the string to listen for where the volume drops. Because even if people report good results with their pickups, it may not be true for yours.

 

[funkinbottom]

I have had good results all the way out to the ends of the blades, or within a couple mm anyway.

String spacing over the pickup will be somewhat narrower than at the bridge saddles.

Yep. Measure the width of strings (outside to outside) at the pickup location, then measure the blades. If exposed blade is same or extremely close +/- it should work just fine.

 

[seescottrock]

I can't speak to this exact pickup, but I know in my Bartolini blade pickups that as long as the edges of the string are inside the width of the blades, it works great.

 

[newfuture]

It's real close, I would do a test jig like LowG suggests.

Measure twice and cut once and all that

 

[micguy]

The spacing is probably OK, just know that that pickup is "loud", but you may not like the lack or articulation - it's got a lot of resistance and inductance, and it probably won' t have much "snap" at all.

 

[ctmullins]

The spacing is probably OK, just know that that pickup is "loud", but you may not like the lack or articulation - it's got a lot of resistance and inductance, and it probably won' t have much "snap" at all.

Maybe wire it in parallel?

 

[micguy]

Maybe wire it in parallel?

That will help some with the inductance and resistance issues. It still is a pickup that listens to every string at two points, so it'll never have the snap of a pickup that only listens at one point per string.

 

[Alex Xander]

The spacing is probably OK, just know that that pickup is "loud", but you may not like the lack or articulation - it's got a lot of resistance and inductance, and it probably won' t have much "snap" at all.

The spacing is probably OK, just know that that pickup is "loud", but you may not like the lack or articulation - it's got a lot of resistance and inductance, and it probably won' t have much "snap" at all.

I’m one of those perverted individuals that likes mudbuckers, so I think it will be ok, bearing in mind that the X2N7 has half the resistance of the X2NB.

My plan, if it proves wide enough (I guess I’ll rig up a test jig, as suggested) is to put it very close to the bridge, wire in series and put a 0.1uF capacitor in parallel with the neck coil (G&L OMG wiring). I’ve had great results doing similar things on other basses, but it does make for a slightly noisier pickup.

 

[Beej]

I'd suggest the tester jig as well - I have used some blade Artecs in the past that looked near identical to yours, except for chrome instead of gold. The chrome is a sticker embedded and the blades did not run right to the edges of the chrome strips, but fell short a bit inside the edges. You could see it on magnetic viewing paper. in my case, I used it in the neck position on a 4 string with 18mm spacing, so it worked.

 

[Alex Xander]

Just updating this in case somebody searches in the future and wonders what the answer is.

I rigged up a test set up to mount the pickup upside down on top of a 16 5mm spaced 5 string. With the pickup carefully centred, the volume balance was fine. It should be perfect for 15.5mm spacing as I'm planning.

Side note - this pickup has some serious balls. The test bass was strung with flats and with it mounted close to the neck the tone was very, very desirable. So much so that it has me rethinking the fretless idea. Maybe frets, flats and a pickup in the P position is the best combo.

 

[J Wilson]

Don't know the technical specifics, but back in the day, the X2N was one crazy, hot pickup for hairmetal Floyd axes like Jackson Dinkys or an ESP Kamikaze. and the like. Whole lot of Gausses in that thing ! We had a metal kid who chiseled a couple into his Ed-copy hacked up guitar, and with the amp turned up that high, he could hold it up to his face and TALK through it.

Widened for a 7-string geetar, I'd think they'd work just fine with a tight to medium spaced five string bass.

 

[Alex Xander]

For anyone wondering where this this idea ended up, I'm going for a fretted P bass slab body. Labella gold flatwounds are in transit, I have a neck blank ready to go and a bunch of gold wire waiting to look a million bucks on an ebony board.

 

[Alex Xander]

Given I have three builds on the go at the moment, why not add a fourth. @Beej - consider this a partial build entry to the SBO as I'm more likely to finish this one. The neck blank was done a while ago, hence the partial. It seems superfluous to start a new thread.

Body in clamps in the back, ebony, mahogany and silver ash neck blank in the front.

 

[Alex Xander]

I glued up a headstock with a silver ash back and ebony front, then roughed out the scarf joint in the bandsaw.

These two parts will have a date with a Shinto rasp shortly, once I have a spare clamp. All my clamps are currently glueing the ebony top on

I made several blunders here. Firstly, I glued one have of the bookmatch on back to front, then upon rescuing that, split the edge of the top. Once i had everything together I realised I hadn't routed a channel for the pickup wire! Drilling from the extreme(ish) neck position into a very small control cavity is going to require all the skill I have, with a healthy measure of good luck. Oh well, this is a continuous learning process...

 

[Alex Xander]

Got the body pretty well sorted today.

Ebony top, rose mahogany core, silver ash back

The headstock and neck are in clamps tonight

 

[Gervais Cote]

I glued up a headstock with a silver ash back and ebony front, then roughed out the scarf joint in the bandsaw.
View attachment 7002152

These two parts will have a date with a Shinto rasp shortly, once I have a spare clamp. All my clamps are currently glueing the ebony top on

View attachment 7002154

I made several blunders here. Firstly, I glued one have of the bookmatch on back to front, then upon rescuing that, split the edge of the top. Once i had everything together I realised I hadn't routed a channel for the pickup wire! Drilling from the extreme(ish) neck position into a very small control cavity is going to require all the skill I have, with a healthy measure of good luck. Oh well, this is a continuous learning process...

That neck looks promising……………..