SCPB-3 Placement for Custom Bass

[Bourbongangster]

I've had the following project in the works for a bit. I am going to route a SX jazz body (that is currently routed for a pj configuration) to have two SCPB-3 pickups in the Rickenbacker sweetspots. I already have the pickups, so that's not gonna change. The poles on the bridge will line up with the strings perfectly. However, it's a tighter squeeze on the neck pickup, so I was thinking about angling the pickupso each pole is right under each string. I can't decide which way will look better though. Or, will it even matter if it's angled at all, since the poles are so big and the SCPB-3 is so hot?

Please help TB friends!

 

[Stonetown Lows]

The closer toward the neck you place the pickup, the more wooly , un-defined and un-punchy the lower strings will sound. You will also get quite a lot of scooped mid frequencies when running both pickups equally, which will make the bass recede in a band mix. That may be what you want.

It is definitely really important that you keep the pole pieces lined up with the strings, no matter how big or powerful they are. The magnetic field weakens tremendously as the string moves beyond the pole piece. You'd lose as ton of signal.

A pickup with the bass string side facing toward the bridge really, to my taste, doesn't work visually at all. But if you really want the pickup in the Rick neck position, it's probably the better choice sonic-ly.

If you could move the neck pickup closer to to the P position, then you could tilt it with the G as the low side (toward the bridge). That will give you a more well-defined bass tone with full mids.

A placement like the BEA pickup segment on the bass I'm currently gigging with (shown below) puts out some really tight, very full bass tone that sits well in virtually any band mix. It's a 34" scale bass. Pickup placement matters tremendously; as much as the pickups themselves.