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Show us your 3 pickup basses!

#21
Basvarken said:
Here's my three pickup bass.

The two single coils are G3 pickups.
The humbucker is an Artec AlNiCo Mudbucker.

The chickenhead knob is a six position rotary switch
1. neck pickup only
2. middle pickup only
3. neck and middle pickup wired as humbucker
4. bridge pickup only
5. neck and middle as humbucker plus bridge pickup in series.
6. neck and middle as humbucker plus bridge pickup in parallel.

4771464_orig.jpg


Body mahogany with bookmatched flamed maple top.
Set neck, also mahogany.

I built it myself. The shape is copied from my favorite bass, my 1969 Gibson Les Paul bass.
Click to expand...

Very nice work!

The double J rails at the neck is a great idea. I have been considering an all J multi (maybe 3 pairs) but the string spacing at the neck probably calls for rails.

I'm thinking of using one or more rotaries on next project. My hangups are that it seems a little less intuitive, takes up a lot of internal space (I think) and it's too elegant for my taste (perfect on your LP tho) - I guess I just prefer lots of toggles. ;)
 
#22
Doner Designs said:
Fossil1.jpg


Beautiful. Pickups and wiring plans?
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Thanks!

It'll have 3 Aero single coils with the middle one reverse wound from the outer two. A five position pickup selector switch will give all three single coils by themselves as well as the two humbucking combinations (front + middle & middle + back). If we can get a hold of one it will also have a Stellartone Tonestyler for extra versatility.

jlepre said:
DSC_0561.jpg
Click to expand...

Basvarken said:
4771464_orig.jpg
Click to expand...

Love these two. The EBMM definitely has a similar vintage vibe as the Les Paul bass. Very cool basses, both of them.
 
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#25
Doner Designs said:
Very nice work!

The double J rails at the neck is a great idea. I have been considering an all J multi (maybe 3 pairs) but the string spacing at the neck probably calls for rails.

I'm thinking of using one or more rotaries on next project. My hangups are that it seems a little less intuitive, takes up a lot of internal space (I think) and it's too elegant for my taste (perfect on your LP tho) - I guess I just prefer lots of toggles. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks. They're not J rails. They're Gibson G3 pickups. One normal and one reversed polarity.

The rotary fits in the round hole at the upper horn, where normally a three way toggle switch would be.

2336159_orig.jpg


The other (oval) control plate hides two pots. The volume pot that is visible on the front. And one invisible Tone pot that is accessible with a screwdriver through a tiny hole in the plastic cover.
 
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#27
This shyte's some inspiring stuff. I'd like to try working some of these ideas into my own set of signal routing schemes and processors. I'm still working on the basic signal routing gear, but once I'm settled with all of that my next move is the begin work on using a third pickup.

Getting into three pickups would be too distracting for me at present, but it most certainly on ~the list~ of where to take my setup once I finish laying the cornerstones.

Nice NICE work everyone! I really do LOVE this type of out-of-that-damned-box thinking. I am truly inspired. Makes my little 2-channel Jazz bass look like childrens' play...

IMGP6394.jpg


IMGP6390.jpg


(details here) ..... http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/2-channel-modification-j-many-pictures-908965/

My approach is different than what I've seen here though, I put all of the ~guts~ external rather than loaded in the bass. However that's only because I'm developing .... once I'm satisifed with what I'm working on much of what I've developed will end up inside the bass, like what you brave souls have already done. I just thought it would be easier to create changes and develope some of my ideas externally .. then once I'm happy I can reduce those efforts down to their elements and place them in the bass. It's an attempt to reduce hackage on my bass in the event of failed ideas. I've built eleven basses/guitars so far and I wanted to really try some ideas out on this one.

I cannot wait to really dig in to the 3-pickup rig. My own setup allows me to switch between pickup settings and pickup mixes with a footswitch. For now it is a momentary footswitch, but I plan on using two footswitches in the refined version .. one as an A/B/C and the other as a momentary. Switching between pickup settings with a momentary footswitch that must be held down is a new skillset that has to be added to one's musical ability, but it isn't that hard to master really. No different that a piano player that uses a sustain pedal at any point during a song.

Applying that idea to the 3-pickup ethos is staggeringly motivational!!!

I envy your creative flow and have snagged the pics posted so far and stowed them away on my hard drive for future reference! Excellent work everyone! Very inspiring stuff!

:)
 
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#34
Flux Jetson said:
And YOU! You've been holding out on me. Really excellent work here Steve. Did you hand-lay that fiberglass piece? Is it to shore-up the MM pickguard around the "Command Central" control area?

Shweeeet. :)
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FLUX! Good to see ya here! The yin decides to hang out with the yang eh? Seriously, I bet you would love to plug some of these into your rig...especially if they had a jack for every pickup.

Thanks for the comments. Not sure what you are seeing on the PG. The copper looking stuff is copper shielding tape just over that section. The rest of the pg has foil but I doubled up for extreme shielding (and maybe a little extra strenth) around the controls.

Some inspiring work on display here indeed. Its getting my ideas flowing. Wish more folks would comment on the wiring though.
 
#36
Jared Lash said:
Thanks!

It'll have 3 Aero single coils with the middle one reverse wound from the outer two. A five position pickup selector switch will give all three single coils by themselves as well as the two humbucking combinations (front + middle & middle + back). If we can get a hold of one it will also have a Stellartone Tonestyler for extra versatility.

Love these two. The EBMM definitely has a similar vintage vibe as the Les Paul bass. Very cool basses, both of them.
Click to expand...

Love it. What kind of body is that? Did you make it?
 
#37
jbybj said:
This puppy has a 5 position switch, like a strat. Lace Sensor pups with V/B/T controls. Switch positions 1-3-5 give the individual pups, with a single coil character, and positions 2-4 give the neck and middle or the bridge and middle, with a humbucking character. It's a very fun bass to play, narrow slim neck.
DSCF4613.jpg

QUOTE]

There is a lot to be said about using 3 of the same type pickup. Hard to use a 5 way switch unless all three are alike. The more I think of it the more I like the idea of 3 quad coil pickups - either double J or MM.
Click to expand...
 
#40
Here's my three pickup bass. It's my Modulus 6er. Three Bart pups from the factory, but has been modded by me.

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The switches used to be just on and off for each pickup. Now they are 3 position with center = off and one way puts them in series and the other in parallel in any combination. Typical favorite settings are neck-bridge in series or Sweet spot alone.

This is by FAR the best sounding bass I own. (The wood grain doesn't show up very well in this photo.)
 
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