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Show us your 3 pickup basses!
- Thread starter Doner Designs
- Start date
Very cool. Similar result as mine with a P in there instead of MM.
I didn't like the sound of all three together so I changed out one of the volumes to a rotary switch.
I didn't like the sound of all three together so I changed out one of the volumes to a rotary switch.
Turned out nice, the demo sounds good.
Everything seems to have come out very well for you on this set of modifications. (Curious) .. what does it sound like with the J-neck and the MM? Mo beef?Hmm .. thinking here ... I may be forced into using a MM pickup in my upcoming tests. I can't help but wonder what could be done with the space left over between the neck pickup and the neck on your bass.
Perhaps a good combo for me to try might be (from the bridge):
* J-bridge
* MM
* P with obverse installation
* J-neck installed at roughly the imaginary "24th fret" location.
From the looks of you bass it seems like there'd be just enough room to stuff all of that.
..... always thinking and dreaming .....
Not quite. Actually, they were simply trying to make a good sounding bass guitar. Seems they succeeded. Not 'quite,' but 'actually.'
With respect, yer nutz, dood. Actually.
Kinda/sorta. It's a Jazz with a P stuffed in, so J locations are maintained. I'll drop a pic tomorrow.
Uh ... ok ... (Um, I think?)
Why can't both things be true? Why can't it be that Fender was trying to put the P-bass pickups between the two harmonic centers to create a good sounding bass guitar?
Or ... said another way ... why can't it be that Fender was trying to make a good sounding bass guitar by putting the pickups between the harmonic centers?
Seems to me that one makes the other true.
But then again. I'm nutz, dood.
The 5 string is a shorter scale length than the 4. Nothing to do with the number of strings, they're just different models.
Well I got started on my 3 pickup bass last night. I decided to use a Squier Jaguar as my platform and go with 3 Jazz bass pickups. I felt like the Jaguar/Jazzmaster/BassVI body shape lends itself well to 3 pickups.
I'll be adding the cool chrome control plates that the bass didn't originally come with. I think I'm going to stay with the tort guard and the jazz pickups will be Creme Dimarzio Ultra Jazzes. I'll have three pickup on/off switches, Master Volume and tone, as well as an active/passive switch with 2 band EQ. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out all the wiring lol.
I only made the pickguard template so far, but here it is:
I'll be adding the cool chrome control plates that the bass didn't originally come with. I think I'm going to stay with the tort guard and the jazz pickups will be Creme Dimarzio Ultra Jazzes. I'll have three pickup on/off switches, Master Volume and tone, as well as an active/passive switch with 2 band EQ. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out all the wiring lol.
I only made the pickguard template so far, but here it is:
Go man go! You actually look like you know what you're doing (opposed to my hack methods).
That's going to be one very nice bass. I may end up with that body style and feature set once I get the pickup arrangement worked out on the X-bass. It'll look lovely when you're done. I might think about going with a BLACK one with a black pickguard that has a red stripe around it's edge. Yea .....
I suppose if I had a drum sander and a bandsaw things would be a bit easier. Although something tells me you could probably do what you're doing with a butterknife and a nail file and still create great work.
Great inspirations. Carry on!
That's going to be one very nice bass. I may end up with that body style and feature set once I get the pickup arrangement worked out on the X-bass. It'll look lovely when you're done. I might think about going with a BLACK one with a black pickguard that has a red stripe around it's edge. Yea .....
I suppose if I had a drum sander and a bandsaw things would be a bit easier. Although something tells me you could probably do what you're doing with a butterknife and a nail file and still create great work.
Great inspirations. Carry on!
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
Nice job and an innovative combination. I have never seen that combo before.
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
Looks great!! If I had your skills I could scrap mine. Looks like you have some sweet tools too.
Well I got started on my 3 pickup bass last night. I decided to use a Squier Jaguar as my platform and go with 3 Jazz bass pickups. I felt like the Jaguar/Jazzmaster/BassVI body shape lends itself well to 3 pickups.
I'll be adding the cool chrome control plates that the bass didn't originally come with. I think I'm going to stay with the tort guard and the jazz pickups will be Creme Dimarzio Ultra Jazzes. I'll have three pickup on/off switches, Master Volume and tone, as well as an active/passive switch with 2 band EQ. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out all the wiring lol.
I only made the pickguard template so far, but here it is:
Thanks for the kind words guys. This is actually my first time bothering to make a template for a pick guard. I've only made one other in the past, and I did that with a Dremel and lots of hand sanding/filing. I decided to do a template just in case I ever want to make another for this bass.
My pickups actually came in today and I have tomorrow off so I should have some more pics of my progress soon. Hopefully I'll have the pickguard done and some routing done to the body.
Speaking of routing the body out. I finally did mine today (very first attempt). Done with a Forstner bit in my drill press and wood chisels. See the full explanation of the rest at the "X-Bass" link in my sig.
This gon' be good.
How will you wire the three switches? With three slide switches you can go for a regular on-off for each pickup, or a very nice Big Al wiring mode. In that mode, the on-offs behave as normal - but when all pickups are off, two of the pickups (the one you determine before wiring it up) get wired in series.
Well I got started on my 3 pickup bass last night. I decided to use a Squier Jaguar as my platform and go with 3 Jazz bass pickups. I felt like the Jaguar/Jazzmaster/BassVI body shape lends itself well to 3 pickups.
I'll be adding the cool chrome control plates that the bass didn't originally come with. I think I'm going to stay with the tort guard and the jazz pickups will be Creme Dimarzio Ultra Jazzes. I'll have three pickup on/off switches, Master Volume and tone, as well as an active/passive switch with 2 band EQ. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out all the wiring lol.
I only made the pickguard template so far, but here it is:
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WAYYYY Cool Mang.
I want to do more-or-less the same to my VM Jag, but with a Fenderbucker in the neck position. Another subtle variation, I thought of using the 4-switch plate from the Bass VI for housing the switches of the three pups and the series-parallel switch. Chuck in an extra concentric Vol/Tone knob, re-route the jack to the side. Or, like you go with the three-switch plate and master V + T with pulling up the tone knob giving series.
Looking forward to seeing your finished project!
This gon' be good.
How will you wire the three switches? With three slide switches you can go for a regular on-off for each pickup, or a very nice Big Al wiring mode. In that mode, the on-offs behave as normal - but when all pickups are off, two of the pickups (the one you determine before wiring it up) get wired in series.
Thanks guys!
I had thought about going with a Bass VI control plate and adding a Series/Parallel switch but I'm just going to go with a standard on/off slide switches for each pickup.
I'm going with Dimarzio Ultra Jazz Humbuckers so they are already a little louder, thicker, and darker sounding pickup than a standard jazz, and I'll have some more control with the active EQ so I didn't really think a Series/Parallel Switch would be all too necessary.
I do have an extra push pull pot so who knows, I may end up adding one in!
Some very cool stuff on this thread!
Especially digging the Jag mod!
I just pulled the trigger with Chris Stambaugh to get a three PU project going.
A little more info here.
I thought the folks on this thread might be interested in how we're doing the PU position selection:
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Especially digging the Jag mod!
I just pulled the trigger with Chris Stambaugh to get a three PU project going.
A little more info here.
I thought the folks on this thread might be interested in how we're doing the PU position selection:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Pfft .. oh now ain't THAT a bitch! ... well fek me runnin'. This just shot my X-Bass project all to hell. It embodies everything I had hoped to accomplish. Dang.... I think I'll just toss the X-Bass in the wood chipper. Seriously! This pickup arrangment and switching logic is precisely what I have been aiming at all along.
Y'know ... this is just another case of me thinking I had something ~cool~ going only to learn it was already developed or was in parallel development with someone that has more/better resources available (money, financial backers, machinery for prototyping, whatever). This has happened to me so many times since I was probably about 13 years old (1973). The 1st time was when I used to race BMX. This was in the time when BMX was in it's early infancy, there weren't even BMX frames available commercially. I designed and built a BMX frame from scratch, starting with a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, and a ruler. I made a prototype out of wood (2x4s and such). Then I biult the 1st proof of concept frame out of welded steel square tubing. It worked great. I raced it for an entire season, even took home 1st in points that year for the region (S.W. Arizona). The frame drew attention .. a LOT of attention .. everywhere I took the bike. I painted it "Honda Red" .. about as loud a color available at the time.
The very next season a company called "R&R" came out with a commercially made frame in mass production. Everyone that had seen my frame and knew me had something to say about how similar the R&R looked to my prototype. It was more than "similarities" ... way more. Suspiciously more. Many people had a lot to say about that situation, letters were even written to R&R about "this kid in Tucson that you stole a frame design from". The support I rec'd from local adults on the issue was very inspiring. The situation dissolved into the ether over time as BMX became a gigantic industry and "that kid in Tucson" and his frame were forgotten. I thought less and less about it, kinda like that girl who was your first kiss. Forever in memory, but of less impact on your life as time passes. Little did I know that frame was to be the first of multitudes of too little-too late efforts in my life.
Circa 1975 ....
Story over. Whining complete.
Rippin' ass bass! I hope to see pics of the real deal when you take possession of it! My guess is that it will be an excellent addition to your musical tools. Totally cool!!
