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Show us your 3 pickup basses!
- Thread starter Doner Designs
- Start date
bruce bennett
Commercial User
- Sep 8, 2009
- 73
- 33
- Disclosures
- Owner and Luther for Hard Road guitars
from my experiments, once you get past 1" of separation.. the distance doesn't seem to have that much to do with the frequency.. but it does have to do with the phaseing's time alignment.
bear in mind that there are 3 kinds of phasing going on in guitar pickups Electrical , magnetic, and mechanical.. this last one refers to position along the scale length.. and its based on the strings vibrational patterns. which change as you fret the string.
Now, that said, I have to caveat this next statement a bit...
The word "wrong" used below, is not the best way to state this.. but its the only word I can think of that conveys the meaning in an easy to understand way. but just know that I don't mean "wrong" as in, it won't work or will not be functional.. its more like "this is not the most sonically pleasing way" but even that is subjective.
If I placed the pickups in the "wrong" positions , you would hear strange "modulation" sounds in those 2 & 4 switch positions, So I figured the time alignment of the phasing was "not optimal" .. the modulation was not bad.. just not pleasing. it sounded like a phasor pedal was on just a little bit. and it would not go away until you switched out of those 2 & 4 positions. it also screwed with electronic tuners too.
now, I never went as far as to go for the widest possible pickup separation (like pickups 1 & 3 on for instance) so if the freq could be dropped more from increased distance.. I never heard or saw it. but that will be something I will look into.
Is this one particular bass you are talking about? I only have one bass I have ever heard phase effects from, and it has two pickups. My three-pickup bass produces no such effects, no matter which pickups are on.
All finished:
Phenomenal job! I love the visual effect of three identical, symmetrically positioned pickups.
My new Dingwall ABXXX5 Bass
Link Removed
Congrats on your new bass! I love the colors on it. I couldn't ever have one of those, though -- the frets up the neck just kill my wrist.
And I think the off angle on those pickups would eventually drive me nuts.
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
Been busy lately...no time to comment on individual posts, but there have been some really cool new photos. Thanks for keeping them coming!
One thing that would be a cool add to this thread would be if we could accumulate a collection of sound clips from the various 3 pickup basses.
One thing that would be a cool add to this thread would be if we could accumulate a collection of sound clips from the various 3 pickup basses.
I've been watching this thread pretty much ever since it started and I've been meaning to put my entries in here ever since. I finally took some pictures and got around to it.
I definitely don't have anything as impressive as you guys, but these are just my "experiments" from home.
Also, I haven't spent more than $200 on any of the following basses. You'll probably be able to tell by my starting points lol.
First up is my most complicated one. It started life out as a late 80's cort p bass copy without any pups or electronics. My uncle gave me the neck and body for free.
The bass has 2 separate circuits- P bass and Active Jazz bass.
P Bass Circuit:
HWY 1 P pup
Basic vol/tone circuit w/ 500k pots.
J Bass Circuit:
Geddy Lee Jazz pups
Bassmods 3 band w/ tone control preamp
Both circuits go to an on/off/on switch to switch back and forth. It is an absolute nightmare of wires underneath the pick guard lol.
Second up is a Rogue LB100 (i think) that a friend gave me for modding his guitar. The P pup was in the perfect position to make a fake Stu Hamm Urge bass.
Custom Shop 60's jazz pups
Stock Rogue p pup
Wired V/V/V/T
Sounds exactly like a 60's jazz bass, except it plays like a $50 Rogue... lol. I'm probably gonna get rid of this one soon.
Last up is only technically 3 pups. This is the worst and most hacked up haha. (This was my 1st modding project so I didnt know what I was doing). It started out as a $100 Rouge PJ you get off MF. I defretted it and replaced the J pup with 2 stratocaster guitar pups.
Stock Rouge P pup
Japanese No name strat pups
Wired V/V/V/T, however the back pup doesn't work anymore
So there they are. Nothing fancy, but they get the job done.
I definitely don't have anything as impressive as you guys, but these are just my "experiments" from home.
Also, I haven't spent more than $200 on any of the following basses. You'll probably be able to tell by my starting points lol.
First up is my most complicated one. It started life out as a late 80's cort p bass copy without any pups or electronics. My uncle gave me the neck and body for free.
The bass has 2 separate circuits- P bass and Active Jazz bass.
P Bass Circuit:
HWY 1 P pup
Basic vol/tone circuit w/ 500k pots.
J Bass Circuit:
Geddy Lee Jazz pups
Bassmods 3 band w/ tone control preamp
Both circuits go to an on/off/on switch to switch back and forth. It is an absolute nightmare of wires underneath the pick guard lol.
Second up is a Rogue LB100 (i think) that a friend gave me for modding his guitar. The P pup was in the perfect position to make a fake Stu Hamm Urge bass.
Custom Shop 60's jazz pups
Stock Rogue p pup
Wired V/V/V/T
Sounds exactly like a 60's jazz bass, except it plays like a $50 Rogue... lol. I'm probably gonna get rid of this one soon.
Last up is only technically 3 pups. This is the worst and most hacked up haha. (This was my 1st modding project so I didnt know what I was doing). It started out as a $100 Rouge PJ you get off MF. I defretted it and replaced the J pup with 2 stratocaster guitar pups.
Stock Rouge P pup
Japanese No name strat pups
Wired V/V/V/T, however the back pup doesn't work anymore
So there they are. Nothing fancy, but they get the job done.
Gee ... I wonder if this smilin' guy likes his bass? That's one happy dude.My new Dingwall ABXXX5 Bass
Link Removed
I've heard so many times that the fanned fret setups are ridiculously comfortable and highly intuitive. All I can do is repeat what I've heard others say, as I have no experience with them.
All finished:
Wow! This is the first time I've liked cream pup covers on anything. Well done.
Yup ... I'm not much of a cream accessory person either. Now and then I'll see something that looks good with cream accessories, but it's rare. This is one of those rare moments, to be sure.
All finished:
That's pretty cool. If it were mine I'd be unable to resist naming it the 'Shaguar.'
Thanks! Your bass actually confirmed the look and spacing for mine once I saw it!
Thank you!
I'm the same way, but seeing as though I was going for that vintage Jaguar guitar/ Bass VI look, I figured the creme covers would go well.
How did I not think of that? From this point on it shall be dubbed the "Shaguar"
I'm sure they are, for most people. I have limited mobility in my wrists. From about the 10th or 12th fret down, I have no problems with fanned frets. But north of that, it causes a lot of pain to try to contort my wrist to get my fingers into position to play. I tried to play a Dingwall at Bass Northwest, they're just impossible for me to play.
Playing high on the neck of a Dingwall-type fanned-fret bass requires stressing the wrist for the fingers to be in the correct position. For people with pain free joins and full range of motion, they don't feel any stress, since it's within the normal range of motion. But it's there.
