Show us your 3 pickup basses!

[Stealth]

For a brief moment yesterday, my bass had three pickups.

Here's the pickup cover mounted on a Mk0 external pickup mount™:

It was then connected to a custom-made U-1000 universal connector™.

Then soldered onto the highly sophisticated Mk1 Mono output jack™.

Finally, the pickup itself was mounted on the Mk0 mount™,

And the rig was ready for testing.

The result? Exactly as muddy as I'd hoped, even considering this was unloaded by a pot because I was too lazy to add a volume and tone pot to U-1000 universal connector™.



This was the most complicated thing I could play because the bass had to rest horizontally. Naturally, harmonics had to be tested.

Now I have to go to vacation, get back, order the necessary parts for the planned insanity that the wiring diagram is, and then call my luthier to rout it.

 

[BillyB_from_LZ]

For a brief moment yesterday, my bass had three pickups.

Here's the pickup cover mounted on a Mk0 external pickup mount™:

....

That's really clever! How did you attach it to the bass?

I truly appreciate the clip since I'm about to dig a hole in a bass for the same Artec mudbucker! And I may stick with roundwound strings rather than flats.

 

[fourstringbliss]

I have this bass and next month I'm going to be putting an Audere 3ZB into it.

For those of you who don't know, Audere preamps have separate inputs for the pickups so you can do a true stereo blend. I wanted to install a third SGD Neo in between the other two but couldn't figure out how I could switch between the pickups and still have two outputs. Then it dawned on me - rotary switch!

Line6man has been kind enough to help me and is going to be putting together a wiring diagram for me so I can use a three position rotary switch. I'll be able to choose neck/bridge, neck/middle, and middle/bridge - and be able to blend between the pickups in each pair.

My bass will then be:

Alder body with flamed maple top
Hipshot Ultralite tuners
Hipshot Quadrajust bridge
Three SGD Neo humbuckers
Audere 3ZB with Z-mode switch

All at less than 9 lbs.

 

[bruce bennett]

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.

About 3-4 years ago, the idea to do a "strat-o-bass" became a bit of an obsession with me and I built the bass photoed below.
the original idea was to have lots of tonal possibilities.. but zero active electronics if possible.
now if your not familiar with me or my work, then It should be noted that this was, by far, NOT my first bass build.

you can see that the middle pickup is about 1" from the "stock" Fender factory position and the other two are basically set to equal distances from the middle.. why . Who knows what I was thinking that day..

I set the pickup placements at equal distances according to just general math.. with no regard for anything other than my own aesthetics.. which turned out to be a very BAD idea...
the out of phase sounds were beyond annoying to me. and it seemed to be related to the fact that all 3 magnets were working against each other somewhat along the entire pickup area..

the next bass I built with this 3 pickup idea, was the new J.Backlund JBD-800B and I spent some serious time on the Pickup placements .. I worked with the scale length to find all the nodal points within the total scale length and place each pickup under a nodal point. this "seemed" to remove those odd "out of phase" sounds and it made the bass much more tonally responsive.
Which you can clearly hear on Jaymi's Video review of the bass.


Invalid Link Removed


I will add that the owner of the bass above bought the bass after hearing the modulated "out of phase" sounds because he liked it and felt it gave his playing a unique tonal quality that was not found in other basses.. So he is completely happy with it.. and other than the fact that I didn't like it.. it was a stunning looker and a great playing bass.

 

[Stealth]

That's really clever! How did you attach it to the bass?

Fact of the matter is, I didn't, the bass was horizontal while I tested it out because there's not enough of the neck above the pickguard to clamp it down (I tried several times without success). But I feel I got a pretty decent sense of how it'll work.

I truly appreciate the clip since I'm about to dig a hole in a bass for the same Artec mudbucker! And I may stick with roundwound strings rather than flats.

This was recorded using old roundwound strings - I know for a fact I'll keep using those when I upgrade the bass.

What I don't know yet is how I'll mount it, because I'd seen variants where the pickup rout is just deep and wide enough for the pickup and the cover is mounted directly on top of the body wood, and I'd seen variants where the rout is as wide as the metal top and there's a bottom piece that has the top's footprint and two extra "ears". You screw the metal top to that bottom piece, "sandwiching" the pickup between the metal top and the bottom, and then screw the pickup using the ears to the body wood.

 

[BillyB_from_LZ]

...
What I don't know yet is how I'll mount it, because I'd seen variants where the pickup rout is just deep and wide enough for the pickup and the cover is mounted directly on top of the body wood, and I'd seen variants where the rout is as wide as the metal top and there's a bottom piece that has the top's footprint and two extra "ears". You screw the metal top to that bottom piece, "sandwiching" the pickup between the metal top and the bottom, and then screw the pickup using the ears to the body wood.

When I install the Artec, my plan is to route the body just large enough for the coil/magnet assembly. It'll rest on a piece of dense foam that will press it up against the bottom of the cover.

The bass I'm installing it in doesn't have a pickguard, but if it did, I'd probably have the opening in the pickguard just big enough for the coil/magnet assembly and then mount the cover on top of the pickguard, assuming that there's enough room between the top of the cover and the bottom of the strings.

 

[BlueTalon]

For those of you who don't know, Audere preamps have separate inputs for the pickups so you can do a true stereo blend. I wanted to install a third SGD Neo in between the other two but couldn't figure out how I could switch between the pickups and still have two outputs. Then it dawned on me - rotary switch!

Line6man has been kind enough to help me and is going to be putting together a wiring diagram for me so I can use a three position rotary switch. I'll be able to choose neck/bridge, neck/middle, and middle/bridge - and be able to blend between the pickups in each pair.

My bass will then be:

Alder body with flamed maple top
Hipshot Ultralite tuners
Hipshot Quadrajust bridge
Three SGD Neo humbuckers
Audere 3ZB with Z-mode switch

All at less than 9 lbs.

So you're not going to be able to use all three pickups at the same time?

There are two things I hate about strats -- and it took some time before I realized the two things were directly related. One was the single coil noise, and the other was the inability to use all pickups at the same time. The 5-position switch only allows combinations of single coil pickups that cancel hum. Your pickups are humbuckers, so that's not a concern.

It's your bass obviously, and you can choose to do whatever you want with it. But I think it's a tad crazy to go to the trouble of putting a third pickup in, and intentionally wire it so all pickups can't be used.

 

[BlueTalon]

About 3-4 years ago, the idea to do a "strat-o-bass" became a bit of an obsession with me and I built the bass photoed below.
the original idea was to have lots of tonal possibilities.. but zero active electronics if possible.

you can see that the middle pickup is about 1" from the "stock" Fender factory position and the other two are basically set to equal distances from the middle.. why . Who knows what I was thinking that day..

I set the pickup placements at equal distances according to just general math.. with no regard for anything other than my own aesthetics.. which turned out to be a very BAD idea...
the out of phase sounds were beyond annoying to me. and it seemed to be related to the fact that all 3 magnets were working against each other somewhat along the entire pickup area..

the next bass I built with this 3 pickup idea, was the new J.Backlund JBD-800B and I spent some serious time on the Pickup placements .. I worked with the scale length to find all the nodal points within the total scale length and place each pickup under a nodal point. this "seemed" to remove those odd "out of phase" sounds and it made the bass much more tonally responsive.

I'm curious about the pickups you used in both basses.

When you say "nodal points", are you referring to harmonics? And did you establish where those nodal points were with open strings, or with a capo on the 2nd or 3rd fret?

I'm not trying to be a smartass here. (Well, ok, maybe a little.) But I have always been one to question assumptions, and whenever the topic of phase issues is brought up, the underlying assumption seems to be that attempts to address the issue calculated with open strings will work equally well when the bass is fretted.

I dispute that notion. I fully believe that any time you have more than one coil per string, there will be phase oddities. But I also believe that in the overwhelming vast majority of cases, those effects are inconsequential. And I also believe there's not a damn thing you can do about it except use only one coil per string.

Once someone starts playing a bass, most of the time the open strings become a rare event. So if your calculation of nodal points doesn't take into consideration that fact (i.e., if the nodal points aren't the same with open strings as they are with a capo on the 3rd or 5th or 7th fret), then in my opinionated opinion it's an exercise in futility.

Which brings me back to my original point. I'm wondering how much your choice of pickups had to do with the effects you were hearing. Were they single coils? Did they have strong magnets?

My bass (in my avatar) has three split-coil humbucking J pickups. The bridge pickup was routed by Warmoth in the normal position -- the other two pickups were routed 2" edge-to-edge. That was a completely arbitrary number, based on the aesthetics of what I thought it would look like with the neck in place. And I couldn't be happier with the result. No phase effects anywhere.

Just so you know, I do have a bass that has strong phase effects. It's a Skelly Waterstone with two pickups. I love having it, but I doubt I'll ever gig with it.

 

[fourstringbliss]

So you're not going to be able to use all three pickups at the same time?

There are two things I hate about strats -- and it took some time before I realized the two things were directly related. One was the single coil noise, and the other was the inability to use all pickups at the same time. The 5-position switch only allows combinations of single coil pickups that cancel hum. Your pickups are humbuckers, so that's not a concern.

It's your bass obviously, and you can choose to do whatever you want with it. But I think it's a tad crazy to go to the trouble of putting a third pickup in, and intentionally wire it so all pickups can't be used.

I totally know what you mean and I could wire it so I could use all three but the preamp I'm using has two inputs for the pickups. I guess I could add more switch locations so that two pickups at a time could act as the "neck" or "bridge" input. That way I could use all three together. I'll have to look into that.

The other issue is that these pups would be so close together that I'm not sure they would sound good together.

 

[BlueTalon]

The other issue is that these pups would be so close together that I'm not sure they would sound good together.

Did you think about this before you wrote it? Two of your three positions involve pickups you're worried might not sound good together, and the other position is exactly what you have right now.



Your pickups are going to sound fine. The coils inside the pickups are a lot closer to each other than your pickups will be with three of them, yet you like the sound of them enough to consider putting a third one in.

 

[fourstringbliss]

Did you think about this before you wrote it? Two of your three positions involve pickups you're worried might not sound good together, and the other position is exactly what you have right now.



Your pickups are going to sound fine. The coils inside the pickups are a lot closer to each other than your pickups will be with three of them, yet you like the sound of them enough to consider putting a third one in.

I have just heard that three bass pickups sometimes don't sound good together. Mainly it was the two input thingy, though.

 

[BlueTalon]

For what it's worth, so far I'm 100% with two 3-pickup basses that both sound great.

 

[fourstringbliss]

For what it's worth, so far I'm 100% with two 3-pickup basses that both sound great.

I'll have to see if it would work. Good idea!

 

[fourstringbliss]

The next bass I built with this 3 pickup idea, was the new J.Backlund JBD-800B and I spent some serious time on the Pickup placements .. I worked with the scale length to find all the nodal points within the total scale length and place each pickup under a nodal point. this "seemed" to remove those odd "out of phase" sounds and it made the bass much more tonally responsive.

How would someone know where the nodal points are?
I'm going to be adding a third pickup to this bass

and my thought was to put the third pup exactly between the other two. Reading your post I'm rethinking that.

It's a 35" scale bass. Where are the tonal nodes on a 35" scale bass? What I'd really like is if there's any way to place the middle pickup either in the MM sweet spot or where the bridge Ric pup would be.

 

[lowphatbass]

This isn't mine.....but I would own it,

 

[Flux Jetson]

....It's a 35" scale bass. Where are the tonal nodes on a 35" scale bass? What I'd really like is if there's any way to place the middle pickup either in the MM sweet spot or where the bridge Ric pup would be.

** 35 inches.
** 17.5 inches from the nut (Fret 12)
** 26.5 inches from the nut. (Fret 24)
** 30.625 inches from the nut. (Fret 36)

The Ric bridge pickup is located at Fret #36 (or the "3rd node"). In the case of the 35 inch scale that will be 30.625 inches from the nut. Or you can measure it from the 12th fret by subtracting 17.5 inches from that figure. So that said the Ric bridge pickup is at 30.625 inches from the nut, or 13.125 inches from the 12th fret ... depending on what you want to use as the zero point (nut or 12th fret).

The easiest way to determine them is to play harmonics on the string. Each "halfing" of the scale is a "node". So on a 35 inch bass, 1st harmonic (or "node") is the 12th fret (17.5 inches, exactly half of 35 inches). The next harmonic (aka "node") would be where the 24th fret would go (half of 17.5 plus 17.5 ... 26.5 inches), and so on. Think of where you'd place the 24th fret, the 36th fret, and the 48th fret, those are your "nodes". At least I think that is what they are, I've never heard those locations refered to as "nodes" before but I suppose there's no reason why they can't be called that.

 

[fourstringbliss]

** 35 inches.
** 17.5 inches from the nut (Fret 12)
** 26.5 inches from the nut. (Fret 24)
** 30.625 inches from the nut. (Fret 36)

The Ric bridge pickup is located at Fret #36 (or the "3rd node"). In the case of the 35 inch scale that will be 30.625 inches from the nut. Or you can measure it from the 12th fret by subtracting 17.5 inches from that figure. So that said the Ric bridge pickup is at 30.625 inches from the nut, or 13.125 inches from the 12th fret ... depending on what you want to use as the zero point (nut or 12th fret).

The easiest way to determine them is to play harmonics on the string. Each "halfing" of the scale is a "node". So on a 35 inch bass, 1st harmonic (or "node") is the 12th fret (17.5 inches, exactly half of 35 inches). The next harmonic (aka "node") would be where the 24th fret would go (half of 17.5 plus 17.5 ... 26.5 inches), and so on. Think of where you'd place the 24th fret, the 36th fret, and the 48th fret, those are your "nodes". At least I think that is what they are, I've never heard those locations refered to as "nodes" before but I suppose there's no reason why they can't be called that.

Thanks! Would that be 26.5" from the nut to the front of the neck pup or to the center of the neck pup?

 

[Boot Soul]

1972 EB-3L with added reverse P pickup. It is actually a very useful modification. One heavy unbalanced tone monster >

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed][Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Flux Jetson]

Thanks! Would that be 26.5" from the nut to the front of the neck pup or to the center of the neck pup?

The centerline of the pickup coils.

You are quite welcome good sir.

 

[Flux Jetson]

1972 EB-3L with added reverse P pickup. It is actually a very useful modification. One heavy unbalanced tone monster >

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed][Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

If nothing else you could use it to wollop the livin' shat out of someone!