Not unless you compare it to a of 30" scale guitar (of which there are very, very few). It's a short scale Bass. It's about an inch shorter in overall length than a Jazz Bass or two inches longer than a Mustang Bass (though the same scale length). Tuned an octave below guitar. Like you know, a Bass.
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Show us your 3 pickup basses!
- Thread starter Doner Designs
- Start date
Not unless you compare it to a of 30" scale guitar (of which there are very, very few). It's a short scale Bass. It's about an inch shorter in overall length than a Jazz Bass or two inches longer than a Mustang Bass (though the same scale length). Tuned an octave below guitar. Like you know, a Bass.
Sure. It's online here:
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Note switches are special 4 X 3way type. (part numbers provided)
If you think the IDEA of series/parallel in any combo makes your head spin, just wait until you try to figure out how all those switches work. Note the diagram is expandable to any number of pickups. But I will note however that if you flip three pickups in series they start to get REALLY loud! (3x the output).
Good luck! There was a thread somewhere on this a while back in Pickups and Electronics forum.
PS. Sorry I didn't notice you asking for the diagram until now.
Another wonderous project. That's a beautiful bass. Did you cut the cavity? In any case it's a nicely done effort.Here's my bass with the third pickup cavity!
The pickup should be here Monday. I'm debating about buying a used or new preamp at this point.
It's amazing how popular this thread has become. Mr. Doner is a wise herder .. he's done well bringing people together. I'm glad he does what he does in the world of helping others ... he's obviously a person that is well practiced at bringing humans together for good causes (such as what he does with military vets and what he's done within this thread).
Here is the finished bass:
Originally I wanted to install a Audere preamp but it was hissier than I was willing to deal with, so it's passive.
It used to be a Peavey Millennium J/J but the electronics were kinda crappy so I've changed it.
The pickups are an SGD Sidewinder at the neck, and two SGD Neo humbuckers middle and bridge.
The controls are a master volume, blend, tone, and a decade switch (varitone without the inductor), a series/single/parallel switch for the Neo's, and a pickup pair selector switch.
The selector switch gives me these settings:
1. Neck pup at "neck" and middle pup at "bridge"
2. Neck pup at "neck" and bridge pup at "bridge"
3. Middle pup at "neck" and bridge pup at "bridge"
4. Neck pup at "neck" and middle + bridge pup at "bridge"
With Sadowsky flats it sounds great! I'll have to post some sound clips when I get a chance.
I decided to go with some old style stereo equipment flat-top knobs instead of the typical dome knobs for a different look.
Originally I wanted to install a Audere preamp but it was hissier than I was willing to deal with, so it's passive.
It used to be a Peavey Millennium J/J but the electronics were kinda crappy so I've changed it.
The pickups are an SGD Sidewinder at the neck, and two SGD Neo humbuckers middle and bridge.
The controls are a master volume, blend, tone, and a decade switch (varitone without the inductor), a series/single/parallel switch for the Neo's, and a pickup pair selector switch.
The selector switch gives me these settings:
1. Neck pup at "neck" and middle pup at "bridge"
2. Neck pup at "neck" and bridge pup at "bridge"
3. Middle pup at "neck" and bridge pup at "bridge"
4. Neck pup at "neck" and middle + bridge pup at "bridge"
With Sadowsky flats it sounds great! I'll have to post some sound clips when I get a chance.
I decided to go with some old style stereo equipment flat-top knobs instead of the typical dome knobs for a different look.
Here is the finished bass:
Originally I wanted to install a Audere preamp but it was hissier than I was willing to deal with, so it's passive.
It used to be a Peavey Millennium J/J but the electronics were kinda crappy so I've changed it.
The pickups are an SGD Sidewinder at the neck, and two SGD Neo humbuckers middle and bridge.
The controls are a master volume, blend, tone, and a decade switch (varitone without the inductor), a series/single/parallel switch for the Neo's, and a pickup pair selector switch.
The selector switch gives me these settings:
1. Neck pup at "neck" and middle pup at "bridge"
2. Neck pup at "neck" and bridge pup at "bridge"
3. Middle pup at "neck" and bridge pup at "bridge"
4. Neck pup at "neck" and middle + bridge pup at "bridge"
With Sadowsky flats it sounds great! I'll have to post some sound clips when I get a chance.
I decided to go with some old style stereo equipment flat-top knobs instead of the typical dome knobs for a different look.
I love it. So the selector basically switches which pickups the blend control affects?
I bet that middle pickup by itself sounds gnarly. To me it actually looks pretty close to the Ric bridge pickup position.
Yup. I put the rotary pickup pair switch together that way because Audere preamps have separate inputs for the neck and bridge pickup. When I ditched the preamp idea the pickup pair switching still worked with the blend (or two volumes).
The cener of the middle pickup is right where the center of the MM pickup would be on a 35" scale Stingray, it just doesn't really sound like one. It's got a great tone by itself. The toggle switch is a double on/on/on so I can set the two rear pups in series, single, or parallel and they sound good in each setting. The fourth pickup pair setting gives all three pickups together.
Here are some sound clips of the settings. To my ears they all sound similar in the clips but they definitely don't through my amp. It still gives you a taste of how it sounds.
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- Jun 2, 2012
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- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
That turned out really nice!
Here are some sound clips of the settings. To my ears they all sound similar in the clips but they definitely don't through my amp. It still gives you a taste of how it sounds.
Last edited by a moderator:
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
I like the idea of a JPJ a lot. Did you make that one? Always was a fan of the Stu Hamm JPJ but it was out of my price range.
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
Our next theme guitar for donation was going to be a NASA Space Bass, but changed gears since we had a white guitar donated. We are looking at doing an aircraft carrier theme with an unlined fretless for the next bass. Yes, of course it will have three pickups!
Maybe some day we will do a bass version of this guitar which is still in progress as you can see.
Not a bass, but it does have three pickups and a total of 7 coils in the splitable EMG HSH set...
The EMG solderless kit is pretty cool...
Maybe some day we will do a bass version of this guitar which is still in progress as you can see.
Not a bass, but it does have three pickups and a total of 7 coils in the splitable EMG HSH set...
The EMG solderless kit is pretty cool...
Thanks! It did work out well and gives me a lot of very usable tone options. I played it in rehearsal for the first time last night and we play songs ranging from "Bang a Gong" to Johnny Cash to "Runaway". I could go from bright growl to thump pretty quickly. There's one pickup pairing setting where the blend control allows me to choose either all three, the neck, or the rear two - very useful for switching genres.
I do have a few things I need to work out. The Neck Sidewinder doesn't quite sound right with the other two Neo pups, so I'm going to change that one out for another Neo. I also need to figure out how to wire in resistors on the varitone/decade switch so I don't get static electricity pops each time I plug the bass in for the first time. I can get rid of them by fully rotating the switch once I plug the bass in, but I'd rather not have to.
I decided to re-do my Pedulla Rapture, removing all the Bartolini pickups and electronics (I like the Barts, but LOVE Delano) and installed the Aggie OBP-3, Delano JMVC 5 FE jazz pickups, and a Delano SBC 5HE soapbar between the two jazz p/u's), changed the bridge from the standard Pedulla barrel (17.5mm) to a brass hipshot A (18mm), black dye on the fingerboard, and some custom decal work on the pickguard - I'm working on the same decal on a black pickguard - I need to order a black Rapture truss rod cover; the purple kinda kills the whole vibe that the bass is giving).
The only thing I should have looked into further, was the combination of using all 3 pickups together; by selecting any combination between the J's and SB, there is some phase cancellation (I think that's what its called) where the B,E, and A strings are thin (and when I change the hot and ground on the SB the B,E, and A are full, but the D & G are weak). I even installed a mini-toggle for the SB to switch between North Coil / Series / South Coil to try to find which coil in the SB is having the phase issue, but no combo seems to remedy this
And how does it sound? Pit Bulls and German Sheppards cower in fear when I start digging in
... yea, its very aggressive (and I know the Pro Steels on there give it even more teeth!).
and what's left...get the Pedulla decal on the headstock (already printed it out), the new (black) truss rod cover from Pedulla, finish the black pickguard, send it in for a full setup, and finally apply the vinyl Egyptian eyes of Horus fret board markers - I just need to get the guys in my band to learn Maiden's Powerslave and I'll be set
The only thing I should have looked into further, was the combination of using all 3 pickups together; by selecting any combination between the J's and SB, there is some phase cancellation (I think that's what its called) where the B,E, and A strings are thin (and when I change the hot and ground on the SB the B,E, and A are full, but the D & G are weak). I even installed a mini-toggle for the SB to switch between North Coil / Series / South Coil to try to find which coil in the SB is having the phase issue, but no combo seems to remedy this
And how does it sound? Pit Bulls and German Sheppards cower in fear when I start digging in
... yea, its very aggressive (and I know the Pro Steels on there give it even more teeth!).and what's left...get the Pedulla decal on the headstock (already printed it out), the new (black) truss rod cover from Pedulla, finish the black pickguard, send it in for a full setup, and finally apply the vinyl Egyptian eyes of Horus fret board markers - I just need to get the guys in my band to learn Maiden's Powerslave and I'll be set
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The only thing I should have looked into further, was the combination of using all 3 pickups together; by selecting any combination between the J's and SB, there is some phase cancellation (I think that's what its called) where the B,E, and A strings are thin (and when I change the hot and ground on the SB the B,E, and A are full, but the D & G are weak). I even installed a mini-toggle for the SB to switch between North Coil / Series / South Coil to try to find which coil in the SB is having the phase issue, but no combo seems to remedy this
Delano specifically labels its pickups on the website with a circular or triangular marker specifically because of the magnetic and wiring phase relations. Pickups with circles should only be used with other pickups with circles; the same applies for triangles and triangles.
Since the JMVC 5s are "triangles" and the SBC 5HE is a "circle", your best bet is to contact Delano and see if they can help you rewire the SBC (since it's a quadcoil). It may not be possible due to magnetic differences - if that's the case you may have to get them to whip something new up for you.
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
We started a thread for our 2014 project which will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for auction in December of 2014.
Pickups not chosen yet but it will probably be a JJJ.
A few extremely rough conceptual mock-up pics posted below and on the other thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/navy-aircraft-carrier-bass-1025633/
Pickups not chosen yet but it will probably be a JJJ.
A few extremely rough conceptual mock-up pics posted below and on the other thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/navy-aircraft-carrier-bass-1025633/
I have a Epiphone Ripper copy that I want to conver to a 3 pickup frankenbass. I was considering 3x Dimarzio Will Power neck pickups, but then the reality hit me and I realized that even if the 3 mudbucker monster would look cool it would just sound stupidly woofy and lack definition even if the coils were wired in paralel.
So what I'm asking is there pickups that look even remotely similiar and are in the same price range? I don't like the aesthetics on Music Man pickups as the pole pieces are so big.
So what I'm asking is there pickups that look even remotely similiar and are in the same price range? I don't like the aesthetics on Music Man pickups as the pole pieces are so big.
You want to make this bass into a three-pup bass, right?
What about sticking another J pup in front of the existing J? That way, if you don't like the results you could get another pickguard and cover up the new route. I'll give you a wiring diagram for a 4-way rotary pickup selector switch. You could wire it up like mine for the most part - volume, blend, tone, and pickup selector switch. You'd have P and front J, P and back J, both J's, and all three for options.
