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Show us your 3 pickup basses!

#1,241
Doner Designs said:
Sure it counts. Let's see it! :)
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My Ibanez Portamento SRF700 (2015)

It has two Barts and a Piezo. The four upper controls are V/V/B/T for the two magnetic pups.
The two bottom controls are Volume and Tone for the piezo pup only.

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Just using the piezo gives it as close to an upright sound as you can get IMHO. Well worth what I paid for it.
 
#1,244
BlueTalon said:
I submit to you that there is no such thing. The shape of the string vibration is going to change when you change the note you play on the string -- the figure 8 will be shorter the higher up the neck you play, and therefore the cross of the 8 ("resting point") will move up the neck, and the fattest parts of the 8 where the string is moving the most will shift as well.

In other words, the note being played matters a lot in determining where the parts of the figure 8 are located.
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They DO shift as you play new notes.. but the shift is inside a VERY SMALL area. and there is a fair amount of overlap. which is why you CAN find locations that DO "pickup" better than others.
I guess the better way to expalin this is, the "bad areas" are actually rather small as compared to the good areas.. but IF you DO place a pickup in one of the bad areas.. you WILL hear the phasing difference..

its the "left/right" phasing of the strings movement along the entire pickup area is where the problem begins to show up sonically, much more so than the minor amount of lateral note shift your fixated on.

GO study the high speed videos of string vibrations.. its Plainly obvious whats happening..
 
#1,245
My latest bass. Beautiful 1979 Gibson G3. My favourite out of the grabber line. Three bill Lawrence pickups in a bass. Tone perfection if you ask me :). There is a three way switch: up position gives you neck and middle pickup ; down position gives you bridge and middle pickup and middle position gives you all three pickups! Each position sounds totally unique and unlike any other bass I’ve heard. My favourite probably has to be the middle position as it’s so unique and well balanced with loads of definition and mid range punch. Also did I mention that the action on this thing is absolutely perfect!
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#1,246
3pup.jpg Here is a crazy idea I had. Tried to wire it like a strat. However; I am considering changing out one or two of the pbass pups. Now, there is no real sound difference. I bought the body routed this way on a whim, and tried to make it work.
 
#1,252
61676D0F-480A-4B9D-98DC-74CC97A72111.jpeg image.jpg
BlueTalon said:
Impressive! (I count four pickups, not six, but it is still impressive.) How does it sound?
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Thank you.
I made thicker pickups by sticking 2 JB type into 1 by adhesive.So this is 6 pickups bass I think.
The each pickup is in-line hum cancelling type.So I dont need to concider coil conbination for hum cancelling.
Actually This bass is made for experiment about jb pickup conbination in various location.The sound is unique,not bad when using max 4 pups,but terrible in5,6 pups are used.
 
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#1,253
mastaihei said:
View attachment 3089817 View attachment 3089816
Thank you.
I made thicker pickups by sticking 2 JB type into 1 by adhesive.So this is 6 pickups bass I think.
The each pickup is in-line hum cancelling type.So I dont need to concider coil conbination for hum cancelling.
Actually This bass is made for experiment about jb pickup conbination in various location.The sound is unique,not bad when using max 4 pups,but terrible in5,6 pups are used.
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I stand corrected. Well done! Very nice job on mating the pickups, and nice job also with the pick guard.

I agree with your philosophy of using hum canceling J pickups. My 3-pickup bass, the one I'm playing in my avatar, has three in-line hum canceling J pickups, and I love the fact that any combination of pickups is noiseless.
 
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#1,256
Lots of interesting and inspiring info here! I'm planning on a 3 pickup build myself, but am not entirely sure if it's possible. I'd like to replicate the wiring scheme of the Gibson G-3 using different pickups.

If I'm understanding this diagram correctly, there are 3 single coils with the middle pickup being reverse wound/reverse polarity. The three-way switch toggles between:

1.) neck+middle in series
2.) neck+bridge in parallel + middle in series
3.) bridge+middle in series.

Would it be possible to use the same switching configuration with two conductor pickups such as jazz bass or strat single coils as long as the middle pickup is rw/rp? Or any other pickups that could work? And could a setup like this even get me in the tonal ballpark of the G-3 with proper placement? Any input would be greatly appreciated! If this idea is even viable, l'll begin my own thread on the subject. Just thought to ask here first as I've searched and haven't seen this done before!
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#1,257
My first thought is: Are you planning to use Gibson style pickups? If not, what? If you're thinking of using Jazz pickups, I'd recommend considering hum-canceling pickups so you can avoid the issue of single-coil switching altogether. (And if you're not thinking of using Jazz pickups, you might want to consider that too, just due to the sheer number of options available.)

My 3-pickup bass has three Fender Super-55 split-coil hum canceling pickups, so I can use any combination of pickups at any volume levels without worrying about if it's going to make unwanted hum. Those pickups are a little hard to get now, but there are many good split-coil (dual inline coil) pickups available by many good pickup manufacturers.
 
#1,258
Not sure what the resistance is on G-3 pickups but I would think that they would sound similar to a Danelectro style lipstick tube pickup. I am totally guessing on this, just looking at the design of the pickup (wire wrapped around a bar magnet). Also the way Bill Lawrence designed wiring scheme allows all settings to be in series (no single coil) which with one pickup RW keeps everything hum cancelled and the series setting are more powerful. I use a similar wiring setup in some of my builds.

Guitar Fetish sells Lipstick tube pickups and they offer a wide range of outputs and they have them in chrome, black and gold. They alsom offer a RW version...
Pro-Tube Lipstick Guitar Pickups

I saw this on reverb recently. You may want to contact the seller and ask him, it sounds like it you can get somewhat close to a G-3...
Peavey Millennium 4 BXP Bass Transparent Black. Modified With 3rd Pickup Added & Gibson G-3 Wiring.


Cool project, I have owned a couple G-3's and would like to find another one. I woudn't mind having a reissue as well.



Moonshine :bassist:
 
#1,259
Cosmeticplagues said:
Lots of interesting and inspiring info here! I'm planning on a 3 pickup build myself, but am not entirely sure if it's possible. I'd like to replicate the wiring scheme of the Gibson G-3 using different pickups.

If I'm understanding this diagram correctly, there are 3 single coils with the middle pickup being reverse wound/reverse polarity. The three-way switch toggles between:

1.) neck+middle in series
2.) neck+bridge in parallel + middle in series
3.) bridge+middle in series.

Would it be possible to use the same switching configuration with two conductor pickups such as jazz bass or strat single coils as long as the middle pickup is rw/rp? Or any other pickups that could work? And could a setup like this even get me in the tonal ballpark of the G-3 with proper placement? Any input would be greatly appreciated! If this idea is even viable, l'll begin my own thread on the subject. Just thought to ask here first as I've searched and haven't seen this done before!
View attachment 3195540
Click to expand...
Paging Mr. @Cadfael, the author of that diagram (and countless others, for which we're grateful :)), in case he has some advice to offer.
 

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