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String Spread over a Slanted Pickup (Multiscale Question)

Alex Xander

Alex Xander

Oct 10, 2005
1,471
5,316
Out in the the bush, Australia
#1
Hi Folks,

I’m about to embark on a pair of headless explorer(ish) shaped multiscale basses.

I am concerned that my pickups are not wide enough for the string spread once they are slanted to match the fanning of the frets.

IMG_0979.jpeg


IMG_0981.jpeg



Two corners of the MEC soap bars are almost on the edge of the string, but on the other side, they’re well over the sensing area of the pickup.

I don’t want to start this build only to end up with weak B and G strings - can anyone offer some advice as to whether I have an actual problem here?

Thank you!
 

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#3
MPU said:
Can you find out where the magnetic sensing area is? With steel filings or something else magnetic? If it’s wide enough, you have no problem.
Click to expand...
What a useful piece of advice this was!
It turns out that the pickups are twin coil in a reverse precision configuration.

If I put them in 180 degrees from their intended installation, the outer strings comfortably sit over the magnets. The corners that sit more or less under the string don’t have a pickup in them.

The MEC logo will be upside down, but I can live with that.

This does bring into question whether they can be used on a five string however, as the A string will run across the inside edges of both coils.
 
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#7
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#9
Alex Xander said:
What a useful piece of advice this was!
It turns out that the pickups are twin coil in a reverse precision configuration.

If I put them in 180 degrees from their intended installation, the outer strings comfortably sit over the magnets. The corners that sit more or less under the string don’t have a pickup in them.

The MEC logo will be upside down, but I can live with that.

This does bring into question whether they can be used on a five string however, as the A string will run across the inside edges of both coils.
Click to expand...
If you're trying to use a dual inline hum cancelling 4 (or 6) string pickup on a 5, that's a VERY BAD idea. Right in the middle of the sensing area (where your A string is) there is a "magnetic valley" - you will have likely the weakest A string in history. Inline hum cancellers designed for 5 strings have asymmetrical coils, so that the A string doesn't disappear. The tradeoff is they don't completely cancel hum if soloed, but atr least you hear all 5 strings.
 
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#10
micguy said:
If you're trying to use a dual inline hum cancelling 4 (or 6) string pickup on a 5, that's a VERY BAD idea. Right in the middle of the sensing area (where your A string is) there is a "magnetic valley" - you will have likely the weakest A string in history. Inline hum cancellers designed for 5 strings have asymmetrical coils, so that the A string doesn't disappear. The tradeoff is they don't completely cancel hum if soloed, but atr least you hear all 5 strings.
Click to expand...
Yeah, after discovering the pickups were not traditional humbuckers and that they are wide enough for a six string, they're destined for a sixer.

I had doubts on the five string. Thanks for the advice confirming my suspicion.
 
#11
Alex Xander said:
Yeah, after discovering the pickups were not traditional humbuckers and that they are wide enough for a six string, they're destined for a sixer.

I had doubts on the five string. Thanks for the advice confirming my suspicion.
Click to expand...
Bad news is much better if delivered in time.....

Nordstrand makes a Dingwall designed pickup that has a 5 string version. It's an offset (reverse P) construction inside, and has a sixth (only for hum cancelling) pole piece. What that means is...it won't have a magnetic valley problem, and it won't hum at all. The EMG40 version is better than the P2 version - the guts don't really fit in the P2 version (the housings tend to bow outward), and it might not fit in a standard route. The EMG40 version is fine mechanically.

Although it's designed for "straight across" mounting, the fact that it's a reverse P inside means it will work well with a fanned fret approach, though it won't look all "slanty". Not sure if that's important to you or not.
 
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#12
micguy said:
Nordstrand makes a Dingwall designed pickup that has a 5 string version.
Click to expand...
If you're talking about this one, it's designed for single-scale instruments.

I don't think Nordy sells any pickups built for multiscale, except maybe by custom order. The 6-string blade pickups might work for a 5-string multiscale, but then you'd deal with appearances: how a six-segment blade looks under five strings.
 
#13
ardgedee said:
If you're talking about this one, it's designed for single-scale instruments.

I don't think Nordy sells any pickups built for multiscale, except maybe by custom order. The 6-string blade pickups might work for a 5-string multiscale, but then you'd deal with appearances: how a six-segment blade looks under five strings.
Click to expand...
I covered that - I said it was designed for "straight across" mounting - yes, it's not "designed for multi scale", but given that it is a reverse P, it has an internal slant/step to the pole pieces, which would work just fine in a multi scale. The only question is if the OP will like the look.
 
#14
I would suggest those will not be the best due to the dead zone between the pickups as mentioned above.
If you plan on using those pickups, they really need to be absolutely centered. To me in the drawing you've
got both shifted left. Also a little less tilt might get you there.

I use the same angle as the end of the neck/bridge offset, in my case usually a 2" shift on the treble side.
Bass side should be in your "sweet spot". FYI most I build are 36" to 32", hence the 2" shift at each end.

What you really might need is a pickup that uses blade style poles across the whole pickup.
I find Bartolini really describe their pickup poles well.
Bartolini

I have had good success in using 6 string pickups on a 6 string multi-scale. Also make sure to check out
how far the pole bars go to the end, where the actual poles extend. Some are closer to the edge than others.

Best of success to you.
 
#15
I can tell you that the 6-string versions of the Nordstrand Big Blades (single) and Zen Blades (sidewinders), and Aguilar DCB (traditional humbucker, I think) have been used on multiscale fivers. I just put big blades on my Ibanez EHB 1005SMS.
 
#16
So I've had a complete brain fart on this one. Using some crude measurements, I've drawn up (crudely) the coil/magnetic area of the pickups on my to scale drawing.

slanted pup.png


And a close up

pickup_close.png


Now if the pickup was a standard P split instead of a reverse P, the problem almost wouldn't exist

reverse_pickup_close.png


I thought I had this problem solved by rotating my reverse P humbucker 180, thus creating a normal P configuration.... Except rotating the pickup 180 degrees doesn't change it from a Reverse P to a P! Idiot!

So... These pickups will either go into a multiscale without slant (not sure of the aesthetics here), or they well go into a conventional bass.


Thank you to @MPU for suggesting I investigate the magnetic field. In either a five or a six, I would have been heading for disappointment.
 
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#17
Yep looking at that drawing, the outside strings will be wimpy big time, you really need the whole string going over the whole coil.
Also remember to take in account the actual motion of the string vibrating back and forth.
Again I'd suggest a soapbar/candybar pickup and NOT a "P" style to avoid the hole in the middle.

Best of luck.
 
#18
If there are some full-bladed humbuckers (one pickup, two parallel blades/rails, end to end) out there in a six string config, it would seem ideal for slant w/ no drop off anywhere... There would be no valley in the middle and they'd be wide enough for the hi/lo strings to get full sensing. Or did they need to be a P config? In general, I think EMG, Nordstrand (as mentioned earlier), Lace, and maaaaaaaaybe Bartolini, could do these? Perhaps others...
 

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