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The Music Man Sweet Spot

#2
joeinsprings said:
Exaclty how far away from the bridge is the humbucker on a Music Man Stingray with a single humbucker?

(Mod's, if this is not in the right place please go ahead and move it)
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FWIW:

You don't measure from the bridge but from the nut or 12th fret. Bridge saddles are moveable for intonation and so vary from bass to bass as well as string to string within the same bass. Look at any bridge and you'll see why.

13 1/8" from 12th fret (center to center I think). Go to luthier forum FAQ, it's listed there.
 
#3
luknfur said:
FWIW:

You don't measure from the bridge but from the nut or 12th fret. Bridge saddles are moveable for intonation and so vary from bass to bass as well as string to string within the same bass. Look at any bridge and you'll see why.

13 1/8" from 12th fret (center to center I think). Go to luthier forum FAQ, it's listed there.
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Thanks. I kinda spaced on the bridge saddles being movable, the twelfth fret is a much better idea to measure from.

And I feel kind of stupid, but I looked in the FAQ in all the forums, and did a search for twenty minutes, but probably missed it. Thanks anyway though.
 
#4
joeinsprings said:
Thanks. I kinda spaced on the bridge saddles being movable, the twelfth fret is a much better idea to measure from.

And I feel kind of stupid, but I looked in the FAQ in all the forums, and did a search for twenty minutes, but probably missed it. Thanks anyway though.
Click to expand...

FWIW:

feeling stupid is a good sign, means your probably not stupid normally :D The obvious is typically invisible to the uninitiated.

Anyway, I couldn't find the frigging thing myself. Paul mentioned them doing something different with the Luthier forum and looks like they've changed the FAQ since last visit. Not a forum I frequent cause I can't make a square cut let alone build basses.

It used to be disguised under musician's reference spreadsheet anyway - that much I did find out. Also I posted the MM as 13 1/8" center 12th fret to center pup in one thread and didn't get jumped on so I'm guessing that's what it is. Just taking a tape to my Ibe's looks about right. Not critical and in fact ideally it would be variable to taste. Pup placements are not a magic spots just a default average. I mount MM's closer to the bridge cause I want brighter tone out of 'em.
 
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#5
luknfur said:
13 1/8" from 12th fret (center to center I think).
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The "13 1/8 inch" is correct . . .

but that's the distance from the tuner side of the 12th fret to the MIDDLE OF THE NECK SIDE MAGNETS.

FWIW, it's 14.0625 inches from the tuner side of the 12th fret to the middle of the bridge side magnets and 12.5625 inches from the tuner side of the 12th fret to the neck side edge of the pup.
 
#6
deaf pea said:
The "13 1/8 inch" is correct . . .

but that's the distance from the tuner side of the 12th fret to the MIDDLE OF THE NECK SIDE MAGNETS.

FWIW, it's 14.0625 inches from the tuner side of the 12th fret to the middle of the bridge side magnets and 12.5625 inches from the tuner side of the 12th fret to the neck side edge of the pup.
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FWIW 0.0625 inches will make little difference in the sound

it doesn't matter what side of the fretwire you measure from

and going down to 1/10000 of an inch is just LUDICROUS!

0.125 or 1/8 of an inch is plenty of resolution.
 
#9
deaf pea said:
I was just quoting (from Bruce Gavin's "Musician's Reference") . . . those ARE the standards . . .

It's not like "this is how I measured it" . . .
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I understand this is a standard measurement. And I'm not trying to knock anyone. I'm just pointing out that unless you're trying to make an EXACT stingray duplicate, being off by 1/8" either way will not make an audible difference in the tone. There are many other HUGE factors involved in trying to nail "that" Stingray tone and pickup position is important, but not to a 1/1000 of an inch.
 
#13
That's the trouble with decimals as opposed to fractions.. .0625" seems like a very confusing way of saying 1/16"!
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Why not use mm like the rest of the civilized world?
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OT: I watched an old ep of star trek the other day and they were moving their space ship around in Kilometres. So I guess Americans will eventually catch up with the rest of the world. But it may not be 'til 3-400 years in the future...

Back on topic: When I was building basses back in the day, I simply went into music stores with a small ruler or tape measure in my pocket. Of course, there was no internet back then. Do it mid-morning on a week day when they aren't busy. Even say that you are designing a bass and want to know where to put the pickups. If the sales guy/girl is any good they won't tell you to get lost, they'll sell you a pickup and some strings for your project!

If you measure from the bridge, just take 5mm off your measurement. You will be within 2mm of the actual real measurement, and this is easily close enough.

When you go to see a band and you hear a great sounding stingray, the reason it sounds great is because the player has practiced a lot. It has nothing to do with where the pickup is.
 
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