Vintage Humbuckers

[Aleksander Lew]

Hey guys!

I'm looking for some serious vintage humbucker for bridge position in my new bass project (passive!) Ideal would be something similar to Schaller Bassbucker, WAL pcikup or something that works well with growling, overdriven sound.

Any ideas?

 

[iiipopes]

You might be better off looking for something in an EMG or a Bart soapbar size, (EMG 35's and all pickups of that shape are very close in size to a Gibson-style humbucker) as many companies have adopted these two "standards" with pickups available in all sorts of tones from mean to green to choose from. Also, if you are routing your own body, mounting routs for EMG and Bart style pickups are simple rounded corner rectangles with mounting screws screwed through the ends of the pickup into the body with foam under the pickup to adjust height, instead of a complicated routing to do the Gibson-style humbucker ring mounting. By contrast, mounting the screws through the Gibson-style pickup ring with the sleeve screw under tension into the pickup ears, well, you will be "questioning everybody else's heritage, if not your own," by the time you are done.

 

[MAJOR METAL]

I can't recommend enough these 2 humbuckers!

Big BladeMan 5

and

Big SplitMan 5

 

[iiipopes]

Major Metal's post brings up a point to the OP: is your build a 4-string or 5-string? If a 4-string, yes, as I posted, Nordstrand does make these pickups in a 4-string version, again, with EMG-style mounting as simply "Big Blade" and "Big Split." The MusicMan style version takes a more complicated routing to get the ears of the pickup mounted. Remember, the original MusicMan pickups were also designed by Leo Fender, so the pickups have the same style tab mounts as do P-pickups and J-pickups, requiring a more complex routing.

 

[Axstar]

Wal pickup and a Schaller Bassbucker are very different in design, despite any visual similarities.

I've found that hot humbuckers in basses tend to have a baked in tone that I then have to try and fight by EQ'ing.

 

[Aleksander Lew]

It will be 4 string bass. No worries about wiring and stuff, it will be done by professional artisan luthier with over a 30 years of experience (Nexus Guitars)

 

[Domespeed]

The Schaller Bassbucker is for a quite narrow string spacing.
Fender spacing will be too wide for the pole pieces

 

[Aleksander Lew]

Yeah, I mentioned those in my original post but they're hard to find (discontinued or smthn)

 

[iiipopes]

Yeah, I mentioned those in my original post but they're hard to find (discontinued or smthn)

They may be available in Europe, if you are dead set on narrow string spacing and actual humbucker appearance. There may also be older "new old stock" (never installed) pickups or slightly used pickups out there. But I still think you will have better luck getting the tone you want with much easier (read: much less expensive if someone else is doing the routing) by using EMG 35-shape pickups, from whichever manufacturer makes one with the tone you want.

 

[sikamikanico]

Check measurements, but maybe some 8 string DiMarzio guitar pickups could work well:
8-String | DiMarzio

at least they might look sharp

another contender might Wilde L90, but has less of the look you seem to want
L-90