Will string spacing adjustment affect the pickups?

[Rabidhamster]

One thing I would add, though is that if you move your strings such that they're sitting overtop of pole-pieces, I recommend you put a piece of electrical tape across the top of the pickup. If you accidentally smash the string against that raised bare pole-piece, you'll get a fairly unattractive "clack" transient. The electrical tape will provide a contact barrier between the pole and the string. Don't use any metallic-type tape - just plain plastic electrical tape.

I’d recommend black gaffer tape over electrical tape for any type of guitar taping adventures, electrical tape is so messy and oozes sticky adhesive out the sides in the heat

 

[Cutter8]

I have put the Schaller 3D-4 bridges on at least five Fender Jazz basses (including the ‘93 Longhorn in the pics below), and with the string spacing adjusted to 17-17.5mm, I’ve never had a problem with it affecting the sound with standard pickups. I initially had the same concern and was expecting to need to switch to blade pickups, but it has never been necessary. The couple of times I have put blade pickups on any of those basses, I ultimately wound up switching back to the original pickups.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Thanks for any help. After some serious thought, I'd like to finally pull the trigger on a 4 string, Fender Ultra Jazz Bass. I unfortunately don't have large hands, and 19 mm string spacing is just too much for me. What I'd like to do, is replace the bridge with a Schaller 3D-4 bass bridge, or something similar ( Hipshot type A, Kickass), to get the spacing down to 16mm or 15.5mm. The question becomes, will the narrower spacing adjustment affect the pickups output? The pictures on the Fender site have the strings running nearly perfect in between the pole pieces. Will a 3mm adjustment, +/-, cause pickup problems? The adjustments would be to the A,D,and G strings, which would put the strings still nearly over a pole piece. Is my worry justified, or will everything workout in the magnetic field? Thanks again for any help.

The neck won't get skinnier. Therefore, your hands being "too small" isn't going to change either.

There is no such thing as "too small"

5 year olds play bass.

 

[4stringfarley]

Hard to get a photo of exactly how they're spaced, but heres my neck pick up. No tone or sound issues. The B string is the same way.

 

[tongue hairdo]

First, happy father's day to all the dads out there. Second, thanks to everyone who offered their insights, opinions, and knowledge, I really appreciate it. In the end, if it doesn't work, I replace the original bridge, and sell the bass at a loss. Don't want that to happen, but that's life. Cutter 8, you have experience with both the bridge and bass that I'm interested in. With the Schaller 3D-4 bridge, it looks like from your pics, that you have at least a +/- of 3 or 4 mm of string spacing adjustability, maybe more. A 19mm bridge with this much adjustability, would give me a chance to experiment a bit. If things start to go screwy, I can always start heading back to 19mm. Thanks again everyone.

 

[A9X]

In post 2, I didn't add more as I was moving into a known G4 black hole. If you were a student of mine, I'd say adjust the position/ergonomics of the bass. Fenders hang too low on my, ie too horizontal and means too severe a wrist angle. The BTB846v is better, and even though I have smaller hands I don't have trouble playing it's wide, flat board and it's 54mm at fret 1 and 83mm wide at fret 24.

I think you're going to find adjusting string spacing is a failure as it's not really the problem. Get on YT and watch small kids playing basses, even 6s. I'm sure your hands aren't that small.

 

[Merlo79]

I unfortunately don't have large hands, and 19 mm string spacing is just too much for me.

String spacing is a matter of habit and good technique makes size irrelevant. There are children playing not only bass guitar, but double bass. Plenty of virtuoso bass players with tiny hands, too.

The question becomes, will the narrower spacing adjustment affect the pickups output?

Yes and no. The sound will certainly change depending whether the string is 100% between poles or way off, but not enough to really mean anything. I don't expect you'll have any issues.

I prefer cca 17 mm myself. A great way to have narrow string spacing and a normal looking instrument is to get a five string bass with a narrow string spacing to start with and then narrow it down to the extreme if you feel like it. If you're not used to the B string, you can always set it up EADGC.

If you're not strapped for cash, a decent luthier can make you a bass with custom specs as well.

 

[tongue hairdo]

This was my second option that I was considering, and with that tuning as well.