X-Bass - Experimental 3 Pickup Bass

[Betrayer_Bass]

You've given me a great idea: Install that t-strip in my instruments wired up to the pickup wires, so when I want to change them, instead of unsoldering/re-soldering, I can just unscrew a strip joint and replace it in 2 minutes. Why isn't this standard procedure? I applaud you, sir!

 

[Flux Jetson]

You've given me a great idea: Install that t-strip in my instruments wired up to the pickup wires, so when I want to change them, instead of unsoldering/re-soldering, I can just unscrew a strip joint and replace it in 2 minutes. Why isn't this standard procedure? I applaud you, sir!

Thank you,

The small t-strip I used is also made to be cut into smaller pieces. So even though it is a 12 pole strip, it can be cut into any size needed.

It was like $4.00 at out local Radio Shack (an electronics supply store in the USA .. there's usually many of them in nearly every city).

Radio Shack part number 274-680

 

[Betrayer_Bass]

I live in Norway, we don't have Radio Shack, but your helpfulness in giving out the part number is fully appreciated. I know a place I can get them. Again, thanks!

 

[Flux Jetson]

There may be no reason for concern. The only time I have experienced problems with magnetic pull was when I adjusted a guitar bridge humbucker very close to the strings. Then both sustain and attack was clearly affected. It may be different on a bass.

I think the gap between the string and each pickup may be more important than the number of pickups, but I look forward to read about your results. Sound clips would be awesome.

I will be providing sound clips that I'll post here as SoundCloud tracks.

I'll also be providing real time analyzer screen shots of the different pickups and pickup combinations. Here's what the RealTime Analyzer screen looks like (I took a test shot of a waveform just to produce an example, the screen shots I'll be posting of the pickups will have greater resolution and more detail).

The program I'm using is called TrueRTA. It's a wonderful realtime analyzer and digital oscilliscope all in one. At full resolution it's about $100 bucks. The resolution shown in this screenshot is only 31 band. I believe the next one up (the one I'll be using for these tests) is 96 band.

So I plan on posting SoundCloud tracks and these realtime analyzer screens for each test.

This is going to be an epic project, and an epic thread. At least as massive as the X-Rig thread (see my sig for a link to the X-Rig project).

 

[Flux Jetson]

I live in Norway, we don't have Radio Shack, but your helpfulness in giving out the part number is fully appreciated. I know a place I can get them. Again, thanks!

I figured as much, I saw your location but I wanted to provide the part number for anyone else in case it may help. OR if someone like yourself needed some sort of data from the Radio Shack webpage I thought the part number might help.

Not only that, I never know how far US franchise stores reach in the world. I mean if there are Dominos Pizza stores in Moscow you neverr know what might be anywhere these days!

 

[Betrayer_Bass]

That's true! We have 7-Eleven but not Radio Shack. Plus I appreciate the help for other users as well (that's why I'm part of the Stack Exchange family of sites )

 

[howardcano]

I'll need to get my router chops sharpened up first!

You've already shown quite clearly that your skills are far in excess of what's required.

Once you take the plunge (pun intended) with the router, you'll find it's actually MUCH easier than the drill/chisel process. All of the effort goes into making the jig. If that's correct, then the routing can be done while blindfolded (well, almost).

 

[BlueTalon]

Since I'd left the neck on the Jazz bass the neckplate caused the body to sit a little unlevel, and if I would have tried to work the body around the neckplate would have hung up here and there. I was just more comfortable doing the "drill/chisel" method this time around.

An easy fix for that would be to use a thick piece of cardboard and a layer of cloth for your cushion, and cut a hole in the cardboard to accommodate the neck plate. (It might have saved you some time in that heat.)

Just a suggestion. Maybe next time.

My first ever bass mod was to replace stock Rick pickups with 22-pole Carvin bass humbuckers. To my ear, it didn't lose a bit of the "Rick-ness" of its tone.

My opinion at the time was that the tonal continuity had more to do with the nature of the wood and construction than anything else. I didn't think about pickup placement, but now that you mention it, I'm sure that had a role. I just don't think it takes up as much of the pie chart as you think it does.

.. Meh .. maybe, maybe not. That's what all of these tests are for, to see what works and what doesn't. I mean if anyone knew the answers this entire exercise would be unnecessary. But I've been exposed to so many differing opinions that I am convinced no one really knows. You talk to ten people about it, you get ten different answers. One says it's the wood, another says it's the short scale, and yet another says it's the Rickenbacker pickups. Myself, I say the pickup location has the most profound affect (going by a number of basses that people have added a pickup at F24 and have produced very close emulations of that sound).
In the end, I don't really care what it ends up being, I'm open to whatever turns out to be what works.

That pie chart is divided into quite a few sections. It would only take a 20% "chunk" to be the largest single aspect. When you add every other thing that other people have attributed to that sound the piechart is cut into about ten different pieces. One piece at 20% is easily the largest single aspect. I am just trying to make a point, I have zero idea what the actual numbers would work out to be. I just believe that placing the neck pickup at roughly the 24th fret location (to tune the lows just right), and placing the bridge pickup in the ?right? location to bring out the highs has more emphasis over that sound that any other single effort. But I'm sure it has to be a total effort .. everything from string choice, pickup placement, pickup performance, to lesser degrees wood type (neck, fretboard, body), and to even lesser degrees scale length, hardware choices, paint/finish.

You may not believe this, but the primary purpose of my post about my experience with my first Rick mod was to support you, not shoot you down. (Well, not all the way anyway.)(That was a joke.)

The main reason I don't fully subscribe to the 24th fret location theory is the same reason I don't pay any attention to possibilities of phase cancellation. We simply don't play much on open strings. As we have discussed earlier, fingering up and down the neck completely throws off any attempts at calculating and compensating for phase cancellation.

However, there is a significant difference here. Playing anywhere on the neck might render phase concerns immaterial, but we often play in the keys of open strings, even if it's elsewhere on the neck. That could very well keep harmonics a relevant part of the sound/pickup-location equation.

I'll leave that for you to figure out in your experiments.

That said if the pickups are placed properly it will provide one hell of a head start on that EQ curve so extreme EQing won't be as necessary.

I'm with you on this. I'm just not sure (yet) that "placed properly" means right at the open string harmonic reference points.

I've produced solid Rick tone... Even Geddy said it isn't difficult to make "that sound". He actually said it was HARDEST to do with the Rick! Imagine that? He said it took "a lot of work" to get the Rick to make his signature tone.

I heard that too. Funny thing, I don't really know what he's talking about. With my Rick (both pre-mod and post-mod), I was able to nail his sound. To me, the quintessential Geddy Lee Rickenbacker tone can be heard clearly on Bytor and the Snow Dog and Xanadu. To get that sound, all I needed was my Rickenbacker and my amp, a Sunn Coliseum with a whole four bands of EQ (low bass, high bass, mid, treble IIRC). It's beyond my understanding why Geddy would have to work hard to get that sound with his Rick, when all I had to do with mine was plug it in.

Anyhow, whatever turns out to be what works, I'm hoping these tests will provide me with a lot of data. I'm interested in producing more than just one tonal color so hopefully I'll learn something from all of this monkey business. Time (and effort) will most certainly tell!

I'm interested in following your progress, in case you didn't already know.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I'm interested in following your progress, in case you didn't already know.

Ditto. Excellent thread, and I've subbed!

 

[Stealth]

That TrueRTA seems like a decent enough program. I've only used ARTA up till now, might give this a whirl as well.

Orrrr maybe I should fire up Matlab and script something similar up Wouldn't be realtime, but it'd work the same.

 

[Flux Jetson]

That TrueRTA seems like a decent enough program. I've only used ARTA up till now, might give this a whirl as well.

Orrrr maybe I should fire up Matlab and script something similar up Wouldn't be realtime, but it'd work the same.

Wow .. waaaayy outside my ~talents~ there! For the most part TrueRTA should serve me well enough. It may not be exactly perfectly accurate but it will provide relative points of reference. Start off with the stock pickup configuration to establish a control, then use it to compare changes with.

I'll be working up a set of standards, like mic placement, volume and other control settings of the power amp, and so on. I may also elect to run the bass straight into the POD Pro that I use with my bass to simplify these tests. In fact that actually sounds like a better idea than goofing with mics/preamps and so on.

So I'll set up a standard bass sound with the stock pickups in the stock locations, and create a preset in the POD Pro specifically for comparing each new configuration. I'll grab a screenshot (or ten) as well as record audio tracks of the stock configuration ... that image and audio file will be the foundation to compare things to. I'll probably work up a few very simple very short riffs that cover most ends of the use-spectrum that I'll repeat in each posted test.

So I'll use one type of string throughout the testing, one tuning, one PODPro preset, one set of riffs.

It ain't perfect but it's a set of standards that will work well enough for the purposes of this whole trippy thread!

I'll probably also wander from time to time if I discover something that really gets my attention. Other riffs, other processing setups, other EQs, just to give any ~really good~ configurations a chance to breathe a little with some added variations. But of course each pickup configuration will be subjected to the standardized tests, in addition to the occasional side trips.

I have work to do tonight, but I'll be mounting the terminal strip and output jack plate next as soon as I find time to do that. Of course pictures and posts will be shared of the additions.

Get comfortable folks. I have a feeling this thread is going to go on for many pages.

 

[Flux Jetson]

An easy fix for that would be to use a thick piece of cardboard and a layer of cloth for your cushion, and cut a hole in the cardboard to accommodate the neck plate. (It might have saved you some time in that heat.)

Just a suggestion. Maybe next time.



You may not believe this, but the primary purpose of my post about my experience with my first Rick mod was to support you, not shoot you down. (Well, not all the way anyway.)(That was a joke.)

The main reason I don't fully subscribe to the 24th fret location theory is the same reason I don't pay any attention to possibilities of phase cancellation. We simply don't play much on open strings. As we have discussed earlier, fingering up and down the neck completely throws off any attempts at calculating and compensating for phase cancellation.

However, there is a significant difference here. Playing anywhere on the neck might render phase concerns immaterial, but we often play in the keys of open strings, even if it's elsewhere on the neck. That could very well keep harmonics a relevant part of the sound/pickup-location equation.

I'll leave that for you to figure out in your experiments.


I'm with you on this. I'm just not sure (yet) that "placed properly" means right at the open string harmonic reference points.


I heard that too. Funny thing, I don't really know what he's talking about. With my Rick (both pre-mod and post-mod), I was able to nail his sound. To me, the quintessential Geddy Lee Rickenbacker tone can be heard clearly on Bytor and the Snow Dog and Xanadu. To get that sound, all I needed was my Rickenbacker and my amp, a Sunn Coliseum with a whole four bands of EQ (low bass, high bass, mid, treble IIRC). It's beyond my understanding why Geddy would have to work hard to get that sound with his Rick, when all I had to do with mine was plug it in.



I'm interested in following your progress, in case you didn't already know.

Hmm .. very interesting thoughts. Well, I'm kinda throwing the book out the window and just starting from zero. It may be that the 24th fret is only a valid mathematical argument with open strings, but in actuality I'm just using that as a standard referenced place to locate the derned pickemup to create the low end of the scoop. It gives a sortof ~reasoned~ location and a standardized location to begin with. That set of ideas you put out there are solid, and I agree with you on that ... which is why I elected to go with the grand canyon pickup cavity to allow nearly infinite pickup placement. If I feel that F24 is ok, but could be better, I am able to scoot the pickup in either direction to see if some other position is better.

Which is also why I am starting off with sortof "standard" Jazz Bass pickups, and all 4 are the same make/type (Duncan Design). There are two bridge pickups (slightly longer than the neck pickups) and two neck pickups. It kinda lends an easy starting point to all of this and removes some of the possible contaminating variables. These are very common pickups.

I mean I can only do "so much" to begin with ... the number of potential varibles is staggering (pickup types, brands, placement, etc...) so I figured it is best to start with solid pickup choices and solid starting positions. Everything I am starting with are fairly common "known good things" .... variations to follow!

Thanks for clearing up some of the banter you and I seem to have between us. It's taken a while but I think you and I are learning how to communicate with one another better. (I think part of the problem has been that we're more alike than either of us care to admit!).

Alrighty then .....

 

[Doner Designs]

I will be interested to see how the shape of the mid scoop changes with distance between the pickups.

I will be providing sound clips that I'll post here as SoundCloud tracks.

I'll also be providing real time analyzer screen shots of the different pickups and pickup combinations. Here's what the RealTime Analyzer screen looks like (I took a test shot of a waveform just to produce an example, the screen shots I'll be posting of the pickups will have greater resolution and more detail).

The program I'm using is called TrueRTA. It's a wonderful realtime analyzer and digital oscilliscope all in one. At full resolution it's about $100 bucks. The resolution shown in this screenshot is only 31 band. I believe the next one up (the one I'll be using for these tests) is 96 band.

So I plan on posting SoundCloud tracks and these realtime analyzer screens for each test.

This is going to be an epic project, and an epic thread. At least as massive as the X-Rig thread (see my sig for a link to the X-Rig project).

 

[Flux Jetson]

I will be interested to see how the shape of the mid scoop changes with distance between the pickups.

Me too!

Wouldn't it be funny if these tests wash out some preconceived notions about what does what to what? Haahaa!

Just joking around ...

The highest level of TrueRTA will set me back about $50. So as soon as I scrounge up the cash I'll uprate the program to the highest level which will yield 1/24th octave divisions. The one I have right now is 1/6th octave, the image that I have posted is 1/3rd octave.

Free = 1 octave divisions.
$40 = 1/3rd octave divisions (just like a 31 band GraphicEQ). .. shown in the image I posted.
$70 (total spent) = 1/6th octave divisions. .. what I have now.
$110 (total spent) = 1/24th octave divisions (like having a 248 band EQ).

Here's the link to the spreads .... http://www.trueaudio.com/rta_selection_guide.htm

 

[Flux Jetson]

JACK PANEL AND TERMINAL STRIP

Here we go. First off, I've had to start using smaller photos. Photobucket started whining at me about using too much bandwidth so I've gone down to 640x480 pics. I may be reducing the size of pics I have already posted as well to reduce my monthly bandwdith useage, so if there are any pics you particularly like in the larger size you'd be well advised to copy them soon. As I get time I'll be resizing and reposting the pics at a smaler size over the days/weeks ahead. I'll also be paying for more bandwidth from Photobucket so as to be able to continue providing these project threads with as much photographic content as possible.

Onward .....

Ok, I made a jack panel that I was able to mount five Switchcraft #11 1/4" Tip/Sleeve jacks to. I made the panel out of 1.5" x 1.5" x 1/16th" aluminum angle that I got at Lowes. 3 feet of it was about $15. I use that type of stuff for many things so it was of no matter that I had so much of it left over. I made the panel 12 inches long. I did so because what I had done was measured between a couple of holes that were already drilled into the bass's body that were used for the pickguard. They would be covered by a piece of aluminum 12" long. So I cut the aluminum, filed the cut edges down smooth and rounded the corners. Then I measured the distance between two predrilled holes and transfered that dimension to the angle, and drilled holes in it accordingly.

I knew I wanted to have five output jacks .. just cuz .. so I decided on a good distance between them to keep things easy to do (1.25" between centers), and centered that group of five holes on the aluminum angle on the other flange. Marked and drilled those holes. Dressed up the jack panel to keep any sharp edges from being a problem. Then I went ahead and mounted the five TS jacks to the panel, and placed blue painter's tape on the surface that would be contacting the bass body to keep from making unneeded damage to the bass.

It took a little bit of searching at our local Lowes, but I located some screws that would work to mount the terminal strip to the bass. They are the same type of screw used to mount the pickups (#4 screws) these are just 1/2" shorter in length. #4 x 1" stainless steel sheet metal screws (package of FIVE was $1.29) ....

As you can see they work out really well for the terminal strip ..

After doing a little more clean up of the carved out cavity and dressing the edges a little, it was ready.

All of the screwholes used to mount both the terminal strip and the jack panel were existing holes that had been drilled at the factory for the stock control plate and/or the pickguard. So no extra holes had to be drilled to mount the t-strip or the jack panel.

I then remounted the two stock pickups, and faked-in the first two added pickups. I was unable to locate any 1.5" long #4 screws locally to mount the additional pickups so I am waiting on some that I've ordered via eBay. For the time being I'll just use 2 screws per pickup (one in each opposing corner).

Now, the idea is to wire up the output jacks with the grounds all tied together and connected to the t-strip, which will be connected to the bridge-ground. Then, each pickup will be wired in to the t-strip however I see fit to do so. I may route them so they are parallel, or series .. with any other pickups I wish simply by loosening a set screw on the t-strip and reconnecting any given pickup in any manner I choose. I may wire each pickup to it's own dedicated output jack if I wish, or parallel up two (3? 4?) so they all go out of one jack. However I'll most likely leave each pickup connected to it's own dedicated jack and then each pickup will be piped to it's own dedicated mic preamp.

Each mic preamp will be routed to it's own dedicated channel on an 8 channel mixer then pickup blending and controlling will be taken care of at the mixer.

I am going to calibrate all four ART mic preamps by using one pickup. I'll connect one pickup to a "control" preamp and get the gain settings and output levels set to optimum levels as well as make careful observations (and hand written notes) of what the TrueRTA analyzer is saying about the signal. Then I'll repeat that process with the other three preamps, using the same pickup that I used to set up the control preamp, play the same stuff through each one and watch the TrueRTA analyzer carefully. I'll set each mic preamp so that it has the same readings as the first one (the "control" preamp) and make careful notes about how to set each mic preamp so that each one has as close to the ~exact~ same gain levels (etc) as the control preamp. That way there will be as little variation caused by different settings among the preamp array. Simply setting each preamp's controls to the same markings or panel settings is poor bench practice ... each one has to be calibrated to a control preamp and notes must be taken about how to set each one so that they perform as close to the same as the control preamp, thereby removing any chances of variations throwing off the results of the forthcoming tests.

It ain't perfect, and of course there will still be flaws and probable cause to doubt some of the preciseness of the calibration process. But it is the best I can do. And that is all that can be asked. At least I am taking all the precautions I have at my disposal to eliminate as many variables as possible. And in the end, context has to be remembered, after all I'm not building a friggin space shuttle here, this is just some pickup comparisons for a bass guitar, y'know?

Anyhow, so there's today's update. Next update will include wiring up the jacks and the pickups. Then soon after will be the very first tests which will be of the stock pickups to obtain control data which can be used to compare any of the upcoming configurations. So after pickup wiring, and the first control readings, THEN the fun will begin by testing out different pickup configurations.

Bonzai !!

And so now we dance .....

shprockets ....

 

[KeithAlanK]

I am going to calibrate all four ART mic preamps by using one pickup. I'll connect one pickup to a "control" preamp and get the gain settings and output levels set to optimum levels as well as make careful observations (and hand written notes) of what the TrueRTA analyzer is saying about the signal. Then I'll repeat that process with the other three preamps, using the same pickup that I used to set up the control preamp, play the same stuff through each one and watch the TrueRTA analyzer carefully. I'll set each mic preamp so that it has the same readings as the first one (the "control" preamp) and make careful notes about how to set each mic preamp so that each one has as close to the ~exact~ same gain levels (etc) as the control preamp. That way there will be as little variation caused by different settings among the preamp array. Simply setting each preamp's controls to the same markings or panel settings is poor bench practice ... each one has to be calibrated to a control preamp and notes must be taken about how to set each one so that they perform as close to the same as the control preamp, thereby removing any chances of variations throwing off the results of the forthcoming tests

Good stuff!

As for the discussions on the 24th fret location, I don't yet believe it has anything to do with that being a harmonic location or anything about phase cancellations either.
But I feel that pickup placement IS the single most important factor in getting the signature tones of the famous basses we all know and love.
I have never heard a P, J, SR, MM, etc sound exactly like a Rick no matter how much tweaking of EVERY other parameter was made--from woods to pickups to everything possible amp-wise.
Yet we've seen "Ricks" made of virtually every species of wood by home builders and copycat companies, with pickups of every type and brand, still have at least SOME if not most of that signature Rick sound.

And there are plenty of guys who prefer one pickup brand over all others, and equip all of their basses with Duncans or Barts or whatever. When they want P tone, they grab the P. When a certain song needs MM tone, they grab the MM. Might all be maple neck, ash body, rosewood 'boards, so the pickup placement is the deciding factor.

The one time I recorded using a friend's Gibson Grabber with the sliding pickup, I got to play with it for a few days--this was in 1978.
What I discovered was that for a song in a certain key, fine-tuning the pickup position yielded impressive results. But it was never perfect because I found myself wishing for a second sliding pickup to further refine and thicken and enhance the results.
I also remember wishing that I could rotate/angle the pickup a bit, too. A pair of slightly wider blade-pole pickups that rotate and slide--my goodness!

Keep up the good work, Flux.
I predict that these theories will be proven conclusively, in that your test platform Jazz will produce a convincing Rick tone without any EQ trickery whatsoever, and most any other bass if you can get a pickup into the right spot.

 

[Doner Designs]

This could go in the dictionary under Rube Goldberg!

Just kidding - I'm loving it!

JACK PANEL AND TERMINAL STRIP

Here we go. First off, I've had to start using smaller photos. Photobucket started whining at me about using too much bandwidth so I've gone down to 640x480 pics. I may be reducing the size of pics I have already posted as well to reduce my monthly bandwdith useage, so if there are any pics you particularly like in the larger size you'd be well advised to copy them soon. As I get time I'll be resizing and reposting the pics at a smaler size over the days/weeks ahead. I'll also be paying for more bandwidth from Photobucket so as to be able to continue providing these project threads with as much photographic content as possible.

Onward .....

Ok, I made a jack panel that I was able to mount five Switchcraft #11 1/4" Tip/Sleeve jacks to. I made the panel out of 1.5" x 1.5" x 1/16th" aluminum angle that I got at Lowes. 3 feet of it was about $15. I use that type of stuff for many things so it was of no matter that I had so much of it left over. I made the panel 12 inches long. I did so because what I had done was measured between a couple of holes that were already drilled into the bass's body that were used for the pickguard. They would be covered by a piece of aluminum 12" long. So I cut the aluminum, filed the cut edges down smooth and rounded the corners. Then I measured the distance between two predrilled holes and transfered that dimension to the angle, and drilled holes in it accordingly.

I knew I wanted to have five output jacks .. just cuz .. so I decided on a good distance between them to keep things easy to do (1.25" between centers), and centered that group of five holes on the aluminum angle on the other flange. Marked and drilled those holes. Dressed up the jack panel to keep any sharp edges from being a problem. Then I went ahead and mounted the five TS jacks to the panel, and placed blue painter's tape on the surface that would be contacting the bass body to keep from making unneeded damage to the bass.

It took a little bit of searching at our local Lowes, but I located some screws that would work to mount the terminal strip to the bass. They are the same type of screw used to mount the pickups (#4 screws) these are just 1/2" shorter in length. #4 x 1" stainless steel sheet metal screws (package of FIVE was $1.29) ....

As you can see they work out really well for the terminal strip ..

After doing a little more clean up of the carved out cavity and dressing the edges a little, it was ready.

All of the screwholes used to mount both the terminal strip and the jack panel were existing holes that had been drilled at the factory for the stock control plate and/or the pickguard. So no extra holes had to be drilled to mount the t-strip or the jack panel.

I then remounted the two stock pickups, and faked-in the first two added pickups. I was unable to locate any 1.5" long #4 screws locally to mount the additional pickups so I am waiting on some that I've ordered via eBay. For the time being I'll just use 2 screws per pickup (one in each opposing corner).

Now, the idea is to wire up the output jacks with the grounds all tied together and connected to the t-strip, which will be connected to the bridge-ground. Then, each pickup will be wired in to the t-strip however I see fit to do so. I may route them so they are parallel, or series .. with any other pickups I wish simply by loosening a set screw on the t-strip and reconnecting any given pickup in any manner I choose. I may wire each pickup to it's own dedicated output jack if I wish, or parallel up two (3? 4?) so they all go out of one jack. However I'll most likely leave each pickup connected to it's own dedicated jack and then each pickup will be piped to it's own dedicated mic preamp.

Each mic preamp will be routed to it's own dedicated channel on an 8 channel mixer then pickup blending and controlling will be taken care of at the mixer.

I am going to calibrate all four ART mic preamps by using one pickup. I'll connect one pickup to a "control" preamp and get the gain settings and output levels set to optimum levels as well as make careful observations (and hand written notes) of what the TrueRTA analyzer is saying about the signal. Then I'll repeat that process with the other three preamps, using the same pickup that I used to set up the control preamp, play the same stuff through each one and watch the TrueRTA analyzer carefully. I'll set each mic preamp so that it has the same readings as the first one (the "control" preamp) and make careful notes about how to set each mic preamp so that each one has as close to the ~exact~ same gain levels (etc) as the control preamp. That way there will be as little variation caused by different settings among the preamp array. Simply setting each preamp's controls to the same markings or panel settings is poor bench practice ... each one has to be calibrated to a control preamp and notes must be taken about how to set each one so that they perform as close to the same as the control preamp, thereby removing any chances of variations throwing off the results of the forthcoming tests.

It ain't perfect, and of course there will still be flaws and probable cause to doubt some of the preciseness of the calibration process. But it is the best I can do. And that is all that can be asked. At least I am taking all the precautions I have at my disposal to eliminate as many variables as possible. And in the end, context has to be remembered, after all I'm not building a friggin space shuttle here, this is just some pickup comparisons for a bass guitar, y'know?

Anyhow, so there's today's update. Next update will include wiring up the jacks and the pickups. Then soon after will be the very first tests which will be of the stock pickups to obtain control data which can be used to compare any of the upcoming configurations. So after pickup wiring, and the first control readings, THEN the fun will begin by testing out different pickup configurations.

Bonzai !!

And so now we dance .....

shprockets ....

 

[Flux Jetson]

This could go in the dictionary under Rube Goldberg!

Just kidding - I'm loving it!

Heheh ... thanks.

It won't win any beauty contests or fashion shows, that's for sure. I think of it more like a hammer or a shovel .... nothing more than what's needed to get the job done.

 

[Flux Jetson]

Good stuff!

As for the discussions on the 24th fret location, I don't yet believe it has anything to do with that being a harmonic location or anything about phase cancellations either.
But I feel that pickup placement IS the single most important factor in getting the signature tones of the famous basses we all know and love.
I have never heard a P, J, SR, MM, etc sound exactly like a Rick no matter how much tweaking of EVERY other parameter was made--from woods to pickups to everything possible amp-wise.
Yet we've seen "Ricks" made of virtually every species of wood by home builders and copycat companies, with pickups of every type and brand, still have at least SOME if not most of that signature Rick sound.

And there are plenty of guys who prefer one pickup brand over all others, and equip all of their basses with Duncans or Barts or whatever. When they want P tone, they grab the P. When a certain song needs MM tone, they grab the MM. Might all be maple neck, ash body, rosewood 'boards, so the pickup placement is the deciding factor.

The one time I recorded using a friend's Gibson Grabber with the sliding pickup, I got to play with it for a few days--this was in 1978.
What I discovered was that for a song in a certain key, fine-tuning the pickup position yielded impressive results. But it was never perfect because I found myself wishing for a second sliding pickup to further refine and thicken and enhance the results.
I also remember wishing that I could rotate/angle the pickup a bit, too. A pair of slightly wider blade-pole pickups that rotate and slide--my goodness!

Keep up the good work, Flux.
I predict that these theories will be proven conclusively, in that your test platform Jazz will produce a convincing Rick tone without any EQ trickery whatsoever, and most any other bass if you can get a pickup into the right spot.

(RE: the 24th fret deal) .... Yea, I am thinking more like you in that I think the location has little to do with anything that the harmonic value of that position as the reason that a few famous basses seem to have the neck pickup located in that area and more that perhaps that's just where it ended up after testing locations to produce the desired scoop.

In my case it's a convenient place to begin that has a definitive spot other than just abiguously sticking the pickup just anywhere. It's a solid "start here" location that will serve to provide a somewhat "logical" anchor point.

As good a place as any other I suppose. I still seem to think that there is some reason that it seems to appeal to me. Maybe it's just because I prefer to have some degree of "why" and it isn't just some dartboard selected position.

Dunno .... but I suppose I'll certainly find out!

Y'know whudda mean, Vern?

 

[Flux Jetson]

Ok I paid Photobucket for the extended bandwidth, now all of the pictures seem to be back up. I have to get around to resizing them all and reloading them all to save me some $$$. In the meantime I have bandwidth again.