Double Bass your advice on bridge/pickup solution

[buddyro57]

I have a rather frustrating problem;
I recently bought an Ergo 6 string EUB. It is a nice resonant piece of maple, feels great. I am really not here to criticize the builder because I really like many things about the instrument, BUT it has a fundamental weakness in the pickup system.
The piezo element under the bridge feet approach that he used was faulty and unreliable. Not sure if this was due to cheaper materials or what. My luthier tried to use Fishman elements under the bridge feet, but apparently this was too much pressure for those elements.
I have looked at the Barbera system which looks to be a perfect fit - he even makes a bridge expressly for solid EUBs, but he doesn't make a six-string version....grrrr!
Another possible fix would be to use a Realist, modified so that it would correspond to the dimensions (more or less) of the bridge feet. Since the Realist is designed to function under pressure, maybe that would work(?)
Any advice you might be able to share might help us to avoid some obvious (and wasteful, in the case of the Fishman elements!) experiments.
Many thanks
JS

 

[Bob Gollihur]

Which Fishman did he use, was it the BP100 discs, or a saddle transducer for an acoustic bass/guitar?

 

[buddyro57]

Hi Bob, we tried the BP 100 discs, when they worked they sounded pretty good, but I fear we asked too much of them. I'd be eager to hear your thoughts on the subject- Many thanks for your time!
JS

 

[Bob Gollihur]

Hi Bob, we tried the BP 100 discs, when they worked they sounded pretty good, but I fear we asked too much of them. I'd be eager to hear your thoughts on the subject- Many thanks for your time!
JS

I used the K&K Big Twin transducers (two floating disks, allowing me to move them for the best balance) in a similar manner on my homebuilt EUB, see http://www.eclecticbass.com/eurb.html for photos. It's hard to see how deep the Ergo bridge is, mine was around an inch at the highest point. If yours is considerably deeper, the sound will be more diffused, less direct IME, as there is more wood to absorb sound.

OTOH, I used thin slices of wine cork beneath each transducer in order to alleviate some of the harshness that I experienced without them.

If the bridge is too tall, and diffusion is an issue, a K&K Double Big Twin could be used, one transducer (there are four) between each set of strings, though it's hard to see if there is sufficient space between the body and bridge to handle the transducer and wire.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

I wish there were some way to get my hands on the NSD pickup they use. The same one they put on the CR4 where you could emphasize the sound depending on which direction the vibrations are coming from. That by far the best sounding pickup I've heard for an EUB, or even DB. I think it's similar to a piezo pickup Fishman makes for acoustic guitars.

 

[Bob Gollihur]

I wish there were some way to get my hands on the NSD pickup they use. The same one they put on the CR4 where you could emphasize the sound depending on which direction the vibrations are coming from. That by far the best sounding pickup I've heard for an EUB, or even DB. I think it's similar to a piezo pickup Fishman makes for acoustic guitars.

Well, if you take a WAV4 apart (not saying they use the same part, but perhaps the same technique) there are two transducers, one is oriented North-South, the other East-West (this is from faint memory, I don't have one here but perhaps somebody out there will take the back plate off theirs and chime in). That's because the strings vibrate in two different directions if you are playing pizz or arco.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

SO it's just a K&K or Fishman style pickup? hrmmmmmmm.... I just so happen to have an old BP-100 lying around. *has evil thoughts*