P Bass Pickup/controls

[Acousticraft]

I bought a Pickup/pots and jack socket that came out of a Mexican made Precision bass cheaply off Trademe, our version of E bay.

I plan to fit this to a Telecater body I made a last year. I read that the optimum distance to mount the pickups for string vibration was 6" from the bridge. Can anyone confirm this?

I have a piece of Maple for the neck and Purpleheart for a fingerboard so should look good.

[kpcrash]

I just double measured all of mine and 6" is the distance from the "neck side" of the bridge to the "neck side" of the back pickup. They start at 4.25" from the bridge.

[Acousticraft]

Thanks for that. What is the measurement from the low E bridge saddle to the centerline of the two pickups?

[kpcrash]

On one it is 125mm, 140 on the other. 152/162 from start of bridge to center of two pickups. Neck scale (24 fret/22 fret) is the determining factor here.

[Acousticraft]

I was reading up about nodes (least vibration) and anti nodes (most vibration) of string vibration waves when a string is plucked.

Theoretically for most open string vibration the pickup should be positioned at about 1/4 of scale length from the bridge but of course once you fret a note the positioning of those waves moves back towards the bridge so the theoretical position changes.

Anyway to cut a long story short I am placing my pickups with them centred at 150mm / 6" from the low E bridge saddle or forward slightly of the standard P bass placement.

[kpcrash]

That's interesting - I'm putting together a "project" bass - maybe I'll use a pickguard and route the body so I can move the pups back and forth - see what happens.

[dugg]

My bandmates and I did many experiments with pickup placement back in the mid '70s. The first and most obvious thing is that pickups on commercial guitars are placed where they look good, not where they sound best. Pickup placement is simple. For the most treble response you need a pickup as close to the bridge as it can fit, for the most bass, you need the pickup to be as close to the neck as it can go. The more contrasting sounds you have to work with, the happier you'll be. One of the first mods I did was to fit a jazz bass pickup into a P bass. After moving it around above the strings it was obvious that the best sound was hard up against the bridge, so I cut off the two screw lobes on the bridge side and moved the pickup as close as it would go. Done the same thing on two other P basses since, owners love it.

[kpcrash]

Cool - my decision right now is P/J or two "humbuckers". I have a couple of 30k Ohm 4-string pups that I'm dying to try out in something.

[dugg]

30k! Wow thats hot. I remember I had a dimarzio model G bass pickup once, it was fairly hot. Can't remember exactly but I think it was around 10k. It balanced nicely with a dimarzio J model in the bridge position though.

[Acousticraft]

30k, thats one hot mother. The lights will dim when you pluck the strings.

I received my pickups and they measure 9.66 K Ohms on my multi-meter. I couldn't actually find a figure Fender quote for the Mexican pickups but they certainly have a different part no. to the American series.

The rout is interesting for the P pickups but I have drawn up a template for drilling the holes and routing. I never knew they used a piece of thick 'draft stop' rubber for the actual spring under the pickup and long screws into the body. I thought they would be mounted off the pickguard Strat style.

I never thought I would be making a Bass in my wildest dreams a while back, after making various acoustics and electrics. All I need now is to learn to play it. I figured my guitar scales I know, well the bottom 4 strings of the scales should come in handy?

[kpcrash]

Just FYI, if you ever need to replace the "cushion", just buy a roll of self-adhesive foam insulation like you would use around a door or window. Extremely effective and cheap.

[dugg]

Hah! The lights will dim! Gotta love that image. kpcrash, thanks for that. I've got a squire P leaning right over there than needs them cushions, now I know where to get 'em. Acousticraft, I'm going the opposite direction as you. I've been playing bass for years, but recently got me a guitar. Hell of a time figuring out that little jog from the G to B strings.....