Thunderbird II project pickup placement

[Alanko]

Sorry about the "laughably disastrous result" on yours! Yes, true that a TB II isn't simply the same beast as a regular T-bird with a deleted bridge pickup. Not really sure why the other pickup being wired in makes as much of a difference as it seems to.

If you are a glutton for self-punishment you could look up threads on various forums about why PJ basses don't sound like P basses when you turn down the J. Something to do with the resistance and cumulative capacitance of the extra gubbins in the circuit, even when you bypass them. It seems to centre around opinion though, rather than any hard facts.

I had it in mind that the pickup on the TB II was marginally closer to the bridge than on a TB IV, but now I'm not sure! I use the pickguard screws for reference, which is also how I figure out that neck pickups have crept towards the neck over time.

[dadagoboi]

/quote]

Nope.  Though the crapsonic sidewinder neck pup was moved slightly south on the BiSextennials.

[999]

In case anyone is interested in seeing how this has progressed, it's pretty far along; here's the full details over on Talkbass https://www.talkbass.com/threads/rocket-from-russia-a-very-different-kind-of-t-bird.1281235/#post-19969632
This is obviously a big departure from the traditional Gibson look so won't be everyone's taste, I know. The neck is patterned after my Embassy and the hope is for a T-bird II type of voice. Will have to wait and see on that - but not too much longer.

[Dave W]

Wow! Hope it meets your expectations.

[999]

Thanks, Dave, I'm pretty confident it will. His work is about the most precise I've seen - and I include Foderas, Alembics, Ritters, etc in that - counter-intuitive given the amount of freehand work he does with saws, files and chisels! Anyway, I should know soon I'll post finished pics when done.

[Dave W]

Sorry, I should have clarified: I hope it delivers the TB II voice you're seeking. His workmanship looks great.

[999]

Thanks, I get it - just my enthusiasm for his work coming through. I think it will get in the ballpark. The stiffness of the single-cut, the carbon fiber, multi-lams and deep set neck should put it somewhere on the scale between a neck through and set neck bird (both of which I love - preaching to the choir on this forum). As it's just running through the volume knob with no other capacitance it should - I hope - have some of that flavor. The bigger risk is we actually did adjust the pickup position; moving it half of its width back (so one coil overlapping the original position) in order to accommodate the 26 fret fingerboard and leave enough of a gap that slap is still possible (though I rarely do that). Can't really know how this will work out until plugging it in...

[Highlander]

Slap...?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DK0aaLNGak 

[999]

 

I pretty much agree. just like to keep options open. And I kind of don't like the pickup butting right up against the fingerboard. Don't really know why.

[slinkp]

You could sacrifice that last half-step instead?     25 frets would still be five more than I usually have

[999]

Too late now 

I know I shouldn't be playing that high anyway (but like that those highest notes on the D and G are octaves to the open E and A)

[Dave W]

Mudbucker (or substitute) butted up against the end of the neck is the best defense against slapping and popping.   

[999]

Prescient, yes

And, more seriously, moving the pickup further forward pushed it into the treble side cutaway/would have required reworking that whole area. Just didn't look as good - and that's what matters, right? 

[Dave W]

Right. It needs to look how you want it to look.

[slinkp]

Yeah. If you're going to design something this far off the (boring) norm, there's no point in settling for other than exactly what YOU want! Go for it!!