Using "guitar" pups in a bass

Pilgrim · September 05, 2013, 09:09:27 AM

Quote from: daan on September 04, 2013, 11:17:33 PM

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That pickup sure looks like the typical Japanese "staple" pickups in my 70's Univox bass.

daan · September 05, 2013, 12:24:11 PM

Quote from: maxschrek on September 05, 2013, 08:12:52 AM
Send it to Carlo and have him put some Thunderbuckers in it

Well yeah that would be what I really want to do but each pup (never mind shipping and labor) is more than the whole bass cost...

daan · September 25, 2013, 10:35:25 PM

OK more stupid questions:
If I wire the pickup straight to the output jack, I can get sound. If I try to wire it to anything on the control plate, nuthin'. How much does the control stuff change the sound, anyway (aside from the obvious way of course!) I mean, straight thru VS everything turned up to 10 should be about the same, right?

Dave W · September 25, 2013, 10:49:47 PM

The resistance of the volume and tone controls is a load on the pickup and will affect the treble slightly even when turned all the way up. Little or no apparent volume drop. That's nothing like what you're describing.

daan · September 26, 2013, 05:13:53 PM

Well god only knows what my control plate actually came off of, it was a used take-off sold to me as a Squier part, but it was all of $20 so any one of the components on there could be bad. I just couldn't afford to buy all the parts separately if I got good ones. Next I'll try re-wiring what I have. Or maybe I should head over to Rondo.com and get something that actually plays...

Psycho Bass Guy · September 26, 2013, 06:58:23 PM

Quote from: daan on September 25, 2013, 10:35:25 PM
OK more stupid questions:
If I wire the pickup straight to the output jack, I can get sound. If I try to wire it to anything on the control plate, nuthin'. How much does the control stuff change the sound, anyway (aside from the obvious way of course!) I mean, straight thru VS everything turned up to 10 should be about the same, right?

You've got one of two things going on: either the plate is not grounded to the circuit or something in the control scheme is shorting the signal straight to ground.

daan · December 06, 2014, 02:23:55 PM

OK so since I posted in here last, I got laid off, got a new job, had another kid, and had a flood in my basement work area... not good for finishing projects, huh? ANywyay I FINALLY am back on my feet, and enough of my kids are in school so I have time to work on my stuff once in a while. So when I left off, I wasn't getting any sound out of my pups. After a LOT of messing around, I discovered that one of the pots in my control plate was broken internally (the shaft spun 360* without doing anything-shoulda checked that better, huh?) One of the replacement pups didn't work at all, and both of the ones I had rewound also didn't work.

I used to have a Hofner 500/4, that had the pickups from an early '00's Gretsch Jet bass in it. I really liked the way it sounded, and after a bit of research found out those may (or may not) have been "Artec" guitar mini humbuckers ("Firebird" style minis with no polepieces thru the cover, which are basically regular minis with a solid cover) So I looked around for a set of those. Somebody on Ebay was selling some, I got a ceramic one for $10 and an Alnico one for $12. And with the track record I've had so far, I took them to an electrician buddy who tested them with his multi-meter and they both work. (The "staple" looking ones, one registered at 6.5K and the other one was infinity.)

I bought 3 new pots and a capacitor and just replaced everything that came with my control plate. If I realized how (comparatively) cheap these components were, I'd have just done that to begin with rather than tear the bass all apart, I'd have been able to play it for about 2 years now, instead of having it spread out all over my basement...
Now I need to replace the guardplate my bass came with because the new pups are 1/8th" or so narrower than the staples, and the plate doesn't work with the new control plate anyway. Plus it's real thin plastic (it looks like they were supposed to be B/W/B and they "forgot" to laminate all 3 layers on it) It has lots of extra holes in it from thumb rests or something, too so I don't mind making a new one. I got a new blade for my M-I-L's bandsaw, and she's gonna be at her winter home all winter so I have the basement to myself this winter.

I got some construction paper to try and make a pattern for the new guard. I did cheat and buy an actual Jazz bass guard, but it didn't come close to being the right shape...

Dave W · December 06, 2014, 07:55:31 PM

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes, sounds like you have things under control now. Congratulations on the new child.

As for the pickups, doesn't matter whether or not they're Artecs as long as they work and you like the sound.

daan · December 17, 2014, 05:00:15 PM

So now that I'm messing about with the soldering iron, I see that one of the pups I have is 4-wire hookup. Would it be worth wiring up a coil split/tap in there, even just to see how it sounds? (I did this before, in a guitar so I have a little experience, just enough to be dangerous!) And, since only one is this way, would bridge or middle (or is it neck? The one closer to the fret board anyway) would one or the other make a difference?

Highlander · December 17, 2014, 05:35:01 PM

Test meter time...

Dave W · December 17, 2014, 09:33:26 PM

Unless you were already familiar with the pickups' characteristics in that bass, I don't think you'll be able to guess in advance which might make more difference, or if the difference would be worth doing.

mc2NY · December 18, 2014, 09:32:25 AM

Uwe may know this answer.....

Did Gibson use the exact same pickups in both the guitar and the bass versions of the Les Paul Signature models?

Mine both looked exactly the same.

I've asked this on the Gibson Forum but never got an answer.

I've used old 80s OBL blade style humbuckers in both guitars and basses. They sound great in either.

Usually the only real factor preventing cross-using pickups from guitar to bass is the number of poles. Although the magnetic field may still cover output on really strong pickups to mini,Alize dropouts....it is usually better to use PUPs without pole pieces.

daan · January 21, 2015, 06:30:18 PM

Well, here we go, the guard (and the pup surround) is done. Now just to wire it up!

THe pup surround is bigger than the original, mostly so the route underneath doesn't show.

I'm starting to think the route isn't exactly where it should be, if I center the pup under the strings the route still sticks out a little.

But it is a "budget" guitar from the 70's, so I'm not real suprised. I'm starting to get excited, I haven't been able to play this thing for a year (or 2...)

clankenstein · January 25, 2015, 09:20:27 PM

Is it possible that the bridge is not quite in the right place ?

daan · February 17, 2015, 08:21:45 PM

Quote from: clankenstein on January 25, 2015, 09:20:27 PM
Is it possible that the bridge is not quite in the right place ?

With my skill level, that's ALWAYS a valid question!

Well apparently I deleted all my pictures, so 2 things: DON"T let me work on your basses, and step away from the keyboard!

I measured about 14 times, and temporarily attatched the bridge and checked it with strings, so I'm PRETTY sure it's in the right spot... but this is me we're talking about here, so I could be wrong.