The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs => Topic started by: Nocturnal on October 08, 2011, 03:33:14 PM
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I have one of the thin-bodied, single pickup BachBird's and I'm getting ready to change out the pickup for a Gibson TBird Plus. My question is this: Did any of you change your pickup location when you swapped out your original pickups for upgrades? I know that Chromium changed his a little, but just wondered if anyone else did too. Is the Bach pickup in the same location that the original Gibson would have been, or is it the standard "sweet spot" of say a Pbass? The original Bach pickup sounds fine where it is located, but I didn't know if anyone had a better location for it. I just need to get this sorted out before I have the new pickguard made.
Thanks for any help.
Andy
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If i'm not wrong, Rob sended the drawing with all the measures to Bach, so the p.u. is in the same location as the original Gibson.
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Yes I did.
But with BaCH that is no guarantee the pickup ends up in the right place ;)
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Thats what I thought. I knew you gave them the proper layout and spec's, just wasn't sure if the pickup location was one of their changes. I will probably just leave the pickup in it's current location.
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Andy, check the dimensions with Rob's master pattern, or if you want to be doubly certain pm Uwe or Scott and iirc George had a picture with the dimensional layout of an NR...?
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I think I moved my neck pickup about 1/2" closer to the fretboard (had to route the pickup cavity there a bit larger). I had used George's photo that was marked up with the measurements from an original TB IV as reference, and tried to get everything positioned as closely as possible. It was a challenge - the BaCH is pretty close, but definately not dead-on.
(http://www.hillscloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/bach19.jpg)
I have the photo with the meausrements posted in my blog here (about half-way down): http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/refinishing-a-thunderbird-bass/ (http://www.hillscloud.com/2011/06/refinishing-a-thunderbird-bass/)
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Rather than measuring from the pickup to the end of the fretboard it might be a better idea to measure the pickup's diatance from the bridge or the nut. The length of the fretboard might be different from the original too.
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Based on George's pic on Chromium's blog, my pickup is in the correct spot. Guess I don't need to worry about it. I do need to route the cavity a little tho. The Gibson pickup is larger than the original.
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Based on George's pic on Chromium's blog, my pickup is in the correct spot. Guess I don't need to worry about it. I do need to route the cavity a little tho. The Gibson pickup is larger than the original.
The pup on the white one I had matched George's pic, I know that for sure.
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I do need to route the cavity a little tho. The Gibson pickup is larger than the original.
Bet that's what the deal was with mine then, and the reason I had to route it. For some reason I thought I had to reposition the pickup a bit. Probably just the paint fumes talkin' ;)
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I have a second run, and I needed to move my pickup about 1/2" closer to the bridge. Since I used a 60's nickel pickup I didn't have to reroute anything. I just plugged the hole and mounted it to the body.