Pretend Gibby pup and build idea

SGD Lutherie · October 07, 2011, 09:37:25 AM

Quote from: eb2 on October 04, 2011, 06:11:04 PM
I haven't been overly particular about pups - they either sound good or bad to me. The sound I have liked the most over all these years was an old Gretsch Supertron bass pup. The guitar Supertron used several thin sections stuck together to make a blade, while the bass version was one big thick blade. It recorded wonderfully, and sounded fine live. I always attributed that to the blade design. It sounded really even all the way across, and was punchy low and high.

The laminated blade is used to give the pickup a brighter tone, since it inhibits the formation of eddy currents, which are small swirling electrical currents that form on conductive surfaces in the presence of a magnetic field. These current then produce their own magnetic field that opposes the main magnet's field, and that kills off some of the highs.

Bass pickups sound fine with a little eddy current loading, and it's often used on purpose to warm up the tone. The DiMarzio Model One has a thin brass plate on top of the bobbins for this reason. The old Gibson Firebird mini humbuckers had a small thin brass plate on top of the pickup under the treble strings to smooth them out a little.

QuoteMy least favorite has been the DiMarzio p-bass with the allen screws. It is a hot pup, but has that grating overtone. But I believe the open top Allen screws were selected for the way they react to the strings vs a regular screw.

I used to think the allen screws were used on purpose because of the shape, but now I realize that it was just because they are rod shaped. The real reason why the Model P sounds that way is the pole screws are high carbon steel, and they use ceramic magnets. The winding is about the same as a real P bass. So the magnets and poles gives the pickup a harder tone.

jumbodbassman · October 07, 2011, 10:26:05 AM

i have recently =used my Casady bass. I just love that pickup but the bass is a big ass pain to play. very long due to the 34 scale and the bridge not being set all the way back, impossible neck diver. Can someone build a comparable pup/tone selector

Pilgrim · October 07, 2011, 10:30:12 AM

Quote from: jumbodbassman on October 07, 2011, 10:26:05 AM
i have recently =used my Casady bass. I just love that pickup but the bass is a big ass pain to play. very long due to the 34 scale and the bridge not being set all the way back, impossible neck diver. Can someone build a comparable pup/tone selector

Interesting. I agree that I like the sound of that pickup (esp. with Labella flats), but the neck-dive on mine is manageable with a wide strap.

SGD Lutherie · October 07, 2011, 10:39:50 AM

Quote from: jumbodbassman on October 07, 2011, 10:26:05 AMCan someone build a comparable pup/tone selector

Check out this thread:

http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=5772.30

That's my plan. I'm building myself a Triumph bass, and have empty pickup shells, so I've been researching the Les Paul low Z pickups. In the mean time someone loaned me a Triumph and Casady pickup to reverse engineer.

Rob · October 10, 2011, 10:37:30 AM

I just wanted to pop in and testify David's skills at pickup building.
He just made a set of single string pickups for an EUB I built and they are exceptional1
Rob Francis

SGD Lutherie · October 10, 2011, 11:41:50 AM

Quote from: Rob on October 10, 2011, 10:37:30 AM
I just wanted to pop in and testify David's skills at pickup building.
He just made a set of single string pickups for an EUB I built and they are exceptional1
Rob Francis

Hey Rob, I was wondering how those worked out.

jumbodbassman · October 10, 2011, 12:46:23 PM

Quote from: SGD Lutherie on October 07, 2011, 10:39:50 AM
Check out this thread:

http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=5772.30

That's my plan. I'm building myself a Triumph bass, and have empty pickup shells, so I've been researching the Les Paul low Z pickups. In the mean time someone loaned me a Triumph and Casady pickup to reverse engineer.

let me know when....