New pickups for my Brooks bass

Basvarken · July 08, 2014, 12:32:19 AM

Remember the Les Paul bass that I built a couple of years ago?
I am still very happy with the ergonomics of the bass and the looks. But the sound of the pickups jiust wasn't right for me.
And therefor I didn't take this bass out to play very often. Which is a shame of course.

A few weeks ago I asked Eugen Wulff of Gun Guitars to build new pickups for this bass.
They had to fit the routing of the two Gibson S1/G3 single coils.
These Gibson pickups sound too thin and airy for my taste. I was looking for more punch and more density.

Eugen Wulff is an incredible craftsman; he makes his own hardware, build pickups from scratch. Very impressive.
I knew he could help me out.

Here's the result:

He made the bobbins. Wound the pickups, made the pickup rings. And wired the whole bunch together again.
The wiring is similar to the G3. The front single coil is normal polarity. The middle single coil is reverse polarity. They can be combined as a humbucker.

I'll post more later.
Off to work now

hieronymous · July 08, 2014, 10:03:23 AM

I saw the pictures on Facebook - was hoping you'd post here!

Basvarken · July 08, 2014, 11:49:06 AM

The new pickups (that Eugen from Gun Guitars made) have more punch and more depth than the Gibson S1/G3 single coils.

Now that I have a pair of handmade pickups in this bass I think I need to replace the bridge pickup (artec mudbucker) too

Maybe one of those Curtis Novak pickups?
http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/EB-BS.shtml

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/BS-DS.shtml

Or perhaps I should ask Eugen to come up with something special for that bridge pickup too?

Dave W · July 08, 2014, 02:02:45 PM

Do these sound anything like original single coil Precision pickups?

Nothing wrong with Curtis Novak, but since you're happy with Eugen's work, I'd ask him to come up with a replacement for the Artec.

Basvarken · July 08, 2014, 02:54:44 PM

Quote from: Dave W on July 08, 2014, 02:02:45 PM
Do these sound anything like original single coil Precision pickups?

No not really. Although it's hard to tell because the pickup placement is so much different.
They actually have a similar character to the Gibson S1/G3 pickups. But better. More punch, more depth.
And they wired similar. Each single coil has three leads coming out(start - end - ground). And wired just like the G3 configuration.

Quote from: Dave W on July 08, 2014, 02:02:45 PM
Nothing wrong with Curtis Novak, but since you're happy with Eugen's work, I'd ask him to come up with a replacement for the Artec.

Yes that makes perfect sense.

Nocturnal · July 08, 2014, 06:48:30 PM

Such a great looking bass!!

godofthunder · July 08, 2014, 07:33:41 PM

Very very cool! Interesting pickup combination and placement.

Highlander · July 10, 2014, 04:43:34 PM

Simple answer, maybe...

What is the timber and pickup combination of your absolute favourite, can't live without bass...?

Replicate ...

What you hear is what you want... nobody else can help... you already know the answer to the conundrum...

From my perspective, from a relative newbie perspective, you quite like Lo-Z, so...

Basvarken · July 11, 2014, 12:30:55 AM

Haha, yes. But it's too late for this bass. The wood has already been glued together, cut sanded and finished. The pickup cavities have been routed. So I'm going to have to deal with that and make the most of it.

No really It's a great bass. It's just that my original pickup choice didn't turn out so good as I had hoped it would.
It was an experiment. So now I figured I'd try and get closer to what I had in mind.
I made a big step in the right direction with the two new pickups.

Dave W · July 11, 2014, 09:09:32 PM

Sometimes that just happens. When you're dealing with, say, building your own version of a T-bird, you know it will have a certain baseline sound; here you were experimenting with the pickups in that position in a different style (and scale) bass from a G3. Well, you found out. Knowledge gained, so you move on. I'm glad the new pickups are working out for you.

amptech · July 12, 2014, 12:35:54 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on July 08, 2014, 11:49:06 AM

Or perhaps I should ask Eugen to come up with something special for that bridge pickup too?

How does the artec work with the other pickups, in terms of balance/volume?

I searched around on the internet for forum threads containing good results with the mudbucker in bridge position, weren't many.

I left the thought and focused on trying to bulid a mini humbucker that could fit an original gibson pickup ring and be as loud as the mudbucker

Basvarken · July 12, 2014, 02:21:57 AM

Quote from: amptech on July 12, 2014, 12:35:54 AM
How does the artec work with the other pickups, in terms of balance/volume?

I searched around on the internet for forum threads containing good results with the mudbucker in bridge position, weren't many.

I left the thought and focused on trying to bulid a mini humbucker that could fit an original gibson pickup ring and be as loud as the mudbucker

The balance is okay. Guess I could fine tune it a little bit by lowering the neck pickups some.
But the Artec sounds a little muffled. Even when it runs on its own (position 3 on the rotary switch).

A few years ago I tried a Stagg(!) BG400 with a mudbucker at the bridge. I had no expectation at all from this cheap-ass bass, but it sounded suprisingly good.
The bridge position gave the mudbucker the bite that it lacks in the neck position.

clankenstein · July 12, 2014, 03:35:58 PM

it almost looks as if you could get 2 more of those pickups under the mudbucker cover or in the route.if one was reverse wound you could get the humbucker thing going on and lots of other options.Maybe your guy could build a double pickup like a double j type.

Dave W · July 12, 2014, 07:05:03 PM

Quote from: Basvarken on July 12, 2014, 02:21:57 AM
....

A few years ago I tried a Stagg(!) BG400 with a mudbucker at the bridge. I had no expectation at all from this cheap-ass bass, but it sounded suprisingly good.
The bridge position gave the mudbucker the bite that it lacks in the neck position.

No doubt! But a mudbucker is about the last pickup I'd be looking at if I wanted bite.