Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Vintage, Modern, V & C series, Fretless, Signature & Special Editions

Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4

Post Reply
User avatar
cassius987
Senior Member
Posts: 4702
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:11 pm

Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by cassius987 »

I've wondered if the 4003 neck pickup has room to travel closer to the bridge using a modified pickguard. It seems like it could move forward 1/2'' without difficulty. Has anyone tried this? This will bring it closer to (but still nowhere near) 4002/Jazz Bass neck pickup territory. Could be an interesting sound, though I imagine the difference will be subtle.
teeder
Senior Member
Posts: 6303
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:00 am

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by teeder »

I've wished for a 4004 with two toasters in the JB positions.
User avatar
aceonbass
Veteran RRF member
Posts: 6650
Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2002 5:00 am
Contact:

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by aceonbass »

cassius987 wrote:I've wondered if the 4003 neck pickup has room to travel closer to the bridge using a modified pickguard. It seems like it could move forward 1/2'' without difficulty. Has anyone tried this? This will bring it closer to (but still nowhere near) 4002/Jazz Bass neck pickup territory. Could be an interesting sound, though I imagine the difference will be subtle.
While I don't think the existing route extends back quite far enough, a plunge router will fix that.
User avatar
iiipopes
Intermediate Member
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 5:02 pm

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by iiipopes »

Remember when we took a cheap J-pickup, hard wired it to a jack, connected it to an amp, then suspended the pickup upside down at various positions over the strings along the scale to observe the differences in tone? Yes, moving the pickup towards the bridge 1/2 to 3/4 inch scale would be subtle, but might add just enough overtones that with a drop in the right range of mids it could sound "acoustic-y," just like the neck pickup of a 24-fret RIC guitar has more harmonic development compared to the neck pickup being in the 24th fret node on a "vintage" 21-fret instrument.
User avatar
cassius987
Senior Member
Posts: 4702
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:11 pm

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by cassius987 »

iiipopes wrote:Remember when we took a cheap J-pickup, hard wired it to a jack, connected it to an amp, then suspended the pickup upside down at various positions over the strings along the scale to observe the differences in tone?
Yes, that was probably my favorite "sound experiment" ever. Very informative.
User avatar
Isaac
Member
Posts: 439
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2014 2:24 am

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by Isaac »

iiipopes wrote:Remember when we took a cheap J-pickup, hard wired it to a jack, connected it to an amp, then suspended the pickup upside down at various positions over the strings along the scale to observe the differences in tone? Yes, moving the pickup towards the bridge 1/2 to 3/4 inch scale would be subtle, but might add just enough overtones that with a drop in the right range of mids it could sound "acoustic-y," just like the neck pickup of a 24-fret RIC guitar has more harmonic development compared to the neck pickup being in the 24th fret node on a "vintage" 21-fret instrument.
Sounds cool. Was there a sweet spot, or just different sounds in different locations?
User avatar
cassius987
Senior Member
Posts: 4702
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:11 pm

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Post by cassius987 »

Isaac wrote:Sounds cool. Was there a sweet spot, or just different sounds in different locations?
My memory was predominantly the latter, not the former. But it was cool how we recapitulated lots of the "classic sounds" by just moving a pickup around.
Post Reply

Return to “Rickenbacker Basses: by Joey Vasco & Tony Cabibe”