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Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 5:34 pm
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.

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 4:11 pm
by teeder
I've wished for a 4004 with two toasters in the JB positions.

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:02 pm
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.

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:48 pm
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.

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:09 pm
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.

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 2:47 pm
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?

Re: Neck pickup, closer to bridge?

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:13 pm
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.