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Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:39 am
by Mr. Meaty
I was really kinda digging the reissue horse shoe tone . Dont like the shoes themselves ,they get in the way . just the regular magnetic pickup with the big slug pole pieces. Dont dig the price of them though. So i decided to make my own . I made a plastic Ricky style pickup base plate out of an old pick guard and mounted a seymour duncan quarter pound 51 p bass pick up to it .Poles lined up almost perfectly and sounds KILLER . Meaty and growly. smooth responce and the high output of the quarter pounder closely rivals the reissue pickup.And it actually looks like it belongs in the bass .Seymour duncan makes an even hotter 51 style pickup. i think i'll try that next . I'll post some pics as soon as i can figure it out lol.

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:15 pm
by cassius987
#1--PICS PLEASE

#2--how much did the project cost?

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:22 pm
by jingle_jangle
Image

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:23 pm
by Mr. Meaty
52 bucks for the pickup . You could probably do better in price for a used one on the bay

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:05 pm
by teeder
I did a similar thing in the late '80's, but used a Seymour vintage JB. It sounded great!

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:11 pm
by Mr. Meaty
I tryed to fit a jazz in there but the pole spacings where way off.

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:18 pm
by rickaddict
Shoe-less horseshoes sound good too.

http://rickresource.com/register/user_i ... llsize.jpg

Too bad they're more than 10 times the price!

:evil:

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:35 pm
by Mr. Meaty
Thats why the 51 p bass style pickup . Same basic idea . Less quid. :mrgreen:

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:56 pm
by teeder
Mr. Meaty wrote:I tryed to fit a jazz in there but the pole spacings where way off.
I remember it was a "neck" JB pu which has a smaller spacing. I like your idea better though.

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:14 pm
by s4001
I'd love to hear clips of it.

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:35 pm
by cassius987
If you make a streamlined template of the baseplate I'd like to see it. Cool project idea--I forgot how similar the '51 P Bass pup looks to the inside of the 'Shoe.

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:01 pm
by teeder
Hmm .... my brother can get Seymours at dealer cost! Interesting! :mrgreen:

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:51 pm
by johnallg
I drilled out a bridge higain and put in 5/16" alnico5 rods. Unfortunately the one end is too close to the copper and I hit it. Sergio rescued me and that coil now sits in the S bass with steel rod poles and magnetic shoes. With the alnico5 rods it was begging for non-magnetic shoes, but the magnet kind came along first. :lol:

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:27 pm
by aceonbass
Joshua, when I mount HB1s in my Ricks I end up making a nice black or white plexi base plate since I never have a factory base plate. They look pretty clean. Oddly enough, I think the BassLines swap sounds kinda interesting. The spacing looks a bit closer to my 4004's though. I'd have to put a pickup cover over it though. Not a bad substitute for an $800.00 RHS.

Re: Pickup experiment

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:00 pm
by antipodean
Having an eye for the budget, I tip my hat to you, John. If I find another bass to do up, this will be high on my list of potential mods.