Position of P-Style pickup

[Obi-Jan]

Hello there!

First of all I would like to introduce myself (and my bass): I am a strictly picking Bassplayer from Germany and I own a Stingray copy with mahagony Body and mahagony neck with maple fretboard.

I would like to put a SPB-3 or SCPB-3 pickup in the neck position. I prefer a passiv tone circuit with two volume knobs, one tone knob and a 3-way switch for the MM-Style Humbucker.

Here is my question:
What would be the perfect position (distance from nut, or 12th fret) for a additional SPB-3 or SCPB-3 pickup for a more or less original precision sound (I know it´s not 100% possible)?
How would each of these pickups work together with a SMB-4a or SMB-4d?
And finally witch one of these would you recommend for this combination?

Thanks a lot for your Help and greetings from Hannover/Germany

Jan

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

If your copy has the pickup in the same position as a standard Stingray you cannot add a P-Bass pickup in the exact Fender factory location, it will need to be moved a bit towards the nut. Stock location BTW is 28 5/8" from nut to center of the pickups.

My suggestion would be to keep the P-Bass pickup as close as possible to the MM pickup without ruining the look of the bass. If you get too close to the neck it will start to get muddy. The SPB3 has a fairly tight bottom end so it will tend to get less muddy than other pickups though.

Of course, the other option as you mentioned is going with the SCPB which could be placed in the stock Fender location a bit closer to the neck. Sorry I don't have the exact location measurement for the SCPB but I could probably find it for you. I honestly think this would be the best looking option of the two. Duncan offers a stack version of the SCPB through the custom shop if you need something hum cancelling, otherwise the SCPB "Hot" would be my suggestion. I have sold a lot of those to guys upgrading their "Sting" basses and everybody seems to like the tone.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

I did a bit of looking into this when I was attempting to undo the damage I'd done to my EB-0. I'm not doubting you John, but if you look at the distance from the 12th fret to the P, pre-57 P, Mustang, MusicMaster, and the neck pickup on the Jazz, the distance is right about equal to the distance from the 12th fret to the 3rd fret. That distance takes into account scale length differences.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Keep in mind, this is a 30" scale bass. There's a rout the size of an Olympic swimming pool under the duck tape because I arbitrarily decided "this" would be a nice place for a set of pickups. I was like 15-16 at the time. After many different pickups and enlarging the rout I did a bunch of measuring on basses and pictures of basses and that's the commonality I found.

 

[Obi-Jan]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Thanks a lot for your help.

You are right, The position of the P-split pickup would be a problem. And as I don´t want a muddy sound I might concentrate on the SCPB Single coil. The noise won´t be a problem, as the music I make is some kind of noisy too. Or is the SCPB-3 "very" noisy?

I would be happy if you sent me the exact location measurement of the SCPB-3.

Is the sound very different from the SPB-3, the thing I need is a lot of punch.
What do you think about the combination of the SCPB-3 and the SMB-4d, are there any problems with different output?

 

[Obi-Jan]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Hello Golden Boy,

what a nice bass and what a huge hole!
The pickup is a SCPB-3, right? How would you describe the sound?
My bass is 34" scale. I think I will have to look for a 51 Precision and measure the distance.

Thanks.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

It would be unfair of me to post any legitimate review of this pickup, because the body of the bass is made of mahogany and the scale is 30" as well as a bridge that doesn't belong on it, and the headstock has been snapped off a half dozen times. I will say it's been my favorite pickup out of the 8 or 9 different pickups I've had in it over the years.

 

[Obi-Jan]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Thank you for your opinion Golden Boy. Seems like the SCPB-3 is the one to go for. So I just have to find out the right position for this pickup.
By the way, where can I get this Musicman-Style bridge?
Can anyone give an advise or experience for the combination of the SCPB-3 with the SMB-d4?

Thanks a lot for your help so far.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Are you looking for another Musicman bridge or a replacement bridge that'll work on a Musicman?

 

[Obi-Jan]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Well, my bass is not a Musicman, it is just a (good) copy. The bridge that came in stock was made in Corea or China, so maybe I could achive a better sound with an original Musicman bridge, but I didn´t find a place in Germany to get one.
A good replacement bridge would be fine, too. I think there is a Badass bridge that has the same positions of the screws. Do you have any suggestion for a good replacement bridge?

Do you have any experience with the combination of pickups? Are there problems with the resistance of two different pickups?

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

If "punch" is what you are after you should go with the SCPB3 ...

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

I did a bit of looking into this when I was attempting to undo the damage I'd done to my EB-0. I'm not doubting you John, but if you look at the distance from the 12th fret to the P, pre-57 P, Mustang, MusicMaster, and the neck pickup on the Jazz, the distance is right about equal to the distance from the 12th fret to the 3rd fret. That distance takes into account scale length differences.

Interesting observation and probably a good rule of thumb for locating your neck pickup if there is no interference or cosmetic issues on the MM.

 

[Obi-Jan]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Unfortunately there is a interference in this location with the MM-Humbucker, so I have to put the SCPB-3 (I guess I will choose this one) a little bit closer to the neck.
I think I will solder an external tone circuit so that I can place the pickup over the strings to find out the best location.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a MM-Humbucker replacement that matches with the SCPB-3 like the SMB-4a or the SMB-4d? The problems might be different outputs.

Thanks to Golden Boy and Wymore Guitars, you have helped me a lot.

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

I asked in a bass forum if somebody could get me the exact SCPB location on a Fender for you ....

Output between the two MM pickups is very similar, just a bit different tone. The description on the Duncan website will be helpful to look at. If it helps, I sell the Alnico version about 4 to 1 over the ceramic.

I'll let you know what I hear on the SCPB location.

 

[John Wymore]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

I am told 27 3/8" is the distance from nut to the center of the SCPB pickup on a 34" scale Fender.

 

[Obi-Jan]

Re: Position of P-Style pickup

Thank you very much.

That is the information I was looking for. The pickup will fit very well in this location and will look very nice in my opinion.

But there is still the question if the outputs of the SCPB-3 and the SMB pickup are too different for a combination in a passiv tone circuit.
But maybe I should start a new thread for this question because the problem of this thread ist solved.