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Really tempted to add another PUP to my Jazz...again.


paul_5
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To be honest I've done this before. Currently my 'Bitsa' Jazz has a MM Humbucker next to the neck PUP that's switchable (currently on/off) that works in parallel with my normal J pickups. It'll do standard Jazz, P bass and MM tones really rather well, but I'm wondering about a mud-bucker next to the neck that's also switchable (on/off) with a preset trimpot inside the cavity, so I keep the look of a Jazz control plate. I've just done a mock-up using images from GAK's website and I reckon it might be a step too far.

[url="http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/paul_510/media/JazzBassMonster_zpsbcbdeebd.png.html"][/url]

Tonally I foresee it being unbeatable - rather like having an active 'bass boost' knob without the electronics. I could combine the Jazz bridge PUP and neck bucker for a really biting snap with a dubby low end, or any other combination. Might need a LPF on the output of the neck-bucker though...

Aesthetically it might look better with a white pickup cover on the neck-bucker, a bit like Billy Sheehan's old Attitude basses, but without the dual output.


Or am I just going a bit mental?

Edited by paul_5
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Why the hell not is my answer.
My one and only caution would be that with 4 pickups, magnetic string pull may start to noticeably dampen your sustain. My tendency would be to initially mount the neck mudbucker well away from the strings. But then you would probably do this anyway to achieve a decent balance between the pups I suspect.

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As above, plus all the magnets, especially the MM ones, would most likely affect your tuning and intonation due to the magnet pull on the vibrating string. If you lower the pickups to avoid this then the tone will suffer quite a bit.

That'd be one hell of a bass though if it works! :)

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Would it be worth considering wiring the J neck pup with its own tone control or a switch for the neck pup that engages a tone cap so it acts in the same way that rolling the tone control all the way off does.

This would save routing and magnetic string pull issues, and you could hook it up easily to test before commiting to any permanent mods.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1403724590' post='2485705']
Any cap wired this way would become a master tone control, as it straddles the hot and ground sides of the circuit. You cannot isolate a tone control to work on a single pickup, effectively, using mono, passive electronics.
[/quote]

Yeah, I realised that as I was planning my wiring. I've decided to hang fire on this idea... for now...

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[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1403724590' post='2485705']
Any cap wired this way would become a master tone control, as it straddles the hot and ground sides of the circuit. You cannot isolate a tone control to work on a single pickup, effectively, using mono, passive electronics.
[/quote]
I'd seen much discussion about modern vs 50s Les Paul wiring, and how the interaction of the volume and tone controls changes in the combined switch position - if you adopted the 50s wiring scheme, doesn't this change the interaction of the circuit and prevent this happening?

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