Back/Front Pickups - eh?

[anzoid]

OK, time for a dumb question...
I see references to the back pickup and the front pickup on two pickup basses.
Which is the one nearest the bridge - front or back?
Because I think I've seen "back pickup" used for either... (and vice versa).

[Lozz196]

Bridge is back, neck is front

[gary mac]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1504961700' post='3368585']
Bridge is back, neck is front
[/quote]

Nothing else to add, Lozz has brought this thread to an end

[JapanAxe]

Except that Fender refer to the Precision pickup as 'middle'!

[Bassassin]

Irrelevant if you refer to the pickups correctly:

"The boomy one" and "the tinny one".

[anzoid]

So, is this the first BC poll to get 100% on one question? Or just a dumb poll...

Thanks guys, I now know which is which - BC has given the definitive answer!!

[ped]

Everyone is right. Except on a left handed bass, obviously.

[MoonBassAlpha]

It always strikes me as a particularly stupid way to ascribe pickup positions.

[BigRedX]

It is indeed a completely dumb way to describe pickup position.

All the pickups are on the front of the bass. If they were on the back they wouldn't work.

[amillar]

They do if you have strings on the back too... http://www.guitarworld.com/basses-gear-artist-videos-blogs/two-sided-bass-guitar-has-strings-both-sides-its-neck-%E2%80%94%C2%A0video/25461

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 25, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1505564102' post='3372863']
It is a very odd way to describe them. I get a bit thrown by the idea that the sound of the bridge/back pickup is a bit more 'forward' in the mix, so the names really don't match up in any way for me.

As we can all agree which parts of the bass are the front and the back, perhaps we should call them the 'left' and 'right' pickups. That might clear it up!
[/quote]

Is that the right hand pick up if looking down when wearing the bass or when looking at the bass from the front.
Its all so confusing you know.

Dave

[Skybone]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1504961700' post='3368585']
Bridge is back, neck is front
[/quote]

This.

[bazzbass]

In what context could the neck pickup be called the back pickup? Never heard it called that

[BigRedX]

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1505624894' post='3373175']
In what context could the neck pickup be called the back pickup? Never heard it called that
[/quote]

Because it's no more or less meaningful to call it that than it is to call it the front pickup.

[ped]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1505747184' post='3373968']
Because it's no more or less meaningful to call it that than it is to call it the front pickup.
[/quote]

But then again as the poll shows, everyone knows what it means so that's why people use it, I suppose.

That rhymes, too.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Is it just a way to avoid confusion when discussing different models of bass? What passes for a "neck" pickup on a Jazz bass looks much more like a "middle" pickup if you hold it next to a Gibson EB3, where the humbucker is right up against the neck. And before you can then say that they're both the pickups closest to the neck, someone turns up with their Sheehan Attitude bass, where there's one up by the neck, and another in the middle...does that middle-position Precision pickup on the Sheehan count as the "bridge" pickup? Not compared to the "bridge" positions on the first two, by the looks of things. And then some bugger turns up with a Rick. I can see how front/middle/back becomes an easy alternative for describing relative pickup placements [i]in certain contexts.[/i]

[BigRedX]

But on a two-pickup bass one pickup will always be closer to the bridge and the other closer to the neck.

To me a "front" pickup would be the one closest on one of the ends of the bass - i.e. the bridge pickup.

[ped]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1505753384' post='3374039']
But on a two-pickup bass one pickup will always be closer to the bridge and the other closer to the neck.

To me a "front" pickup would be the one closest on one of the ends of the bass - i.e. the bridge pickup.
[/quote]

You're heavily outnumbered!

I'd always call the neck pickup the front pickup.

[bazzbass]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1505753384' post='3374039']
But on a two-pickup bass one pickup will always be closer to the bridge and the other closer to the neck.

To me a "front" pickup would be the one closest on one of the ends of the bass - i.e. the bridge pickup.
[/quote]

well you are in the minority, so you are either a genius or a fool, and I am in no position to judge which one

so, when you put yout bass down, do you put in in the stand headstock down? coz that is the only way you could think the bridge pup is the front

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 25, 2022 by Jus Lukin