Moving Pickup Possibilty

[Leftybassist]

What do people think about the idea of a moving pickup. I believe it was first done by Gibson on their "Grabber" bass. You can grab the pickup and slide it up and down rails in between the bridge and the neck (more like a trough than rails really). What I like about this idea is that you would get the immediacy and simplicity of the controls of a single H but the tonal range of an HH and all of the tonal possibilities in between, literally. Wouldn't it be kind cool to see a Bongo with its humbucker in some kind of a stealthy black rail? I don't really know that much about how patents work so maybe MM is prevented from doing it, or maybe the technology doesn't yet allow it to work in a truly useful manner. Maybe everyone is just against the idea, and I'm the only one who thinks it would be cool, I don't know. While I'm at it, I'd love to see a Bongo with an all maple neck and headstock made available. I was thinking about what my dream bass would be and I envisioned a trans orange Bongo with an alder body(uh oh more wild ideas); maple fretboard,neck, and headstock; and a movable pickup that could slide al the way from the bridge to the neck position.


*sheilds head and runs for cover*

"I'll give you a topic, now tawlk, tawlk amongst ya selves!"

 

[Smakbass]

Westone had the rail bass that you could slide the pick ups on as well...im more n favour of a well placed pick up.

 

[Duarte]

Hmmm, I think a massive part of the MM sound is the careful pickup placement...I thnk it would be a kind of massive inconvenience and you would not be able to have more that one pickup due to the sheer size of them. Also, the Bongo maple thing has been done to death and it's not happening, and doesn't need to happen. Although, if one did come out, I would be interested.

Get one of them full rosewood necks!

 

[Aussie Mark]

Gibson Grabber
Westone

Bass with a sliding pickup? BP's smarter than that.

 

[Vintersprit]

Well placed pickups are better, and the EB basses out there now have really nicely placed pickups.

 

[fidooda]

lefty,

i can imagine a few scenarios:

1. Somebody found my single coil? i lost it after the 3rd song
2. Where can i get more pickups? customer service would love that one
3. Stingrail!
4. where is the factory default position for the pickup, do i count from the last fret? begining of the neck? how much distance between pickups?
5. i'm considering getting stingrail, in HHHH configuration will i have enough dig in space for slap?

 

[maddog]

I dunno. try rigging something up.

it is your idea, follow thru on it and learn something new.

 

[Leftybassist]

I would just like to point out to some of you that I was talking specifically about the idea of having ONE sliding pickup. (a musicman HUMBUCKER) Also, I'm thinking it would be for a Bongo, not a Stingray, as it would be more of an innovative idea. I hear what your saying (I love the placement of the pickups on the existing basses) but, it's not THAT bad of an idea. I would try to build one myself but alas I don't own a factory. Anyway I'm sure there is some reason why it CAN'T be done, I just wanted to share an idea.

 

[adouglas]

You don't need a factory.

People make Frankenbasses and Frankenguitars all the time. Look what EVH did. Buy a used Bongo, get a router and go for it. Find out for yourself why it's a better idea to leave things like pickup placement and radical surgery to people who do this for a living. That's the only way you're going to see this idea come to fruition, because there's no way EBMM will do it IMHO.

It's a natural urge, I think, to brainstorm and come up with interesting ideas that might, just maybe, "improve" on an existing design. I think we've all done that at one time or another.... "wouldn't it be cool if...." I know I certainly have. From time to time I've succeeded, too. I've got this absolutely amazing recumbent bicycle hanging in my basement.... but I digress.

It's a fun intellectual exercise, and there's no harm in it.

But age, and the occasional bit of experience gained both from failed experiments and things that actually DID work but did NOT improve anything, has taught me that when you've got a clearly competent bunch of designers and businesspeople running things it's better in the long run to leave well enough alone.

The pickups are where they are for a very good reason. In the thread about the new anniversary bass, BP said something like "If there's a way to set it so that it sounds like cat crap, then it will be set that way on the showroom floor every time."

A sliding pickup can be put in the spots that sound just right...and also all the spots that don't sound good. This is probably why the idea never took off. Good ideas that really pay off have a way of persisting and flourishing. If there was a real advantage to this approach we would have seen more examples of it.

You also wind up with a honking huge trench down the middle of the body in precisely the spot where it needs the greatest strength. You have to make up for that missing material somehow. What would you propose...making the body much thicker and therefore heavier? Then there's the fact that you're changing the resonant properties of the body by removing a big block of wood (y'know, that's right where the Tone Block goes)....

So what's the desired goal, aside from novelty? You said you'd like to get all those tonal possibilities. Here's the simple answer that addresses your desire to get all of the possible sounds a Bongo can make:

Buy one of every pickup configuration and enough stands to hold them all.

If you leave out piezos and only go with 4 or 5 string Bongos (not both), that's just three instruments. Buy used and you're probably out the door for under three grand.

This approach has several benefits:

1) It will be cheaper in the long run. (No kidding. Anyone who has tried to save a buck by not hiring a professional knows how easy it is to wind up spending WAY more and not getting it done right.)
2) It will be much less hassle, there will be no risk of winding up with a piece of junk, and you actually will get all the authentic Bongo tones (as noted above, routing a giant hole in the body will affect the way the bass sounds).
3) You won't be able to set things so that they sound like cat crap. (Remember Murphy's Law.)
4) It will look way cool on stage.
5) Poppa needs a new pair of shoes.

 

[fidooda]

I would just like to point out to some of you that I was talking specifically about the idea of having ONE sliding pickup. (a musicman HUMBUCKER) Also, I'm thinking it would be for a Bongo, not a Stingray, as it would be more of an innovative idea. I hear what your saying (I love the placement of the pickups on the existing basses) but, it's not THAT bad of an idea. I would try to build one myself but alas I don't own a factory. Anyway I'm sure there is some reason why it CAN'T be done, I just wanted to share an idea.

oh, i didn't meant to disrespect you or your idea. I just wanted to have som fun with the overall idea.

Expirementing is part of life, try it if you must. Even if doesn't work like you wanted, you will learn from the experience.

 

[oli@bass]

For me there were two major drawbacks to those sliding pickup basses:

1.) looks like a klingon harp
2.) too many options

Maybe for experimenting and recording it can be nice, but I'd really profoundly hate it on stage because I would always worry whether I have moved it to the right spot...

 

[Leftybassist]

You don't need a factory.

People make Frankenbasses and Frankenguitars all the time. Look what EVH did. Buy a used Bongo, get a router and go for it. Find out for yourself why it's a better idea to leave things like pickup placement and radical surgery to people who do this for a living. That's the only way you're going to see this idea come to fruition, because there's no way EBMM will do it IMHO.

No, No, No, I'm not crazy, I know I can't do it myself and I know that this type of thing should be left to pros. I mean, really, I am only hypothizing. I was picturing it really well done where the pickup would slide like an anderson window all slick an solid like and kinda stick in place where it would sound right. (picture an anderson window going SSHHHHHIICK up and down). You have a really good point about the tone block and all that.... thats the kind of discussion I guess I was going for. Anyway I'm just having a bit of fun here.

 

[maddog]

No, No, No, I'm not crazy, I know I can't do it myself and I know that this type of thing should be left to pros.

If everyone left it up to a pro, nothing would get done. Pro's were Am's before they were Pro's.

 

[adouglas]

The more I think about this, the more I'm of the opinion that you'd actually be LIMITING the possibilities by doing what you suggest.

The reason is that with two pickups and a blend control, you can select one or the other, or anything in between, with the twist of a knob. You can easily do that during a song if you like. With a sliding pickup deal, it'd be a bit awkward to say the least.

Now admittedly, I can't get precisely the tone of my H Bongo out of my HH, but I can get reasonably close. I know exactly where that knob has to be to get it, too.

In practice, I have a favorite setting and I just leave it there. The few adjustments I make are done with EQ and the piezo blend. In my experience, the ability to tweak EVERYTHING can be nifty, but is rarely used in the real world. I'll bet most owners of those Gibson and Westone basses wound up just leaving the pickup in one spot.

There are other differences. I believe the preamp may be voiced differently (beyond having an extra band on the multi-pickup basses). What works for an HH may not be appropriate for an H. And what may be appropriate for an H with the pickup in the "sweet spot" may not work that well for a pickup in a different spot.

What does my H Bongo give me that my HHp does not?
- Much lighter weight (8.8 lbs vs.... considerably more than that).
- Easier string access for pop/slap (which I don't do much of anyway).
- A growly, gritty, aggressive tone that just plain works in the overall mix with no fiddling.

In other words, a great meat-and-potatoes bass that I can play all night long.

What does the HHp give me that the H does not?
- Much wider variety of tones, including the unique piezo sound. If it can't be done with this bass, it's not worth doing in my book.
- A more refined character.

 

[oli@bass]

What does my H Bongo give me that my HHp does not?
- A growly, gritty, aggressive tone that just plain works in the overall mix with no fiddling.

What does the HHp give me that the H does not?
- Much wider variety of tones, including the unique piezo sound. If it can't be done with this bass, it's not worth doing in my book.

Aren't you contradicting yourself now?! Or do you really want to say that the "growly, gritty, aggressive tone that just plain works" is "not worth doing in my book"? Don't get me wrong, but I've learned over time that you're generally very accurate with your use of words and this looks like a logical slip.

Regarding the moving pickup basses... haven't there been models with two movable pickup assemblies? Still, I think those are better for experimenting with tones (as in finding the sweet spot for a production bass) than actually being usable for live settings.

 

[adouglas]

Aren't you contradicting yourself now?! Or do you really want to say that the "growly, gritty, aggressive tone that just plain works" is "not worth doing in my book"?

Allow me to clarify.

Yes, I can get an awesome, growly, gritty aggressive tone that just plain works in the band mix out of the HHp. But I have to pay more attention to knob twiddling, because the range of tones is greater with that bass.

The H is very much a "point and shoot" bass. Plug it in, set it flat or close to it and bam. There you go.

 

[oli@bass]

And much more "point & shoot" than if you first had to move that pickup to the proper location...

 

[adouglas]

And much more "point & shoot" than if you first had to move that pickup to the proper location...

Presactly.