Question Why is the bridge single coil angled?

[adouglas]

Someone was asking me the other day if there are any plans for a future HH model?

Wow. A threadjack so severe it actually gave me whiplash. Well done!

 

[JayDawg]

No thread jack intended. Just a simple question since we were on the subject of Big Al's pickups.

 

[adouglas]

I know, just kidding.

 

[Jim C]

Maybe the pups are angled because that's the way it's always been done, it looks cool, and doesn't make any difference at all







(and maybe somebody who actually knows something will respond!)

 

[smallequestrian]

(and maybe somebody who actually knows something will respond!)

I would try reading the previous posts first...ahem...

Dudley said, "....it changes the harmonic content of what the pickup "sees". Typically it's angled to make the low strings fatter and the high strings brighter."

He also asked rhetorically why dogs performed a certain action....but perhaps that isn't relevant.

 

[Jim C]

OK; just don't know who Dudley is and didn't read it as an answer from the factory
Sounds like my mistake

It is curious that some basses use the angled design and some don't (Big Al vs. Stingray) and some single coils and humbuckings are angled and some are not (P vs J vs Big Al vs Ray) must be one of the 8 zillion variables that gives an instrument its' voice

 

[adouglas]

Dudley Gimpel is the evil genius who brings BP's equally twisted vision to life. He designed the Bongo preamp, among many other things.

Sometimes he looks like a mild-mannered, soft-spoken engineer.

Other times he looks like this:

 

[RocketRalf]

My own concept of this also relates to harmonics.

When a string is plucked, the whole harmonic series is set off all at the same time. When we draw this on paper we often just show a single mode of vibration... here's a drawing of a string with several harmonic modes represented separately.

In reality it's a much more complicated motion because all of the harmonics are represented at once.

You can filter out harmonics by touching the string at the various harmonic nodes (i.e. you can filter out the base vibration by touching the string at the 12th fret, leaving only the first harmonic and the even-numbered ones above it, and so on).

If you put the pickup close to the end of the string, you get a similar effect (I think). The closer to the bridge you are, the lower-order harmonics are not as well represented because the pickup can't "see" them. Hence the thinner, more trebly sound of bridge pickups, even though the note being played is the same.

By angling the pickup, the treble side is primarily "seeing" a higher-order harmonic than the bass side. So you get more prominent higher-harmonic overtones on the treble side than on the bass side.

Does that make sense to anyone but me?

You are correct in everything but the last part. The pickup in the bridge sees more of the first harmonics, which are louder than the higher ones. The neck pickup is usually placed in the second octave position (what would be the 24th fret if the instrument had one) to cancel the third harmonic, thus the tone is not as cutting but retains it's brightness. On bass that position would probably take too much out of the tone so it is not that close to the neck.

 

[bovinehost]

OK; just don't know who Dudley is and didn't read it as an answer from the factory. Sounds like my mistake

No probs, Jim. My bad for assuming everyone knows who Dudley is.

Whew, there's a crew! And Sir Dudley himself is top right.

 

[Big Poppa]

Ok Dudley has designed just about everything that we make or have made...we have done it together but dudley is mvp of the design team. Drew Montell (drewbixcubed did the 20th Silo the Jp BFR JPx and more John Watkins (enjohneer) did the 30th string ray and others...

Dudley has the second to the last word...hehehehe actually Dudley and I have never had a disagreement in nearly 30 years of design.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

actually Dudley and I have never had a disagreement in nearly 30 years of design.

I guess there's nothing to disagree about when the instruments are so good!

 

[Jim C]

No probs, Jim. My bad for assuming everyone knows who Dudley is.

Whew, there's a crew! And Sir Dudley himself is top right.

Thanks; always great to associate a face with the name.