Bass humbucker guts

[andysleigh]

Hello all
I'v been looking into building pickups, mainly humbuckers, for my gibson rd artist bass home build.
the size pickups i want are quite irregular, so looking into making some...maybe..

Are the guts of a bass humbucker, with a blade instead of poles, different to guitar ones? magnet size, wire gauge etc??...

and what really makes the difference between a good pickup and a bad pickup.
when it comes down to it, they r all just coiled wire. to a noob anyway.

thanks
Andy

[big_teee]

I'm not a bass guy, but the guys that do make bass pickups all the time will want more info.
Are you wanting to make 4 string 5 string, etc, pickups???
What type of bass pickups?
Passive or active?
Please share whatever info you can!
Good Luck,

[andysleigh]

Hey

I was going for 4 string.
primarerly passive, but i;v had thoughts of adding a aguilar 3 band pre amp, making it active.
would end up at 73.5mm x 42mm, which is anoyingly jsut over guitar humbucker size, which some bass pickups come in.
after this kind of tone, grinding away in there somewhere.. Dailymotion - Nirvana - Breed - Live In Seattle 1992 - a Music video

cheers

[David King]

Boy, we had to wait a long time to see any evidence of a bass player on that clip.
Google yielded this site Gibson Bass Pickups
Not much to see there, black epoxy encrapsulation...

[andysleigh]

Boy, we had to wait a long time to see any evidence of a bass player on that clip.
Google yielded this site Gibson Bass Pickups
Not much to see there, black epoxy encrapsulation...

i saw them, and yeah, they dont give much away..

[ckngumbo]

Here's a thread on a bass site that might provide some guidance.
Thunderbird Pickup Explodes!
Good guys and they LOVE Gibbies

[big_teee]

Here's a thread on a bass site that might provide some guidance.
Thunderbird Pickup Explodes!
Good guys and they LOVE Gibbies

I looked that one over, and it doesn't look that hard to make.
It's made like a firebird mini-hum, but looks bigger.
modify, or make a couple of bobbins with a couple of bar magnets, and a cover to put them in and your good to go.
Especially if you have routed body cavity to set them in, thickness wouldn't be as much of an issue.

[andysleigh]

Thanks for the link, quite interesting stuff.


What makes a good pickup?
to a noob like me it jsut seems like a load of coiled wire.

[David King]

That's what I'm finding out for the most part but I haven't ever tried to make that style of pickup.