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Guitar pickup to bass?

John Van NordJohn Van Nord Posts: 35
edited July 2011 in Musicians and Gearheads
I was just wondering, can i attach a humbucker for electric guitar to a bass guitar? Hows the outcome?
Any side effects? Is there a big difference?

Anybody has any experience of this?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    Thinking out loud (as I type):

    It should work, mostly. Depending on the humbucker, and the placement on the bass itself; I would tend toward putting it near the bridge, where the string vibrations are a bit less pronounced. The biggest hurdle, presuming it's a standard humbucker with pole pieces, is getting the strings to align over poles on the HB. Of course, the poles will pick up the vibration of the strings even if they aren't directly aligned, but if one or two strings are directly over pole pieces and two or three aren't, I don't know how well the string volume will balance. If it's a rail humbucker, it should work out better since they use a blade instead of poles. I don't know if your humbucker is wide enough to cover the width of the strings at the bridge, either. The string spacing on bass is widest at the bridge, but I think the bridge location is best tonally. Then again, that depends on the bass that you're working with; a P-bass has room on either side of the standard P-bass pickup, but a J-bass or any other 2-pickup bass is a lot tighter to add another pickup. If you're planning on replacing a stock pickup altogether, then it's a bit of a moot point. This experiment may go better on a smaller bass, like a Mustang, Rickenbacker, or such. Then again, at that point you're practically ending up with a 4-string baritone guitar. And I don't know if you're already planning on having to route the body and/or pickguard, but that's almost a guarantee at this point.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • John Van NordJohn Van Nord Posts: 35
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    Thinking out loud (as I type):

    It should work, mostly. Depending on the humbucker, and the placement on the bass itself; I would tend toward putting it near the bridge, where the string vibrations are a bit less pronounced. The biggest hurdle, presuming it's a standard humbucker with pole pieces, is getting the strings to align over poles on the HB. Of course, the poles will pick up the vibration of the strings even if they aren't directly aligned, but if one or two strings are directly over pole pieces and two or three aren't, I don't know how well the string volume will balance. If it's a rail humbucker, it should work out better since they use a blade instead of poles. I don't know if your humbucker is wide enough to cover the width of the strings at the bridge, either. The string spacing on bass is widest at the bridge, but I think the bridge location is best tonally. Then again, that depends on the bass that you're working with; a P-bass has room on either side of the standard P-bass pickup, but a J-bass or any other 2-pickup bass is a lot tighter to add another pickup. If you're planning on replacing a stock pickup altogether, then it's a bit of a moot point. This experiment may go better on a smaller bass, like a Mustang, Rickenbacker, or such. Then again, at that point you're practically ending up with a 4-string baritone guitar. And I don't know if you're already planning on having to route the body and/or pickguard, but that's almost a guarantee at this point.
    Thanks. Its a cheap P-bass I bought a few years ago. Its comes from a grocery store and doesnt even have a label. Its not really bad considering the price, but I thought the sound would be a little thicker if I added a humbucker. What about the frequency? Will the tone be too high?
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    I would guess the tone would be kinda thin, but that also depends on what the humbucker is. Most of the tone will come from the strings, so I would guess it would still sound humbucker-y.

    You do know that you can buy aftermarket bass pickups, right? Even bass humbuckers? Used on eBay, new from folks like Bartolini and Seymour Duncan.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • John Van NordJohn Van Nord Posts: 35
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    I would guess the tone would be kinda thin, but that also depends on what the humbucker is. Most of the tone will come from the strings, so I would guess it would still sound humbucker-y.

    You do know that you can buy aftermarket bass pickups, right? Even bass humbuckers? Used on eBay, new from folks like Bartolini and Seymour Duncan.

    Yeah, but I thought I have this extra humbucker and nothing to do with it.
    However, I intend to keep the pickups that are already on it too, so the sound wont be all "humbucker-y"
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    John Van Nord wrote:
    Yeah, but I thought I have this extra humbucker and nothing to do with it.


    I thought that might be the case. I have these two objects sitting around, what if I mangle them together? I shouldn't make too much fun of you, though; Eddie Van Halen made a 30-year career based on that.

    P-bass with the stock pickup, and adding a humbucker. Definitely put it in the bridge position. You'll have to route the body and drill a hole to the control cavity for the lead. You'll also need to re-work the pickguard situation so you have something to mount the pickup to. Once it's installed and the lead is fed to the controls, you'll need to put in a pickup toggle, and it would be a good idea to have a separate volume (maybe even volume and tone) for that pickup. You could go with concentric pots, where the volume and tone are in one pot with concentric knobs. If you aren't so good with the solder iron, you could probably have a pro do the wiring.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • John Van NordJohn Van Nord Posts: 35
    mccreadyisgod wrote:
    P-bass with the stock pickup, and adding a humbucker. Definitely put it in the bridge position. You'll have to route the body and drill a hole to the control cavity for the lead. You'll also need to re-work the pickguard situation so you have something to mount the pickup to. Once it's installed and the lead is fed to the controls, you'll need to put in a pickup toggle, and it would be a good idea to have a separate volume (maybe even volume and tone) for that pickup. You could go with concentric pots, where the volume and tone are in one pot with concentric knobs. If you aren't so good with the solder iron, you could probably have a pro do the wiring.

    Yeah I was gonna drill a hole in the body. And I will defenitly put it in the bridge position, it even says "bridge pickup" on the box
    First I thought I was just gonna connect it to the already in-place pickups, but youre right adding a second volume button seems more convenient. We will see, maybe I make a bass pickup and add it instead, I read a guide on how to do it and it seemed pretty easy. But then I dont get the magnificent thrill of mangling two random objects together!
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