I want to add an independent pickup on my 4 string cbg for just the bass string. Does anyone know what kind of pickup I should use or make? Are there any plans or examples of how to actually install this pickup side by side with the other 3 strings and their pickups? Hope that's clear. Thanks

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  • Contact Ted Crocker,he's done countless designated pups,his info would be pretty relevant

  • I used to adjust the pickup screws in humbukers. Some strings in some gages need more or less volume to be equal in strength with the rest. Look at a staggered Strat pickup to get the idea. Adjusting one pole wouldn't change the output of the adjoining strings. 

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    Perhaps you could try thins first. Place a wired pickup under one string and run it live to an amp. Turn the volume loud enough, or be close enough to the speaker to better hear it's output. Then play the other strings. No signal no crosstalk. 

  • Thanks all! This gives me a direction. From the sounds of it fixing the bleed over is going to be the project after whatever pickup I install. The switch sounds like a good start. I'll be thinkin' on it fer a piece.

    • Yeah don't worry about bleed. It will be small. You can't isolate it fully but you can separate it to the extent that you could have a separate line out. You could even use a stereo cable and output with one set on the left the other on the right.

      I'm with the idea of using a six pole vericaly up the length of the string. That will give a very strong signal for that string especially if it was offset or ever turned 90 degrees so it sits to the side of that string.

      Go for it. Post the results :)

    • You won't get nearly as much bleed as you (or others) might think. Ever looked, really looked, at a Fender P-bass? Same idea as Dan Sleep's customer: split pickups, handling two strings each. Ever play one?

      Or, look at a 6-string single coil on a Strat (there's three, so you have a choice). Pluck a string, any string. Tell me how much bleed you get. Uh huh. Thought so.

      You wanna do something really easy, and similar to what Dan's customer did? Take a single coil pup, and align all the magnets along the string. See how much bleed you get then. Uh huh. You won't need a switch; you'll need, at minimum, separate volume pots, or, a blend pot.
      • The Pbass pups have one that is RWRP of the other to get that humbucking sound and to eliminate any out of phase tinny sound problems. Any 2 pickups that are close together will have problems unless one is RWRP(reverse wind reverse polarity). So if this pup is going to be close to the other pup, wind the wire in the other direction and make sure the magnet is the opposite polarity.

         I've seen a pickup winder on the internet that is making a 2 pole pup that is RWRP of the other pup it sits by, and sits right behind a regular single coil pup just under the 2 low strings for bass and the bass pups run through their own electronics to another amp. Can't remember the name of the guy or his site now.

        You'll have to split the electronics for the bass to it's own amp by using another jack or using a Stereo jack and Y cord.

        The simplest way would be to have a big gauge string for the bass and tune it down as far as you can. Use a 4 or more pole pickup for all the strings together.

  • Here is something one of my customers did with 2 of my ThinBuckers.

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    • Pretty cool alright!

  • Whatever way you do it you will get bleed from this string to the other pickup and visa versa.

    Someone on here was using, I think it was tiny electronic switching units let me look around in here, maybe it will give you some idea. Let me have a look and find it for you.

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