Thumb Owners

JSmith

JSmith

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Specifically 5 and 6 string owners. Do you guys set both pickup heights the same? For instance I set mine with the bridge pickup 2mm from the string and then the neck at 2mm with the string pressed down at the last fret.
 
Typically the bridge pickup should be closer to the strings on any bass, due to the fact that the amplitude of the strings is lower closer to the bridge.

OTOH the pickups on the 5- and 6-string Thumbs are very closely spaced, so the difference might be less obvious.
 
As of Warwicks spex on neck pickup height , 2mm as well . [video=youtube;8AZp1xSgF7A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZp1xSgF7A[/video] That bass a 5 string Thumb .
 
I press down at the last fret and put my pickups 2mm away from the strings, no matter where they sit. The closer to the neck the pickup is, the lower the pickup will end up once you let go of the string once you set it this way.

In actuality, I set my G-string side 1.5mm away, and neck side 2mm away, but the point is, I do this for all pickups with the string pressed down at the last fret.
 
I just adjust them by sound and feel. For my $$ for example, the pickups are somewhat far from the strings as the strings would hit the pole pieces when I dug in hard.
 
JPT said:
soapbar bridge 3mm, soapbar neck 4mm spacing
Click to expand...

Is that with the string pressed down or left alone?

Is it that same distance on both sides (i.e. pickup gently slanted towards treble side)?
 
JSmith said:
Specifically 5 and 6 string owners. Do you guys set both pickup heights the same? For instance I set mine with the bridge pickup 2mm from the string and then the neck at 2mm with the string pressed down at the last fret.
Click to expand...

Hi Jeff, I am normally setting up the bass as you do, but 2,5 mm not 2
Tbh I am playing pretty hard now, so my action is about 4-5 mm, so it is the pickup spacing :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Hi JSmith.
My Thumb is still in factory setup.
With 26th fret pressed, the neck pickup has 2.2mm gap from the bottom of B string and the bridge PU has 2.5mm.
And with strings open, the neck PU has 3.2mm and the bridge PU has 3mm.
So there is a reversal between the last fret and the open string by which I think the PU height difference is not that critical :)
 
Nice thread. Applicable to all basses not just thumbs. Pickups too low will make your bass sound whimpy, too high you will get too much saturation and lose clarity/definition.

I never really measured any distances and set up my basses with the naked eye while playing them through my actual amp and then through D.I. to doublecheck.

I find that single coils are pretty forgiving and sound proper over quite a large range while humbuckers have just a teeny tiny sweet spot. Is that correct or is it just my specific (EBMM) humbucker being a bitch?
 
DiMarco said:
Nice thread. Applicable to all basses not just thumbs. Pickups too low will make your bass sound whimpy, too high you will get too much saturation and lose clarity/definition.

I never really measured any distances and set up my basses with the naked eye while playing them through my actual amp and then through D.I. to doublecheck.

I find that single coils are pretty forgiving and sound proper over quite a large range while humbuckers have just a teeny tiny sweet spot. Is that correct or is it just my specific (EBMM) humbucker being a bitch?
Click to expand...
The MM on my FNA was tricky too Marco. Too close and the sound felt squashed and too low and of course the sound got thin.

Some good replies in here so far. To reiterate, the question isn't about how to set the pickup heights but rather where. The reason I asked originally is because the Thumb in particular has both pups so close together that I was curious if people set them both the same or followed the standard method.
 
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