Short-scale 3-pickups bass: concepts

[BlueTalon]

I’m also wondering whether the middle Big Split would be a good enough P impersonator that a separate pickup wouldn’t be needed. It’s the closest thing to a split-coil P according to Nordstrand, and the location is only a bit south of the P regular location...

I can't directly address that question, but I can offer you a couple things to think about.  The first is the quality of pickup, and you're doing well by going with Nordstrand.  If they're telling you that the Big Split is a good close substitute for a split P pickup, I would feel confident in using it.

The other thing is the positioning.  I am probably in a distinct minority when I say I believe the precise positioning of pickups really doesn't matter that much.  As long as you're close, you're good.  (As you get closer to the bridge, it matters more, but where a P pickup is typically located, you have a bit of wiggle room.)  There might be enough of a difference to hear a slight difference in an A-B comparison, but you probably wouldn't know which was which if you were blindfolded when you heard it.

 

[Mathieugr]

I’m also wondering whether the middle Big Split would be a good enough P impersonator that a separate pickup wouldn’t be needed. It’s the closest thing to a split-coil P according to Nordstrand, and the location is only a bit south of the P regular location...

I can't directly address that question, but I can offer you a couple things to think about.  The first is the quality of pickup, and you're doing well by going with Nordstrand.  If they're telling you that the Big Split is a good close substitute for a split P pickup, I would feel confident in using it.

The other thing is the positioning.  I am probably in a distinct minority when I say I believe the precise positioning of pickups really doesn't matter that much.  As long as you're close, you're good.  (As you get closer to the bridge, it matters more, but where a P pickup is typically located, you have a bit of wiggle room.)  There might be enough of a difference to hear a slight difference in an A-B comparison, but you probably wouldn't know which was which if you were blindfolded when you heard it.

The Split P indeed also has a good split-coil replacement reputation on Talkbass (I've also been following your 3-pickup topics there). I could possibly get rid of the separate split-coil and simply use the Big Split. I could also use a BigSplitMan with custom wiring and switch between in-line Rickenbacker coil position and split-coil arrangement. Then again, I could only use the outer coil / dual coil arrangement.

Two more things to consider -- if you have a MM pickup hidden by a pickguard, that means it's going to be lower than the other pickups with no way to adjust the height, which is usually how you control the output of a pickup.

I understand a split-coil tends to be hotter than the Big series (even though they are fairly hot), my line of thoughts to even out the outputs is to use the hidden P as the baseline for volume, and adjust the height of the Ric pickups arrangements accordingly. Then again, using only 2 pickups would solve the issue

I'm also discussing with Nordstrand the merits of using their Blades family of pickups in order to avoid string spacing issues (I must say either dual Zen Blades or dual BigBladeMan sounds intriguing, and would look good with the more modern G4 body IMO).

Still waiting for Warmoth to go back to me with a confirmation of feasibility and pricing...

 

[Rick]

While made in korea, the hipshot bridges are described on the Hipshot website as:

CNC machined from solid brass for a thick and punchy low end or aircraft grade aluminum for airy and brilliant highs.  Not mystery metal

There's more mystery in the badass as they are described as being made from "zinc alloy."  Not that there's anything wrong with zinc, but I'd rather have brass or aluminium. 

The hipshot aluminium bridge is pretty light relative to brass.  Nothing wrong with the Babicz though.