Stingray pickup position

[bonesofwrath]

I have a half-moth fretless P, and lately I've been seeing stingrays everywhere. It's got a nice/okay sound but I'd like a bit more natural scoop and some brightness. (Note I'm not shooting for your stereotypical fretless bass sound. Jazz Bridge pickup is one of the most useless things ever foisted upon bassdom IMHO). I know a fretless will never really clank - but I'd like to try.

What will a passive MM as far up as a precision's route sound like? I don't feel like I need or want active EQ on the bass - I can do that at the pedalboard. I suppose I can put a pickguard on it to relocate the pickup route to where it should be for a stingray but I'm wondering if I re-route the existing P spot for a MMHB what the result would be.

 

[DaveT]

Not exactly answering your question but my experience is below.
Lace Alumitone bass pickups are stunningly good IMHO. They are available as Precision pickups, soap bar pickups and a very pretty chrome bar pickup. Different formats but they sound the same.
I have a bass with the DiMarzio Model One pickup in it. Massive amounts of bass not much treble and doesn't have the 'mud' of the original Gibson EB0 pickup.
I rigged up the Lace Alumitone on top of the Model One so it was in exactly the same position but on top of the strings instead of under them. Much cardboard-and-tape engineering involved to do it!
I rigged up the wiring so I could switch between the pickups easily and tested it through a Gallien-Kruger bass combo.
A lot of bass from the Model One as expected.
Every bit as much bass from the Lace Alumitone! And the treble just kept going on and on and on.
I used the amp EQ to roll off the highs and the Alumitone sounded like the Model One.
So, my short answer to you is to get a Lace Alumitone Precison bass pickup and use that. I did, and it replaced the DiMarzio Model P Precision pickup that had been in my bass for 48 years! Nothing wrong with the DiMarzio Model P, the Lace Alumitone is just better in every way and again, tone controls can roll it back to the Precision sound.

The bass is a fretless Kramer 250 single pickup bass with aluminium neck I bought new when I was 19 years old. The bass bridge got swapped for a very nice Babicz Full Contact bridge about 3 years ago. Great improvement! The original Kramer chrome soap bar pickup was rubbish IMHO hence my woodworking to persuade the DiMarzio Model P to fit all those years ago... I did a bloody good job of it too! I surprised my self when I went in there to fit the Lace Alumitone Precision pickup a few weeks ago.