Novak Mudbucker or Darkstar or Thunderbird

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A Darkstar" Bisonic pickup and a mudbucker are totally opposite pickups.

perfect. i'm on the right track then. i'll get both. now, putting them both 2 darkstars and 1 mudbucker in thesame bass... too much string pull?

I've had several Novak pickups and they were all money well invested.

i believe. i have a pile of project baritones and basses and only one of them am i considering a different make.

You'd think,

If you ... are fine with the bass haveing virtually no resale value,...With the price you paid, you might actually come close to breaking even reselling the better pickups and the bass (in original condition) separately.

i was totally joking about resale value. like i said early, i got it b-stock for $150-180. it totally was an, apparently bad, joke. i'm not sold on the thunderbird pickups. even the boutique ones. if i was really going to piano sounds, i think i would got to maybe qtuners. but i really dig the idea of darkstars and mudbuckers in the same bass as long as there isn't a bunch of string pull to deaden the ring of the string

 

[Eilif]

but i really dig the idea of darkstars and mudbuckers in the same bass as long as there isn't a bunch of string pull to deaden the ring of the string

The issues with the different pickups aren't so much string pull as whether the different outputs of the pickups are well suited to being in the same bass. Different outputs will mean that the pickups can't be effectively blended. You could of course have Curtis wind them to custom outputs, but then you'd no longer have the vintage qualities of the pickups.

Honestly, I have my doubts over whether you've really thought this through and whether it will actually happen. Do you really plan to put $700 in pickups into a $150 bass? Rather than throwing everythign at the wall and hoping it works, go back to your original intent and focus on a bass that will be effective.

If you're intent on doing a project with high end pups, then forget the mudbucker. Decide whether you like the tone of the classic thunderbird (go with boutique thunderbird pups) or whether you want something more like a Lakland Decade and go with a set of bisonic pups. Either arrangement will give you a set of two balanced pups that can be blended at will and will give you both a signature tone and a fair amount of variety within that unified charachter.

If you want a super-thick humbuckery tone out of a pair of darkstars simply equip it with a series/paralell switch. Use a push-pull pot and you won't even have to drill any new holes.

 

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Honestly, I have my doubts over whether you've really thought this through and whether it will actually happen

well, then.

i didn't think about blending them, but if i'm going to do a ton of crazy wiring and routing, i bet i could put in individual volume knobs. and i totally am the guy who will put twice the price of pickups in a cheap something. all my gear is like that. if i could just bleed money and get ground up custom jobs, i would. i think about it like old timey hot rodding. get a beater and put a huge motor in it, tune it up and have yourself a sleeper. i don't do inlays made of virgin rhino horn, endangered old groth exotic woods, and hand rubbed gold everything. i hate that stuff. but if something makes it have THAT sound, like pickups. i will scrape together some extra $. kinda like how i have 5, soon to be 6 wren and cuffs, and half my basses and guitars cost as much as one of those. and if you really wanna go there, i'm a terrible musician anyways. there a hordes of teens that are way better players than me. you could say i don't even qualify as a bass player. or that i couldn't find good tone if it bit my a$$. but i don't see how any of that is your business.

i was asking for peoples personal opinions between a few pickups. cuz i haven't been able to use them yet. go get yourself some stool softners and a costco barrel of metamucil

 

[Eilif]

well, then.

i didn't think about blending them, but if i'm going to do a ton of crazy wiring and routing, i bet i could put in individual volume knobs. and i totally am the guy who will put twice the price of pickups in a cheap something. all my gear is like that. if i could just bleed money and get ground up custom jobs, i would. i think about it like old timey hot rodding. get a beater and put a huge motor in it, tune it up and have yourself a sleeper. i don't do inlays made of virgin rhino horn, endangered old groth exotic woods, and hand rubbed gold everything. i hate that stuff. but if something makes it have THAT sound, like pickups. i will scrape together some extra $. kinda like how i have 5, soon to be 6 wren and cuffs, and half my basses and guitars cost as much as one of those. and if you really wanna go there, i'm a terrible musician anyways. there a hordes of teens that are way better players than me. you could say i don't even qualify as a bass player. or that i couldn't find good tone if it bit my a$$. but i don't see how any of that is your business.

i was asking for peoples personal opinions between a few pickups. cuz i haven't been able to use them yet. go get yourself some stool softners and a costco barrel of metamucil

Sorry if you thought my doubting is too harsh, but on this thead alone you're hopping from plan to plan like a caffinated bunny rabbit. if you're really going do this project right then you're better off actually listening to the advice folks are offering than ranting. If you're going to do it, then do it. I (and most folks here) are just suggesting you do it right.

So, I'm going to read past your juvenile comments and try and give you some real information.

First, individual volume knobs will not a balanced pickup arrangement make if they're not matched well. By the time you sweep one pickup down enough to balance with the other you'll lose much of that pickups range and voice. Unless you're going for a stereo setup like Billy Sheehan where the matched pair goes to one output and the 'bucker goes to another, a mistmatched 3-pickup bass is a recipe for mediocrity. A well matched pair of high-end pups on the other hand is an excellent choice that's hard to mess up even if buidling off a cheap bass foundation.

I do have a bit of experience here. I'm not talking out of my behind when I tell you to go with 2 well-matched pickups. I put a matched pair of Reverse Wound (hum canceling when on together) Darkstars in a guts-less T-40 that cost me around 100 or $150. It sounded awesome and the range of tonal options available with a simple volume-volume-tone setup is emmense. I've since moved that same setup to a custom body and it still sounds great.

One last point. the width of the thunderbird pup might leave you with a bit of a gap next to the darkstar pickup ring. You'll want to make a pickup ring to cover it. Luckily that's not hard. You can cut a rectangle out of most any wood or plastic. I made mine (for the t-40) out of a DVD case.

You might find the thread about my darkstarred T-40 informative.
Completed! T-40 with Darkstars! Added: band practice report!

 

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Sorry if you thought my doubting is too harsh, but on this thead alond you're hopping from plan to plan like a caffinated bunny rabbit.

hey, much non verbal communication is missing from text things get off on the wrong foot. if you didn't mean to be super condescending, then i take back what i said. and i thank you for sharing your experience.

i'm totally open to wiring configuration ideas. in the end i plan for this to go in a stereo or crossover'ed rig. so stereo outs might be a good idea. in my mind i was thinking of putting the darkstars where the original epi PUs are and adding the mudbucker right up at the fretboard edge. so three total pickups.

 

[Eilif]

hey, much non verbal communication is missing from text things get off on the wrong foot. if you didn't mean to be super condescending, then i take back what i said. and i thank you for sharing your experience.

i'm totally open to wiring configuration ideas. in the end i plan for this to go in a stereo or crossover'ed rig. so stereo outs might be a good idea. in my mind i was thinking of putting the darkstars where the original epi PUs are and adding the mudbucker right up at the fretboard edge. so three total pickups.

If you're going stereo with two separate signal paths then throw whatever pups you want in there. Just keep the DS's in one line and shove the mudbucker in it's own.

Just to get a bit out there, if you're nuts for 3 pickups and want something slightly more practical (though only slightly) 3 DS's wired like a strat is another option.