Trying to find a fat warm sound in an EMG 40 size.. for 4 string narrow spacing

ryan morris

ryan morris

Sep 11, 2000
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Chicago, IL
#1
Currently I've got old Lane Poors (M4.0N (single coil narrow aperture) neck, Lane Poor M4.0SP
(split coil humbucker) bridge and they are little too clean for me.. I'm looking for a fat warm vintage P tone with some bite and breakup when pushed. I'd love to keep it passive, but don't mind just adding a boost preamp. I really love that old Darkstar tone but my routing won't fit it and my spacing is weird.

Some more info on the LP's:
I filed a nail down to get some iron filings and see what magnets may be lurking in there.
M4.0N
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M4.0SP
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So, first I was leaning towards Nordstrand BigBlades or Nordstrand Big singles. Stew at Nordstrand suggested the BigBlades for the tone I'm after.

My bass is 4 string, EMG 40 size. String spacing 17-18mm. This means the Nordstrands would be a custom size and there may be a 2 month wait, which has made me start to look for other options..

I could:

-Wait it out for the Nordstrand PU's (they'll probably be great).. Maybe get some EMG HZ to throw in for the time I'm waiting
-Keep the LP's and switch the pickup locations.. Split Coil humbucker moving to the neck position
-Get some Chi-Sonic Narrow Shell to fit in there (though the string alignment might be off.. )

Look for another pu that would work (either a bar style or a custom spacing)
Here's some that I found:
-Lace Alumitone 4.0
-Bartolini M4 Deep Tone Split Coil
-Aguilar DCB

Will any of those get me that tone? Is there something else that will work in this situation of a 4" pu with 4 strings and narrow spacing?
 
#2
So, your string spacing is too narrow for a standard Big Blades pickup? I thought one of the main draws of the BB was that it could handle almost any string spacing. Intetesting.
 
#5
So I switched the position of the split coil humbucker and the single coil and I'm digging it more, but I am still browsing around for a the right pickups.. Anyone got any other ideas.
honeyiscool, how would you describe those Barts?
 
#6
EMG 40 size, for a 4 string with narrow-ish spacing??? I've only ever seen EMG 40 on a 4 string, one other time. The Ibanez SRT.

Chisonics should be bar/blade style magnets. So, your spacing should not matter. However, I would email them, to confirm.
 
#8
Check out the Aguilar DCB pickups. They are billed as more hi-fi/full range pickups but IMO they have really great grunt and growl, especially when you favor the neck pickup and roll back the tone knob. The great shame is that most of the sound clips online are clanky-active-slap-wankery. Thankfully the official product demo video from Aguilar with Jimmy Haslip is not.



Aguilar DCB Soapbars - BestBassGear
 
#9
toptube: I've written Hanson. I'm hoping to hear back on the Chi-sonics! I'm really interested in those.
ctmullins: That's a great deal! I even thought for a bit that I could potentially have a cover made to make that work, but, yeah, two would be nice.
testing1two: around 3:30! Yes! 5:30, yup. Digging it. And they're bar magnets.. so that would totally work.

Cool. Getting some options here guys. Thanks!
 
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#10
In regards to the Chi-Sonic pickups I found this:

"This is Bo Pirruccello from Hanson Pickups. We prototype and build pickups for Lakland. We worked closely with Dan Lakin in the development of the chi sonic pickup design. Without going into much detail, bi sonic/darkstar pickups are like big P90's, narrow bobbins, large pole pieces and big alnico bar magnets. Our design is similar to the Hagstrom bi sonics, without the apparatus involved with adjusting pole height. We like the sound of the neodymiums, and with the added benefit of a narrower profile, it enabled us to develop a two bobbin humbucking version.
We just got back from the Arlington Vintage Guitar show, saw some great stuff. Hope this helps, hadn't checked in for a while."

from here: Lakland Chi-sonics - what's up with that pickup design
 
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