Last episode I had put lisptick pickups in my Bass VI and considered it a job well done with value added.
When I was ordering the pickups, as a test I ordered a single one which turned out to be Jazz Bass sized rather than Strat sized, so being me I put it in the bridge position of a suitable bass.
I quite liked the sound but it was very quiet compared to the existing pickup.
The only obvious solution was to get another lipstick to match.
When it arrived I admired it’s shiny cylindrical beauty for a few days until I had a spare window of time and after watching Despicable Me 4 with the daughter yesterday set to.
Initially I wired it as a standard JBass and was happy with the result, it is a bit quiet but it sounded like a JBass, but I am not an expert on how say a Denelectro sounds.
Not being someone who is easily satisfied I took it back into the laboratory, er, shed and wired the bridge and neck in series using only one pot.
The first test was a bit disappointing as I had without thinking (it had been a long day) wired the cover ground into the signal and there was significant noise. I quickly solved this and wired the cover ground to the pot ground.
Now very little noise, some of which may have been due to testing near the computer and TV.
What I have now is a big pickup, much louder than before.
I doesn’t sound as good as the neck+bridge I tested on the Bass VI but it isn’t ‘not good’.
I rather like it for what it is.
Now tho I have one big pick up with only one volume and tone control, there is variation in tone depending on where you play of course.
Is it better than what I had before? I am not sure it is an improvement but it is different.
This was a cheap bass-in fact my first-and a surprisingly good instrument. The stock pickups aren’t bad.
Will I leave it like this?
Yes I think I will leave it for the time being and experiment.
I may wire it back to standard at some point also-I am not sure how to do this in series tho- do you wire the ouput of one to the input of the other?
I want to explore these lipstick pickups a bit.
Most of what I wrote was about the 2nd, the Bass VI was there for eye candy and context.
Why would I send the Harley Benton back? The knobs fit the spindles perfectly
What I meant by this is that the metal covers on lipstick pickups come with their own ground wire, when you are doing a standard circuit you just Earth them together.
What I did, because I didn’t think about it, was solder both from the bridge pickup to the ground of the neck pickup. I assume that the noise was from the bridge cover into the signal, as soon as I removed it and earthed it properly it disappeared.
I am interested in how to wire in series with a volume control for each.
Having said this I just found this gem which has on/off for each pickup but a low pass for the neck and a high pass for the bridge pickup- I don’t entirely understand the diagram he has provided tho.
I do love the sound.
I’m taking it that the Kent Armstrong j lipsticks are are constructed like a standard Danelectro lipstick, which are wound to have a low output. That’s the charm behind lipsticks, they are at their best when wired in series with at least one other lipstick pickup.
I’m going to see if I can find this diagram, Thanks for showing this!
Thanks mate, yeah, I’ll need to draw it myself to follow also.
I am by no means an expert and just follow the pretty colours.
If I can understand it I’ll happily wire it up and test it out
