Replacement pickup for MM Stingray

Gear
#1

Hey bassbuzians !

I saw a few replacement MM Stingray pickups on various threads. I myself have an idea for my Ibanez Jet King bass : I’d like to remove the two soapbars and to transplant two Stingray pickups instead, and wire a … kinda … “creative” schematic :grin:

I learned recently that the “real” Stingray (MusicMan, 4 strings) has the two coils wired in parallel only. And what I’d like to find are replacement pickups with independant wires for each coil, which means a possibilty to wire it in series or parallel. that’s necessary for my wiring idea.

Ideally it should be good quality pickups and not crazy expensive because I’ll have to buy two of them.

any ideas ?

#2

I’m not sure where to source these pickups, but I think you are trying to wire similar to this bass? Maybe investigate MTD.

Read the text, if you can zoom in on the screenshot. The toggle switches allow for a lot of pickup configuration. This bass has lots of different tones.

I think this is close to what you are trying?..

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#3

Betting he wants to split the pickups and be able to series or parallel one side from the neck and bridge together :slight_smile:

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#4

Do you mean physical split/distance between the pickups? These are butted up right next to each other… I know they’re physically close. But, he could try any spacing he likes.

There’s a blend knob in the controls next to the volume. So, you can mix and match pickup selection with the knob , and with the toggle positioning change split, single, etc.

This bass has so many tones. I thought this might help. Otherwise, I am not sure I’m following what he’s after.

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#5

No, I mean split the pickups to take one side of each humbucker as a single coil.

This is common with guitars.

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#6

Something like this?

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#7

Wow that’s cheap.

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#8

what I’d like to do is have one ON/OFF switch for each coil, and each switch will add the coil in parallel to the other “activated” coils. like 4 single coil pickups with all the parallel and pure single coil options :slight_smile: so it means 4 switches. The bridge pickup would be placed in the exact same position than on a MM Stingray (so I could have the “Stingray tone”) and one of the coils of the neck pickup would be placed in the exact same position than the single coil of a '51 Precision Bass.

Also I would be able to use the neck pickup “MM style” (two coils in parallel) or use a virtual HB with the bridge coil of the neck pickup and the neck coil of the bridge pickup together in parallel, as if there were a pickup in between the two physical pickups.

it would make a pretty fun studio-oriented instrument.

I’m not sure I would need the series wiring. it could just be too much :grin:

wow that’s cheap ! but I fear about the quality ? I was thinking something like $100 to $150 for the two pickups, maybe I’m wrong ? I don’t know much about Stingray pickups !

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#9

Definitely drop this man a line martin@ :
[martinherrick.com@gmail.com]

And visit his site here : https://www.herrickpickups.com/

He is always ready to answer questions and I’m pretty sure he could accommodate most ideas when it comes to pickups. Be it an 8 coil,or custom winding etc.

Let us know how you get on.
Btw,I have no affiliation, I’m a recent customer and I’m very impressed with how he has dealt with me and my stupid questions

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#10

Forgot to add- he gave me a discount of 30% on the second pickup, threw in custom covers in the colours I wanted and even sent out a handmade t- shirt.

There are plenty of videos on his site with people using the various pickups he makes

#11

that’s cool !

#12
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#13

Got it…duh

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#14

It’s not really a question of right or wrong Terb. It’s up to you how much you want to spend, but I’d caution against falling into the trap that many do… equating price to quality (material, sound, construction quality).

A pickup, whether it costs $10 or $200, is made up of copper wire, a magnet, a baseplate, a few screws or slugs and a cover. The price difference of $190 doesn’t have much to do with material cost and only a little to do with labor cost. The main difference is that the cheap one is from an unknown factory in China and the more expensive one (that could have very well been built in the same factory in China) has a big name brand attached to it.

You’ve seen the instruments I build so you know that I’m not trying to emulate a particular sound from a major manufacturer. I love the fact that I don’t know what my instruments will sound like until they are finished and I plug them in for the first time. Each is unique and I fully accept and expect that each will have a unique voice… regardless of how much I spend on pickups. And so far I’ve been happy with the sound of all of them. :slight_smile:

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#15

yeah I understand your position @Korrigan !

I love your unique and original instruments, but I’m more a studio guy, and my personnal experiences with cheap pickups are mostly bad. the pickup I had on my Jim Harley Precision Bass, for exemple, was horrible. I replaced it for a MEC pickup (made in Germany , from a Warwick) and it’s excellent. the whole instrument has become so much better ! by the way I paid 30€ for this MEC pickup (used) so, yeah, I totally agree to the fact that there is no need to spend a lot of money to get something that can sound good :slight_smile:

that said, I had two very good surprises with relatively cheap pickups. the first one was with a GFS '56 Strat set, not the best pickups ever but really outstanding for the price. the other one was a cheap chinese set of 3 mini-humbucker with blade magnets, for Strat. those pickups are really really good, despite their price :

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but at some point it’s probably a matter of luck :grin:

Maybe I should get a set of used pickups, or a pair of new GFS pickups …

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#16

You can look up the wiring schematic for a Sire M7/M5 (or other similar basses). It has a Series/Single/Parallel 3-way switch for each pickup. All you need are The MM style pickups with 4 wires each. This may give you what you’re after.

#17

yeah but I don’t think I need the series wiring. I’m not 100% sure at this point, that’s more a concept for now :slight_smile:

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