Pickup upgrade for ESB4

[darthdamo]

Does anyone have any suggestions for PUP upgrade on the ESB4?
It's hard to find good recommendations on the interweb because the ESB4 has routing for standard Humbuckers
and most upgrade paths point towards PBass or Jazz bass or Musicman style pups.
Cheers for any thoughts on this!

[wokkaboy]

Hi Damo, I presume a soapbar bass pup would be a bit larger than the standard bucker mount. How is the construction can you route the cavity a bit larger if need be ?

[dingobass]

There are a few options.
http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/hb-models.html
http://tvjones.com/pickups/bass-pickups/thunder-mag/

Of these two, if you can justify the expenditure the TV's are the bizz :)

[dingobass]

Hi Damo, I presume a soapbar bass pup would be a bit larger than the standard bucker mount. How is the construction can you route the cavity a bit larger if need be ?

Soapbars won't work as you need to use surrounds on a hollow body :p

[wokkaboy]

no worries DB I wasn't sure if there are soapbar pup surrounds available.

[pablopepper]

Those Thunder Mags are fricking amazing pickups, but holy crap are they expensive. I wanted to put one in my RC4, but ended up with a Gretsch Filtertron for about half the price. Still a bloody good pickup.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GRETSCH-NICKEL-FILTERTRON-BASS-PICKUP-/381414697910?hash=item58ce166bb6:g:rdEAAOSwHjNWA3j C

[dingobass]

no worries DB I wasn't sure if there are soapbar pup surrounds available.

Basically you need to have 'ears' for the pup to hang off the surround. :)

[wokkaboy]

if you found a suitable surround couldn't you screw/nut and mount them in the surround DB ? I've never seen it done. Would be hard to find a surround with the 2 holes on the right side.
Or can you glue a block inside to mount it ?

[dingobass]

The biggest issue to try and work around would be height adjustment.
Pups with ears are designed in a way that allows for this but pups with lugs are designed to be direct mounts..

Sounds like a challenge for our drafty/ designer peeps to tackle :)

[wokkaboy]

DB have you ever taken the casing off the ESB-4 pickups ? are they actually a 4 pole pickup or have the factory just chucked 6 pole guitar pups in ?

[pablopepper]

If they're the same ones as come in the RC4 kit, and by the look of them they would be, then they are a 6 pole guitar pickup. The Gretsch pickup I linked to up a few has 6 poles as well, sold as a bass pickup, sounds good.

[dingobass]

Must admit I haven't ripped the cover off, but it wouldn't surprise me if they are Guit pups... They sound a bit on the thin side...

[wokkaboy]

that's what I assumed DB, wonder how far way the 4 strings are from the 6 poles

[dingobass]

I theory it really shouldnt matter if there a four poles or six poles.
It all comes down to the magnet type, windings and gauge of wire used..

Personally I prefer a bar magnet type of pup for Bass, but six poles of the correct type etc will in essense function like a bar.

[darthdamo]

I'm so glad I started this thread! Thanks for all this great info. TV Jones look seriously good. Gretsch look great too. See how much cash I have left after I buy an ES1G kit and some Tonerider rebel 90s plus I'm building a speaker box with a greenback in it.
Busy and expensive December ahead!