Wiring difference between Neck and Bridge pick ups for Bass

Hello everyone,

Been a while since i have been on here, been busy with family, playing in bands and building more basses.

Hope all is well.

I have looked on the internet and nothing is answering my questions, so i hope you can help me.

I know there is a difference in output between the neck and bridge pickups because of the string vibrations. I have two more basses i am about to build: Jazz Bass and Flying V. With the Jazz Bass, which pick up goes where...The pick up with the red wire in neck or bridge and the pick up with the white wire in neck or bridge ???

And with the Flying V...both pick ups have the same colored wiring, so does it matter which pick up goes where ?

None of the pick ups are labeled where they go !

I have attached both pictures.

Hope someone can help me please.

Regards,
Naim.

Attachment 21045

Attachment 21046

I am no bass guy, but I'd guess it's similar to guitar in that the higher resistance pup would go in the bridge. Check them with a multimeter - to higher resistance one would go in the bridge. If they are both the same, i guess it doesnt matter

I know the pickups that come with Pitbull J-basses are not the same size so only the bridge pickup will fit in the bridge rout.

Hey Naim, as Stan said check the resistance of each with a multimeter.
The jazz bass pup the poles spacings will be closer for the neck pup than the bridge pup.
Also with the Flying V pups I'd say the longer wire is usually the neck pup but the wire lengths look similar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

I know the pickups that come with Pitbull J-basses are not the same size so only the bridge pickup will fit in the bridge rout.

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Thank you Fretworn. Both pick ups fit in both cavities ! I thought that too about the size will determine where they go, but they both fit in both cavities.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stan

I am no bass guy, but I'd guess it's similar to guitar in that the higher resistance pup would go in the bridge. Check them with a multimeter - to higher resistance one would go in the bridge. If they are both the same, i guess it doesnt matter

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Thank you Stan. I checked both pickups with a multimeter. The pickup with the red wire reads 6.8 and the pick up with the white wire reads 6.18. I hooked them up the the amp and the pick up with the white wire that reads 6.18 with the lower resistance is louder ! I thought the higher the resistance the louder the output ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

Hey Naim, as Stan said check the resistance of each with a multimeter.
The jazz bass pup the poles spacings will be closer for the neck pup than the bridge pup.
Also with the Flying V pups I'd say the longer wire is usually the neck pup but the wire lengths look similar.

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Thank you Wokkaboy . The pole spacings are the same on both pickups. I checked both pickups with a multimeter. The pickup with the red wire reads 6.8 and the pick up with the white wire reads 6.18. I hooked them up the the amp and the pick up with the white wire that reads 6.18 with the higher resistance is louder ! I thought the higher the resistance the louder the output ?

Hey Naim,
that is usually the case. Were the pickup to string heights the same and in the same position ?
The pole spacings are probably the same for the cheap chinese pups but pretty sure a better set of pups the poles should be wider for the bridge pup

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

Hey Naim,
that is usually the case. Were the pickup to string heights the same and in the same position ?
The pole spacings are probably the same for the cheap chinese pups but pretty sure a better set of pups the poles should be wider for the bridge pup

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Thank you WokkaBoy. I connected the pickups straight to the lead with alligator clips to the amp. And tapped on the poles with an allen key.

That probably only means that the 'louder' one is more microphonic so responds more to the tapping. I'd still stick the 6.8 one in the bridge and the 6.18 in the neck. If they end up sounding unbalanced then you can always swap them round.

I'd do the same with the Flying V - measure the resistance and put the higher value in the bridge position.

They wouldn't use different sized wire for the neck and bridge pickups, so the resistance is a good indicator here.

All things being equal the neck pup is "louder" because the string vibrations are bigger there, so the pup produces more signal, so usually you want the hotter pickup at the bridge to compensate.

But all things are not usually equal. Two identical pickups will sound different in the two different locations. So balance may really be how much of each pick up you want to hear. Both those bases have separate volumes I think, so if one is a little too much you should be able to roll it off a little bit and that will balance too.

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I like Simon's idea to try it both ways

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