- Gibson, you put the pickup in the wrong place!

[@42ronty]

Johan, now that Marshall has been sold to a Swedish company, maybe you can apply and join as a consultant to help make them manufacture great amps again?!😆

[@JohanSegeborn]

Hahaha! It will be interesting to see what the plans of the new owners are.

[@pablo.l]

Make Amps Great Again

[@scotthutchens1203]

They were sold to a Swedish company? 🤔

[@42ronty]

you didn't know? It's been a while now.@@scotthutchens1203

[@dDoOyYoOuUtTuUbBeE]

A company leaded by a marketing guy that was at The North Face and Adidas. I am ready for the worst.

[@chrispile3878]

Darn right, Johan. Back in the 70's I put a mudbucker in the bridge position of my P-bass copy and it sounded great! No mud there, just great tone.

[@Funkybassuk]

In 2005 Jack Bruce had a Warwick-made EB3-like bass with 2 mudbuckers in the neck and bridge. He didn’t end up playing it during the Cream reunion gigs sadly and stuck with a vintage Gibson EB - but a violin model - with the mudbucker in the neck position.

[@darrellminx5459]

Always liked the sound of a Gibson bass in the right song. Very muddy mids but is essential for some of the greatest songs of all time. Thanks for another great video. Cheers from Hawaii

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks Darrell! Cheers from Gothenburg!

[@killingmasheen]

It's the same reason Fender bridge pickups are angled to make them brighter. We're held hostage to the conventional wisdom of 1950s because everyone's terrified to do it any different. I applaud your bravery in doing the logical thing!

[@jcoulter43]

I like it! Freehand routering in the middle of your living room. Frankenstein Johan has returned 😁 Sounded great after the mod. God bless and router on my friend 🎸👍

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks my friend! :-)

[@sergioserramusic]

Great! Now we want the comparison with the pickup at the neck vs the pickup at the bridge! :)

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thant can be arranged :-)

[@thenameless3271]

From all of the photos and info I've read over the years, Jack Bruce typically used the bridge pickup on his EB3. There are also some photos (but no audio) of him using an EB0 during his solo adventures in the 1970s. We do know for a fact that he was once gifted an EB0 from Felix Pappalardi. The real secret to Jack's tone (in my opinion anyways) are flatwound strings going into an old Marshall. You'll need a rather flat, bassy sound as well. Gibson basses do that kind of thing on their own, but it can be done on Fender basses as well if you set the tones and EQ right. Nice experiment by the way! As much as I love the look and history of SG basses, and the mudbucker, they really aren't all that versatile. Moving the pickup back will give you a lot more options! If you're looking for more bass modifications, and you want to continue down the Jack Bruce route, maybe look into the diode Dan Armstrong installed in one of his EB3s in an attempt to give him a fuzzier tone without a full-up Marshall. Sort of like the EB0F. Thanks again, for the videos and for reading this monologue!

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! Really interesting, I’m gonna check out the diode!

[@1954telecaster]

Jack Bruce was a talented bass player but he got some of the worst tone of all time

[@thenameless3271]

I don't think there's such a thing as a bad tone, just bad context. His bass tone was weird on it's own, but it was also unique for the time, and worked well in the context of Cream.

[@1954telecaster]

@@thenameless3271 Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker both admitted that Cream’s music was shit. Maybe it was cool at the time, but in retrospect it really wasn’t that good. Doesn’t hold up.

[@thenameless3271]

Uh... no? Eric hated it for a while, decades even, but has definitely come to see some value in it. Ginger has almost always claimed the group to be top notch, putting it above contemporaries and certainly never diminishing his own role in the group. Cream was primarily a live band, and that's where they really shined. If live improv isn't your thing, that's fine too. Tough crowd.

[@GuajoloteGonzales]

That japanese EB style basses had a single coil instead of a true sidewinder/mudbucker, they sound very much like a 50's p-bass/60's telecaster bass.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Interesting! I didn’t know that

[@NoahRichardHarris]

I have a 60’s ebo and that neck position only pickup has a sound. Definitely leaves some versatility on the table, but it does that one sound really well

[@THEScottCampbell]

I've recorded with an EB--0 and was surprised that it didn't NEED a bridge pickup. The tone was perfect. I know what you mean.🎶🎵🎶

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

The SG Bass is nicely balanced too. Neck dive is a common problem with SG Guitars but the SG Bass solves that problem by making the body heavier than the neck.

[@buzzbomb67]

Ive always wondered the same thing, and wondered why no one had done as you have. It is just as I always imagined. Sounds pretty good, I must say! I have a Guild JS-1, and now I want to move its mudbucker to bridge position lol

[@matuloco]

Great idea. One in the middle position or two at the same time (neck+bridge) would be an interesting continuation of the experiment.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! Yeah I have two Mudbuckers so we can try that!

[@hkguitar1984]

Most Excellent Johan Thank You

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! Glad to hear it!

[@dennisperusse3837]

Honestly they should experiment with taking the Eb3’s small bridge pickup and put three in place. One at the Bridge, one in the center and one for the neck. Have a switch to cycle between them like a guitar. Keeps it from being too muddy in my humble opinion plus aesthetically pleasing to look at.

[@Drunken_Hamster]

I think it depends on the type of bass. I personally like the idea of just using two single coils that are permanently connected as a humbucker, but in different positions to take advantage of different string physics. On a 19-21 fret "classic" bass (particularly the 19 fret as the 21 fret is a bit of a grey area), I think the "P" position or otherwise the correct/exact geometric middle between the last fret and the bridge is good for one coil, with the other coil needing to be as close as possible to the bridge in order to get enough treble and "cut" for the instrument. However for a 24-fret modern bass (or, I suppose if you compare to a 19 it could count as an "extended range" bass) the direct geometric middle results in a coil being placed at the 36th fret location, AKA the Ric bridge and roughly in between where the two pickups on a Jazz bass are, or roughly just ahead of the front half of a stingray bass pickup. In this instance, that placement has enough treble and cut for the instrument, but somewhat lacks the power and fatness down low, so my suggestion for the second coil's placement on a 24-fret bass would be right at the neck. Like I said, in either scenario it would basically be just on humbucker with the coils pulled apart and put where you need them. The default wiring would be as a humbucker is, but one could also implement a series/parallel and/or phase switch to suit their tastes. Otherwise, a master tone, master volume, and a passive mid-control would be the only "standard" controls on the thing, and the only other wiring mods would be a Kinman series-style treble bleed, if applicable (I know more about guitar wiring than bass wiring, but the string physics still apply either way, hence the suggestion). With all that, one should be able to find basically any kind of tone as well as not have any low spots in the response curve as you fret further down the board, given how the middle pickup position's magic revolves around how the string center progressively gets closer to the pickup as you shorten the strings via fretting, catching a larger vibration while the string is in a state of reduced potential energy.

[@dennisperusse3837]

@@Drunken_Hamster That’s a lot to think about. Thanks, I appreciate it. :)

[@DMSProduktions]

Joh, you got mentioned in an article in Feb's GUITARIST magazine in the UK!

[@JohanSegeborn]

Cool! Glad to hear it! What was the topic?

[@DMSProduktions]

@@JohanSegeborn It was a piece by Huw Price, a Welsh music journo, who was trying to Fix Chris Buck's 80's Greco LP copy, & he wanted a better bridge for it, apparently you drove Buck to distraction with all your thorough hardware demos/tests! And IF you're wondering, Huw sorted him out with an old bridge from Japan! Check it out, issue 494 p 36. Cheers!

[@byronlaird5116]

!! Hahaha !! Johan, that was/is really funny & awesome to watch. Skål !! Pretty brave of U to free-hand the new cavity-routing job, but it worked out OK, so 👍. Backing track was cool too.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks Byron! Really glad you liked the tracks

[@marzed]

Hey Johan, I have a 70s Japan EB bass too. I wound up putting a capacitor in series with the mudbucker. This calmed down some of the really deep bass coming out of it. Much more usable that way, for me. No routing required! I also added a goldfoil pickup in the bridge position, so two really different tones for me.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Hi! Cool, would be interesting to compare different bass cutting strategies. At the bass vs at the amp etc.

[@leiferickson3183]

I love the sound of this!

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks Leif!

[@nbl95]

I played a vintage sg bass one time and a modern one at a music shop, night and day difference in overall warmth and fatness.

[@amslu]

Can you test this bass with 2 pickups together? Neck vs bridge vs both?

[@JohanSegeborn]

Cool, I’ll keep it in mind

[@mr.anderson70]

Nice to see you plunging into pickup placement. Tell us you freehanded the cut depth also. 🤘

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks, no that was fixed at 16mm actually 😆🤘

[@marzed]

@@JohanSegeborn I've seen pictures of 50s Rickenbackers where they drilled out pickup cavities, no router at all -- so you're not doing bad at all...

[@tlsbjj]

I always wanted to have an EB bass with mudbuckers in the bridge and middle positions. Almost like a Wal bass.

[@KB_Joys]

100,000 years. Sounds good ☺️👍

[@100DollarHeadache]

As much as I love a proper neck pickup on a bass (especially Rickenbacker), the Mudbucker really sounds better at the bridge. My dream bass is now two Thunderbird pickups in the neck (bridge coil at the 24th fret node) and middle (neck coil at the 36th fret node) positions, and a Mudbucker as close to the bridge as possible while still having the pole pieces line up. Then three volumes and three tones, and a rotary pickup selector, along with a toggle to enable or disable a high-pass capacitor on the middle pickup.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Sounds like a nice arrangement 😀

[@DMSProduktions]

I've ALWAYS said the same thing! Wrong pick up in the WRONG position! Big bucker in the bridge, & the mini bucker in the neck!

[@adamwatson6916]

The screw up the pickup Placement on a few guitars . On the Gibson USA SG special the bridge pickup is much closer to the bridge then on the vintage specials . The custom shop versions have the right Placement and even the epiphone SG special has the correct pickup Placement. An epi SG special with upgraded pickups sounds much closer to the vintage SG special town then the gibosn USA does. Many complain about the USA special being too thin and harsh on the bridge pickup and that is why. Also epi has the bridge pickup on les Paul's further away from the bridge then I'm vintage or vintage correct les Paul's

[@vikingmike8139]

I love your videos, Cheers! 😊

[@vicfame3171]

hey Johan do you like Madison? Swedish 80s metal band.. just askin. Cool video

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! Yeah great band!

[@danielktdoranie]

That route man! Oh god! I have a Gibson SG bass that has a factory bridge pickup

[@JohanSegeborn]

Cool, does it have a bridge Sidewinder pickup?

[@danielktdoranie]

@@JohanSegeborn so it is a Gibson "SG Special Bass 120th Anniversary model". it has "T-Bird Plus pickup at neck, T-Bird Mini pickup at bridge"

[@ThomasDaley100]

of course you did it in your sitting room lol love it

[@JohanSegeborn]

😉

[@frankscassi4960]

I'm a capricorn and she's a cancer Great job, it sounds good, now we need a 2 pickup version so that we can compare both positions and both pickups in parallel as if it was a guitar!

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks Frank! 😉🤘

[@CNCTEMATIC]

Great sound on your recordings! Also, awesome chicken dolls 😂

[@JohanSegeborn]

😂 Thanks man, really good to hear that!

[@TraversClark]

Sounds better in the neck position to me, I am a bass player afterall.

[@THEScottCampbell]

I had a Stagg bass! I've used an EB-0 in recording and can't agree with with about the Sidewinder placement. However, I think you are right to suggest that Gibson offer options for other configurations.

[@riangarianga]

I have that same router model. Now that it has your tone approval, the prices of vintage units will rise in the second hand market. 😛 Haha, I wouldn't dare myself to do that freehand! As a quick solution I would have probably chiselled out the top part of the pickup frame, then used one of those router bits with a roller (I don't even know the name in English) to replicate the shape to the correct depth.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Hahaha! 😂 The router had a set depth, but the other two dimensions was winged. Cheers!

[@MichaelGreen-kt6lv]

Gibson currently sells a limited edition Gene Simmons short scale bass with the mudbucker in the back position. Unfortunately, it goes for $6,000

[@robertmay5091]

I call that a success 👍🏻

[@livingabovethe12th]

Add a little grit to that sound and I think it would be spot-on. I think DiMarzio makes a mudbucker (DP120 I believe is the model), actually upgrading the pup might be worth it as well. 👍

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! I’m gonna take o look at that one!

[@jasondorsey7110]

​@@JohanSegeborn Tom Scholz used an eb-0 with a jazz bass pickup in the bridge position to record the first Boston album

[@JEG69]

Don’t do it mate, it’s a horrible sounding pickup and it will require routing to the body, after that the original pickup won’t fit the new modded cavity. If you want the best pickup for a sg bass then go online and try to find a Greco/ maxon japanbucker pickup

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

I really wanna hear a comparison between bridge and neck position mudbuckers.

[@kevinjokipii4260]

I have a Kalamazoo KB1 with that big sidewinder pickup, but because it is mounted on the pickguard, I have only left it in the neck position. Have you ever tried the pickup in the middle position, about where a P-bass has its pickup?

[@JohanSegeborn]

Yeah I’ve played a couple of 70s EB basses that have the pickup in the middle. It sounds like P bass-ish to me.

[@MrHilariousPanda]

Sounds interesting. Would have loved a clear before/after comparison. Really punchy and tight drums and bass playing! In the final shot, is it just the angle of the camera or is the pickup mounted slightly off axis on the bass?

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! Its slightly off axis. Not by my design but when I tightened the 4 screws it rotated slightly. I liked the sound so I’m keeping it like this

[@SixStingsDarko]

Johan, majority of these Japanese pickups mudbucker size in many EB-0 copies are not humbuckers at all, they are single coils inside :) The one you show in your video is singlecoil, most probably made by Maxon, Japan. I have bunch of them...

[@thmmke6926]

Do you think using the router or continuously vibrating the guitar somehow increase the tone?

[@JohanSegeborn]

Yeah definitively, I have friends who have examined that hypothesis in experiments actually

[@realdocloco]

I don't agree - it turns a unique-sounding bass into one more commonplace bass. Listen to FREE and tell me the Gibson EB doesn't sound great 😉

[@JohanSegeborn]

EB3 sounds great using the bridge pickup but even better with a Sidewinder in the bridge

[@realdocloco]

@@JohanSegeborn I have a '69 EB3 and it sounds great even on the neck pickup alone 😊

[@Steaminlidz]

Gibson have made some of the most fantastic looking, but poorly playing and sounding basses ever. The best bass of that type (set neck, solid body) that I’ve ever owned was a Guild M85ii (the ii denoting two pickups). Amazing piece of kit. Had to sell it (and a bunch of other guitars) during Covid, but always on the lookout for another pne 😊

[@JohanSegeborn]

Yes that Guild looks really interesting

[@nicorepetto5781]

You just turned it into a stingray rather than its own unique thing

[@IgnisIban]

Hey Johan, great mod, do you think this end up sounding close to the Gene Lobeu? Would be interesting to hear how it sound with 2 mudbuckers!

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

I think this was probably before they had more advanced technology for amps

[@JohanSegeborn]

Yeah now you can amp up the low end of basically anything

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@JohanSegeborn This instrument was originally designed to replace the Upright Bass because it's smaller & eaiser to carry.

[@petem8630]

My Sakai bass has a single coil pickup hidden under the mudbucker cover

[@gizellerosales9744]

You should do the sweet spot humbucker of a musicman

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I've often done this on copies from the 70s onwards but I've never dared to do it on a real Gibson!

[@phildem414]

Always wanted to do this mod! Makes mush more sense, as music man prooved with the stingray line of basses. He did another mod on his EB-0 Gibson, driling to get the strings through the body with added ferules. I think it changes the string tension, a problem of the EB-0, and changes the resonance a bit. A bit like top load vs through the body on telecasters. Also the bridge is changed to badass brand. What do you think?

[@JohanSegeborn]

That’s a great idea. The string tension is indeed too loose here

[@rocketpigrecords3719]

​@JohanSegeborn isn't that the fun of a short scale bass, though? I recall two finger strike through type players mostly *wanting* a lighter tension, but such things do tend to be a matter of taste.

[@siegfriedwashburn3484]

Hi, Johan! My greats for new instruments. I am more afraid to do any manipulation with that stuff. Anyway, sound is better, than Cort made. See you! S.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks Siegfried!

[@jedidiahadams2199]

The songs you used in the beginning of the video are killer, Johan. It sounds like you wrote and recorded them. If they just had some good vocals over them they would be even better! 👍

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! Makes my day to hear that! Working on vocals

[@aronhallam6449]

I suppose bass playing has changed a lot over the years. For 12 bar rnr or jazz you want muffled thud, not another electric guitar like Duff, lemmy, gene.

[@JohanSegeborn]

Yeah indeed. 3 amazing players btw

[@heggy_69]

There's a stagg bass that's like this stock, they have it as close to the bridge as possible lol

[@quickwashtheraccoon7601]

I love your channel. But with this scale length. perhaps 2 jazz-coils would help ;-)

[@jazon65]

Vilket gott ljud, Gene Simmons på 70 talet 🍺🍺🍺

[@JohanSegeborn]

Tackar! 🍺🍺🍺

[@darwinsaye]

Kudos for taking measures to make the mud bucker more useable, but I kind of wish you had played around with testing different pickup positions more, like you did when you did the Les paul pickup position test. I've played bass almost as long as I have played guitar, and I've never heard a better, well balanced bass tone than the mid position used on Fender P Basses. Any bass I've owned that was a two pickup model, I always would use either the Neck only or the Neck with the Bridge if the Neck was muddy on it's own. The sound of a bridge pickup by itself on a bass has never made sense to me. Why place a pickup on a bass where the string vibrations actually produce the *least* bass frequencies? I've known bassists who bought the Music Man Stingray basses back in the day because they where "in vogue", but after a while of playing them, they were complaining about the tone being thin.

[@rocketpigrecords3719]

Yeah, Jaco was a real moron and those Lakland basses all suck

[@the_nondrive_side]

i can back this entirely. it even looks better. just use a batwing guard and the TBX tone circuit

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks!

[@picksalot1]

If you want harmonic complexity in your tones on Bass or Guitar, the bridge location for the Pickup is good. Routers are known for jumping our of their desired path without using a jig. It takes strong arms and nerves of steel, or a lot of Beer to try what you did. Congrats!🍺

[@JohanSegeborn]

Thanks! It sure put up a good fight 😆

[@arnoldbartels]

With a rail you can move it

[@Funkybassuk]

Gibson and Gene Simmons have brought one out now 👍🏽

[@MyUrbanExplorationOnline]

Sorry Johan, but I had a laugh when you said James Jameson. In that you said it with a Swedish J, not with a English J. As a person that only speak English, with it with a speech impairment. I know it some times can’t be help. So my laughter was one of I understanding from that context. Don’t stop being you.

[@7171jay]

A real Gibson mudbucker bass is what it is... it's not supposed to be versatile. The mudbucker at the neck is a great sound just not the sound that everyone wants or that belongs on every song.

[@brozio77]

i always liked this bass but not the sound. problem solved thanks johan :) unfortunately i can't play anymore bass now for an artrosis at left hand :')

[@JohanSegeborn]

Sorry to hear that Terry, I have some problems with the nerves in my hands myself

[@styrmugnsell4560]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/inu3kmB3f66khNk Riktigt bra låt där! Grymt riff...🙂

[@JohanSegeborn]

Tackar! Gott att höra!

[@mca1960]

If you don't like the position, why did you buy one ? I don't like the Gibson basses too, too muddy.

[@JohanSegeborn]

For this purpose actually

[@user-rc4re5fo2f]

Neither of those places. Neck too muddy, bridge too thin. Right between in the middle would be best balance. I have owned one of these originals.

[@scottmatthews172]

🤣 He called Jack Bruce, Yack Bruce 😂

[@peterstephen1562]

I know you the guys do these mods in dangerous random surroundings just to frighten luthiers. Muahaha

[@dirkdegooijer3282]

Absolutily not. That pick is in the rite place m8. They're nuf fiddlers on bass. Btw... try flats, then you have the best o' both worlds.

[@brianrussell1565]

Need to practice that router better .that is pretty messed up

[@Jesuswinsbirdofmichigan]

#136_InspiredTotallyWin_KISS_ArmyShouldApprove🇺🇸

[@jeffallen3382]

I'm going to have to say this wasn't your best Johan. That routing was really hacked up. Guitar techs in the future see that and will cringe.

[@JohanSegeborn]

I’m not so sure about that Jeff. Stuff that actually get done is always 100% better than it’s opposite.

[@michaelplaysbass]

I mean, given how you will put at least two mics, if not more, on any given guitar cab, the fact that you just used the phone microphone to record the bass audio is super disappointing. I really liked seeing your mod process, but that recording felt like, at best, a token gesture. It would be nice to see some real bass content once in a while from the musician community, versus this sort of half-assed thing.

[@JohanSegeborn]

So my iPhone recording here is a symptom of the musician community failing bass players? Then you may wanna browse KZbin or even this channel for that matter.

[@BugCatcher89]

This is mutiliation of the worst kind Sounds good tho

[@SuperRob1952]

sounds crap

[@JEG69]

Sounds like a single coil! You mean well but this is a wrong comparison. Those sg Japanese basses pickups are WAY different than the Gibson mudbucker. Those Japanese sg basses pickups are actually single coils underneath the covers, made by Greco/ maxon, they are also rated at 11k compared to the Gibson mudbucker humbucker at 30k. I’m my own opinion, the Greco/maxon pickups sound 💯 better at any position than the Gibson, that’s why it sounds so good in the bridge position. in that aspect maxon did a great job. The greco/maxon pickups are sometimes callled “japanbuckers” and I have them on all my sg style basses, including Gibsons because they just sound so much better.