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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → Odd question. . .
What would happen if you stuck bass pickups on a guitar or vice-versa? I don't really care, I was just curious if anyone has tried it if it could even work.
I would think bass pickups respond to lower frequencies and if you put them on a guitar the g,b and e strings would not vibrate long enough to be amplified loud enough same with guitar pickups on a bass the lower frequencies would not sustain,its kinda like putting a lawn mower engine in a corvette 
Yeah that makes sense. . .would guitar pickups respond to the A and E strings on a bass?
I agree with both the above answers,we once hooked my strat too a bass amp,It was not comunicating well at all. I would like too find a vette like that russell,so I could race it against my bicyle and win.
that would be funny 
I agree with both the above answers,we once hooked my strat too a bass amp,It was not comunicating well at all. I would like too find a vette like that russell,so I could race it against my bicyle and win.
06sc500,
I would tend to think that guitar pickups on a bass would be in "overdrive" all the time. When you wrap wire around a magnet you create a potential electric current (like a generator), the string vibrations create a form of alternating current which is amplified and put to the coils of the speaker which we perceive as sound. Lighter strings (with less mass) don't effect the magnetic field as much as heavy strings, so to get enough amplitude you put more winds on. Same principal as adding winds to guitar pickups to "hot" them up. Guitar pickups on a bass would have too many winds for the mass of the heavy strings, and bass pickups on a guitar would have too few.
That's also why many acoustic strings don't work on an electric... not magnetic enough for the pickups to respond to.
Was that like way too much information?
Take Care; Doug
Au contraire Doug, I'd expect guitar pickups on a bass to be weak giving a woofy growl not nice defined notes.
Bass pickups on a guitar will create lots of drag, the magnets in them will 'hold' the guitar strings damping down the notes. What note you do get will be at a high level so will overdrive very quickly.
Remember also that alot of basses are active so you already have +10-15db of signal over a regular guitar anyway.
Russ, bass pickups respond to all frequencies just as guitar pickups do it's just that guitar amps hugely boost the mid-range. The bass notes you hear have lots of components you'd think of as guitar range, if you get a bass amp with a graphic equalizer you can play with this. Cut everything except bass frequencies and you've got a dull thudding, only allow the treble and you've got a bright 'Duane Eddy' sorta twang. Bass amps cover all frequencies evenly like a hi-fi but if you connect a regular guitar to them it'll sound thin and wiry, also the bass amp inputs are often trying to detect passive/active levels which could be another reason for Dino's bad sound.
Au contraire Doug, I'd expect guitar pickups on a bass to be weak giving a woofy growl not nice defined notes.
Bass pickups on a guitar will create lots of drag, the magnets in them will 'hold' the guitar strings damping down the notes. What note you do get will be at a high level so will overdrive very quickly.
Remember also that alot of basses are active so you already have +10-15db of signal over a regular guitar anyway.
russ wrote:like wearing your shoes on the wrong foot
Russ, bass pickups respond to all frequencies just as guitar pickups do it's just that guitar amps hugely boost the mid-range. The bass notes you hear have lots of components you'd think of as guitar range, if you get a bass amp with a graphic equalizer you can play with this. Cut everything except bass frequencies and you've got a dull thudding, only allow the treble and you've got a bright 'Duane Eddy' sorta twang. Bass amps cover all frequencies evenly like a hi-fi but if you connect a regular guitar to them it'll sound thin and wiry, also the bass amp inputs are often trying to detect passive/active levels which could be another reason for Dino's bad sound.
Electronics is electronics. You move a wire through a magnetic field, and you induce current. The only thing that matters in that equation are the size of the magnetic field, and the size of the conductor moving through it.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → Odd question. . .
