Angled Pickups

[longhorncat]

This is a first for me.  When did Alembic start offering pickups oriented like this:
 
 

[kmh364]

You mean like this?:
 
http://www.alembic.com/info/8string.html

[longhorncat]

I went through more than half the customs and the order page before I posted.  
I missed that one.  
Nice.

[kmh364]

I believe that OOAK-beauty belongs to Alembic Club member 8-string king, if I'm not mistaken. As usual, expect the unexpected when it comes to Alembic.
 
Cheers,
 
Kevin

[David Houck]

I don't think the angled pickups were offered as much as requested on a custom order.  Just thinking about it for a while, it seems to me that angling the pickups like that should have a noticeable effect on tone.  For instance, if you pan all the way to the bridge pickup and play a scale across the neck from the B string to the G string without changing hand position, the tone is not going to be consistant across the strings.  I'm just speculating here, but panned to the bridge pickup, the tone of the B string will probably be cleaner than the higher strings.  I can see where there might be advantages to this setup, and it would be fun to play it and see what the effect actually is.  But I'm guessing the tone is going to differ some from the usual Alembic tone.

[bigredbass]

Another trick like this, Dave, is a setup I first saw on the 80s Yamaha BB basses, where they 'reversed' the layout of the P-style pickup where they put the E/A side closer to the bridge than the other way 'round.  The rationale is that it supposedly made the low strings a little brighter and the D/G a little fatter.
 
I don't know if this was the first use of this, just the first I remember.
 
J o e y

[David Houck]

Thanks Joey; yes I've seen those reversed P-style setups before.  Interesting.
 
Wonder if the thumb rest was part of the custom order.