PJ pickup

[David King]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27004[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]27005[/ATTACH]

as you can see, there's nothing stunningly groundbreaking with this build design outside of subtle things like better upper register access, etc ...

and you can see that the bridge pickup height is by no means extreme - the ears are about 3/32" higher than the front face


David - nothing super original on the magnets either, just .187" x .781" A5's. I'll have time post NAMM to toy with a few things on this pickup pairing, as I'd really like to get my stuff together with a split coil J bridge to pair with the P coils ... I simply ran out of time this year (so I have something 'new' to offer next year )

R

Great color combo Rod

[David King]

Nordstrand was working out a double J that fit in a single j cover. I think he was using 1/8" poles. Probably needed 44 AWG too...

[big_teee]

David:
Have you tried or played a regular P bass with a soapbar bridge pickup?
I want to try that?
You could have that P tone, then that soapbar sound.
I may do some routing on a cheap P.

[David Schwab]

Nordstrand was working out a double J that fit in a single j cover. I think he was using 1/8" poles. Probably needed 44 AWG too...

I have been making a humbucker in a J cover for a while now. You still can't get it up to what a P puts out.

[David Schwab]

David:
Have you tried or played a regular P bass with a soapbar bridge pickup?
I want to try that?
You could have that P tone, then that soapbar sound.
I may do some routing on a cheap P.

A "soapbar" is a shape. On the inside can be many different kinds of pickups. I make three different pickups in soapbar shapes. They all sound different and have different output levels.

To match a P you need roughly the same number of winds. You can make a soapbar that sounds like a P, but is wound differently and matches the bridge pickup well. That's how my neo pickups are.

[David Schwab]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27004[/ATTACH]

I'm happy to see you reversed the P pickup! They sound much more balanced that way.

[big_teee]

A "soapbar" is a shape. On the inside can be many different kinds of pickups. I make three different pickups in soapbar shapes. They all sound different and have different output levels.

To match a P you need roughly the same number of winds. You can make a soapbar that sounds like a P, but is wound differently and matches the bridge pickup well. That's how my neo pickups are.

I just make fairly low to moderate wound soapbar humbuckers with ceramics, I like them fine.
Just wondered if anyone mixes them with Split Ps.
IMO a soapbar humbucker would be a better option than the J Single, but I don't like noisy SC pickups.
I haven't tried it yet but plan on it.
It would get different sounds and options in the same bass.
I know you have lots of experience with different basses, and figure you have tried it.

[David Schwab]

I just make fairly low to moderate wound soapbar humbuckers with ceramics, I like them fine.
Just wondered if anyone mixes them with Split Ps.
I haven't tried it yet but plan on it.
It would get different sounds and options in the same bass.
I knew you have lots of experience with different basses.

A P is wound too hot for a low wind humbucker. You can wind the humbucker hotter. It's not uncommon to see them in the 11k-14k range.

But there's really no reason to pair up a P with a soap bar anyway. Just use two soapbars.

[big_teee]

That is what I have in my SR300L, I like it.
Was thinking of taking a cheap P bass and adding the bridge pickup.
It would already be routed P.
I guess you could do that with a cheap J bass, and enlarge the route to two Soaps.
I like the humbuckers, haven't wound past 9k, they get to dark for me wound to high.

[David King]

Most of the basses I build use two, dual coil humbuckers.

So riddle me this: what makes a P pickup so hot when it only has 5-10% more turns and much smaller magnets and when most of the turns are pretty far out from the coil compared to a J?
Is it because there's less wire so lower resistance? Is it because the coil is thinner so that more wire is closer to the center of the magnetic field?

[David Schwab]

Most of the basses I build use two, dual coil humbuckers.

So riddle me this: what makes a P pickup so hot when it only has 5-10% more turns and much smaller magnets and when most of the turns are pretty far out from the coil compared to a J?
Is it because there's less wire so lower resistance? Is it because the coil is thinner so that more wire is closer to the center of the magnetic field?

It has 10,000 turns per coil. They are in series, so that's 20,000 turns. Most bass pickups are maybe 8,000 to 12,000 turns counting both coils. Jazz pickups are usually about 8,000 turns.

So there's not really less wire, since they are 11k. The squat coil also gets most of the winds closer to the strings. I don't think the shorter magnet matter all that much, since you have two per string, and they are strong enough to cause warbling if you get them too close.

[David King]

David,

I don't see how putting the coils in series is doing anything except adding more resistance in front of the signal. It's not as if either coil can add to the volume of the other coil.
My Js are wound between 8900 and 9500 and they aren't much hotter than a Fender J that's wound to 7200 or 7800. It just seems like the P is a hotter and brighter than expected design that also has a ton of bass output. Am I dreaming this or not?

[David Schwab]

David,

I don't see how putting the coils in series is doing anything except adding more resistance in front of the signal. It's not as if either coil can add to the volume of the other coil.

They certainly do with a regular humbucker. I'm not as sure with split humbuckers, but P pickups are louder in series than in parallel. Disconnect one half of a P pickup and I'd bet you it's lower in output just as with a regular humbucker.

It's not resistance in "front of the signal," those turns of wire are generating the current. Coils have resistance, but they aren't resistors as much as inductors.

My Js are wound between 8900 and 9500 and they aren't much hotter than a Fender J that's wound to 7200 or 7800. It just seems like the P is a hotter and brighter than expected design that also has a ton of bass output. Am I dreaming this or not?

Remember, it's the number of turns that counts. So we have 20,000 total turns compared ~8-9,000 turns. The wide/squat coils give it a different tone too.

[David King]

David,

Am I completely crazy in thinking that a single P coil only picks up 2 strings not 4?
How can the second coil add to the signal if you are only playing one note at a time? (we're talking bass players here…)
A guitar humbucker has each coil picking up all 6 strings so each string is picked up by both coils hence the coils in series are additive.

[big_teee]

So if you take a humbucker for a 4 string bass?
Wind two coils that span all 4 strings.
Now put magnets that cover 2 strings in each coil.
2 for the bass strings, and two for the treble strings.
Will you get similar results to a P bass, or do the two short P bass coils have other effects?
T