What's the reasoning behind the a reverse P bass pickup? Are there tonal advantages that one is trying to achieve. Appreciate the clarification.

More definition in the E and A strings and more full body in the D and G due to positioning.

if thats the case then why do they still put it in the traditional way?

if thats the case then why do they still put it in the traditional way?
Because it is traditional ;)

Most people are happy enough with the sound of the good ol' P bass. Why change a good thing? :bassist:

while a reverse P may sound a bit more "balanced" from string-to-string...you lose a lot by doing it...

there's a certain thing that happens when you play a P and play those octaves between the E/D and A/G string pairs...a lot of that would be lost.

I've played reverse-P basses before and they just don't do it for me.

I should have searched Google first before posting but hey (but thanks for your inputs)...
Anyway here is a post from Roger Sadowsky posted on TB from back in 2002 on this subject...:p

We began to offer the reverse P when we came out with the P-J 5. To date, as many players have preferred the standard to the reverse. If you are a "P" player, you will probably prefer the standard P---one of the reasons being that you are used to resting your thumb on the end of the bass coil.

The advantage of the Reverse P is as follows"
1) It moves the bass coil closer to the bridge which helps produce a "tighter" B string.

2) It puts the treble coil where a J-bass neck pickup is so when you are in the "neck/bridge combination" setting and pop the "G", it sounds closer to what it would on a J-bass.

Finally, when you play the P pickup by itself, it still sounds like a "P".

Hope this helps.

Roger