Is it a bad idea to let the string hit single coil pickups?
 

I just recently acquired my first lined fretless Squire Jazz Bass, and haven't been able to put it down :bassist:. I've been running it though all the different types of music that I like to play, and I got to a song that I really liked and began to pluck the strings a little bit harder than usual. As I was listening to my amp though my headphones, I was hearing a really hard popping noise coming from the string hitting the pickup. I'm used to plastic covered soapbar pickups, so I think it sounds really awesome , but I'm concerned that this might damage the metal part of the pickup. Is this bad or am I just worrying about nothing?

I dont think you are going to mess anything up with the pickup. However you might mess a speaker up depending on how loud your amp is. Its a pretty harsh pop when that string hits the pickup.

It's bad in that you hear a very loud clicking noise, but it's not going to hurt the bass.

right; it's bad for your speakers, and maybe the audience, but that's it.

If you're worried about damaging something, get some clear nail polish and coat the polepieces with it. That way you'll insulate the strings from the polepieces and they won't pop (they will still clang very nicely if you dig in).

If you're not adverse to opening the bass, you should put a strip of copper tape underneath the polepieces (so it makes contact with them) and then connect that strip to the ground - either to the nearest pot's casing or the output jack's sleeve contact. That'll keep the poles permanently grounded and no popping should remain.

grounding or coating the magnets will indeed reduce or eliminate any electonic popping from touching them, but it won't help with the speaker-blowing, crowd-annoying boom of the string smacking into the pickup!

drop the pickups down to where the strings don't hit them, please.