Help! Extra pup for 4 to 5 string conversion?

[mohessa]

I just sent this email to EMG. But maybe there is someone here who can advise me? Please, any help would be much appreciated:

Hi good people at EMG,

I have just built a P-bass and I'm insanely happy with the sound I get from the EMG PX pups that I have installed.

However, I have a problem. My bass is a conventional 4-string which I have converted to a 5-string to get tighter string spacing (this facilitates my pick technique). I have seen others do this on the Internet. They have kept the old 4-string pickup setup and it seems to work fine for them. But with the setup I now have I get significantly less signal from the middle string. It seems like it's in "no mans land". What can I do to sort this out?

(See attached photo.) My first idea was to just install an extra pup in the middle and connect it serially with the other two. (Never mind the aesthetics, I don't mind. Actually, I think it would look cool.) However, I'm no tech buff and I don't know what this would mean in terms of signal, magnetic disturbance etc.

What I really want to know is if this is something you REALLY advise against... Hmm?

I know you have the P5X as well but I have already bought these, and I can't find where to get P5X here in Europe/Sweden. (Not listed at thomann.de, for instance.)

And if this isn't the right way to go, what is?

Would you be so kind as to advise me? It would make a happy customer a much happier customer.

Sincerely,

Magnus

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Have you tried raising the inner sides of the P pups a little?

(If you were to look at it from the bridge, up the bass, they'd look more like / \ than - - , if you catch my drift, though obviously you wouldn't have them at that steep and angle!).


I have no experience with those pickups, but it might help.

[mohessa]

Thanks for your thoughts i_got_a_mowhawk... Yeah, I tried that. But I didn't get any audible result. If anything I got more of the other strings.

[mohessa]

Correction: It seems the pups are not connected serially. According to EMG the standard setup is parallel. (But I'm not really sure. Again, I'm no tech buff.)

[Nev375]

The problem is theres no polepiece or blade beneath the middle string. Adding a 3rd coil would likely introduce hum.

If it were mine, I'd retrofit it for a humbucker.

[mohessa]

Thanks NEV275... I understand the polepiece part. I should say that the EMG PX pups are active. Again, I think they're parallel. And they are totally silent. No hum at all the way they are installed now, even though their not grounded.

[mohessa]

Thanks for your thoughts. Problem solved. I came to my senses and trashed my wild initial idea. I'm going for the EMG P5. That'll take care of it. And hey, how big a difference can it be between P and PX... http://www.thomann.de/se/emg_pprecis...ss_5string.htm