I need opinions/facts on MM humbuckers!

[myke.nytemare]

I have finally saved up enough money to piece together a nice custom from Warmoth and am having final trouble deciding if I should go with a P-J configuration or:
MM (bridge) and P (middle)
MM (middle) and P (bridge)

Correct me if I am wrong, but the MM is a 4 wire pickup and would allow me options to do in/out phase and coil split also!?!?!

Does anyone have a MM in the middle position and like its sound?

[Rodent]

a word of caution ... unless you are having your P custom wound, I would avoid locating it in the bridge position. the typical P winding is for the neck position, and you will definitely be lacking in the volume department and quite likely in the tone department as well. FYI - J pickups are wound for their specific locations

a MM in the bridge with a P in the neck position would be a sweet combination as you can always tap it for a single coil and get the functionality of a P/J

all the best,

R

[Metropolis_488]

I did the P/MM combo...BE SURE that the two pickups you choose will not phase each other out when they are both on. I had a Fender '62 P-bass pickup (out of production...unless they just call it the "original P" now) and a Duncan MM in the bridge. I couldn't use the two together because they would phase each other out and i would get this very thin tone. Not sure why this happened.

[sunbeast]

If two pickups are out of phase like that, you can usually just switch the hot and ground wires on one of the pickups. This still will work with 4 wire pickups like MM pickups, but in that case you may also need to switch the other 2 wires if they are being used on a switch.

This is a fairly common problem with pickups from different companies in my experience, although I've only had the problem with guitar pickups and not bass pickups. It seems to happen often when I pair vintage and newer pickups in the same instrument.

Karl Zickrick

[Rodent]

+1 on what Karl said


all the best,

R