Precision Single Coil + Adding a second PUP

[Groover]

Hello, has anyone ever expiremented with adding either a J pup to compliment a Fender Precision single coil setup (think Sting RI bass), or maybe even adding a second single coil pup to the bridge position? Would that make the single coils hum cancelling?

Or even... adding a single coil pup at the bridge position to a regular P bass?

Advice? Thoughts? Soundclips ?

Just thinking out loud here... Contemplating a new project.

Thanks!

[1bassleft]

Might be an unwelcome diversion, but I'm trying to get going on a SC body that also has a Telebass humbucker up near the neck. Getting lots of help from member fenderslaper, but a bodymaker here in Blighty is slow on responses.

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by Groover

Hello, has anyone ever expiremented with adding either a J pup to compliment a Fender Precision single coil setup (think Sting RI bass), or maybe even adding a second single coil pup to the bridge position? Would that make the single coils hum cancelling?

Or even... adding a single coil pup at the bridge position to a regular P bass?

Advice? Thoughts? Soundclips ?

Just thinking out loud here... Contemplating a new project.

Thanks!

If you want them to be humcanceling, you'd have to pick a pickup that is oppositely wound and oppositely magnetized.

For the magnetization test, if you put the pickup's tops near each other, they'd have to attract. In case they don't, but your new pickup has a bar magnet on its underside, you could simply flip the magnet upside down and that'd correct the magnetic polarity.

For the wiring test, once you've confirmed the magnetic polarity is right, you'd just have to wire them in parallel like a Jazz bass and hear - if it sounds hollow and bassless, you need to swap the hot and ground on either the new or the old pickup. If it then sounds nice and full, you've got them electrically in order and you're good to go.

I have no idea how two SCPB (single-coil precision bass) pickups would work tonally, I only remember seeing one bass using them, a Bob Daisley signature bass that's hard to get a hold of these days. On googling I also found this thread, you might want to read that, too. I also seem to remember someone using a SCPB neck pickup and a Nordstrand Big Single bridge pickup - definitely unusual, but I don't recall ever hearing soundclips.

[Groover]

Great reply, thank you. I did not know the details on hum cancelling, but you really explained that well.

Again, I may not do this but it's good to know what the issues are to look for.

[Duckwater]

I've heard a single coil P/MM bass that sounded AWESOME. Once I have the funds, I'll probably Warmoth myself one.

[Stealth]

I forgot about another effect regarding the proper wiring orientation. That one might be tough to fix if the pickup manufacturer winds the pickup wire directly onto the magnetic or metal polepieces without insulation (such as paper tape) between the metal and the innermost winding.

In cases like these, if you used the innermost wire as signal (going to the volume pot) and that wire had a miniature break in its insulation, it would be touching a bare polepiece directly. Since the polepiece is a comparatively large chunk of metal, it would act as an antenna and bring all sorts of ugly noise into its sound. So before buying a pickup, you should check with the manufacturer if they do that. It's a big plus.

You could also check with them which way your new pickup would be wound (clockwise or counterclockwise) but it wouldn't be as easy to find out on your existing pickup, so it's kind of moot.

Finally, if you can select between a 2-wire and a 2+1-wire pickup, pick the latter. A pickup with a hot, cold and separate ground wire is better in case you have to swap the hot and cold wires to get the right wiring orientation (as I explained above), or ever decide to switch between parallel and series mode.
With three wires, the dedicated ground wire is grounding the polepieces (as I explained - big antennae) so you don't get noise in your signal, and you can daisy-chain pickups into each other in series mode or flip them around to get an in-phase sound as it should be.