Stingray pickup problem?

[Tnavis]

So a few years ago, I swapped the stock pickup in my '97 Stingray with a Bartolini MMC. One of the main reasons I did this (other than to try something different for the music I was playing at the time) was that I felt the pole pieces were just too sharp. I noticed that newer stingrays had beveled pole pieces, as well.

So just this morning, I dug out my stock pickup from storage, as I've been giving some thought to going back to the original sound. I was surprised to see (and surprised I hadn't noticed it before) that while the top of the pickup had sharp, roughly polished poles, the bottom of the pickup had beveled, polished poles.

Anybody with a similar year bass notice this? Was this a manufacturing error?

[SGD Lutherie]

I would say they put the magnets in the wrong way. But I did find another photo with the bevels on the bottom. So maybe they did it that way.

The bevels are really to help press the magnets through the flatwork, but they also stop the edges from being sharp to your fingers.

[Tnavis]

I contacted Ernie Ball customer service and sent pictures, so I guess I'll find out.