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Lane Poor

#6
AFAIK, Lane's pickups came in various sizes, but with three basic coil types: narrow aperture (N), wide aperture (W), and humbucker (HB).

Here's some info I dug up using the wayback machine:

http://web.archive.org/web/19981207053220/www.lanepoor.com/dsgnfaq.html

OUR MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION:
"I'm interested in the specific differences in the narrow field/wide field pickups. I'd like to have an explanation of how they sound different."
Joe Nottoli, Marietta, GA
​
We make 2 Types Of Pickups.
The Twin Bilateral Coil in Wide and Narrow Apertures,
and Humbuckers.
The first type is a twin bilateral coil that is made in both a Narrow and Wide magnetic aperture. That's a mouthful. It is easier to think of our Narrow and Wide pickups in terms of the irradiated length of the string, or even more simply as the width of the magnetic window that our pickups look through. Our Narrows (n series) look at a smaller section of the string. We also use pole pieces in these. The result is close to the classic Jazz Pickup sound. It has a good bit of the waw and wow we all expect from this style as the string goes through its round and round (precursing) movement. This occurs mostly with a more aggressive playing style.
Our Wide aperture (w series) sees a wider window, and is a bit rounder and fuller, with just a bit more of bottom end.
Our Humbucker is precisely that. It has an often unexpected and highly praised amount of high end clarity that people have come to enjoy with our other pickups. This probably is the Most Frequently Asked Question about our Humbuckers. Please let me assure you that we keep these very clean, there is no damping or roll off of the high end that is common in virtually all of the classic humbuckers.

​
WIDE, NARROW, HUMBUCKER
"Which should I use?"

Rock and Roll almost demands Hum-buckers. My favorite phrase is "We Move Pants!" For those of you who have heard the Flea bass, that's what it is. Otiel Burbridge on the other hand uses a pair of our Wide field pickups in a number of Rock and Roll situations. An emerging favorite for a two pickup setup is to use a Wide near the fingerboard and a Humbucker at the bridge. This is often appreciated in General Business work as well.
Our Narrows, particularly when used as pairs are providing numbers of jazz players with a very good tool, particularly with the fretless. Please also note that both our Wides and Narrows slap particularly well with the fretless. A Narrow at the fingerboard, and a Wide at the bridge provides a smooth power balance and has become a favorite pair for some of the custom builders.
Finally, if you are still a bit confused, please feel free to email me personally.
LP​
Click to expand...


My favorite LP pickup is the wide aperture.... :bassist:
​
 
#12
Yeah, low output pickups are always brighter, and need that boost. The more wire you wind on a pickup the more lows and mids you get at the expense of high frequency response. You also push the resonant peak lower.

Some of my pickups wont even work without the preamp... you'd hardly even hear them!
 
#13
luknfur said:
Periodically I've asked a number of people who would likely know and the response has consistently been evasively respectful - which I understand.

It's crossed my mind he might reappear around the 7 year mark but it may be a case of been there done that - which I also understand.
Click to expand...

I figured he ran into financial problems so he's keeping a low profile. It's not easy running a business.
 
#14
My Acacia 5 custom has 2 Lane Poor soapbars and passively they sound absolutely amazing! I added a 3 band parametric pre to that bass as well so the tone shaping is pretty limitless, but I find that most often I am using that bass passively shaping the tone by mixing the balance between the neck and bridge pickups. The pickups sound absolutely amazing to my ears and I'd love to pick up some more for future bass projects.
 
#15
I agree about the need for a pre on the LPs...

I had a set of the J pickups on a Warwick Thumb bass,
which already was prone to a very bright and maybe "thin" sound
(2 pickups really close to the bridge)

Those pickups really made the bass - the EMGs and MECs
that it had previously didn't compare. I think the LP Js, in the
right circumstances, are among the best pickups I've heard.
I'm just glad I bought them while I could...I'll NEVER sell them.

I also have a set of 5-string SBs, and they are similarly nice.

If it didn't mean destroying the pickups, I would pay someone
to reverse engineer them so something similar could be available.

AFAIK, this is what Modulus did with the Flea bass pickups -
they essentially paid Duncan to tear apart and copy the
LP MM pickup. Actually, someone from Modulus told me this
right when Lane went MIA - they had lots of outstanding orders
for LP-equipped Fleas, and Duncan was bailing them out with
a repro pickup.

Cheers,
Martin
 
#16
Martin,

There is something better than reverse engineering coming soon. There is a good chance that the basic pickup designs are going to be redone. Not by Lane but by one of his workers. How do i know? I get to test some of the prototypes. Remember these words... "built by the same hands that wound Lane Poor pickups."

Joe

P.S. I have LP preamps available. I have been trading them for LP pickups or selling them outright.
 
#17
WarriorJoe7 said:
There is something better than reverse engineering coming soon. There is a good chance that the basic pickup designs are going to be redone. Not by Lane but by one of his workers. How do i know? I get to test some of the prototypes. Remember these words... "built by the same hands that wound Lane Poor pickups."
Click to expand...

That would be cool. I had several conversations with Lane, prior to the company going belly up. Never got around to buying any his product though. Wish I had now...

MM
 

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