Santa, the guy in the brown truck came again today with a shipment from Nordstrand. . . I got part of my order and to my surprise, my custom pickup was finished and some stock NJ4SE's I guess were, well, not in stock.
OK, some explaining. . . I've been really happy with the stock NP4 pickup. #7 in my opinion really proves how great those things sound and I'm perfectly happy to run those all day. By design, they are a bit hollow-grindy and have some really good cutting midrange snap and high end articulation. I've been listening to some p-bass recordings and this really nails the tone.
I personally, however have always thought that the p-bass pickup should be a bit meatier and give me a bit fuller bottom. . . In testing, I am learning that you can't escape the laws of physics. Nordstrand custom wound a pickup 10% over for me which did bulk up the low end and gave some more forceful low mids, but I thought it sapped too much of the articulation and life out of the bass. . . although I've been playing that pickup for a while now in #4.
For this test, I spoke with Mike over at Norstrand just to make sure I'm not crazy. After all, they sell a lot of NP4's to super happy customers and I don't want to make light of the R&D efforts that went into making that combination. I felt that the low E string was dying a bit on my P's and this should not be the case because I feel the sound is in the wood. The pickup is just voiced with it's resonant frequencies a bit higher. After talking the Mike, we decided to try the stock NP4 winding, but with slightly longer magnets to see if we could get the rounder bottom end I want, but retain the clarity and signature p-bass sound.
This is why I love working with Nordstrand. . . they didn't dismiss my concerns but were eager to work with me to find an optimal configuration. They even suggested changing the magnets on just the E string to more directly address the problem, but I asked for the same poles all across the pickup. Mike said that every player is different. . . and from fingers to strings to wood to pickup to electronics creates a very complex and dynamic system and I should not dismiss what I think my ears are telling me.
My initial impression is that this pickup may be a real winner. It really responds well to the round wounds and gives a good weighty "bounce" to slap playing on the p-bass. I'm anxious to get it into the studio to make test samples. Jasaman's coming over tomorrow to drop off a student bass for work, so I want to bounce it off him and see what he thinks. . . is the difference signficant enough to justify the added cost and lead times to use this custom configuration as my standard P-bass pickup? Or should I just be happy with the stock NP4?
) haha 
cause i'm debating between the Gotoh 201, Badass II with Grooved Saddles or Babicz FCH, so.. your review will mean A LOT to me 
