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Best Pickup Configuration

Favorite setup. Neck + Bridge.

  • P

    Votes: 13 5.9%
  • J + J

    Votes: 48 21.8%
  • P + J

    Votes: 31 14.1%
  • P + MM

    Votes: 6 2.7%
  • J + MM

    Votes: 26 11.8%
  • Reverse P + MM

    Votes: 5 2.3%
  • MM

    Votes: 11 5.0%
  • Reverse P

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Reverse P + J

    Votes: 7 3.2%
  • MM + MM

    Votes: 7 3.2%
  • J + J + J

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • P + P

    Votes: 3 1.4%
  • Reverse P + Reverse P

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • P + Reverse P

    Votes: 3 1.4%
  • Reverse P + P

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Soapbar

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Soapbar + Soapbar

    Votes: 33 15.0%
  • J + Soapbar

    Votes: 5 2.3%
  • P + Soapbar

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Carrot Humbuckers

    Votes: 19 8.6%

  • Total voters
    220
Oh, they are not... Not at all... I bet you've never played a bass with Reverse P's... A totally different world. Much, much better actually...

I really dig the tone o reverse P pickups, but something about the positioning on the reverse P equipped basses seemed to feel awkward for my right hand. I don't know if it's the closer proximity to the bridge pickup or what, but that ~0.5" feels strange to me.
 
I really dig the tone o reverse P pickups, but something about the positioning on the reverse P equipped basses seemed to feel awkward for my right hand. I don't know if it's the closer proximity to the bridge pickup or what, but that ~0.5" feels strange to me.

Mine is the other way, bass coil is in correct P position, treble coil is flipped to the neck side.
 
I don't understand... Do you touch the pickups while playing?

I use kind of a modification of classical guitar, floating thumb, the "traditional" style of bass playing, and take what I think are the advantages of each for my tonal and technical needs. I like to place my thumb between the strings. I do a lot of floating thumb technique, but I like the extra umph I can get when I utilize the pull of my thumb against my fingers. While it's not necessary, I kinda like feeling a pickup beneath my thumb, although I should probably note I keep my pickups as high as possible, so it's not like I'm pushing down. Basically the reverse P basses I've played put the pickups in an area I just don't prefer in relation to the lower bout.
 
I like to place my thumb between the strings. I do a lot of floating thumb technique, but I like the extra umph I can get when I utilize the pull of my thumb against my fingers.

I do this also. My thumb is always touching something, lower strings, edge of fingerboard, pickups, or just the body.

I had to pick up my bass and play to see what I do... not something I think about! So the usual two spots are on the low B, or between the E and A. But I'm just as comfortable anchoring it on the neck pickup or the end of the fingerboard and playing across all the strings that way.

I don't get any power not having my thumb on something. It's wasting the pinching leverage you get. I guess if you pluck the strings very lightly it's OK to have your thumb up in the air. But I don't pluck the strings lightly.

Anchoring the thumb worked fine for Stanley and Jaco... ;)

When I play with a pick I rest my ring and pinky on the body. Very standard technique.

What is there some fad about not having your thumb touching something? And what would be the benefit? None I can think of.
 
Explain if you wish...

This is the config of my main bass
This config provides a vary wide range of tonal choices and with the addition of EQ, coil tap and series parallel switching and volume blend...you can get all of the "Leo tones" from P-bass to Jazz to Stingray to Sabre and a few others like the Lakeland. I believe this was Leo's goal with the Sabre but unfortunately it did not sell well.

:hiding:
 
That's an over generalization. P's are technically single coil pickups, since no string is sensed by both coils. J's are two coils, but who uses both pickups on at the same time all the time? I sure don't. Stingrays are humbuckers. But humbuckers give you a composite signal, so they really count as one coil. So two humbuckers are not really 4 coils. Rics have two pickups, and they don't hum cancel when they are both on.
i said "two coils per bass, not "two coils per string". :smug:

now you've gone and done it :eek: