Pickup design question

[thebassbuilder]

I wanted to know if anyone has done this or knows what the results would yield. What would a J Bass style pickup/s sound like if you made the pickup shorter and wound wider. Think of it like taking a P Bass but making it a single coil. J Coils are taller and narrower, while P's are shorter but the winding seems to be wider than a J. I know this would not fit into a standard J cover but just wanted to know if anyone makes something like this or not and what the sound results were.

 

[BassGyver]

Nordstrand big single?
Aguilar super Single?

 

[thebassbuilder]

Yes that would be the shape of the coil. I even thought of these but not sure if they designed them the way I am describing. Not sure if they are still tall coils with that much more winding or did they shorten the coil and went outward to fit into the wider covers?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Obviously, there are lots of variables in pickup design, but if everything else is the same, tall narrow coils will usually be more focused. That is, clearer, wider frequency range, better definition, more Hi-Fi. That's because more turns of wire are closer in around the magnetic field.

Shorter, wider coils will be the opposite; more muddy, less range top and bottom, etc. The thicker, richer sound...Like a P-Bass. The reason is because more of the turns of wire are further out from the stronger parts of the magnetic field.

Again, this assumes that the magnets and the magnetic field shapes are the same for the two configurations. If you want to make the coils short and wide for dimensional reasons, you can do various things to widen and spread out the magnetic field.

 

[JustForSport]

Try a single-coil P.

 

[Snaxster]

I wanted to know if anyone has done this or knows what the results would yield. What would a J Bass style pickup/s sound like if you made the pickup shorter and wound wider. Think of it like taking a P Bass but making it a single coil. J Coils are taller and narrower, while P's are shorter but the winding seems to be wider than a J. I know this would not fit into a standard J cover but just wanted to know if anyone makes something like this or not and what the sound results were.

Hello. As a supplement to the answers already given:

Like the neck pickup in this custom set?

Probably it's not as extreme as what you imagined. But compared to a conventional design, I'm guessing that it's similar. Once I install it, I will let you know how it sounds.

 

[thebassbuilder]

Saxter,

Hard to tell from the pic but is this what you did to these pickups, more width and less height?

 

[thebassbuilder]

Try a single-coil P.

I always thought they were smaller and maybe taller than a standard jazz pup?

 

[JustForSport]

I always thought they were smaller and maybe taller than a standard jazz pup?

Fatter than (most?) jazz pups, but not as fat as (most?) split P windings.

 

[thebassbuilder]

Hello. As a supplement to the answers already given:

Like the neck pickup in this custom set?

Probably it's not as extreme as what you imagined. But compared to a conventional design, I'm guessing that it's similar. Once I install it, I will let you know how it sounds.

View attachment 632242

Are these pickups you wound? Also yes let us know what they sound like and if you can post a sound clip.

 

[Snaxster]

Are these pickups you wound? Also yes let us know what they sound like and if you can post a sound clip.

Those pickups were made by Owen Duffy of O.C. Duff Pickups. Sound clips are unlikely, but I will post a review of them in this forum, continuing my little series of reviews of bass pickups.

 

[Snaxster]

Saxter,

Hard to tell from the pic but is this what you did to these pickups, more width and less height?

Sorry, I just now saw this post of yours.

As I understand it, that neck pickup is just a little shorter than usual.

I'm not sure, but assuming it has the same number of windings as an otherwise identical pickup of normal height, its coil would appear fatter. That's my best guess.