Reasons behind split pickups in P-Bass setup

[Samatza]

The trick, and it's no trick at all, is to use your ears not your eyes when balancing the pickup.

This is exactly right. Because we all have different preferences in action adjusting the pickup for even string balance not the fretboard profile gives the best results.

I noticed this with all my P pickup basses, when I bought a new one I would make little tweaks between sets to get it just right.

 

[EmaTheMirror]

Heavy Metal deserves a sweet-looking visual design:

https://bcrich.com/product/widow-legacy-4
View attachment 3885875

but those on the jackets are single spikes, right? cause they are not double lines

just like the split-coil, which is two coils but is single, of course

 

[PapaGInTheHouse]

I have a Mustang Bass. It's an American Player, manufactured in 2018. It has P/J pickups but no switch like some other models. Two volume knobs and a tone. From what I have read the J pick-up by itself should hum a lot and the P pick-up by itself should not hum much. But ... in isolation they both hum like crazy. You can reduce it slightly by angling the bass in relation to the amp, but the hum is still significant. If both pickups are set at exactly the same level, zero hum. So it seems it is wired so that both pickups have to work together. The P pickup is definitely not bucking the hum by itself. (Fortunately, it sounds goods with both pups up full )

 

[CodyMonster]

Reading up on noise sources I see a lot of people redoing the electronics to shield everything, even opening up the coils themselves.

A friend has some strats and the noise drives me crazy. Maybe it's just my OCD