Reverse Precision Pickups or Standard?

[sikamikanico]

Traditional P if just one pickup, reverse P if there's a bridge pickup too. The traditional orientation gives you more range (goes lower on bass strings, higher on treble strings; which was what Leo allegedly intended), so it makes more sense imo on a one-pickup bass. But if you have a bass with a bridge pickup too, I find that it works better if the P is reversed - it both blends better, and the whole range issue is moot with the bridge pickup. I think dual reverse P is the way to go in that case

Yes, Leo for sure tried a reverse P, at least by mid-70s. He used that on one of the Stingray prototypes.

 

[MarkA]

Traditional P if just one pickup, reverse P if there's a bridge pickup too. The traditional orientation gives you more range (goes lower on bass strings, higher on treble strings; which was what Leo allegedly intended), so it makes more sense imo on a one-pickup bass. But if you have a bass with a bridge pickup too, I find that it works better if the P is reversed - it both blends better, and the whole range issue is moot with the bridge pickup. I think dual reverse P is the way to go in that case

Yes, Leo for sure tried a reverse P, at least by mid-70s. He used that on one of the Stingray prototypes.

Thanks for posting that video with the Prototype Stingray (and the breadboard instruments referenced earlier). I've seen it before, but had forgotten about it. Cool stuff. While we can see that Leo tried the reverse P here, it would be interesting to know if he tried it earlier, too, with the first split-coil Precisions.

The various dual-P setups people have posted are interesting as well. I might have had my hands on one or two, briefly, but can't say I have any real experience with those.

 

[TrevorR]

Not many folks realise this lovely thing is a reverse P...

 

[UntitledUser]

..and this? Have you ever tried? (just made on the fly with photoshop)

 

[BogeyBass]

My first bass was a Yamaha BB300
pickups were reversed.

Dont recall it doing anything more or less amazing. In fact aside from nostalgia and a actually well built bass.
im in no hurry to find one.

All my standard Fender basses sound great. Never felt the need to modify them in any way

usually the best Fender mods you can do is.....dont think about it LOL its pointless

 

[UntitledUser]

usually the best Fender mods you can do is.....dont think about it LOL its pointless

removing frets with a butter knife (cit.)

 

[BogeyBass]

removing frets with a butter knife (cit.)

lol i actually removed the frets on my first Bass.
And repainted it about 20 plus times.

Towards the end i actually got really good at getting really nice paintjobs.

Thinking of it now. Id just buy or order a fretless and the color i like.
But it was actually pretty fun having made my first fretless.

 

[Cutter8]

Both View attachment 3563620

That’s the right answer

 

[phillipkregg]

Sandberg does the reverse thing on some of their models:

If you check out the YouTube videos of Sandberg P basses, they sound very different from other Ps. They also use Delano’s sometimes, so not sure if it’s the pickup itself or the configuration.

Regardless, they sound great to me!

 

[packhowitzer]

So all of my basses with P pickups are in standard config. I think they sound great. However, my son has an Ibanez mikro PJ with the P in the reverse config. It sounds really great IMO. Thumpy and deep and surprisingly good. I don't know if it's an apples to apples comparison with my various P basses though - it's 28" scale has a vastly different feel/tension than the 34" scale of my basses. This could account for some of differences in thump. I will add though that in high school I worked at a mom n pop music store that had a Spector Euro NS something or other with a reverse PJ config. I remember it being very addictive to play while we had it in stock. just my .02

Ultimately, I'm very pleased with my standard config basses, but I'm also intrigued by the idea of a reverse P.

 

[The Spankster]

I remember vividly the first time I played out with a bass with the reverse P configuration. I was completely elated by how strong my G string was....it was a whole new ballgame...really felt like my strings were balanced for the first time...

 

[radbass]

The solution IMO, is the “Half Reverse P”.
The E&A coil is in the traditional spot, but the D&G gets swapped to the neck side.
Adds beef to the D&G strings, but keeps the E&A in their already perfect position.
It’s glorious.

Rocco

 

[Fender_Bender]

Fwiw, Leo was very hard of hearing and often made things that sounded good to him but were judged to be less than great by others. There were often internal conflicts between him and guys like Freddy Tavares or other professional musicians over this.

 

[iunno]

Standard if it's the only pickup, reverse if you want a J bridge pickup.
Reverse sounds pretty lame by itself imo but very good with a bridge pickup. Standard P is one of my favourite configs.

 

[Ric5]

Reverse

 

[bassrique]

Reverse

View attachment 3563950

What is that?

 

[40Hz]

I made a custom Ripper with two sets of reverse P’s, so I vote reverse.

View attachment 3563668

Now that is five separate shades of awesome!!!

Out of curiosity, how did you configure the switching scheme and control complement?

 

[40Hz]

I’ve played a few basses with reverse layout PB pickups and found I actually preferred the sound of that over the standard layout.

If I ever do a custom build PB I’ll be torn between either doing it with a Dave Allen 1088 in reverse layout or a Thunderbucker. And it doesn’t get more “first world problem” than that does it?

 

[Spirit of Ox]

The solution IMO, is the “Half Reverse P”.
The E&A coil is in the traditional spot, but the D&G gets swapped to the neck side.
Adds beef to the D&G strings, but keeps the E&A in their already perfect position.
It’s glorious.

The old Guild Pilots did this

 

[secondbestcody]

Now that is five separate shades of awesome!!!

Out of curiosity, how did you configure the switching scheme and control complement?

I used a 4 way rotary switch. 4 is neck solo, 3 is both series, 2 is both parallel and 1 is bridge solo.

As of now, it’s just volume and tone with an extra dummy pot not hooked up. I only wanted to make one pickguard so I drilled the extra hole just in case I decide to wire it like a real Ripper.