I agree that a Sidewinder is like a Single coil but hum cancels.
Actually more like a P90, both use two bar magnets Head to head.
I do mine North/blade/North.
Having the two magnets greatly increase the magnet flux, making the pickup bright.
You can increase the turn count to even out the brightness.
The Multi-Coils, are supposed to maintain the brightness, because of all the turns on a small round bobbin area.
My version is going to be with 3/8" A5 Alnico rods, and on the outside will look just like a MusicMan Pickup, but will have the 8 Multi-coils.
Like I say, it should be a fun experiment.
I too need to find a Import P-Bass, and rout 2 large pickup holes for testing.
Neos directly under the strings, would probably be too strong.
Neos are usually used with steel poles or blades to give a warm up the Neo tone some.
T
I have SGD sidewinders. Ceramic and Neo versions. For educational purposes, I will comment on the tones and tone differences.
SGD Ceramic sidewinders: Tonally, these are a really interesting pickup. First off, there is absolutely no hint of "modern" tone in these. They have a curious high end extension, such that it almost seems to add extra syllables into the 'growl', if you understand what I mean. and they have a very quick response, as you would expect from Ceramic. However, most of the action is in the mid and high mid. Yet, they are not clanky or sharp sounding. The highs are "open" but still stay warm (which makes this one of the best sounding bridge pickups I have ever used). But they also do not have a notable low end extension. Low mid in particular, is shy.
When you run two together, you get a fantastic natural compression, which really juices up their upper end growl. Many pickup sets wish they did something this cool, with both run together.
the problem is that they are very low output. You pretty much need a pre-amp to get the best from these.
SGD Neo Sidewinders: I have no idea what the difference is with these, in terms of construction; other than that they have neo magnets instead of Ceramic. However, the sound is totally different. Immediately noticeable is that they have a lot of weight in the low end and the output is medium-medium high. They aren't particularly "open" sounding, they are a bit neutral, in that sense. Which makes them really sensitive to placement. This is a sweet neck pickup. It's like a really heavy handed P pickup. the overall tone is really lush and big. But still open enough to give the expressiveness people want in a neck. The high end is a touch modern, especially in the bridge position. But all other frequencies stay lush and warm. That low end weight also keeps it slamming in the bridge position, as well. It get's really focused and deliberate, as a bridge pickup.
Both together, the low end extension on these is a really grabbing experience. Especially with the bridge pickup raised a bit closer to the strings.
I'm quite eager to see how it all turns out.
