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Thinking about reversing my P Pickup

How do you reverse a P pickup?

  • Switch both halves

    Votes: 25 37.9%

  • Just move the treble half

    Votes: 41 62.1%
  • Total voters
    66
PennyroyalWe

PennyroyalWe

Sep 2, 2018
2,423
4,314
Oregon
#1
For a while now I’ve been mulling over reversing the pickup in my CV70’s P (and maybe adding a double j pickup in the bridge). I love the sound I get from the E & A strings. Hard to explain except it makes me go “MMMmm!”. The D & G not so much.

Reading up, it seems reversing the P pickup is supposed to help this. When I look at how much closer the G saddle is to the poles, it seems so obvious. (Pic to crudely show this)

IMG_5463.jpeg


My question is, do you swap places of both halves, or leave the E/A half in place, and simply swap the G/D to be on the neck side?

Also, does anyone have a recommendation for where to source a reverse p pickguard for after it’s done?
 
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#8
PennyroyalWe said:
For a while now I’ve been mulling over reversing the pickup in my CV70’s P (and maybe adding a double j pickup in the bridge). I love the sound I get from the E & A strings. Hard to explain except it makes me go “MMMmm!”. The D & G not so much.

Reading up, it seems reversing the P pickup is supposed to help this. When I look at how much closer the G saddle is to the poles, it seems so obvious. (Pic to crudely show this)

View attachment 5045053

My question is, do you swap places of both halves, or leave the E/A half in place, and simply swap the G/D to be on the neck side?

Also, does anyone have a recommendation for where to source a reverse p pickguard for after it’s done?
Click to expand...
So... the nice thing about this being a P bass is that you could experiment, find the placement you like, and then cover up the extra routing and screw holes with a pickguard.
Personally, my model for this kind of tone is the old school Yamaha BB1200 and BB2000 basses... in that case, I don't know exactly what the pickup placement is. It'd be cool to find some specifications, because I've thought about doing my own "BB2K" style bass build.
 
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#11
Another option might be a spilt coil J-bass pickup, installed in the position of your current E+A coil. Split coil J-bass pickups are available from several different manufacturers and might give you a better balanced tone between E+A and D+G than going full reverse. You will have to do some routing and get a new pickguard anyway so it's no more hassle than a reverse P. Just avoid any stacked coil J-bass pickups, they may be noise cancelling but they don't sound like split coils.

The only negative would be less flexibility when adjusting the pickup height. Some J-bass pickups can have a poorly balanced output across the strings. You'll need to make sure you get a pickup with staggered pole pieces, designed specifically for the fretboard radius you're using. Some manufacturers offer different versions of J-bass pickups for different radius fretboards.

The question remains whether a split coil J-pickup in the P-bass position will sound more like a J or a P. In my experience it will sound a lot more like a P-bass but this will depend on the specific pickup/manufacturer too of course.

This will only be an alternative if you think the tonal balance across the strings on a J-bass might be closer to what you're looking for than on a reverse P. Personally I've never really bonded with reverse P. If you haven't already tested this pickup configuration I strongly suggest you do so (if possible) before deciding, preferrably in the context of a full band or a mix. You might love it of course but it's VERY different to a standard P-bass.
 
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#12
One more thing:

Brass saddles and holes from the bridge cover... Is this one of the older Chinese CVs? These are wonderful instruments, possibly the best Squiers ever IMO. I've got one myself and it's every bit as good as FAR more expensive Fenders. However, I don't think you can expect any standard aftermarket pickguards to be a direct replacement. I don't know this for certain but I think you might need to get a custom made pickguard, which is possible of course but a bit more hassle (and more expensive).

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure about this but it might be something to be aware of before wasting your money on a pickguard that won't fit.

Of course, my suggestion above (split coil J pickup) would also require a custom made pickguard...
 
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#13
<---I switch the locations of both halves of the neck pickup (SPB-2) on all my P basses and add a second reversed P pickup (Seymour Duncan QP) closer to the bridge. I don't know how different just switching the locations of the halves sounds than the original because I changed pickups at the same time I did this modification. However, I love how the bass sounds and it looks cool, too. If you can do the pickup routing, you can make a pickguard to fit. I ordered my first one from WD music, but have made my last few.

This video has a good comparison:
 
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#14
Dragon fire has P guard blanks, they have standard and reverse p pickguards as well. Capital music gear offers them and they can be found on reverb, There is a Mark Hoppus reverse p and there are replacement guards to be found…

Looks like a very nice (as mentioned above) CIC Squier if you do the reverse p (which I really dig) I hope you take your time with it they are usually well made basses and probably a fine player.
Here are a couple links: Good luck…

WD Custom Pickguard For Fender 2011-Present Reverse Pickup Mark Hoppus Signature Bass #01 Black

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#15
Oh forgot…I have seen them both ways kinda a partial ‘reverse’ where you just move the DG up and leave the EA where it is as opposed to a ‘proper’ reverse p would be to rout it to be able to swap the center lines of the pickups if that make sense…You could also use the reverse P pick guard to mark/use as your template
 
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#16
IMO, IME I’d either leave it alone or do a dual reverse P.

After trying all the variants, I concluded that the classic P works well and the stagger does give you a wider range of sounds (like Leo intended). You can compensate for the discontinuity between the two halves with setup, string selection and technique, and some pickups balance better.

simply reversing the P does balance the output/sound and you can use a more balanced tension set of strings, but it compresses the range of sounds - it’s very even across the fretboard. You’d think that’s a good thing, and it is in some ways, but it’s also very limiting. At the same time, the difference is not that big, and you indeed still hear the discontinuity between A and D strings, just in a different direction. Now, this works fine overall, it’s more a question whether it’s worth modding a regular P bass. I would probably not do it on a nice P bass. Let P be P.

that said, dual reverse P is a very nice option. It gives you the balance across strings, and you get the range from two pickups. Like with J’s, however, you gotta pick the right spacing. I found that centering both pickups in 70s J positions gave me the sound I liked the most. This splits the difference between the two options you gave in the poll for the neck pickup, and it centers the bridge pickup between the bridge and the pickguard which looks visually more balanced IMO.

another viable option is, as someone suggested above, to do two split Js or soapbars. Something like Nordstrand Big Splits for example. Or quad coils in MM housing which can give both classic and reverse P orientations. They sound very close and arguably even better/more balanced, but wouldn’t have the same look…

anyway, you got options, but you gotta make sure you know what you want. Doing nothing is a pretty good option. The bright side, tho, is that a pickguard can hide your experiments and you can try a few things before committing to anything. Just keep the stock pickguard around unmodified.
 
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#18
C Stone said:
Dragon fire has P guard blanks, they have standard and reverse p pickguards as well. Capital music gear offers them and they can be found on reverb, There is a Mark Hoppus reverse p and there are replacement guards to be found…

Looks like a very nice (as mentioned above) CIC Squier if you do the reverse p (which I really dig) I hope you take your time with it they are usually well made basses and probably a fine player.
Here are a couple links: Good luck…

WD Custom Pickguard For Fender 2011-Present Reverse Pickup Mark Hoppus Signature Bass #01 Black

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

THIS! Just buy a new pickguard thats already cut and BAM! If I ever own a P bass, then thats exactly what I would do. I have done it to 2 Jazz basses and have been happy as a clam....a reverse P+J is perfect for me
 

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