Thinking of going from P to double-reverse -P

[bassbrad]

There was a well known Japanese bass player that had the configuration and an arcane switching for the coils.

 

[Ric Vice]

Although I’ve not experienced them live and in person seem’s like the Sims Super Quad configurable pickups cover all the basses.

 

[Sharko]

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All the hardware that arrived on mine was kinda trashed so I replaced everything with Gotoh.

Thanks, I love the various Electra headstocks and logos they’ve used.
I’m sorry about your shoes though.

 

[Riff Ranger]

To brighten up, you need to add PU in front of the bridge. Here you go, “reverse P” in the bridge position.

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The Buzzard! I have considered this move as well, and haven’t necessarily ruled it out, but I lean toward the configuration I sketched out in the original post because a) I hadn’t seen one quite like that until @groovaholic posted one here and b) I really like the idea of a reverse-P between the Precision and Stingray positions and c) I already have other basses with pickups right up against the bridge, and only find those pickups useful for my purposes as the (very) junior partner in a blend.

This one’s likely to become my main player now that my band has finally found a guitarist and I don’t have to try to do everything on my B0–B2 bass vi I do use that bridge pickup (loud, gnarly humbucker setting for fingerstyle; loud, cutting single coil setting for picking), but I set the blend to about 80/20 neck/bridge. The bridge pickup on its own lacks low end in that position.

That same pickup sounds BURLY in the Stingray position, even without a preamp.

 

[micguy]

Double P’s can work well, assuming you don’t want to solo a pickup near the bridge (the two halves sound really different if you get too close to the bridge. Not a problem with your proposed positions, but PJ’s often sound “nasal” on the Gand D strings, because the pickups are too close to each other. That’s gonna be your challenge here - reusing the standard locations is going to force the pickups to be closer than optimsl.

Personally, I’d suggest a one and a half P fir your situation - add an E/A half , so you have the choice of normal or reverse P configurations.

 

[darwin-bass]

OP nice pics. Maybe somedays the music gig will pay enough so you can afford shoes

Shorts and no shoes on stage and you make it look soooo coool!

 

[Fresh Eddie]

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All the hardware that arrived on mine was kinda trashed so I replaced everything with Gotoh.

My bass was identical but the logo was Electra by Westone.

Great shot! If that is a Peavey 2x15 I had one of those too…

 

[Isaac_James]

Double P’s can work well, assuming you don’t want to solo a pickup near the bridge (the two halves sound really different if you get too close to the bridge. Not a problem with your proposed positions, but PJ’s often sound “nasal” on the Gand D strings, because the pickups are too close to each other. That’s gonna be your challenge here - reusing the standard locations is going to force the pickups to be closer than optimsl.

Personally, I’d suggest a one and a half P fir your situation - add an E/A half , so you have the choice of normal or reverse P configurations.

Sort of like the Reverend Wattplower...

 

[micguy]

Sort of like the Reverend Wattplower...
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Yep - they were the first that I know of to do that in s production bass.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Sort of like the Reverend Wattplower...
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That would be the inspiration. Maybe Reverend has some half-pickups sitting around

 

[micguy]

This may not look like a double P, but under the soap bar shells, the pickups are reverse P’s (albeit with less offset). Note that they’re in J positions - far enough apart to avoid the nasal issue. Also, the electronics don’t allow a solo’ed bridge, as that…isn’t useful to me.

 

[micguy]

IMO the stock pickup looks a LOT like a DiMarzio Model P
I know that Schaller made something (the PBX, I think...) very similar that went into a lot of import basses.

Schaller had a deal with DiMarzio - their pickup was an exact copy of s model P. I’ve had basses with both models, they were sonically identical as well.

 

[DDawg]

I added a reverse-P closer to the bridge and a standard P closer to the neck., with individual volumes on all 3 pickups. The D-G coils are switchable between the middle and neck pickups, so it can run as a double reverse-P. I think it sounds best with more space between the 2 pickups than butted up tight. There's full series-parallel switching on this bass so I can combine the pickups and coils in many different ways.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Schaller had a deal with DiMarzio - their pickup was an exact copy of s model P. I’ve had basses with both models, they were sonically identical as well.

That’s great to know. I was really hoping you would chime into this thread

 

[Riff Ranger]

Also, the electronics don’t allow a solo’ed bridge, as that…isn’t useful to me.

I endorse this … diplomatically worded statement.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Some bassists never use their tone pot, but I never use the volume pot.

Hey-oh though I do use a volume pedal extensively.

 

[Riff Ranger]

but something to consider as well is where you're going to add these controls. Right now you have two knobs, and I'm betting the cavity on the back of the bass isn't big enough to add a blade or rotary switch, so in addition to routing out the new pickup cavities, you'd also have to add another cavity for the pickup selector.

You haven’t met this instrument yet, but when you finally do, you’ll understand why I would not hesitate to enlarge the electronics cavity and call it “chambering”

 

[Riff Ranger]

My bass was identical but the logo was Electra by Westone.

Great shot! If that is a Peavey 2x15 I had one of those too…

Peavey 215D, with a 212 on the guitarist’s side. The one and only time I dipped into the loudness wars, but I did okay

 

[Empap]

Have you tried wiring the pickup you have in parallel? i did that with a cheap split P and it's a whole new sound.

Otherwise. you could find a wiring diagram for a HH bass/guitar (les paul style) 5 way switch with coil tapping,
1. Neck Humbucker = Neck Reverse Split P
2. Neck + Bridge Inner Coils = Original Split P
3 Neck + Bridge Humbucker = All Coils
4. Neck + Bridge Outer Coils = Your funky idea of bridge BE and neck AD
5 Bridge Humbucker = Bridge Reverse Split P / Stingray-ish

 

[Riff Ranger]

If you just want to add options, I'd simplify....leave the current P pup alone and just add a MM style humbucker @ the bridge= a "PMan" similar to what Alien Audio has been offering for years.

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I really like the look of that, even as it goes against numerous general aesthetic preferences of mine (P+MM, light inlays on light fretboard, painted headstock with light board). Somehow that all comes together really nicely. It looks a lot like the current generation of Yamaha BBs, of which I own and enjoy two. As I do also have my Ibanez ATKs and Roadstar that do something in the realm of a Stingray, I think I’d rather go with a reverse-P thereabouts for yet another option.

ill assume you dont use the tone knob? If its 4 conductor like a dimarzio you could wire a series parallel switch and put it in the hole in place of the tone knob. low steak mod before you start to cut and drill things.

Correct: passive tone knobs are purely decorative for me I may yet do this.

It's a bit similar what Neil Murray did with his Kramer bass in the late seventies. It had a reverse P in the "correct" P-position and another reverse P right behind it so everything same as here but one "block" closer to the bridge. His later BC Rich had a similar confiquration.
All those variations can be interesting and useful too. From what I've learned is that I never really cared for the sound of two pickups very near each other so the "all on" sound might be disappointing. Or not!
But do it if you ask me. And cream colored DiMarzios would look fab.

Cream DiMarzios would be the ‘80s-est I suspect the most useful sounds for me if I made this happen would be the reverse-P nearest the bridge, the Fender orientation and placement in the middle, and maybe the reverse-P nearest the neck, in that order.

You could also do a push/pull knob for the volume or tone to setup series/parallel switching, and retain an entirely stock layout.

This is how I run my basses, to the point that I default to parallel with the option to kick into series for some meat when I need it.

On most pickups, the parallel configuration is a touch lower output, but offers more content higher in the range. Corrected for output (i use a clean boost first in line) there's not really any loss in the lows, just more highs. I've read (but not tested) that the dimarzio Model P is great to use in parallel since it doesn't tend to drop the output between settings nearly as much as your conventional split p pickup.

Like @ampegfuzz suggested it's a lower entry to experimentation, and entirely reversible.

I think I’m of a “why not both?” mind when it comes to series/parallel switching and the additional pickup halves.