Why couldn’t you just design a 5-string P pickup that was equal halves? Like, 2.5x2.5?
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Why are 5-string P-basses so rare?
- Thread starter Riff Ranger
- Start date
Because the center string would fluctuate between the two coils & make weird sounds.
DiMarzio are keeping their solution close to the vest:
"specifically designed to meet the demands of 5-string basses. By means of a unique application of Virtual Vintage® technology, the Ultra Jazz 5™ both cancels hum and produces balanced power and frequency response across all five strings."
Ultra Jazz 5™ Pair | DiMarzio
DiMarzio are keeping their solution close to the vest:
"specifically designed to meet the demands of 5-string basses. By means of a unique application of Virtual Vintage® technology, the Ultra Jazz 5™ both cancels hum and produces balanced power and frequency response across all five strings."
Ultra Jazz 5™ Pair | DiMarzio
So, they’re asymmetric, don't hum, and (some) sound great. Not much different than asymmetric Ps.
Sorry that Blacktop was a dud, but it’s not an example of all asymmetric pickups. Lots work great.
DiMarzio clearly isn't as afraid of a >>compromises<< with J-style pickups as they are with P-style.
Probably to do with the orientation of the coils.
edited to add the explanation about compromises
Probably to do with the orientation of the coils.
edited to add the explanation about compromises
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Ibáñez are made by Salvador Ibáñez (his guitars had no pickups)This is how Ibáñez has solved that issue:
reversing the position of the coils
Nordstrand also solved the coil mismatch by making the D&G coil as long as the BEA coil.
Hoshino Gakki makes the Ibanez (no accents) you pictured
Salvador Ibáñez - Wikipedia
Far from it, best Fender instrument I owned, once I rewired the coils in parallel & shielded it.
I have never seen one either. I've seen plenty of 4 string split single coil basses tuned down to P, but those are usually played with a pick and drive.
Talkbass is a big place. I probably spend more time poking around threads about this than you.
It has been said more than once in the past 8 or so years of me being a member. I didn’t make this crap up.
It’s all good though. I didn’t necessarily mean they don’t sound as good. I should have, as @Killed_by_Death, stated that the design is a compromise.
It has been said more than once in the past 8 or so years of me being a member. I didn’t make this crap up.
It’s all good though. I didn’t necessarily mean they don’t sound as good. I should have, as @Killed_by_Death, stated that the design is a compromise.
I replaced the single coil J in my Ibanez Talman P/J 5 with an Ultra Jazz 5. I did a couple of immediate before & after, A/B recordings (i always do this with any pickup change out) and I gotta say, DiMarzio nailed it.
It's dead silent soloed, and sounds like a true single coil, not a watered-down, polite version of a single coil. The string-to-string balance is perfect to my ears. String balance is excellent and the B string plays just as loud and clear as the rest without any extra effort needed from me.
I'm not sure what's behind the Virtual Vintage Technology, but it does what it says on the tin and nails the premise of the goal, IME with it.
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I get the RonSeal reference:
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It's often the case, but Leo's original split-coil design takes some beating, naturally hum-cancelling w/o any tweaks.
He did the same with G&L, the Z-Coil pickups, but they never really took off:
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I had a Comanche for a while with that pickup set & it had the broadest timbre of any guitar I've ever owned, crazy high output as well.
They're MFD design, like the pickups in the ASAT bass & L-2000.
Oh wait, it is still a compromise, between a single-coil & a typical hum-bucker.
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It's often the case, but Leo's original split-coil design takes some beating, naturally hum-cancelling w/o any tweaks.
He did the same with G&L, the Z-Coil pickups, but they never really took off:
Link Removed
I had a Comanche for a while with that pickup set & it had the broadest timbre of any guitar I've ever owned, crazy high output as well.
They're MFD design, like the pickups in the ASAT bass & L-2000.
Oh wait, it is still a compromise, between a single-coil & a typical hum-bucker.
Not sure if this has already been covered somewhere in the pages of this thread, but I have seen several references to the top part of the a split-P 5-string pickup not being in the 'sweet spot' for the B string. Given that the 4 string P bass pickup positioning is somewhat counterintuitive (hence the people who prefer a reversed P config because the tonal balance is arguably more even across the strings), where would the sweet spot for a B string pickup be? I guess the options sonically are B string clarity, and B string "P-ness" (snigger).
I have tried a couple of Lakland P5s and thought they were great. I own a EBMM StingRay 5H that is my main player. The Fender P5 is also quite nice, IMO.
i wouldn't pronounce it aibaniizu but i know that's how the japanese sometimes romaji it. what you're writing with the accents there is pronounced totally different from what you've written in katakana.
Oh, I know how to pronounce Ibáñez, the original name. Why do you think the "new" owners decided to change it?
How do you pronounce karaoke?
How do you pronounce karaoke?
You can, as in the Bill Lawrence P-46. When used on a five string, both coils pick up the A string.
It looks like he's using 2 poles/string & the center string is using one pole from the top & one from the bottom. That's another clever way to not compromise.
They don’t look as cool as their 4 string brethren or their 5 string jazz or stingray style cousins.
When I modded my old Squier PJ5 I installed NOS Fender 2-3 P pickup and an ultra jazz J. As far as I'm concerned my experience was exactly as stingray69 says. DiMarzio nailed EVERYTHING I mean the sound, string to string balance (former Squier pickups were were horrid!) and even the pole pieces have he correct string spacing for a P-5 and it's size was nearly right taking only a tiny bit of dremeling on the end of the route to fit. Way Cool. Only down side is that the output is lower than the P-pickup in series. Mine is V-V but if you turn them both up full it's out of balance. As it turns out with parallel wiring for the P you get a perfect balance, but I don't really like that tone. (I wired my P-pickup with series-parallel as push-pull on one of the volumes so I can choose). But since it's vol-vol this imbalance is not a big deal.
And let me add something about the Fender 3-2 P pickup. I'm looking at it trying to figure how can a split pickup with two different size coils and different numbers of poles actually be both balanced across the strings and also balanced enough to cancel hum? I pondered this for some time and my conclusion was I have NO idea how Fender does it, BUT it works. That pickup is totally great and DOES NOT hum. Go figure.
