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Why Do Fender P Basses Come with the Pickup Staggered?

#43
Not sure, but I think that a lot of folks are misunderstanding the original question.

Hey, Hi-End: Are you asking why there are two separate pick ups, one on the E & A strings, and then a separate, but staggered pick up on the D & G strings?
 
#46
jthisdell said:
And doesn't make much sense since the first P's had a single single coil pick up.
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If you have a copy of Fender The Golden Age 1946-1970, look at pages 122 and 123. Five photos of early Fender electric mandolins. The first ones being 1956. The single pickup is short; narrow, and angled with a solid cover with no exposed pole pieces.
 
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#53
Bruce Johnson said:
I don't know. You'll have to ask Leo. He had two choices: treble coil back or treble coil forward. I assume that he chose treble side back, because it "widened" the sound range. It made the treble strings a little brighter and the bass strings a little deeper. Doing the reverse would have made the treble strings deeper and the bass strings brighter.
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Didn't he actually have four choices then?
 
#54
Hi-End Basses said:
Why do Fender P Basses come with the pup staggered (slightly lower by the E string and the G string) I've looked at other companies, where the Pup is installed completely level. Is the pup supposed to be staggered like that for optimal sound?
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ahc said:
It's done to follow the radius of the neck thereby allowing the pickup to be adjusted to give equal volume for all the strings.
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As far as the angling of the pickups is concerned, this is correct. To follow the radius of the neck (which in 1957 was 7 1/4") for even string volume.

Bruce Johnson said:
Leo decided to make the P-bass pickup humbucking design, to reduce humming noise from nearby electrics. Humbucking design means there are two coils, which are wired in opposite rotation, and with the magnets in opposite polarity. So, there needed to be two pickup coils, each one covering two strings.

For various reasons, Leo also decided to make the coils relatively short and wide. Because the coils are so wide, they won't fit end to end across the bass. If you put the two P-bass coils end-to-end inline with each other, the poles for the A and D will be too far apart for the string spacing. It's because the end of the coil, the bobbin flanges and wire turning around the pole, stick out too far.

So, the two coils can't be mounted in line with each other. They have to be offset to get the poles lined up with the string spacing. Leo chose to offset the treble side coil towards the bridge for various reasons.
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^^^This is why the split pickups were split in the first place.^^^
Martin Kelly puts it this way on page 72 of Fender The Golden Years 1946-1970 "Leo developed a new pickup design featuring two magnets for each string. In order to fit eight evenly spaced magnets under the four strings, he split the pickup into two halves, with coils wound in opposite directions to give it a hum-canceling or 'hum-bucking' effect. The new split pickup gave the Precision a rounded tone and brought bass players extra clarity and response from their instrument."
 
#56
two fingers said:
Twenty years ago staggering P meant something else altogether....at least in my experience. :wideyed:
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A late-evening, staggering P was indeed de rigueur back in the glory days. But I have since realized Mr. Liver is my best friend, and thus I no longer run him ragged, nor keep him working overtime until all hours. In fact, I should probably give the old guy some Milk Thistle.
 
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#57
2tonic said:
Didn't he actually have four choices then?
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??? I'm not following you. Because of their size, the coils couldn't fit in line. So, they had to be mounted offset to each other. The choices were: bass coil forward/treble coil back (which he chose) or bass coil back/treble coil forward.
 
#58
2tonic said:
You run your mouth kinda reckless, for a man who goes around heeled with a jazz bass. ;)
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I do. Sometimes.
My J has DiMarzio Model J's. No single coils there.
2 straight split P's.
A stacked coil "single" P.
A Dingwall SJ/P.
A G&L L2K.
And one of those Macca viola basses with humbuckers in it.

My favourite? The '73 P and the stacked "single" coil P. But I love them all. :thumbsup::)
 
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#60
Bruce Johnson said:
??? I'm not following you. Because of their size, the coils couldn't fit in line. So, they had to be mounted offset to each other. The choices were: bass coil forward/treble coil back (which he chose) or bass coil back/treble coil forward.
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I was just tugging your chain a little.
Look at it this way.....
Leo picked "X marks the spot" for the pickup location, but the rub (literally) is the two pcs can't fit end to end, so.....
He could leave the bass side on X, and move the treble side forward.........or back, or leave the treble side on X and move the bass forward.....or back.
Relative to "X" he had four choices.
The real dilemma here is we'll never know for sure where exactly the mysterious X was!
Is the bass side still on it?
Or is the treble side occupying X.
Oooh, an enigma.......or perhaps a conundrum!

Oh, and comparing X to the original Pbass pickup location doesn't count.......show your work to the fourth decimal place! :D
 
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