A small update. After playing it quite a bit at home, in rehearsal and live, as much as the ability to blend in some bridge pickup is nice, I'm not sure that anyone would really notice it in the mix and that neck pickup is so nice on its own and way more pokey than the bridge, that the blend is somehow less. To this end, today, I disconnected the bridge pickup completely and have left the blend pot in as a volume control (it's a better quality pot than the original I think and the same value). It is instantly less noisy when you're not earthing it with your hands and I can just enjoy playing the neck pickup, which, unsurprisingly, roars like any P bass, but in a smaller, more quirky package.