Left Foot Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 So my two basses are an old Hondo II similar to a carbonita single coil humbucker (lovely neck) and an Ibenez EDC 700 with two singles in P and J positions. I want a P bass but think uncovered splits are ugly... That just me? Are they crucial to the P tone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 I used to think they were ugly too but my tastes changed when I fell in love with the sound of a PJ configuration. There's a few companies that do split coils in soapbar covers like EMG and Nordstrand, I don't know about single coil sized covers though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBus Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 [quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1494253144' post='3294350'] I want a P bass but think uncovered splits are ugly... That just me? Are they crucial to the P tone? [/quote] Halleluiah! I am not alone. They just look untidy and I am not keen on the tone from them. But then, I do like a darker tone than a single coil will ever produce. There are J style pickups available that have split coils in them. They might have a slightly different tone though as the coils are end to end. The P style pickup has the coils picking up sound from slightly different parts of the string which is probably what gives the distinctive tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazzbass Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 [quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1494253144' post='3294350'] So my two basses are an old Hondo II similar to a carbonita single coil humbucker (lovely neck) and an Ibenez EDC 700 with two singles in P and J positions. I want a P bass but think uncovered splits are ugly... That just me? Are they crucial to the P tone? [/quote] they ARE the P tone. Everything else on a P is the same as on a Jazz cept the nut width and extra vol pot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Left Foot Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 [quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1494406995' post='3295634'] they ARE the P tone. Everything else on a P is the same as on a Jazz cept the nut width and extra vol pot [/quote] well caught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) Then try the soapbar housed EMG P's. They are essentially a P shape hidden in a soapbar housing. I use the 40P5 in my Spector and sounds badass. http://www.emgpickups.com/40p5.html Check out the related pdf's in the right, the first one (40 instructions) has a drawing on how the coils are inside the soapbar in different models. Available original P or reversed (a la Spector) edit: the require routing for sure, but they are P without looking like one :-) Edited May 10, 2017 by Paulhauser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) Beauty in bass aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder as with everything... Personally I think a P bass looks fine but I find PJ setups a bit jarring on the eye ... also uneven P pickups on a 5 string look weird. Edited May 10, 2017 by CamdenRob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister RLP Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 [quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Beauty in bass aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder as with everything...[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Personally I think a P bass looks fine but I find PJ setups a bit jarring on the eye [/font][/color] [/quote] +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) [quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1494443700' post='3296077'] Beauty in bass aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder as with everything... Personally I think a P bass looks fine but I find PJ setups a bit jarring on the eye ... also uneven P pickups on a 5 string look weird. [/quote] There is another way to do split-coil on a 5: [url="http://www.wildepickups.com/Bass_Pickups.html"]http://www.wildepick...ss_Pickups.html[/url] They also sound great. Edited May 10, 2017 by Grangur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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