G&L pups in my P. Woohoo

[oldslapper]

Just replaced the Tonerider pups in my P with these G&L pups.

 

Mahoosive!!! 

[wintoid]

What are they?

[oldslapper]

29 minutes ago, wintoid said:

What are they?

G&L MFD split coil humbucker. Found on SB1 basses. 

[wintoid]

Nice, and you can buy them separately can you?  Just a drop-in replacement on a precision?

[neepheid]

This was my original plan when I got a G&L Tribute LB-100 to turn it into a poor man's SB-1, but I ended up liking the stock pickup enough that I couldn't be bothered changing it.  They are monstrous though - I had a Tribute SB-2 a few years back, and it used to get mistaken for being an active bass by sound engineers...

[oldslapper]

1 hour ago, wintoid said:

Nice, and you can buy them separately can you?  Just a drop-in replacement on a precision?

I got these here. Presumably used, out of an SB1 or 2. 
But yes a drop in replacement, didn’t even have to alter the pickup holes on the  pickguard. And the strings lined up between the poles nicely too. 

[Guest]

That pickup can lowered a bit, and will still give a very strong sound, but warm and rounded. I use Pro Steels with mine. I was very pleasantly surprised at the tonal range that that combination can do. Much more versatile than I expected. 

 

The inner ring of the pole pieces can be raised with an allen key, which seems to bring out a little more definition, useful for the E+G.

 

My SB-1 is packaged up ready to have its neck sorted out, and I'm missing the pickup already.

[jezzaboy]

They are nice pickup`s but I went onto the G&L online store to order a set but the postage price was something crazy like £50!

 

Aye just checked, £66 for the pickup and £49 postage.

Edited September 12, 2023 by jezzaboy

[LeftyJ]

Aye, output on these is ginormous! Owned a USA-made SB-2 and the splitcoil ate the bridge pickup for breakfast. The MFD bridge singlecoil was useless on its own because of the vast difference in output, but provided a useful bit of "tone control" to the splitcoil. 

[neepheid]

2 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

Aye, output on these is ginormous! Owned a USA-made SB-2 and the splitcoil ate the bridge pickup for breakfast. The MFD bridge singlecoil was useless on its own because of the vast difference in output, but provided a useful bit of "tone control" to the splitcoil. 

 

That is the bridge pickup's official purpose on an SB-2.  Nice for a bridge pickup to have a purpose for a change

[Owen]

You can order them through Andertons. You will have to wait for the next G&L shipment they get, but you will not be paying the ridiculous shipping.

[Owen]

What is the secret of these? Is it just bigly magnets? Super duper windings? What gives? I have a 5 string L1000 with an MFD pickup. It brings the heft. 

[Guest]

G&L say, "MFD technology places a single bar magnet entirely beneath each pickup coil, and proprietary machined bushings house height-adjustable pole pieces to fine-tune the magnetic response to each string.  Central to the electromagnetic formula, broad, potent magnets radiate a single polarity upward through the coil. The result is a stronger, smoother magnetic field right where the strings interact, for a fuller, warmer sound with less noise."

 

I've a SB-1 and an LB-100. For a while I had a Dimarzio Model P on the LB-100. You would think the two pickups would be pretty similar, but when I transferred the same set of strings from one bass to the other, I learnt just how much the MFD has a "fuller, warmer sound". It just seems to be thick everywhere.

 

I tend to use the volume knob as if it goes to 12 - I start at 10, with extra punch at 11, and all-out intensity at 12. Lot of change of character in that final bit.