Split Coils are ugly?

[Left Foot]

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?

[chrismuzz]

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.

[BassBus]

[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.

[bazzbass]

[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

[Left Foot]

[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.

[Paulhauser]

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

[CamdenRob]

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

[Mister RLP]

[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

[Grangur]

[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