to me, a “single coil P pickup” is the original design pre-57 P pickup :
but obviously the pickup on the bass you shows is a split coil and certainly not a single coil
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AGree, hard to have a ‘single’ coil when it is split … into two!
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Yeah I know, I was like “…wut?”
I suppose they could have windings going the same way and not reversed or something, and lose the him cancelling - but I doubt it.
Thanks again!
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Theyre called split “single coil” pups because they’re 2 single coil pups next to each other, wired in series where each string only has 1 single coil pup. A true “humbucker” has 2 coils under each string.
Dimarzio make the “Split P” which are double blade humbuckers.
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certainly not, really. that’s just a bad product page editing in my opinion … can be very confusing and in fact we can doubt the other informations are correct. if they screw the pickup type in their product description, how confident can we be about the neck measurement ? not very sure …
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Yeah it is Fender, after all.
I have played it though, neck felt fantastic to me. Which probably means not chunky enough for you 
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yeah probably. still a pretty good point for an instrument ! it’s good to be comfortable with a neck.
I know you don’t like the Fender headstock … and possibly the price tag … but those Precision Bass seriously work for what they pretend to be !
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Yeah, pretty seriously considering one. The MIJ was really, really nice, to be honest. Kind of loved it.
The MIM was surprisingly good too! This was at Ikebe though, they wouldn’t put a dud on the floor.
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in my opinion, all the current Fender ranges are great for their price tag.
I still consider that the MIA are the better ones, but, that said, MIM and MIJ are very good instruments.
Also I bougth a Squier Classic Vibe (guitar, not bass, but that’s the exact same range) recently, I paid a high price for it because it’s a FSR (Fender Special Run) but, still … for this price tag this is a really impressive instrument. That’s the very highest Squier range and it compares to a Fender MIM. the pickups are even way better on the Squier. (pickup without a S because this guitar only has one )
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Yeah the Classic Vibe '70s P-Bass was actually quite good. I like what they are doing with the stain on the maple too. That’s a nice looking Tele.
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in my opinion, the Squier Classic Vibe range is where you get the most for your money in the large Fender range, currently.
still, “real” Fender are really great. and yeah I’m not surprised you liked a MIJ one.
also for studio guys like us, in my opinion it’s hard not to a have a P in your arsenal. but your SBV 550 can count like one without any problem, at least for pure studio purpose.
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Agree. Actually the SBV is what’s pulling me towards a P. I’m loving the P-like tone I get out of it, and it kicked off a bit of a gear reshuffle 
I also think the MIJ and MIM are at a pretty reasonable, or at least arguable price point, especially now that things are settling back to normal. The place I see the diminishing returns coming in really hard is with the MIA. They are up against some hardcore competition here up in the $2k range.
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well, to be honest the MIM/MIJ Fender price tag is high compared to what you get with Yamaha instruments for the same price, but, yeah, you still pay the brand and the original design. which I can accept, really.
Also what I’ve already said is that the best Jazz Bass-like bass I’ve ever played is my SBV 500 … because the pickups are impressive, and the build compares to a good MIA Fender. sure it doesn’t look like a J but sound-wise it’s not far.
to say that I’m very comfident to the idea that your SBV 550 can sound like a very good P. I think that Fumi prooved it 
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Yeah I am totally loving the P-like nature of the SBV. I think part of it is it has excellent pickups that (unlike most P/J) has the P in the same place a Fender would.
Fumi and Miki Furukawa totally convinced me I wanted one even before I had ever seen one
I definitely have it sounding like P in this Sisters of Mercy cover I am working on now, and I realized I love the sound and really want to lean in to it.
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haha yeah your record sounds really like a good P. really nice tone, you have that thick “bite” reminiscent to the P basses and that we all love 
the only problem I could have with a SBV 550 is the J-B neck width. otherwise this design is about perfect to me.
well I feel I’m still lacking a P with a very vintage setup. but I’m not sure Greeny causes much problems when I want to sound like an old P.
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Yeah, it’s 40mm. I actually like that width a lot - wider than a J, more narrow than most P’s. The current BB line is the same, really nice feeling neck to me.
I think Greeny sounds fantastic, but I’m also not a vintage motown tone guru - honestly I’d probably prefer Greeny over a more vinatge tone
Thanks!
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42mm and a DiMarzio pickup, the same one than on the early BC Rich basses
I just measured the width on the SBV 500 : 40.3mm. it’s for sure the same necks on the 500 and 550. still feels very narrow to me compared to a P ! I much prefer a 42mm neck, but it’s very very personnal and it doesn’t matter (almost) about the tone.
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And which sound fantastic
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Thanks!
One of the things spurring this gear reshuffle is I realized that since buying the SBV, I haven’t used my TRBX at all. I like the thing a lot, great bass, but it’s been over a year since I used it in anything…
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