Hi Joe, The FD-3 5-string pickups are the same pole piece spacing so there's no problem with swapping the pickups. You may need to extend the wires depending on the age of the pickup. That being said, I'm not sure the series tone is very P-like, so I can't guarantee that it will fit the tone signature you're looking for. Question for board members: How many would be interested in a P version of the FD-3?

How would you characterize the tone of a P version of the FD-3? vs the Mach II in the neck position vs the FD-3? I think of a "P" sound as thick and midrange focused. Although IMO actual Pbass pickups vary in sound more than I would like when crossing from A to D strings. A soapbar pickup with that thick focused sound would be perfect.

[quote="Joe Smithebrger":3gfr4ri9]How would you characterize the tone of a P version of the FD-3? vs the Mach II in the neck position vs the FD-3? I think of a "P" sound as thick and midrange focused. Although IMO actual Pbass pickups vary in sound more than I would like when crossing from A to D strings. A soapbar pickup with that thick focused sound would be perfect.[/quote:3gfr4ri9] +1 Mark

[quote="Sheldon Dingwall":3tfrpy6a]Hi Joe, The FD-3 5-string pickups are the same pole piece spacing so there's no problem with swapping the pickups. You may need to extend the wires depending on the age of the pickup. That being said, I'm not sure the series tone is very P-like, so I can't guarantee that it will fit the tone signature you're looking for. Question for board members: How many would be interested in a P version of the FD-3?[/quote:3tfrpy6a] I like the sound of the neck pup soloed in series much better than in parallel. I've never been a huge fan of the P-bass sound (even though I have one and played it for MANY years B.D. (Before Dingwall). Maybe I'll dust off the old P and do simple comparison and get back to everyone. Shedlon, as you know. I'm always up for a new pup! How about an FD-3 and a Supper Fatty tapped single coil? (Sorry, couldn't help myself )

We don't have an FD-3 P version at this point, but it's something that we could develop in the future should there be enough demand. John, I'll have to see if that would work.

[quote="Sheldon Dingwall":3twdi77n]We don't have an FD-3 P version at this point, but it's something that we could develop in the future should there be enough demand. John, I'll have to see if that would work.[/quote:3twdi77n] Sheldon, That would be awesome! I was playing my Z3 last night thinking that single coils in conjunction with the switching options (pups in parallel, series) would offer incredible tonal options. The neck and bridge pups in parallel would be the jazz bass, the bridge and middle in series would be the MM, the middle pup soloed would be an old P-bass, etc., etc. And, since the toggle switches are already there, might as well do tapped single coils for subtle tonal variations. Wow, all this on a DW long scale would be incredible.

[quote="Sheldon Dingwall":3aqinydj]Question for board members: How many would be interested in a P version of the FD-3?[/quote:3aqinydj] I am definitely interested in a P version of the FD-3

If you do a split P make sure it's reverse, otherwise the higher strings will sound relatively thin and uneven. Series is the quintessential P sound. Parallel is more modern hi-fi sounding. The vintage P pu's are series.

[quote="fullrangebass":2kz0al5v][quote="Sheldon Dingwall":2kz0al5v]Question for board members: How many would be interested in a P version of the FD-3?[/quote:2kz0al5v] I am definitely interested in a P version of the FD-3 [/quote:2kz0al5v] Isn't the FD3 just a split reverse P under a soapbar? I don't see what separating the B & E strings from the A-G strings would accomplish sonically. The way Sheldon's doing it now is optimal, but more options are always cool.

[quote="Funkshwey":p4g0t1dg]Isn't the FD3 just a split reverse P under a soapbar?[/quote:p4g0t1dg] I was thinking the same thing...

OK I made the switch so my ABI is now running a Mach II neck pickup and an FD-3 bridge. As I suspected, the neck pickup is much stronger than the bridge, but the sound is killin'. I like a dark growly sound and this has it. My other basses are a '78 P with TI flats and a Rob Allen Mouse with TI flats. The Afterburner just joined the club. Instead of trying to tame the zing of the standard ABI sound with EQ, I am pretty close to where I want to be with the tone up. The most useful settings, by far are the solo neck and series settings. The parallel setting sounds great, but it is quite a bit quieter. This is closest to what the bass sounded like before the mod. It's nice that I could keep a version of that. The growly sound I really like is with the series combined setting - wow. The solo neck sound is much rounder, smoother, and thumpier. I may even think about a new set of Voodoo strings. This may not appeal to the majority of Dingwall users, but for the Pbass with flats, crowd, this works better than installing the mach II in the bridge position.