software

I'm thinking in terms of a single coil neck pickup for jazz-approved warmth and clarity but blues-certified testosterone.

The Quarter Pounder immediately sprang to mind, but I had one and though it's great for P90-like woof in the bridge position it is obviously too strong (14k) for the neck. Mine was a tapped version ( /-7k) and it may work tapped in the neck position but I do recall that it lacked some top end sweetness and clarity even tapped.

But the advantages of the 1/4quot; rod magnets are undeniable and too good to pass up:

1) Larger magnetic field gives you more beef without sacrificing treble.

2) MOST IMPORTANT: Wider pole pieces would give you much better string coverage on the neck pickup, which with the exception of Kinman's, are always too widely spaced to give the two E strings full exposure to the magnetic field, making the E strings soudn weak compared with the other 4 strings.

A world of variations came to mind to solve some of the quot;problemsquot; with the QP (problems meaning not that it's a bad pickup but with regard to the sound I'm looking for):

1) How about a version with Alnico 2 or aged Alnico 5 rod mags for a rounder tone -- AND so I can move the pickup a little closer to the strings? (I would prefer Alnico 3 or 4 but I know Seymour prefers to vary the strength of his 2's and 5's to get the same or similar effect.)

2) How about an underwound version (say, 7 to 7.5k) with #42 wire instead of #43?

3) How about a Five-Two version of the QP with #42 wire?

4) How about another underwound version at about 9k for the bridge?

As you can see, various combinations of the above ideas (and gazillions more that I haven't thought of) make the possibilities endless -- but the string coverage of those big QP poles needs to be fully exploited, especially for neck pu's.

Your thoughts, gang?

2 words, Custom Shop.

True enough, but I'm thinking in terms of spurring some ideas for a whole new line of pickups by Seymour. Then again, if he won't take 'em, I'm looking at learning to wind my own so I'll copyright these ideas...