Bass pickups are wound to respond to the lower notes of a bass instrument. Leo Fender first made a single coil bass that looked similar to a Telecaster bridge pickup for his Precision Bass that was also nicknamed The Telecaster Bass most likely because it had a headstock like a traditional Telecaster. It had 4 single poles under each string and was wound with 42 Plain Enamel wire to about 6.8K DC resistance and wrapped like a Telecaster with string dipped in black wax to seal the coil from moisture and microphonics. Later Leo developed the split coil precision bass pickups that were also humbucking.

There are many early Gibson bass pickups designed for the Gibson EB (Electric Bass) models. The early bobbins were hand fabricated and wound.

The early single coil EB bass pickups were wound pretty hot and the later humbucking models had 20 K turns per bobbin which made the DC resistance quite high on the bass. The EB bass pickups didn’t sound very bright as compared to the Fender Precision bass but had plenty of sustain especially when the larger bass amplifiers started to surface. Today, many models of bass pickups are starting to be manufactured especially active pickups with various types of equalization. Pre-amps can be built for passive pickups and many popular models have been developed by the Basslines, EMG, Bartolini to name a few. Check them out for the particular string spacing and tone you are looking for.