Flat pickup top vs. neck radius

[southpaw]

I know this questions applies to many bass manufacturers; if the top of the pickup is flat and the neck/bridge has a radius, does this mean a lower output for the D & A strings?  
Is there a radius happening under the pickup cover?

[David Houck]

A similar question was posed in this thread.  Alembic pickups use bar magnets, so I doubt that they are curved in any way.  It's an interesting question theoretically.  In theory, there should probably be some difference in output and tone.  However the difference in distance from the string to the magnet between the E and the A strings is probably not significant.  You could test this theory by playing and recording a note on the A string, then adjusting the pickup height by that same small difference, then playing and recording the same note again.  That amount of difference in pickup height adjustment is probably not appreciable.

[southpaw]

Thanks Dave, I guess with a radius of 12 the slight  difference in height on the A & D strings will be undetectable.  I mention it because on Fenders and other manufacturers, it can be a significant obstacle when setting up your bass.

[2400wattman]

And how! Same problem on my J-bass. I play back on my bridge p/up & to get a fair distance from string to p/up without my fingers getting caught under the strings(as I play pretty hard) has been a challenge.As a result my strings are pretty much even in height. Some nights everything went great & others not as I would like and there was no difference in string height. It just boiled down to, that my hands felt great those nights. I have thought of this exact same thing (radiused p/up) upon my own issues and recalled that Yamaha did do this on their TRB 6 string model when they were first introduced. I guess it just did'nt catch on to other p/up manufacturers or not enough bass players requested it. Somebody will......

[southpaw]

2400, I have a P and a Jazz bass, the P is workable since the pickup is 2 pieces, so I am able to raise the center to match the radius. The jazz is just plain flat! Thankfully I don't really notice any volume difference across the strings, hearing must not be so good...
 The reason I ask was Dan Erlewine's recent column in Bass Player magazine where he was correcting issues with a new Fender Jazz 5 string and he states that the bass came with a neck radius of 10(?) and the bridge had a radius of 20. I was curious if it effected the sound. Just thinking out loud...