What is the difference between “wide” and “narrow” aperture pickups?
“Aperture” is the width of the string sensing area of the pickup, and is generally the distance between the two poles of a humbucker. Wider apertures sense a larger section of the string, and result in a “warmer” or “fuller” tone. The lows are a bit deeper and the highs are a bit smoother. Our standard soapbar pickups are wide aperture and sense an area about .75″ (19.05mm) wide. The narrow aperture pickups sense a narrower area of the strings, and have more of a single coil type of tone, with tighter lows and a punchy upper midrange. Our narrow aperture soapbar pickups are similar to our Jazz Bass pickups, but in a larger case. They sense an area of the string about 5/16″ (0.312″ – 8mm) and use thinner blades. This gives you the option of having a tighter, more single coil tone in a soapbar size case.
