Are most bass manufacturers shifting to soapbars and J style pickups?

[uOpt]

I wouldn't mind that much if all those soapbars were interchangeable like guitar humbuckers are. Not no...

[Inflames626]

Here's an example of the more and more common bass design I mean and probably what uOpt was touching on as well.

These look to be Jazz bass pickups, but a bit thicker to accommodate the second coil and double poles. Not the same size as true Fender Jazz single coils. But apparently not EMG soapbar either. Some polepieces on newer basses look to be trying to imitate Nordstrand with the diagonal look. I think this is an Ibanez proprietary design. It's probably EMG sized but they look a little thinner.

If they were covered they'd probably look more like EMG sized but for some reason double row pole pieces on basses really bug me. I expect either EMG wide, thick soapbars or slim Fender style singles. When I see something in between it confuses me. It's like they're like a zebra with a third color.

I think this was bought up on Reverb. They wanted $500 or so for it mainly because of a cosmetic flaw near the knobs (a line in the finish you can faintly see). Fair price, I'd say. But another reason I mainly stick with gloss black. Beautiful finishes mar so easily.

Gear is expensive these days but if you look in the right places and know how to do some mods yourself you can still find some good deals. This just isn't really my style of bass but I love the features for the price.

[Inflames626]

The one vs. two pole pieces per string is interesting as well. Two per string reminds me of old pre-Kiesel Carvin guitar pickups. I wonder what the tonal difference is considering the magnetic field around the pickup is a bubble and such a thing would seem to be purely aesthetics. Maybe freefrog has some thoughts on poles per string. One row of thick poles, two rows of smaller poles, one pole per string, two poles per string...analysis paralysis.