I have a set of Bartilini jazz bass pickups (the side-by-side humbucking kind) from the early '80s. They've been out of a bass for awhile, and when I put them in a new project, their output was fairly low.

Are these supposed to go closer to the strings than a regular jazz pickup?

Theyre supposed to be 22mm from the string, when the string is held down at the 12th fret.

they have the plastic covers on the top right? you should be able to raise them all you want without worrying about the strings hitting the pole pieces

FWIW:

I set Barts as close as they'll go to the strings without contact. Barts are relatively low output as a rule and some, especially older stuff, are rrrrrreally low. I've been told by some experienced players they've heard the real low output stuff was intended for use with preamp. Never verified that with Bart. At any rate, nothing the amp wouldn't compensate for but not to be forgotten in swapping basses.

FWIW:

I set Barts as close as they'll go to the strings without contact. Barts are relatively low output as a rule and some, especially older stuff, are rrrrrreally low.

Okay...they're installed and sound very nice and smooth..i low in output. But I've fully shielded the bass, so even pushing the gain on the amp a bit doesn't cause a problem with hum.

Thanks all!