| I imagine the poles are the same size... but I don't know for sure. What makes you think theres a dead coil? In case you didn't know already, L2000s of that time period don't have a normal series setting (instead there is "single coil w/ bass boost"- which will hum as if there is only one coil functioning, even though both are). Also, did you actually unsolder the wires for the coil and check them with an ohmeter? G&Ls L- series basses are fairly well known for their messy control cavities (theres so much stuff sqeezed into such a small space!), and its quite possible that either the hot or ground wire for that coil came unsoldered- it may have been badly soldered in the first place! That would be my first guess- I've had vintage instruments that developed intermittent signals from old solder joints over the course of only about 15 years, yours is 25 years old!
If it is a broken coil after all, you can apparently order replacement pickups through any G&L dealer- though I posted a want it now ad a little while ago on Talkbass for some random G&L pickups and got a few replies... one of which was a 4 string MFD- I am currently trying to incorporate it into a project bass of mine, but if it doesn't work as I expect it to- I'll sell it to you! (you should be able to find one before then though!)
Karl | 
