blacktop jazz pickups replacement

[unclebass]

looking for information for fender blacktop jazz bass. getting no info from fender after 2 e-mails, not able to find any info on the internet. am considering replacing pickups (2 precision pickup configuration). does anyone know the resistance of the original pickups, or if both pickups are the same resistance. do not want to replace pickups and have more problems than i do now. have 500k pots o.e., is 250k pots any better? does anyone know anything about dragonfire pickups from guitarpartsonline.com? want to do whatever work i do only once. appreciate anything anyone has to say...

[Nev375]

What is your purpose for changing them? What are your existing pickups not doing? What are you trying to achieve?

[unclebass]

neck pickup is much lower than bridge pickup. neck pickup has pretty good sound, but i have to turn it down to match the volume of the bridge pickup, checked all contacts, after resoldering a couple, much better than before, but want them both to be strong, neck pickup much too weak.

[unclebass]

mistake in previous post, have to turn down bridge pickup to match volume of neck pickup. shouldn't they both play at about the same volume?

[lowendrv]

Will happen with pretty much any pickups. Try adjusting pickup heights. I had a dual P set up and I never played either full on. Always backed off a little. Got a lot fuller sound. Even on a single P, I always have it backed off a bit. Just sounds better IMHO

[unclebass]

so even though it is a jazz bass, it should not be played with both pickups at full volume like other typical jazz basses?

[testing1two]

If you have a meter check the DC resistance of both pickups. They should be relatively close to each other (within 1k or 1.5k ohms). If the neck pickup has a much lower resistance then it needs to be repaired. The DC resistance will also help you determine a replacement pickup if you don't want to have it repaired.

I'm a big fan of the dual-P pickup sound. It's seriously funky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABLwmYI09Lw

[unclebass]

would two totally different pickup styles in the same bass be a problem? perhaps something like seymour duncan quarter pounders for neck pickup, with original pickups at bridge?

[Nev375]

Well, typically a neck pickup is louder than a bridge because there is more string vibration in that area...

I'm not clear this is what you are experiencing, It sounds like you are getting the opposite.????

You can wire a resistor inline with the louder pup to bring it down to a matching level.

Whichever pot you are using to turn down the louder pup, take a resistance measurement on it at the point of balance and determine the size resistor you need to add.


Many of the better companies will provide a set of pickups with extra windings on the bridge to compensate for the difference in output. To my knowledge no one does this to P pickups.

[lowendrv]

Originally Posted by unclebass

so even though it is a jazz bass, it should not be played with both pickups at full volume like other typical jazz basses?

Don't have worry about hum like J P/U's. P's are split single coils and are self hum cancelling. On single coil J they only cancel when both are on same amount.

[unclebass]

Originally Posted by Nev375

Well, typically a neck pickup is louder than a bridge because there is more string vibration in that area...

I'm not clear this is what you are experiencing, It sounds like you are getting the opposite.????

You can wire a resistor inline with the louder pup to bring it down to a matching level.

Whichever pot you are using to turn down the louder pup, take a resistance measurement on it at the point of balance and determine the size resistor you need to add.


Many of the better companies will provide a set of pickups with extra windings on the bridge to compensate for the difference in output. To my knowledge no one does this to P pickups.

if i roll off the bridge pickup volume about 30-40 degrees, the volume matches the neck pickup. that is with the neck pickup height higher than normal and the bridge pickup height lower than normal

[testing1two]

If the pickups are matched (which typically means the bridge pickup is about 10% hotter than the neck pickup) then you should have no problem playing with both pickups on full. If both pickups were identical you would need to turn down the neck pickup slightly to balance them. You seem to have the opposite problem so something is not right.

[unclebass]

may have to bring to local luthier to get opinion as to what direction to go. thanks everyone for info

[deeptubes]

Could very easily be a setup issue.

[unclebass]

Originally Posted by testing1two

If the pickups are matched (which typically means the bridge pickup is about 10% hotter than the neck pickup) then you should have no problem playing with both pickups on full. If both pickups were identical you would need to turn down the neck pickup slightly to balance them. You seem to have the opposite problem so something is not right.

thanks to everyone for the info and responses. pulled apart once before when neck pickup had no output at all, resoldered a couple of connections and got sound, but weaker than bridge pickup. just pulled apart again to recheck all resistances and found that both halves of pickups had equal resistance when measuring on pickup winding wire, but one half had a large increase in resistance when checking on the lead wires. resoldered offending connection, resistances now equal, and this thing sounds great. have been playing with only bridge pickup and thought it sounded o.k. but now i hear how it was meant to be. was considering selling it before i spent any money on it, but able to repair it for no $. am so glad this forum is here, you guys are great!! hope i am able to help someone else with this problem.