EMG Pickup Replacement Question

[highway]

Hi

I currently have a 1/2 USA (body/vintage pu's) Fender Jazz bass, and an Ibanez SR800 w/ a P&J style setup.

I can't get over the sound of an EMG35-DC, and am making the move to acquire one.

The question is, which basses are able to have this type of pickup added?

Will the size be the same in another specific bass, that it would make sense to sell one bass, purchase another specifically to have the pickups replaced?

Or would it be best to sell both of my basses, and use that money to purchase a bass that comes with the pickups stock?

I have tried searching online, but no one really "lists" the size of their pickup sockets.

Any help, input, advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Syco_bass]

I just put an EMG-hz PJ set in my Jackson Charvel. I also put a set in my SGC by Nanyo. (circa 80s bass) Interestingly the Charvel took an SJ (Short Jazz) bridge pickup but the SGC took the LJ (long Jazz)bridge pickup. Unfortunately I had to order the P pickup and the J pickup separately to get the SJ. Other wise if you order the PJ set, it will come with the LJ bridge pickup. These were passive sets that I connected to an EMG 3 band pre-amp. You can also order these from any online music store with plug in pots, battery clip, and 1/4" jack included. No soldering required.

This is a direct plug in application and works great.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[kjpollo]

That particular EMG pickup is a "soapbar" style pickup and it wont fit either of your basses unless you have the bass routed to accept the pickup.
Keep in mind, having the body routed is a non-reversible mod. Once you take out the extra wood, it'll never look right again if you decide to remove the EMG and to go back to stock-type pickups. This type of modification will generally lower the resale value of the bass so you might want to consider that fact before you have someone cut into the bass to add the pickup. If you dont plan on selling the bass and you really like the way it feels and plays, then modifying a bass you already own seems sensible.

If you dont want to cut into one of your existing basses, you could try this approach:

Buy an inexpensive "platform" bass like an SX for around $125 or so, then your pickups will run you about $100-110 each. If you replace both pickups, you're looking at spending right around $350 NOT INCLUDING installation costs. I have no idea how much a bass tech would charge for this type of work. I just paid $60 for a pickup swap but that was for a direct replacement-no routing involved AND he installed additional shielding as well. My guess is that you would probably spend another $100-200 to have the work done but thats STRICTLY a guess. You need to ask around in your area.

As far as basses that have EMG's installed as stock parts, I know many ESP models have 'em. I'm sure some other people will suggest other makers who use EMG's as well.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[tuBass]

I think the question here is if the J pickup that EMG sells will sounds anything like the DC model.

I love the DC sound, and I'm wondering if I can get the same sounds out of a pickup with a J or PJ setup.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by tuBass

I think the question here is if the J pickup that EMG sells will sounds anything like the DC model.

No they don't. I like the EMG-J a lot better than the DC, but they don't sound alike at all. But they do all sound like EMG's.

I love the DC sound, and I'm wondering if I can get the same sounds out of a pickup with a J or PJ setup.

For many years my stock pickups were EMG 40J and 40P5 pickups. It's a good sounding versatile setup.

What I didn't like was the J bridge needed to be fatter sounding with more low end, and the P is wired in parallel, so I was always looking for more mids and bottom.