I need a pickup sized about 104mm x 40mm!

[mcnach]

A couple of months ago I found a cheap Warwick-style copy bass on Gumtree (like Craigslist, over here). I went to check it out, and bought it.

It's a bit Thumb-like shapewise, only the body is flat, not curved. Beautiful matt natural ash body, thin neck (similar to a jazz in profile), and it just plays brilliantly. I have put a set of Rotosound Nexus (black coated strings 40-100, not on the pictures) and it's so smooth to play.

The problem is that while it feels and sounds great unplugged... once plugged in it has a very nasal-like resonance to it. It's passive, and I intend to keep it passive (although the control cavity is so large that I might change my mind one day).
I have been using it with a reggae/ska band I joined in December and I can coax good sounds out of it as long as I have a good graphic eq with me...

It's such a nice bass despite the price (paid £80 for it, including a good heavily padded gigbag) that I want to "rescue" it because I feel it's a keeper. Unplugged it has a very deep tone, lots of sustain, it's a Very Nice bass!

So I want to find new pickups for it. In principle I'd like to keep the bass fully passive... but I'm having a hard time finding pickups that will fit, so I'm open to any suggestions.

The existing pickups measure 104mm x 40mm, and the routing is very neat and tight.

If you know of any pickups that would fit there, I'd love to hear about them! I'd consider almost anything, because almost anything will be an improvement over what I've got.

Here are some pictures... they don't do it justice, the flash makes the grain appear a lot duller than it is:

[GeoffByrne]

Is the 'nasal-ness' evident when the pups are solo'd or does it only happen when both are on together?

[4StringTheorist]

Bartolini CF size humbuckers match your size requirements.

I'm sure Bartolini isn't the only manufacturer to make that size.

[higgi]

I have those same pickups in a cheap fretless. It's not nasal with the neck pickup soloed. Try increaeseing the tone cap to .1uf and rolling down the tone a little. I am interested in what you find to fit, if you decide to replace. Take them apart and photo them so we can see how they are made, please.

The stock stainless steel strings on mine sounded a little nasal though. I changed to roto sound the first day.

[higgi]

I took my pickups out to examine them. They are potted so, I can't tell how they are made.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Not really posting usefull here, just wanted to say hi and that you are only a couple miles away from me! (i'm along gorgie)

[SurrenderMonkey]

If you are in the UK, call / email Andy @ Wizard Pickups for custom sizes. Plus, they are brilliant, and not expensive. Since the Gems come with 4 wires for the humbuckers, you can wire them in any configuration you like, or add a switch for each.

BTW, is that a Dean Sledgehammer?

[mcnach]

Originally Posted by higgi

I have those same pickups in a cheap fretless. It's not nasal with the neck pickup soloed. Try increaeseing the tone cap to .1uf and rolling down the tone a little. I am interested in what you find to fit, if you decide to replace. Take them apart and photo them so we can see how they are made, please.

The stock stainless steel strings on mine sounded a little nasal though. I changed to roto sound the first day.

Yes, I'm going to play with some different caps and see what happens. You're right, the neck pickup alone is not that nasal... it just gets "woolly" instead. I like playing a lot with the bridge pickup... sharper attack and definition... I'm a "bridge pickup" type of guy.

[mcnach]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Not really posting usefull here, just wanted to say hi and that you are only a couple miles away from me! (i'm along gorgie)

well, hello!

[mcnach]

Originally Posted by SurrenderMonkey

If you are in the UK, call / email Andy @ Wizard Pickups for custom sizes. Plus, they are brilliant, and not expensive. Since the Gems come with 4 wires for the humbuckers, you can wire them in any configuration you like, or add a switch for each.

BTW, is that a Dean Sledgehammer?

Thanks for the pointer. I'll explore that.

No, it's not a Dean Sledgehammer (looks very similar!). It's a Westfield something or another... the model was just a combination of numbers and letters... VBS4 or something like that. They made it with a maple fingerboard too, but I didn't find that one. Someone was seeling this one locally and went to try it... and I had to take it off their hands. Pickups aren't great but it's a cracking bass.