jazz bass pickup poles that stick out past cover

[whatever4]

I have a 1998 American Standard Jazz Bass. The poles on the pickups stick up past the cover and sort of follow the contour of the strings. This may be good for the sound, but sometimes I snag my finger on them when I'm playing over a pickup. I bought the bass used. Is this a normal setup for that bass? Are the poles adjustable?

[FunkMetalBass]

It is normal for jazz bass pickups to do this, but they are not adjustable. Since jazz pickups are not typically epoxy potted, you can replace the covers on your pickups with some no-hole covers - they are usually pretty cheap and *should* fit.

Alternatively, you can cut up a business card or find thin pieces of foam to stick in between the plastic bobbin and the cover. This will push the cover up and hopefully make the poles less noticeable.

[qervo]

They are made that way for a reason. If you notice the poles are in line with the radius of your neck . If your strings action is in line with your neck radius then the poles each have the same distance from your strings allowing for a more even tone response. If the poles were all flat then your E and G string would sound loud but not the A and D.

[walterw]

with old american standard pickups you can change this!

the magnets are set in a plastic bobbin insulated from the coil wire; you can push them down (hell, you can push them right through and out of the pickup) without hurting anything.

this is not true of most pickups, especially vintage-style single coils!

i'd try to keep the magnet radius that matches the strings and just tap them all down, maybe so that the E and G were flush and the A and D stuck up a little.

[pbassnut]

Originally Posted by qervo

They are made that way for a reason. If you notice the poles are in line with the radius of your neck . If your strings action is in line with your neck radius then the poles each have the same distance from your strings allowing for a more even tone response. If the poles were all flat then your E and G string would sound loud but not the A and D.

+1 I suspect that these are not the original pickups as I've never seen an American Standard J where the stock pickups had staggered pole pieces. That said, I personally favor this arrangement and have bought Lindy Fralin J pickups with raised A and D pieces in order to achieve improved string to string balance. If you like the sound of the pickups, I would say just keep them in that bass and just lower the pickups far enough to keep your fingers from hitting the pole pieces.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by pbassnut

+1 I suspect that these are not the original pickups as I've never seen an American Standard J where the stock pickups had staggered pole pieces. That said, I personally favor this arrangement...

me too, which is why as a routine setup step on these i nudge the magnets into the correct stagger pattern: E and G flush with the cover, D and A up maybe a 1/16". someone might have done that to the OP's bass at some point.

[two fingers]

If I'm not mistaken, that was the year they stopped using the pickup with the bigger pole pieces (one big one fore each string rather than two smaller ones for each string). I had a '97 5 string with the big ones. They took the ends of my fingers off because they stuck out so much (not literally).

OP, are yours the big single pole pieces or the paired smaller ones?

[walterw]

you're thinking of the active "deluxe" basses that had the big individual poles, a totally different thing.

[darkstorm]

Replacement pups like dimarzios have individually adjustable pole peices. There is a small but useful tone shift when pole peices are above housing top compared to flat/flush with top. This remains constant even when whole pups height is adjusted to compensate so pole peices tops remain same distance from strings. Lower your pups a tiny bit if your snagging fingers on pole peices. They are either to high or your fingers are digging down to far.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by walterw

you're thinking of the active "deluxe" basses that had the big individual poles, a totally different thing.

Ah. You are correct. That's exactly what mine was.