mexican pickups

[dougazbass]

Bought a used Mexican Jazz bass and the pickups look different than my Highway One and G and L JB2. The magnets for the center 2 strings sit higher than the outer 2. This is the same on both pickups. Is this correct or damaged or??? Its a 2001 Mex Jazz.
Thanks for the help

[dougazbass]

See pic

[iiipopes]

Yes, this is normal. It is also preferred. Look at your fingerboard up close. You will see it also has an arc. This is called the "crown radius." This makes the bass easier to play. Yes, original vintage Jazz pickups and other pickups based (pun intended) on that design have flat poles. But your pickups with the staggered poles to match the crown radius should help the tone be more consistent from string to string.

By comparison, and the irony of it: look at vintage Stratocaster pickup pole pieces. They are staggered, where many newer Strat guitar pickups are flat -- just the opposite, as newer Strat-style guitars tend to have a flatter crown radius to facilite string bending, while original vintage Strats have more arc to the crown radius to make it easier to play chords.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by iiipopes

Yes, this is normal. It is also preferred. Look at your fingerboard up close. You will see it also has an arc. This is called the "crown radius." This makes the bass easier to play. Yes, original vintage Jazz pickups and other pickups based (pun intended) on that design have flat poles. But your pickups with the staggered poles to match the crown radius should help the tone be more consistent from string to string.

By comparison, and the irony of it: look at vintage Stratocaster pickup pole pieces. They are staggered, where many newer Strat guitar pickups are flat -- just the opposite, as newer Strat-style guitars tend to have a flatter crown radius to facilite string bending, while original vintage Strats have more arc to the crown radius to make it easier to play chords.

+1.

Something to note about the vintage staggering on Strats is that in the old days, players used wound G strings, whereas modern string sets have plain Gs. The staggering doesn't work as well with modern strings.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by iiipopes

By comparison, and the irony of it: look at vintage Stratocaster pickup pole pieces. They are staggered, where many newer Strat guitar pickups are flat -- just the opposite, as newer Strat-style guitars tend to have a flatter crown radius to facilite string bending, while original vintage Strats have more arc to the crown radius to make it easier to play chords.

Actually vintage staggered Strat pickups do not follow the ramous of the fingerboard, and instead were set up to make the outputs of the strings even. Back then people used fairly heavy strings with wound G strings, so some of the poles are farther away from the strings, such as the B, which was louder than the others.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

Actually vintage staggered Strat pickups do not follow the ramous of the fingerboard, and instead were set up to make the outputs of the strings even. Back then people used fairly heavy strings with wound G strings, so some of the poles are farther away from the strings, such as the B, which was louder than the others.

And this applies to modern staggered Strat pickups, as well, though modern staggers are usually not vintage-correct. The G string is usually corrected.

[dougazbass]

Interesting. Thanks that makes sence. I guess my real questions shoulkd be, why doesn't my G and L 2009 JB2 pickups or my H. One have this design??

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by line6man

And this applies to modern staggered Strat pickups, as well, though modern staggers are usually not vintage-correct. The G string is usually corrected.

But for their own inscrutable reasons and contrary to all common sense, FMIC has featured and sold the "VINTAGE!" staggered poles on some modern Stratocasters.

It's that magic word...VINTAGE...bubbas just salivate when they hear it, even when it means something that's a manifest negative.

Marketing. Don't you love it?

[SGD Lutherie]

Vintage stagger is a bad design for use with modern light gauge strings. I prefer flat or an arch.

Pickups should have an arch to follow the fingerboard, but many newer basses have fairly flat fingerboards.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Bongolation

But for their own inscrutable reasons and contrary to all common sense, FMIC has featured and sold the "VINTAGE!" staggered poles on some modern Stratocasters.

It's that magic word...VINTAGE...bubbas just salivate when they hear it, even when it means something that's a manifest negative.

Marketing. Don't you love it?

Absurdity!
But I wouldn't intend to use stock pickups on any mass-produced instrument anyways.

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by line6man

But I wouldn't intend to use stock pickups on any mass-produced instrument anyways.

I'm increasingly OK with the Fender stock pickups on their American/American Standard models. Switching out -- especially on the guitars -- hasn't proved to be worth the time and expense to me.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Bongolation

But for their own inscrutable reasons and contrary to all common sense, FMIC has featured and sold the "VINTAGE!" staggered poles on some modern Stratocasters.

It's that magic word...VINTAGE...bubbas just salivate when they hear it, even when it means something that's a manifest negative.

Marketing. Don't you love it?

Here's the thing, the vintage stagger is crap for thin gauge strings. I hate it, and you can hear how out of balance the sound is from string to string. However, some people seem to think it gives a certain shimmer to the tone, and the reason Fender keeps doing it is when they don't, people, who think it's something they want, complain about it.

You are correct... say "vintage" and people think that makes it good. For us that are old enough to remember when vintage was current, we know that often the gear back then left something to be desired, and newer gear is often much better!

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Bongolation

I'm increasingly OK with the Fender stock pickups on their American/American Standard models. Switching out -- especially on the guitars -- hasn't proved to be worth the time and expense to me.

Well, I'm not opposed to using stock pickups, it's just that there is a high likelihood that the stock pickups on X instrument would not be voiced to my tonal preferences.

Now conversely, I tend to be a LOT less picky about guitar pickups than bass. I happen to like the good ol' Fender Strat tone, and half the time, I'm playing under distortion, which hides all of the subtle nuances of the pickups. On bass, I've got rather non-traditional interests in pickup voicings, and I play crystal clean, so I hear everything in detail.

I actually still have the stock ceramic pickups in the neck and middle position of my MiM Strat, and they sound ok. I've just never gotten around to paying for a good AlNiCo set. I put a DiMarzio humbucker at the bridge, though. A good Strat should have a humbucker bridge. Singles are too thin at the bridge.