Pickups for 60s or 70s Jazz Bass Different?

[jasper383]

Jazz Basses tend to fall into two camps; to oversimplify, those based on 60s models and those based on 70s models. The spacing is different, right?

Are there pickups better for one style over another? Are Fender 60s Custom Shop pickups only acceptable for 60s spacing basses, or does it really matter? Any pickup recommendations for one style bass over another? Thanks.

[momo]

I have CS60s in a Geddy (70s spacing) and I love them. Thicker sounding than stock, and much better mid response than dimarzio UJs.

[Thinkarogadum]

The bridge pickup on the 70's models is slightly closer to the bridge. The difference isn't big enough that you would need different pickups, though. Any standard jazz set would work in either 60's or 70's models.

[jasper383]

I'm just curious about whether the voicing is different, or should be different.

The 60s spacing is, by most accounts, warmer. The 70s spacing is brighter, more appropriate for slapping, etc.

I wondered if it followed that a certain pickup would be better for each.

[Dan1099]

Not really, but there are some pickups that are warmer and others that are more agressive. So you could approximate one or the other by using the opposite pickups (60's spacing, agressive pickups or 70's spacing, warmer pickups) or move even farther away by pairing 60's spacing with warmer pickups or 70's spacing with more agressive ones. That said, I think the voicing of the pickups makes a much bigger difference than 1/2" of pickup location. That's all IMO. YMMV.

[GlennW]

All other things being equal, if you want a brighter tone use a pickup with less DCR and tall/skinny coil. For warmer sounding, try a higher DCR with a shorter coil.