seeking j pickup advice

rolliefingers · #1 03-23-2006, 10:27 AM

fellow bass dorks; i recently picked up a MIA fender jazz standard. i'm generally happy with it, but the pickups/poles interfere with my right hand technique (or lack thereof). I lowered the pickups wich helps, but i think it weakened the output primarily of the bridge pu. even though i lowered the bridge pu considerably, i still hit the poles periodically. I usually pluck between the pickups, but closer to the bridge. furthermore, i'm not overly impressed with the pickups tone, but i'm not sure if this is due to the height adjustment or not. if i were to replace the pu's i'd still prefer them to be lowered almost all the way. if fender put the bridge pu closer to bridge like on older models or the geddy lee, maybe i wouldn't be asking for help (btw - i think the geddy lee has far better pickups and bridge),but i digress... anyone experience a similar issue? if so, how did you resolve it? what replacement pu's do y'all recommend in this case? any advice? do you think having a pro set-up is worth the money in this case? thanks.

mntallpaul · #2 03-27-2006, 09:11 PM

You did reduce the pickup output by lowering them down, I would raise them back to stock position, then pluck or pick away from the poles. That should help you out. The U.S. pups are pretty good.....if you did want to replace, I am a huge fan of Bartolini's....of course we all have diffrent tastes.

The Geddy sig model has its pup poles very high, and uses a BA2 bridge....great sounding and playing bass....
Best wishes

darthplagis · #3 03-28-2006, 04:15 PM

if you do replace the pickups try to get ones with covered poles so you wouldnt hit them.

yugo · #4 03-28-2006, 09:23 PM

i had a bit of that problem with my bass but i replaced my pickups with emgs and since they are active i still got a nice strong signal even with the far distance from the strings

Modern Growl · #5 03-29-2006, 10:16 AM

play softer.

Luke73 · #6 03-29-2006, 04:45 PM

Raise the pickups back to their stock position, and work on your technique.

rolliefingers · #7 03-30-2006, 10:30 AM

thanks for your responses - I've always plucked hard (probably from playing with obnoxious guitar players in my early years and not having powerful enough equipment to be heard), and i'm sure i'd develop more speed if i played softer as one of you suggested. actually i have a geddy lee bass which is very comfortable to my plucking hand - the poles on my GL pickups do not stick up like on my MIA jazz. in any event, thanks again for the advice.