Slanted Jazz Pickup Replacement

[bassburner]

I wanted to upgrade this bass with some Ultra Jazz pickups. I thought I read somewhere that there's something different about the EMG JA's that are already in her so I was wondering if even though the pickups are slanted the replacements will be fine.

The strings can be adjusted side to side on the bridge as well if I need to make sure the strings are over the center of the magnet pairs.

[walterw]

the spacing looks skinny, but with the slant it's hard to tell which ones would be right. you may need two necks or two bridges, depending.

can you measure across the strings at each pickup spot (square-on perpendicular, that is) to get the required spacing?

the problem is that regardless of magnet spacing, you may be limited in choice to what will physically fit in the holes; can you measure the pickup lengths too? are they the same, or is it set up with the classic shorter neck and longer bridge?

anyway, what's "different" about the EMGs is they have a continuous bar magnet, so spacing is not an issue.

[bassburner]

They are the standard shorter neck and longer bridge sizes. .36" & .373" if I remember correctly off the top of my head.

I found the spec sheet on DiMarzio's site that gives the exact spacing between the magnets so I guess I'll get the trusty digital caliper out and see if it will work.

[walterw]

i'm guessing the ultras (or any standard-sized J pickup set) would work OK, especially since you can tweak the saddle spacing.

having the strings right in the gaps between each magnet pair is cool, but not vital, especially if they're not too close.

heck, the slant is gonna effectively bring the magnet pairs a little closer together anyway, making the gaps between them even smaller and less relevant. (kinda like the nordstrands and their 45° magnet layout; that just results in the effect of one wide magnet under each string.)