Suggestions for Replacement pickups please?

[Artdroid]

Normally I spend most of my time playing a Schecter Stiletto Studio 5 with Active Electronics blah blah blah...

but recently i've dragged a several year old Fernandes Gravity 4 X out of the closet that I bought after a 15 year hiatus from playing bass. I have been playing around with it because it's passive (I believe) and it's a different feel from my Schecter. The Fernandes has 2 basic Jazz pickups in it and your basic Volume, Volume, Tone setup.

So, with that said, I think I want to replace the pickups in the Fernandes with something older and punchier sounding. I'm more of a fan of deep round sounding bass so am not looking for a ton of high end.

I was thinking of either ebaying some kind of RI Jazz or USA Jazz pickups, or some variant of Bartonlini's, but thought I'd drop a request here for others thoughts.

So... any thoughts?


Thanks in advance.

[billbass1]

I love my Lindy Fralin Jazz PUPs.
But of course they do have that jazz bass tone.

Deep round and not a lot of high end ?
Can't beat Dark Stars for that..........

[Artdroid]

Thanks for the reply.


I need to doublecheck, but I also think that the width of both existing pickup routes are the same size, around 3.75. Not varied sizes like so many replacement bridge/neck pickups are that are designed for Fender replacements.

The lesser width isn't a problem but the existing mounting hole width could be I guess. Would this be another possible solution of toothpicks and wood glue then redrill guide hole for the replacements?

I'll check actual dimensions tonight.



Right now I think I'm looking toward a set of Ultra Jazz's or Antiquity II's given that I can make the varied size work in my existing routes.

[Artdroid]

Originally Posted by billbass1

Can't beat Dark Stars for that..........

Not sure my stock Jazz routes would be real fond of those giant Dark Stars. :-)

[billbass1]

Originally Posted by Artdroid

Not sure my stock Jazz routes would be real fond of those giant Dark Stars. :-)

Yes, it is true you would have to do some serious routeing out and then some type of pick guard to cover the ends of the Jazz PUPs cavities.
In the end you would acheive your tone objective though.

[Artdroid]

Followup:

Fernandes Gravity 4 X Jazz pickups are standard replacement pickups. They ARE slightly smaller in front. Which makes this alot easier.


After listening to sound samples and such I went with DiMarzio Model J pickups for it.

And seeing as how the shiney black bass will never look "classic" because of it's rounder more contemporary styling I decided to black it out.

Picked up a Badass II bridge for it on ebay (Black) to replace the stock chrome one. And some cool Black knobs with 3 o-rings around them to replace the stock chrome ones. And seeing as how one stock tuner was starting to get finicky I grabbed black tuners also.

It has brand new strings on it, so I'll wait until next string change to go with Black Beauties for strings to complete it's Black out metamorphisis.

I've never really been into "goth" looking basses, but thought what the hell in this case. I like how it plays and the bass kind of marked my return to bass playing, so it deserves to stay around.

Depending on how the pickup change sounds there's still the chance of an Audere Pre-Amp or such... just depending.


Thanks for the feedback.

[bryanjnkns]

Originally Posted by Artdroid

Followup:

Fernandes Gravity 4 X Jazz pickups are standard replacement pickups. They ARE slightly smaller in front. Which makes this alot easier.


After listening to sound samples and such I went with DiMarzio Model J pickups for it.

And seeing as how the shiney black bass will never look "classic" because of it's rounder more contemporary styling I decided to black it out.

Picked up a Badass II bridge for it on ebay (Black) to replace the stock chrome one. And some cool Black knobs with 3 o-rings around them to replace the stock chrome ones. And seeing as how one stock tuner was starting to get finicky I grabbed black tuners also.

It has brand new strings on it, so I'll wait until next string change to go with Black Beauties for strings to complete it's Black out metamorphisis.

I've never really been into "goth" looking basses, but thought what the hell in this case. I like how it plays and the bass kind of marked my return to bass playing, so it deserves to stay around.

Depending on how the pickup change sounds there's still the chance of an Audere Pre-Amp or such... just depending.


Thanks for the feedback.

Good choice! I was going to suggest model-j until i read this last post. Hope they're what you're looking for.