Vintage Jazz bass pickups?

michael_atw · #1 08-24-2009, 02:24 PM

I have a question about vintage Jazz pickups and thought I'd look around the forum for an answer. I just bought a pair off ebay, and the seller stated they were from an original '77 jazz bass. However, when I got them, they looked really new and they had no serial number on the bottom. Looking from the bottom I see the poles and two magnets in parallel exposed and no serial # or plate. Also the coil is wrapped in black electrical tape, and the wires are black and yellow plastic covered. I don't know much about vintage pups but I was wondering if this is normal for vintage Fenders - or even Fenders in general. Any help would be appreciated, thanks. I might be able to get pics up here too if that will help. I'm new to this forum stuff.

depalm · #2 08-24-2009, 03:09 PM

Pics would help a lot.

But… did you notice any kind of rustiness at the polepieces?

GlennW · #3 08-24-2009, 03:23 PM

The seller lied, file a claim through PayPal. They sound like MIM pickups, which I don't believe were made in '77. Pics will help.

Grissle · #4 08-24-2009, 03:37 PM

michael_atw · #5 08-24-2009, 04:16 PM

Here's some pics. I didn't know how to post them any other way than attaching. They are off the bottom and top.

No, there is about as close to no rusting as one can get. Immediately when I got them I told the seller they looked new and had no plate or serial # and asked if I could return them. He said I couldn't return, but they are worth more than I paid for them so I could sell them. I laughed and said to him why wouldn't you accept them back if I could make money? You could make even more money on them. He started getting pissed off and got mad because I was calling him a "liar" (never did). I told him I don't question his removing them from a '77, but they might have been aftermarkets and not originals and he didn't know about it. I asked him what the serials were for the bass. He said he had it no longer and got even more mad I "was calling him a liar" He got mad I said I was going to find pros to ask and said I questioned him and his 40 years of experience. Then I said "well hey man, then tell me did Fender ever make '77's without serials?" He never answered back.

Nonetheless, do Fenders make pickups without serials (let alone did any vintage ever come out without them)? I don't want to be an a** about it but I don't want fakes, and recently I've been getting terrible items off ebay.

depalm · #6 08-24-2009, 05:07 PM

I'm not an expert but…
They're not originals or vintage in my opinion.

Grissle · #7 08-24-2009, 05:26 PM

Those definitely are NOT '77s, they are more like Fender MIJ or MIM's and I wouldn't pay more than $40 for them, you must be really bummed. And FWIW Fender never used serial #'s, and I don't believe thay date stamped them around that time, but on this I'm not sure. Sorry man

GlennW · #8 08-24-2009, 06:09 PM

Those are not what you paid for. File a claim and get your money back. They are next to worthless as far as pickups go.

Derek Kiernan · #9 08-24-2009, 07:08 PM

That looks really bogus. Reminds me of the pickups in my friend's MIM Strat. Not only is this guy dishonest, he's not very good at it :/

Craig_S · #10 08-24-2009, 07:35 PM

MIM for sure.

michael_atw · #11 08-24-2009, 08:46 PM

Humorous part about it is, he said put 'em in and I would be able to tell they were vintage. Now I gotta deal with him pissing and moaning about me "calling him a liar".

depalm · #12 08-24-2009, 09:20 PM

Did you see that pics before you buy?

michael_atw · #13 08-24-2009, 09:38 PM

no those are my pics. He had one (top with cover of course...not real close but good enough at the time) which I figured was sufficient and I asked for clarification if they were original and from what year and he said "from a '77 American jazz". That was enough for me. That probably should be enough for anyone, hah. He has good feedback - not 100% but good. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

michael_atw · #14 08-25-2009, 07:40 AM

Now he's drilling me because I called the numbers on old pickups "serial numbers". What are they, date stamps or something? I see them on the pickups all the time. I just figured to call them serial numbers because, well I figured they were all different.

#include <MK> · #15 08-25-2009, 07:40 PM

A word of warning, never get tricked by marketing terms such as "vintage". These terms are everywhere and mean nothing, they're attention tags. Everything is in the detail, so make sure you know what you're looking for and ask questions before you buy. It's a real shame consumers are taken advantage of like this.

What is "vintage"? The answer is almost anything the mind perceives it to be. So, the best thing to do is completely remove that term from the mind when looking to buy. For example, a 60s Fender jbass pickup is made of fibreboard flatwork not plastic (or a one piece plastic bobbin), alnico pole magnets (not ceramic bar magnets) and magnet wire. There is no tape around the coil.

thirtypoint87 · #16 08-25-2009, 07:45 PM

the bar magnets are a dead giveaway. Originals would have magnetic polepieces rather than steel polepieces touching the magnets.

good luck!

michael_atw · #17 08-26-2009, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by #include <MK>

A word of warning, never get tricked by marketing terms such as "vintage". These terms are everywhere and mean nothing, they're attention tags. Everything is in the detail, so make sure you know what you're looking for and ask questions before you buy. It's a real shame consumers are taken advantage of like this.

What is "vintage"? The answer is almost anything the mind perceives it to be. So, the best thing to do is completely remove that term from the mind when looking to buy. For example, a 60s Fender jbass pickup is made of fibreboard flatwork not plastic (or a one piece plastic bobbin), alnico pole magnets (not ceramic bar magnets) and magnet wire. There is no tape around the coil.

Ehh...true but I asked if they were "original" and he said yes. That's what sucks about ebay and the internet - you never really can tell what you're getting. He's been a hell of a hassle...seems like an honest guy but pretends to know way more than he really does. And boy, he moans about everything. Now it's about me emailing him so much. I said if you're doing business on the internet, expect it and stop crying.

He broke down for a return after I told him if he thinks I can make money on them then why would he not want them back? I also threatened to file a complaint, of course. I had to argue with him about trying to charge me the fees and his cost to ship (he had it free) for his problem. But now, he wants me to send them back AND give positive feedback before he gives my refund. I said that's blackmail.

Bassamatic · #18 08-26-2009, 11:01 PM

This is one of the REAL problem with eBay. You can only leave negative feedback for SELLERS, and NOT for BUYERS! This really sucks and is driving me away from use eBay to sell anything important. This is why he is pushing you to leave the positive feedback first, because he has no recourse if you don't.

However, you are under no obligation to do this (I would not) and PayPal has been very helpful in cases like this. Once you file a dispute with PayPal he will take them back quickly.

Explain to him that he may not be a liar, but he is misinformed about the product he is selling.

michael_atw · #19 08-26-2009, 11:32 PM

I definitely agree. I told him I will not agree to giving positive feedback before I get my refund. It's so simple and not hard. And he just messaged me saying he can't agree with that and "he's going out of his way to accept the refund". Then he started insulting me!!

"You do whatever you feel you have to do, because at this point it is very clear that nothing will make you happy. As a seller on eBay you have to deal with all kinds of crazies and you are one of them. It is clear by looking at your feedback at 90% with all you Negative and Nutrual feebacks that I'm not the first to have to deal with your crazy actions and attitude."

When he has a 99.1% and does considerably less monthly transactions. I had to try so hard to refrain from verbal retaliation and did a decent job, haha...

And yeah right, because I'm not agreeing with his attitude and terms that makes me crazy. Oh well. I can see if I didn't like them or something and he "was going out of his way" to accept them back...but they were wrongly described - he's required to take them back or face consequences. I said if you don't agree by tomorrow morning you get negative feedback and a complaint. Sadly, with the new ebay policies I can get lots of leverage by threatening negative feedback. I don't like to, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

king_biscuit · #20 08-27-2009, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gio S

You can only leave negative feedback for SELLERS, and NOT for BUYERS!

It was to help with the bigger problem of sellers leaving retaliatory feed back against buyers. I think there are more bad sellers on Ebay than bad buyers by about 100 to 1, and I have been using Ebay since 1999.

For the OP, please post a link or auction number to the auction.

Also, those pickups you got, op, are not vintage 70s Fenders. Those bar magnets, probably ceramic, were never on 70s Fender pickups. The seller is either a scammer or a dumba@# -- I'll go 60/40.