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11-22-2009, 01:02 PM
| | | | what's in your Fender Musicmaster?
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I just scored a 78 Fender Musicmaster, and I'm thinking that I'd like to try other pickups since I've been on a soldering kick lately. I know that Aero makes a direct replacement, but I've heard of people using guitar pickups with good results.
So, Musicmaster owners... what have you tried out and how did it sound? Also, if anyone has any soundclips or recordings that would be cool too. |
11-22-2009, 02:19 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: D'Shaw | | I don't have a Musicmaster but I do have a Bronco I've modded rather extensively and I use an EMG SA (Strat guitar) pickup in it. It sounds like a bass and no noise.
Like this: 
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11-22-2009, 06:58 PM
|  | curiously looking back at what once was beautiful | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Oregon | | | Aero user, here. It's not the cheapest solution but it certainly does kick major butt IMO. I had it on the gig last night and it more than held its own against a J-bass (with Antiquity IIs).
I have some very badly-recorded before & after samples on a thread I started, earlier this year.
That EMG looks promising (haven't seen that, before).
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11-22-2009, 07:17 PM
| | | | +1 on the EMG SA, it sounds surprisingly good.
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11-22-2009, 07:45 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Blackshear, Georgia | | Quote:
Originally Posted by mongo2  I don't have a Musicmaster but I do have a Bronco I've modded rather extensively and I use an EMG SA (Strat guitar) pickup in it. It sounds like a bass and no noise.
Like this: | Holy crap! That looks pretty freaking shweet. I need to do that to my guitarist's Bronco! Sound clips please?
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11-23-2009, 01:42 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Jefenator Aero user, here. It's not the cheapest solution but it certainly does kick major butt IMO. I had it on the gig last night and it more than held its own against a J-bass (with Antiquity IIs).
I have some very badly-recorded before & after samples on a thread I started, earlier this year.
That EMG looks promising (haven't seen that, before). | just looked it up...that Aero sounds very good, really made the bass come alive. I might have to go that route... |
11-23-2009, 11:47 PM
| | curiously looking back at what once was beautiful | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Oregon | | Those clips make the Aero sound brighter & clearer than stock. What they fail to do is convey how your amp responds at gig levels. That's where you notice there's way more of everything - including lows!! 
I chose the Aero because I wanted to have a simple single coil w/ 1 magnet beneath each string. (Kind of like a mini-SCPB.) I was very pleasantly surprised with the build quality and sonic performance. (So much so, I'm seriously thinking about putting Aeros in a Jazz bass and a SCPB.)
I haven't compared the Aero directly with any of the more popular, less expensive strat pickups. I did get this impression from jetagegreg, though: Quote:
The Aero Musicmasterer 4 is a really great upgrade IMO. It replaces the 6-pole 1970s strat pickup in your Musicmaster with a 4-pole version that makes the sound clearer and punchier, and has better bass response as well. A lot of that comes from the way Larry winds the pickups, but some of the improvement comes from simply having the magnetic poles align cleanly with the strings.
I previously tried wiring the original strat pickup directly to the output jack (ok), and a DiMarzio FastTrack1 wired in series (better), but the Aero was just what the doctor ordered.
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11-23-2009, 11:53 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Florida | | | You have to post some pics of the bass. Not to prove to me you own one but my first bass was a MusicMaster and I'm just curious to see if it was the one I used to own.
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12-01-2009, 02:07 PM
| | | coming back to this: I'm thinking about a Q-Tuner single coil pickup. I had a Q-Tuner pickup in another bass once and I was very happy with it. I doubt anyone has ever tried this, but any comments and feedback are welcome. http://www.q-tuner.com/gs.shtml |
12-01-2009, 04:05 PM
| | curiously looking back at what once was beautiful | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Oregon | | | Whoa... those pickups certainly look trippy!
If you can, please do record a clip before and after you drop 'er in so we can get a direct comparison. I'd be very curious to hear how those things sound.
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12-03-2009, 10:40 PM
| | | | So I had decided not to pursue the Q-Tuner since it was so expensive to order...
but luckily I found a used one for much much much cheaper and went for it. Hopefully I'll get it early next week. |
12-03-2009, 11:52 PM
|  | BassMonkey | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Huntsville AL | | | Aero here |
12-04-2009, 10:33 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2005 Location: Loughborough, UK | | | Some of the DiMarzio twin rails Strat pups are popular for this, particularly the Fast Track II for some reason. |
12-04-2009, 11:28 AM
| | curiously looking back at what once was beautiful | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Oregon | | | In another thread we're discovering that the stock wiring bleeds a lot of highs away, even with the tone turned all the way up. If it's more clarity you're after, you may be sorely disappointed if you don't address that.
I expect simply removing the offending cap would make a big difference. But a total rewire certainly doesn't hurt.
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