tl;dr - Swapped the neck pickup for a Bart D752J-B. Works as specified with Fender’s 4-way pickup switching. Detailed documentation on the process below, including:
Documenting the baseline wiring.
Bart pickup wiring.
Validated it works to Fender’s documented settings.
Record measurements.
Noted fitment issues.
I purchased this Modern Player Jazz Bass V new in 2014 and haven’t played it much because of its “dark” tone. And, despite having a significant amount of switching flexibility, the tone went from bass-heavy to “none more bass” heavy. However, I do love the neck. Gloss finish aside, it's every bit as nice as my AM Pro II Jazz Bass V neck.
So this instrument has been sitting unused all this time while I mulled over selling it or swapping out pickups. Feeling empowered after my recent J Bass build, I decided on swapping out a pickup or two and came across Bartolini’s 5-String 2J D7 Double J-Bass – D752J, which Bart states, “These are made to fit 2012-2014 Modern Player basses” (more on that later).
I decided to swap the OG neck pickup for D752J-B and not swap the bridge PU, at least at this time, to reduce things going horribly wrong, and I’m mostly a J-neck PU guy with a little bridge added to taste. Plus, not knowing how the resulting swap would sound, I didn’t want to add more $ to the project.
Back to the fitment. The Bartolini D752J-B is slightly longer than the OEM Fender pickup on my 2014. It wasn’t a physical drop-in replacement. Minor Dremel work was required. I had to lengthen the pickguard opening by approximately 3 mm at each end and enlarge the 4 cutouts for the pickup wings to get things to align. In addition, I had to remove approximately 3 mm from the treble-side wall of the pickup cavity.
Fitment may vary between instruments due to production tolerances, but I have 2 pickguards for this bass, and it was the same fitment issue with both. Having said that, the Bartolini D752J can replace the OEM neck pickup while preserving all four factory rotary switch functions.
Below is the before-and-after wiring. A Fender-to-Bart wiring cross-reference guide. And finally, all 12 of the 4-way switch position ohm readings at the output jack.
How does it sound? I haven’t had that much playing time with it yet, but overall, I’m happy with the result. Position 4 sounds like a beefy J. The Bart single coil carries some low-end but with more high end clarirty then the OEM neck PU could muster. Maybe its a little deeper, as the front coil is slightly closer to the neck than typical. Position 3 could become my favorite. 2 is OK. Position 1, both humbuckers, is way low-end heavy. Not for me.
I hope this helps the community at some level.
poor impulse control.
