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musicmaster bass pickup replacement

#2
Hi Daniel B.

Since the Musicmaster Bass uses a single-coil Strat-type pickup, I'd get a clear-sounding humbucker like the Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails™ SVR-1 and wire its two coils in parallel for a tone yielding the greatest clarity.

Why replace one noisy single-coil pickup with another?

BTW. Guitar pickups which have a clear sound work fine for bass.

My MIJ [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] uses [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] guitar pickups (as does every Fender VI made from 1962 onwards).
 
#4
I just compared the two directly. The single-coil P-bass pickup is about 1/4" wider than the Musicmaster. Same goes for string spacing.

Even if you were to physically modify the Musicmaster to accept a SCPB shape, the poles wouldn't line up properly with the strings. IMO that's a big deal, since these type of pickups are very fussy about string proximity IME.

I'm a big fan of the Aero because 1) the quality & design is superb and 2) I wanted to stick with the single-coil concept. This way, I've got something like a short-scale SCPB, and I'm really digging that.

If you don't care to stick with single coil, you can eliminate hum and save $40 or more with one of those strat "rail" type.
 
#9
Orangeclawhamme said:
Would any of these work as well on a Bronco bass?
Click to expand...
Yewbetcha!
lectrick_02.jpg

lectrick_01.jpg

A bit of chisel work to create space for the angled SCPB-3, mount the pickup to a homemade pickguard and wire the pickup direct to the output jack. Add LaBella flats and be ready to thump!
 
#13
SC Bassboy said:
I've got the SCPB-3 Quarter-Pound in my MM bass. It doesn't really fit 100% properly but it sounds awesome and you can anchor your thumb on the side of it.

DSCN4895.jpg


DSCN4905.jpg
Click to expand...

It looks like it fits pretty close. I thought about trying it, but I kind of want to keep my MM all original. I have been thinking about doing a bronco project with the SCPB pickups though.
 
#14
Well, after a long time rebuilding my bass, its finaly done. Its a 1976 Musicmaster. When I received it, it was painted in black with a lot of dings and marks, a Jazz Bass pickup was installed on a hand made pickguard. I repainted it, replaced the bridge with a "modern" one, and installed an AERO pickup on a new pickguard. Im really happy with the output level, I still have to do some changes on the circuit because the sound is a lot "nasal". I had to remove the pickup´s cover that come with the pickup because it´s position was too far from the strings.

Sorry for the pics, has been took with a BB
 

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#15
Im building another Musicmaster starting from a 81 neck I found time ago. Im waiting for those Wizard pickups, but may be I will made one by myself. I found that the AERO is designed for a plane fretboard, so I will make mine with the two center poles higher than the other two. It will be a kind of try and fault. Who knows.


Below a pic with the pickup cover installed.
 

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#16
I'm new to this forum and this is my first post, but it was helpful in my project so I just want to share. I just installed a new pickup in my 78 Musicmaster Bass. Picked up a Dragonfire Rail in cream and chrome off of ebay for $20.00! Also replaced the black pickguard with a brown tortise shell and the black knobs with cream knobs.

The bass now looks and sounds awesome! I wired the pickup in parallel which gives it a clear punchy tone. From what I read in many other places I figured wiring it it series might make it sound muddy, so I followed MIJ-VI's advice and wired parrallel and it sounds great. With the tone control open it is nice and bright with a lot of string sound. Rolling off the tone warms it up and takes the edge off. Also the pick-up is pretty hot so I lowered it till it sits about an 1/8 of an inch above the pickguard. A lot lower than the stock pickup at 1/4 inch. I originally had it up at 1/4 inch but it was too bright and edgy and the strings could also stick to the rails. Down at 1/8 of an inch it both sounds and looks great!

Also the change from the black knobs, pickguard, and pickup cover to the brown tortise pickguard and cream pickup and knobs gives it a great sexy, classic, vintage look. Add the tweed strap and cord and it's retro all the way!

Hope this info can help some others looking to upgrade their Musicmaster bass!

mmbass.jpg
 

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