• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

1959 Precision Bass' guts replacement

#41
Nice '59! I have a mint '59 (except mine was made in early '59 - one piece maple neck and anodized pickguard) and I only play it at home, recording sessions, and special shows. I have a '66 P and a couple of Custom Shop P's thar I use regularly for shows.

I say leave the guts as they are. Don't risk altering the originality of the bass.....especially if you love how it plays and sounds. Take a back-up if you're worried about the electronics failing. I would personally be more afraid of it getting damaged or stolen before something failing on it.
 
#42
BearCave said:
Nice '59! I have a mint '59 (except mine was made in early '59 - one piece maple neck and anodized pickguard) and I only play it at home, recording sessions, and special shows. I have a '66 P and a couple of Custom Shop P's thar I use regularly for shows.

I say leave the guts as they are. Don't risk altering the originality of the bass.....especially if you love how it plays and sounds. Take a back-up if you're worried about the electronics failing. I would personally be more afraid of it getting damaged or stolen before something failing on it.
Click to expand...

BearCave, your profile picture is the sexiest picture I've seen for a long time drool
 
  • Like
Reactions: BearCave
#44
SAlcott said:
I know players with 200 year old double basses who play them every night and move them around on the subway. A musical instrument is just dead wood and cold metal unless it's played.
Click to expand...
I agree with this to a point.

The windings on pickups are known to fail for different reasons.......the windings are extremely thin wire....then, the fact that bobbins supporting the wire are known to fail.

Bottom line, its easy for me to be concerned about the electronics (particularly the pickups on a P bass) being vulnerable to damage on a 50's P bass.

That said I would likely play the bass, as is, every night I could!
 
#45
Yes, that's my concern when this thread started. I would be gutted if the original pick up failed, but mainly because of the loss of value of the instrument, not for the pu itself. I know many will hate me for saying this, but as amazing as this PU sounds, my BG s fralins sound equally great at all levels (I actually prefer them when the tone is rolled off, as it is a bit less muddy than the original one). I am certain that what makes this bass a top one is the neck and body, and how they connect with each other. I think that if I could replace the electronics without molesting the solder joints I would go on and do it. But that's not possible, so it will stay as it is.
 
#46
DavidEdenAria said:
Honestly, I wouldn't mind hearing that 50+ old P bass with a whole new pickguard setup....just for comparison sakes.

That's the great thing about a P bass....you just pull the whole pickguard out with what, 1 wire left at the bridge?

I wouldn't mind hearing the whole vintage P bass pickguard on another bass as well.

I TRULY think most of the tone is in the neck on any guitar....next is the body.

Ive been around many vintage Fender & Gibsons in my life and own a few....many times neck have been swapped on all kinds of Fenders by pro players!!

There is a reason for this folks.

I once met a guy from Oklahoma who bought and sold 100's of vintage Fenders....his main guitar was an early 60's Strat neck on a japan Tokai body with a mix of pickups....he thought the neck and pickups were the most important part, though some bodies are just plain dead......the decent bodies don't vary as much as decent necks.

But I digress!
Click to expand...


I would like to do the same thing for totally opposite reasons, I think tone comes from pickup location/pickups/strings, but unfortunately the old P basses don't have a continuous rout from the pickup cavity to the control cavity so you couldn't do it without desoldering the pickups. Not really worth devaluing a bass for a simple test.
 
#47
DavidEdenAria said:
I agree with this to a point.

The windings on pickups are known to fail for different reasons.......the windings are extremely thin wire....then, the fact that bobbins supporting the wire are known to fail.

Bottom line, its easy for me to be concerned about the electronics (particularly the pickups on a P bass) being vulnerable to damage on a 50's P bass.

That said I would likely play the bass, as is, every night I could!
Click to expand...

Windings on pickups are not really known to fail, they are just wire wrapped around a bobbin under a plastic cover. The only time I have seen a coil fail is because someone broke a wire when installing or removing the pickup. I have never in my career seen a bobbin fail, and I have had hundreds if not thousands of different electric stringed instruments on my bench over the years
 
#48
drums1977 said:
Hi mates,

I am the happy -and may I say proud- owner of a late 1959 Precision bass, one of the first P Basses "as we know it", meaning RW fingerboard, SB finish and tort. And it is 100% original down to the solder joints (and rarest period correct case). It also happens to be the best PBass I've played. My problem here is that I only dare to play it at home and not very often, because I am always aware of the risk of the electronic parts failing at some point, mainly pots or jack connector. The PUs are strong and even and everything works beautifully now.

SO, I have decided I would like to play it more often, and for that I have planned to replace all the guts, and put the originals somewhere safe. I thought of leaving the old PUs there, but then I realised I would have to ondo the PU solder joints, and I prefer not to. I am thinking Fralins for the PUs, since my US 44-64 has those and they nail the classic tone. I will get a couple of CTS 250 pots and a standard jack connector. My two main questions are:

1- What capacitor is more appropiate (I have read an orange 0.1 mF one would be the right replacement), and who sells those?

2- the black PU plastic "boxes" (excuse my English, but I don't know the real name of that part, but you know what I mean). As expected, the PG has shrank around it and its quite tight. Would you leave the original ones there and just replace the PU itself??

Maybe there is a PBass harness (whithout the PUs) I can by with all the parts and cloth wire already there, do you know a good store for that? I would appreciate anyone experience having done this before.

Thanks a lot for your help.
Click to expand...
NOOOOO! Leave everything as-is. It is just as durable, or probably more so, than any newer bass or component parts.
 
#49
Hopkins said:
Windings on pickups are not really known to fail, they are just wire wrapped around a bobbin under a plastic cover. The only time I have seen a coil fail is because someone broke a wire when installing or removing the pickup. I have never in my career seen a bobbin fail, and I have had hundreds if not thousands of different electric stringed instruments on my bench over the years
Click to expand...

That's interesting. Bobbins don't fail, ok, but why do people rewind or "remagnetise" their old pickups? Do they just get weaker over time or is it because of intensive use? In other words, will a 1959 pickup that has been never used and well kept be as good as new or may it be weaker?
 
#50
drums1977 said:
That's interesting. Bobbins don't fail, ok, but why do people rewind or "remagnetise" their old pickups? Do they just get weaker over time or is it because of intensive use? In other words, will a 1959 pickup that has been never used and well kept be as good as new or may it be weaker?
Click to expand...

The only reason to rewind is because the coil was broken on the start of the winding, but that doesn't really happen while installed in the bass, only during removal or installation. It is true that alnico magnets can loose their charge over time, but it literally takes about 10 minutes to recharge them, it can even be done without disturbing the solder joint.
 
#52
The magnets probably have not discharged. If the bass has low output, what has probably happened is that the foam spacers underneath the pickup segments, which serve to keep the pickups at the desired adjusted height, angle and string clearance, has deteriorated, allowing the pickup to drop down. This will decrease output more than anything else. The good news is that it is the easiest to fix: get a piece of foam rubber out of a box that another pickup shipped in, trim it to the original size for each of the two pickup segments, and insert one piece under each pickup segment. Then readjust the pickup screws to the proper height, string clearance, and angle. I think you will be amazed how great the bass sounds afterwards.
 
#55
Hopkins said:
Windings on pickups are not really known to fail, they are just wire wrapped around a bobbin under a plastic cover. The only time I have seen a coil fail is because someone broke a wire when installing or removing the pickup. I have never in my career seen a bobbin fail, and I have had hundreds if not thousands of different electric stringed instruments on my bench over the years
Click to expand...
What about P90 pickup bobbins?

I don't question the amount of guitars or your experience but MANY Fender pickups have needed rewinds for various reasons.

J.M. Rolph and Lindy Fralin started out repairing/rewinding pickups...1000's of Strats with dead pickups...they weren't all removed or reinstalled.

Strats and Teles have always had a reputation of being very tough instruments and easily repairable....but....its unbelievable some of the pics I've seen of pickups covered in sweat and grime...then the things folks would try to use to clean pickups off or various substances spilled on pickups.
 
#56
DavidEdenAria said:
What about P90 pickup bobbins?

I don't question the amount of guitars or your experience but MANY Fender pickups have needed rewinds for various reasons.

J.M. Rolph and Lindy Fralin started out repairing/rewinding pickups...1000's of Strats with dead pickups...they weren't all removed or reinstalled.

Strats and Teles have always had a reputation of being very tough instruments and easily repairable....but....its unbelievable some of the pics I've seen of pickups covered in sweat and grime...then the things folks would try to use to clean pickups off or various substances spilled on pickups.
Click to expand...


I am not saying that corrosion may have broken a few coil wires from time to time, but it is very rare for a pickup just to break a winding without some sort of handling. Yes those plastic P90 bobbins can be fragile, but they still do not usually break unless being handled.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back