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1974 Fender Jazz Pickup replacement question

Mickey R.

Mickey R.

Supporting Member
Jun 26, 2015
9
4
Oklahoma
#1
Hey y'all, I have a question this forum may be able to address. I have a '74 Fender Jazz, original everything, and while the action and sustain is terrific, the pickups do seem weak. To get decent volume I must pot up either/and/or the bridge pickup to at least 80%, anything else is barely audible. And loud is out of the question unless the amp really pushed up. Same amp same settings with an American '99 or even Squier JJohnstone, require very little instrument dial up for high volume.


I hate to alter the orignal pickup and connections, (add fresh solder) but that seems necessary. I'm thinking the obvious thing to do would be to just get a Pure Vintage'74 set and it should be good to go,and 'sort of' close to original. But if I'm going to 'break the seal' and make a change. Should I try to upgrade to Fralin, or some other custom shop configuration? (e.g. Fender CS 60's)? I have decent Amps so I don't need extra hot p/u's but I'm just trying to think of today and the future. Any drawbacks to putting in a hotter setup?
 
#7
Doner Designs said:
Maybe the pickups are too far from the strings?
Click to expand...

Good question, I have had basses where the new action was much higher, but no, that doesn't seem to be the issue here, these are nearly the same distance as my other basses. Thanks for the idea, I'd love an easy / cheap fix.
Doner Designs said:
Maybe the pickups are too far from the strings?
Click to expand...


Good question, Thanks Steve D, I have had basses where the new action was much higher, but no, that doesn't seem to be the issue here, these are nearly the same distance as my other basses (or actually closer in one case) Thanks for the idea, I'd love an easy / cheap fix.
 
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#10
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#11
jazz Bass 74 said:
Sounds like the coils may be shorted. One option might be getting original pickups rewound.

Welcome to Lindy Fralin Pickups: Rewind and Repair Information - the Finest Guitar Pickups Available Today!
Click to expand...

Here's another vote for that. My 1980 Jazz had dead pickups. I replaced them, but kept the originals. I may have them rewound one day.

If it matters, I replaced mine with an old MIJ '75 pickup in the bridge and an American Vintage '62 Jazz pickup in the neck. Sounds just fine to me.
 
#13
I got a 75 Jazz years ago that had EMGs installed. I wanted it to sound like a 75 Jazz so I bought a second hand set of original 75 Jazz pickups- not cheap- (and electrics) and installed them.
I have a couple of other Jazzes- one with Custom Shop 60s in it and another with the pickups they use in the RW Jazzes- both sound really nice but they are nothing like the original 75 pickups.
My advice would be to get it diagnosed properly and aim to keep it original soundwise if you can because those mid 70s J Basses just sound different (and not just because of the position of the bridge pickup). If that means an authentic rewind or buying a set of originals second hand, so be it.
I did mount Custom Shop 60s in the 75 Bass for a while and they still didn't sound much like the 75 pickups.
My 2c.
 
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#14
I've been plugging a particular wiring harness made by Santellan Sounds for some time now, for it is made of "teh awesome". :thumbsup:

Link Removed

It did wonders for my parts-bass project. It's a Series/Parallel circuit by way of a push/pull knob, but that's just the beginning. It includes all three pots and output jack, it's solder-less** and you can vary the capacitance by toggling a set of dip-pin switches on one of the chips. So, what you get is kind of a "Swiss Army Circuit".

They also make a Volume/Blend/Tone harness, also with the same variable capacitance. Oh, and I believe they are on sale right now.

**: Since it's solder-less, you could simply de-solder the original harness, leaving it intact in the process, and plug the pickup leads right into the clips. And if you want to install new pups, it's incredibly simple…practically "Plug & Play"!
 
#15
I also have a '74 Jazz (I don't think I've been on a thread with so many of them!). I would check the DC resistance of each pickup, for which you'll have to desolder at least one wire on each pickup. I really wouldn't worry about whether new solder will lose any of the 'mojo' or value! Off the top of my head, I think that a DC resistance of anything less than 6.5KΩ probably indicates a short somewhere. It's possible that you'll find that is has infinite resistance, which indicates that the coil is broken but not shorting. It's possible for it to still give a signal even if the pickup has no continuity (infinite resistance) due to inductance, but it will be a weak signal. In either of these cases, you would likely want to either replace the pickup or have it rewound.

I had a weak pickup in my '74 which turned out to have no continuity, and chose to replace both pickups with a set of Fender Pure Vintage '74. They are absolutely the business as far as I'm concerned, and sound exactly like I had hoped they would - just like the originals. Having read some reviews of the AVRI '74 here, it seems like Fender really did well with this bass and with the pickups in particular.
 
#16
I've tried several different brands of upgrade pickups for my jazz bass, and settled on the Lindy Fralin pickups. It's all a matter of personal opinion, but to me, they are great sounding pickups. They are direct replacements, and not the 5% overwound as mentioned by another post. The 5% overwound would give you a little more volume. However, the more windings that you have, you cut back on the higher frequencies.
 
#17
Baird6869 said:
I have Duncan Antiquities in my 1972 Jazz. They sound incredible.
Click to expand...

I had a '73 Jazz. When I acquired it, it had a set of DiMarzios that had gone bad (nothing against DiMarzio!), so I replaced them with Duncan Antiquities- I's not II's. Those things were perfect for that bass...sounded AWESOME.
 
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#20
I suggest that you contact Brandonwoundpickups before doing anything.

Brandon is extremely knowledgeable! His prices are great and his customer service is the best! He answered all of my questions via email and a telephone conversation.
 
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