2011 Am. Std. Precision pickups. What exactly do I have?

[bumperbass]

Take your pickguard off and look. If it scares you, let someone else do it. However, if you look at it and say to yourself..
"Hmmm...only two wires from the pickup and I think I can solder good enough", then go for it.

 

[JimmyM]

Maybe it's a case of being happy with the stock pups only because I don't know what I'm missing (ignorance is bliss)! I am happy with stock but perhaps I'd be happier with an "upgrade". What would be involved in changing my pups to geezers - easy for a first timer to install or something a pro should do?

It is super easy with Geezers and a Precision. All the wiring comes out without having to cut any wires, unless you want to leave the bridge wire in there (you have to loosen the bridge to get it out, so I'd probably just cut it or unsolder it where it's soldered onto the jack. You won't need the ground wire on the screw inside the body for Geezers since they're dead quiet anyway, so you can just take all that off. Then you follow the directions for hooking up the quick connectors to the pickup and knobs, take that little clear connector that comes with it and use it to splice the existing ground wire to the one that comes with it, adjust the pickup height to your liking, and go.

 

[bumperbass]

Hey Jimmy...before you go to bed...:
Did you use the 250K pots that come with the Geezers? I like 500K pots and have used them with my last three precisions.
I guess I'm asking you if you have enough high end, huh?
Well, I'm asking both.

 

["Q"]

How do you know they're alnico?

 

[bumperbass]

The ceramic magnets are attached at the bottom, usually two magnet strips.

 

["Q"]

The ceramic magnets are attached at the bottom, usually two magnet strips.

Then that means theyre ceramic on steel like I said....

 

[bumperbass]

My alnico pickups don't have the magnets on the bottom.

 

["Q"]

Ah. Strange to use the more expensive alnico and then cheap out with a short coil.

Unless they're using a really strong one like alnico 8 or something.

Does the output seem low in general?

 

[bumperbass]

I think it's alnico 5. They don't really sound weak overall. Mine lack punch in the bass. My P with Original '62's has a lot more low end.
Example, took my 'new' 2011 to the last gig. Unplugged my 2000 P (with '62's in it). Bass control was flat with old P. Turned bass up
to 2 o'clock with new P and still had a lot of treble but not as much bass. It was VERY noticeable.

 

["Q"]

Omg. Plz plz take a resistance reading of this thing. I have to know!

And yeah alnico 5 is the norm but I've found that the strangest materials and design come from the bass manufacturers not the boutique pickup market......the pickup in question here demonstrates this Lol.

 

[bumperbass]

Yeah, I'm puzzled too. Sure am gonna take a resistance measurement....gonna do each one separately too. To add to this puzzle is the fact that a
Sansamp RPM is very touchy with controls. A little nudge is all you need to hear a difference.

 

[JimmyM]

Hey Jimmy...before you go to bed...:
Did you use the 250K pots that come with the Geezers? I like 500K pots and have used them with my last three precisions.
I guess I'm asking you if you have enough high end, huh?
Well, I'm asking both.

Yes I did and yes I do have enough high end. When I first recorded them, I wired them direct to the jack, but I did other recordings of them wired to the 250k pots they came with, and I didn't hear a difference with the treble all the way up. Almost positive you can get 500k quick connect pots from EMG if you want them, but Geezer tried them with both and preferred 250k, so that's what they come with.

 

[bumperbass]

As always, thanks, Jimmy.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I hear those Geezer pickups are really crappy…

 

[JimmyM]

I hear those Geezer pickups are really crappy…

This would have upset me greatly if I knew for sure I still had a deal with EMG

 

[bumperbass]

.. the set in question should be the 61276/7 set ... I believe they were introduced during the American Series, around '04, and continued up until replaced by the CS 60's in 2012 ... this set also started appearing in the last few years of the 'upgraded' Hwy One series until it was discontinued in 2011 .... prior to the switch to the 61276/7 set, I believe the stock pickup for the early AmStands (pre 2000) and the beginning of the AmSeries, the Classic Series 50's P, and the early Hwy 1's was the 56003/4 set ...

Yes, these are the 61276/77 set. I just measured mine with my DVM. Got 11.3K.

 

["Q"]

Interesting, that's just a shade under vintage if I recall. This only makes me more curious as I never thought the stock pickup was much on bottom end yet an SPB-1 is more than ample in that regard.

 

[JimmyM]

Well that just proves that trying to determine how a pickup sounds by its resistance is futile The Geezer P is 11.26k, and it stomps that stock AmStd pickup's ass into the ground.

 

["Q"]

Well there's still wire gauge to be considered..... I ain't out of bullets yet!

 

[JimmyM]

Well there's still wire gauge to be considered..... I ain't out of bullets yet!

And magnets. And polepieces. And potting.

Well that just proves that trying to determine how a pickup sounds by its resistance is futile

Hey look, I didn't even realize that I just made a hilarious Star Trek Borg reference. There you go, nerds...have a laugh!