Hello everyone, I hope everyone and their families are doing well. I have a set of pickups from the Fender 50s Roadworn reissue Basses. These pickups sound fantastic. I’d like to put them in my bass. Problem is it’s a PJ style American Fender. So I’m asking opinions from you PJ bass guys what J pickup would you pair with these. Style of music is punk with rock but when I’m home I tend to play differing styles of things. I normally just a touch of the J pup to help round things out and just give it a little bump. So what do you guys think would go good paired with these pups. I’m thinking a set of 60s style pups as they are the most close in terms of era. But that’s just a guess on my part.
I already know how they sound they sound great. Problem is the bass itself is a PJ body style. That’s why I’m asking opinions on what J pickup would go good with these pickups.
Any rear (bridge) Jazz PU that fits the existing Jazz slots / lug holes will work fine. 50's P bass pickups were single coil, later came the familiar P humbucking split coil. So you may need a new pick guard cut to accept the new single coil pickup. You will noice more hum than your old P PU. This can be alleviated by dialling in a tiny amount of the Jazz pickup using your bend knob. Not enough to change the P bass sound, but just enough to act as a slight hum buck. It doesn't need much. If it was my bass I would probably buy a sweet MM pickup and replace the Jazz with the MM. It'll need a routing template made to fit the MM pickup and then use the template to cut the PU hole in the body. I think the old 50's single coil PU pairs really well with a MM, in terms of output and having a wider and brighter tonal pallet.
Umm...read the original post again. He's talking about a '50s Road Worn P-Bass (modeled after a late '50s P) which has the "normal" split coil P Pickup. These did not have '51 style single coil pickups. Any bridge width J pickup will work. A few years back, I had a parts PJ-bass where I threw a $20 Artec AlNiCo Jazz bridge PU into it and it sounded great. Jazz bridge pickups generally measure between 7-8 kOhm resistance, so anything in that ballpark should work just fine. Adjust the pickup height to achieve the balance you desire. Don't overthink it.
Fralin makes great drop-in P replacements that are warm. You can get them in a split J if you want something closer to a P bite.
Try to find a used Fender Noiseless J bridge on Reverb or ebay. They’re the way to go! Or the Seymour Duncan stuff, just not the Hot Stack. Those are lifeless IMO.
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