a TRUE pj bass. What do you think?

[KayXero]

Now I am a fender styled boy. Love the look and authority of a big ole fender bass. I was always drawn to the P because I love the body shape and thought the J bass was ugly, although I liked its tone.

Plus I told myself "these two styled basses are like the top of the bass world". This was based on what I saw my favorite bassists use and what I saw were most popular.

As I said I went with the P due to its aesthetic appeal. But I never liked being handcuffed by one pup, and wanted more versatility, so I have been a PJ boy since I started 5 years ago. I felt I would get the best of both worlds.....however that is a sad lie

Sure I could get a P tone with the pup solo'd, but without the J bass neck pup, I did not get a true Jazz tone. So I began google-ing and I stumbled upon Stu Hamm's sig bass. I drooled and had an idea. With all three pups, I could solo put ina switch to solo the P or use the J bass pups together, or all three together.


Questions for you all:

1. This wiring is easily possible I am sure right?

2. Pup placement. I was thinking of modding my PJ with a J neck pup above the P pup, as to leave the P pup in its traditional placement. Thoughts? Would you move the P pup to the neck and place the jazz neck pup in the middle? or any other arrangement?

3. Is this even necessary or am I being greedy with tone =P. Sometimes I feel I overkill my thinking and that a good amp with good EQ and new tone capacitors would give me all i need.

 

[kenfxj]

You can't really get a true P/J because the P pickup overlaps with the neck J pickup in traditional placement.

You could move the neck J closer to the neck but it wouldn't sound quite right IMO. That doesn't mean it would sound bad.

 

[GregoryPlays]

kenfxj:
Your avatar is the jam!

 

[KingRazor]

You can't really get a true P/J because the P pickup overlaps with the neck J pickup in traditional placement.

You could move the neck J closer to the neck but it wouldn't sound quite right IMO. That doesn't mean it would sound bad.

From the look of this pic, it looks like moving the P pickup slightly closer to the neck could get you closer to the J tone. (talking purely from observation)

 

[gitlvr]

You can't really get a true P/J because the P pickup overlaps with the neck J pickup in traditional placement.

You could move the neck J closer to the neck but it wouldn't sound quite right IMO. That doesn't mean it would sound bad.

True, but I doubt a half inch difference in the neck pup placement of the J pup, or moving the P pup slighly toward the bridge to make room, would matter much. As a matter of fact, depending on the year of the J bass in question, the pups were in slightly different positions anyway(at least the bridge, not sure about the neck, but I think I've read that as well). I'm pretty sure it could be done, and the difference in tone would be so small that you could probably blindfold someone and hand them a regular bass and then that one, and they'd be hard pressed to hear a significant difference. And I'd be willing to bet that difference would dissappear in the mix in a band/live setting. MHO.

 

[JTE]

One solution is to build a PUP that has four coils, and arrange it so that you get two side-by-side for the J sound, and two staggered for a J sound. But the PUPs are different anyway (the coils are bigger on a P) so that wouldn't nail the P sound. The best solution I've found (but bear in mind that I'm much more a fan of Precisions than Jazzes) is to have the dreaded series/parallel switch on the P coils. Like many others, I don't find much use for this on a Precision by itself. BUT, switching the P coils to parallel (from the normal series) WHEN you're using that PUP with a Jazz bridge PUP is very useful.

I would think you could even build a Strat-style 5 way switch to select P series solo, P series with Jazz bridge, P parallel with Jazz bridge, Jazz bridge solo, and P series with all controls bypassed...

Well, there're options for that fifth position, maybe a kill switch?

John

 

[kenfxj]

I think what Link Removed is doing looks very interesting.

Looks a bit like you glued a piece of studded snow tire to your bass but there are a lot of options.

 

[KayXero]

Kenfxj, well even on a P bass special, isnt the J pup closer to the bridge than a normal J bass. Seems that way to me.


Even with the jazz neck pup closer to the bass of the neck....could I not just change where I pluck to facilitate my tone? or do you think its overridden by the placement of the pup.

EDIT:

and that enfield is just ewww lol

 

[kenfxj]

Something like this would, I think, be the best you could do.

The bridge J and P pickups are in the same position (unlike the Urge), the neck J is about 1-1.5 inches closer to the neck.

I put the tone-vol-vol-vol knobs on it!

 

[JTE]

BTW, the standard location for the bridge PUP on the Jazz bass did move slightly (a bit less than half an inch) closer to the bridge around 1970-71. The neck PUP has always been in the same place however.

John

 

[KayXero]

Something like this would, I think, be the best you could do.

The bridge J and P pickups are in the same position (unlike the Urge), the neck J is about 1-1.5 inches closer to the neck.

I put the tone-vol-vol-vol knobs on it!

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Also some sort of switch so I could get solo P, dual J, and then all three. Master volume, tone, tone, tone instead =D

I figure something like this done to an SX bass wouldnt cost me too much with my tech.

 

[phillipkregg]

Something like this would, I think, be the best you could do.

The bridge J and P pickups are in the same position (unlike the Urge), the neck J is about 1-1.5 inches closer to the neck.

I put the tone-vol-vol-vol knobs on it!

Didn't Stu Hamm already get Fender to make this?

 

[KayXero]

I love how you read my first post. *smh*

 

[gitlvr]

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Also some sort of switch so I could get solo P, dual J, and then all three. Master volume, tone, tone, tone instead =D

I figure something like this done to an SX bass wouldnt cost me too much with my tech.

You could do that, but IMHO it wouldn't really give you any more than if you wired an individual volume to each pickup and used a master tone. You could get any combination you wanted, and the tone would work on any or all the pickups. Also a much simpler wiring scheme than running on/off switches or a 3 way toggle. Again, JMHO.

 

[kenfxj]

Didn't Stu Hamm already get Fender to make this?

Sort of. The pickup placement is different, closer to the bridge. That's why I said "unlike the Urge".

 

[By-Tor1000RR]

I would wire it with separate volume pots. In highschool I took a Peavey T-20 and wired it up as a PJ with an extra P pickup towards the neck. I used to roll off the vol on the pickup closest to the neck just a touch. You'll be happier with the added control. A series/parallel switch for the J pickups would be cool.

You can see my setup in this pic. The white reverse P was in the traditional P location. There is a Black P pickup right next to it but it's hard to see in the pic. Not exactly what you're looking for but you get the idea........ I should have never got rid of that bass:scowl: That was an active EMG setup. Monster tone!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Something like this would, I think, be the best you could do.

The bridge J and P pickups are in the same position (unlike the Urge), the neck J is about 1-1.5 inches closer to the neck.

I put the tone-vol-vol-vol knobs on it!

that would *not* sound like a J bass.

I, for one, think a PJ sounds better than a straight J bass in 99% of situations. A bit more "Ooomph", if you will.

 

[kenfxj]

I know it wouldn't. Like was said earlier, a true P/J is impossible using standard P and J pickups.

 

[johnk_10]

IMO, you could get it pretty darn close if you used 1 and half split coil J bass pickups for the middle position and switched between the straight and staggered coils.

 

[RCCollins]

a "reverse" P arrangement would fit without really moving the center position.

i want something like this...