Accurate early 60s Jazz pickup set?

[Fernieite]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for recommendations for a new set of pickups that are period correct / accurate for a 1962/63 Jazz bass style.

I assume Alnico II would be the correct magnet type, right?

I see Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazz pickups fit the bill, as I think the Fender Original Jazz Bass pickups do, as well. Are there any other sets that are recommended?

Thanks a lot.

 

[SharpCat]

Aguilar 4J-60. Those are alnico V though.

When you say "period correct / accurate", are you just talking about tone, or also want period looks?

 

[Hot Rats]

I had a set of nordstrands made with the alnico II and love them in my AVRI. They also have the radiused poles so no string volume difference anymore.

 

[Fernieite]

When you say "period correct / accurate", are you just talking about tone, or also want period looks?

Tone and looks.

 

[SharpCat]

Fralin stock wind also an option, I think.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

Klein epic 62. He took pickup magnets from a real 62 and had them chemically re created, same with the wire.

Fender in the 60’s used alnico V

1962 Epic Series Jazz Bass Pickup (J-Bass)

a set of old flats wouldnt hurt either, I like GHS precision flats on old fenders

 

[Ostie]

I put a set of Duncan Vintage ‘62 pups on my Jazz, but I don’t think they make them anymore. At least not with that name. This was about twenty years ago.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for recommendations for a new set of pickups that are period correct / accurate for a 1962/63 Jazz bass style.

I assume Alnico II would be the correct magnet type, right?

I see Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazz pickups fit the bill, as I think the Fender Original Jazz Bass pickups do, as well. Are there any other sets that are recommended?

Thanks a lot.

I replaced the pickups on a MIM JB years ago on my son’s bass with Fender 62’s. I made it a tone monster my son is still playing on today, after 20 years of being a bassist in the Marine Corps. It’s,ore than a little shop worn by now as can be expected (soft wood body), but it still sounds great.

 

[808P123]

Klein epic 62. He took pickup magnets from a real 62 and had them chemically re created, same with the wire.

Fender in the 60’s used alnico V

1962 Epic Series Jazz Bass Pickup (J-Bass)

a set of old flats wouldnt hurt either, I like GHS precision flats on old fenders
View attachment 5290847

Just a heads up on Klein's, they come with a wait time. Great pickups but they are done when they are done, so you can't be in a hurry. I have been waiting 9 months.

 

[Killing Floor]

Fralin.

 

[HardNHeavy]

lol i always crack up when ppl want fender sound and a thousand responses of "other" pickups comes flooding in...I'm sure they all sound good, bla,bla,bla..Why not get actual fender CS 63's or 62's or spend big cash on some vintage pups off reverb.....genuine fender ya know.

 

[Grinderman]

Just a heads up on Klein's, they come with a wait time. Great pickups but they are done when they are done, so you can't be in a hurry. I have been waiting 9 months.

Buyer beware. Their customer service is a problem. I've been burned by them.

I received a '59 P pickup at the beginning of this year that had a problem. I emailed them for support about that along with a second subsequent inquiry in June. I never received any response. Zero.

There are plenty of other quite fine pickup makers to do business with. Lindy Fralin foremost comes to mind. I never had such problems with Seymour Duncan either.


------

I'd heard good things about Klein's pickups but I've always considered their exceptional marketing claims about metallurgical or chemical analysis and reproduction of vintage AlNiCo V and the 42ga plain enamel wire they use not being standard--"built to the exact specs of the samples we have had analyzed. Exact Resistance, Exact ID & OD, & Color matching."--to be very likely misleading.

Pre-CBS Fender poured/cast their AlNiCo V slugs in-house and would gauss those slugs with a car battery. There's nothing wrong with that at all but the results weren't super consistent or within particularly narrow tolerances. There's a lot of wiggle room there for Klein's claims of exact specs to live within.

 

[808P123]

I had Nick Fryer rewind a Pure Vintage 64 Jazz bass pickup and he was great to work with. Super friendly, and quick turnaround. I wouldn't hesitate to use him if I needed a jazz set again as he knows his vintage stuff.

Custom Guitar Pickups

 

[iiipopes]

Remember in the early days, Leo used the wire he could get if he couldn't get the spec wire. Likewise, the studs were magnetized with a coil and an automotive battery, resulting in stronger gauss in the morning and less gauss in the afternoon. And the type of wire spec'd changed through the years. Add to that imprecise winding machines and the operators having different feel in their hands as the wire was fed onto the bobbins, that all resulted in different number of turns and intra-coil tension pickup to pickup, and this resulted in that there was never any one specific early J-bass tone. For those boutiques who build pickups according to the original spec sheets, there is less variation from boutique to boutique than there was in Fender's early pickups. I would just get a set of current reissue Fender vintage pickups and rock on.

 

[Grinderman]

Remember in the early days, Leo used the wire he could get if he couldn't get the spec wire. Likewise, the studs were magnetized with a coil and an automotive battery, resulting in stronger gauss in the morning and less gauss in the afternoon. And the type of wire spec'd changed through the years. Add to that imprecise winding machines and the operators having different feel in their hands as the wire was fed onto the bobbins, that all resulted in different number of turns and intra-coil tension pickup to pickup, and this resulted in that there was never any one specific early J-bass tone. For those boutiques who build pickups according to the original spec sheets, there is less variation from boutique to boutique than there was in Fender's early pickups. I would just get a set of current reissue Fender vintage pickups and rock on.

+ Considering all of that, I figure next I might as well mainly weigh established reputations for quality, good customer service, rational prices and possibly sticking to buying locally since that includes more than one good option here.

Lindy Fralin is the only pickup maker outside of Southern California that I've developed so much loyalty to, and earned, that I still look to beyond.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I used Fender Original Jazz Bass, Seymour Duncan Antiquity I and II, as well as Fralin standard wound and have been happy with all of these. My vintage 1962 Fender Jazz has Fralin 10% overwound (original pickups looooong gone). Sounds great (obviously).

 

[Planespotter]

Lollars are worth a look too.

 

[Geogio]

I assume Alnico II would be the correct magnet type....

I've read where they only used A5
I've heard some bases used A2

I've had a set of EMG passive "52's" A5 on the neck side and A2 on the bridge side. To be perfectly honest I could not tell the difference.

Perhaps the difference could be studied on a proper oscilloscope, but my ears could not discern.

I think knives could be drawn over this subject, my Fender book says A5 was used on Jazz basses. But I don't know how authoritative that book actually is... and that's the rub.

 

[Jefenator]

Remember in the early days, Leo used the wire he could get if he couldn't get the spec wire. Likewise, the studs were magnetized with a coil and an automotive battery, resulting in stronger gauss in the morning and less gauss in the afternoon. And the type of wire spec'd changed through the years. Add to that imprecise winding machines and the operators having different feel in their hands as the wire was fed onto the bobbins, that all resulted in different number of turns and intra-coil tension pickup to pickup, and this resulted in that there was never any one specific early J-bass tone. For those boutiques who build pickups according to the original spec sheets, there is less variation from boutique to boutique than there was in Fender's early pickups. I would just get a set of current reissue Fender vintage pickups and rock on.

I've noticed this with P pickups. One was supposedly modeled after a '60, the other a '63 and they seem like very different beasts. Might be more informative to say one is modeled after a hot / bright / punchy specimen and the other a softer /darker one.
I don't know what they modeled the Lollar J set after but I freaking love those.

 

[petermwright]

I see Seymour Duncan Antiquity Jazz pickups fit the bill, as I think the Fender Original Jazz Bass pickups do, as well.

These are the ones that instantly sprung to my mind, although I don’t have experience with either (I use the Antiquity II). I was considering the Antiquity for my Sting ‘62 Jazz build.