Am I damaging the pickups?

[Blade3dge]

Ok quick rundown.

I play a Fender Jazz bass fingerstyle and normally keep my thumb planted on top of the pickup no matter which string I'm on. What I'm wondering is could the fact that Im constantly applying pressure to the pickup do any damage to the bass. I notice when I push down on it hard enough it's not exactly solid and all though I put very little force on my thumb I'm still worried that over time I could do damage.

Also, pre-emptively I do not care if you think I should be playing bass differently, I've learnt like this and managed to make it work for me just fine, my only concern is that I might be doing damage to my bass.

 

[Wayne8]

That's how I play. I didn't like the pickup moving and sort of had the same concern, although, in my mind at least, the only likely problem would be that, over time, the foam under the PU would permanently compress, thus lowering the pickup and making it hard to adjust upwards, if needed.

My solution to that was to put more foam underneath. Enough to keep it stationary and still let you adjust the height.

There might be all kinds of things wrong with that but I can't think what they'd be.

Anyway, it works for me.

 

[RiseAgainst]

nah it should be fine dude. If your overly worryed stick one of those black tabs specfic designed for resting the thumb on above where you rest the hand. It should be fine tho, I wouldnt worry about it at all in your position.

 

[fretlessguy]

I've had my Jazz since 1977 and it hasn't done anything to it yet. Go ahead and place your thumb there. As Wayne said, you can always put more foam under the pup.