Another Precision Pickup Thread

[Pbassmanca]

Eight years ago I bought a MIM 50's Precision. I was very happy with that bass for a number of years. Our sound guy complained about the tone but worked with him to EQ it as well as we could. He was a very persnickety sound guy so I didn't take him too seriously.
At one point I changed from flats to D'addario half rounds to get a little more usable tone.
About a year ago I bought an American Standard Precision and that has been my go to bass. I love the hardware and tone on that bass. It can be heard a lot better over the band without more volume.
When I do a head to head with the MIM 50's and the Am Std the 50's sounds like fuzzy mush to me now. I don't think anything has changed with the bass but I do think my ears have changed. I like everything else about the bass.
I have upgraded the tone pots, jack and cap to CTS, Switchcraft and Orange drop on the MIM. I didn't expect a lot of tone change from this but it was my first soldering job and I enjoyed doing it.
The bass tone has gotten a little better but as I expected I want to change out the pickups. But what do I install to keep the vintage tone and sit better in the mix? Is the tone on my existing pickups what I should expect from vintage style pickups?
These Fender pickups look like a good deal. I think they are the same pickups in my Am Std. If possible I would like to keep the vintage style tone but get more clarity from my bass. I would like to have two different sounding basses. $63.00 seems like a pretty good deal.
Amazon.com: Fender Precision Bass Pickups - Original Vintage Design: Musical Instruments
%3AFender
I'm thinking I would be a lot happier with Lindy Fralins. I can keep looking for some used Fralins or lay down the extra eighty bucks for a new set.

Amazon.com: Lindy Fralin P Bass Stock pickup: Musical Instruments

What do you say Talkbass?

To be honest with you brother, for me there was one bass That Got Away. It was a 2004 Classic series 50s precision bass made in Mexico. It had some well worn in stainless steel rounds on it, and whatever the stock pickup was I believe at that time it was just an American Standard precision bass pickup, the tone absolutely killed me. Hollow and Woody, but with a great mid-range grind and punch, I must have gone to the music store 20 times and played that bass but never dropped the seven hundred bucks as it was not in my budget at the time. I would kill to have that bass now, so anyways if you find the stock tone works for you screw the sound guy just stick with what sounds great, and always remember rule number one people: "if the tone kills you, don't hesitate, just lay down the money and deal with the consequences later!"

 

[Pbassmanca]

Eight years ago I bought a MIM 50's Precision. I was very happy with that bass for a number of years. Our sound guy complained about the tone but worked with him to EQ it as well as we could. He was a very persnickety sound guy so I didn't take him too seriously.
At one point I changed from flats to D'addario half rounds to get a little more usable tone.
About a year ago I bought an American Standard Precision and that has been my go to bass. I love the hardware and tone on that bass. It can be heard a lot better over the band without more volume.
When I do a head to head with the MIM 50's and the Am Std the 50's sounds like fuzzy mush to me now. I don't think anything has changed with the bass but I do think my ears have changed. I like everything else about the bass.
I have upgraded the tone pots, jack and cap to CTS, Switchcraft and Orange drop on the MIM. I didn't expect a lot of tone change from this but it was my first soldering job and I enjoyed doing it.
The bass tone has gotten a little better but as I expected I want to change out the pickups. But what do I install to keep the vintage tone and sit better in the mix? Is the tone on my existing pickups what I should expect from vintage style pickups?
These Fender pickups look like a good deal. I think they are the same pickups in my Am Std. If possible I would like to keep the vintage style tone but get more clarity from my bass. I would like to have two different sounding basses. $63.00 seems like a pretty good deal.
Amazon.com: Fender Precision Bass Pickups - Original Vintage Design: Musical Instruments
%3AFender
I'm thinking I would be a lot happier with Lindy Fralins. I can keep looking for some used Fralins or lay down the extra eighty bucks for a new set.

Amazon.com: Lindy Fralin P Bass Stock pickup: Musical Instruments

What do you say Talkbass?

Also, check out Klein pickups, epic series, for some of the most authentic Repro pickups on the market.

 

[Pbassmanca]

Thanks Arvin. I have the Gold anodized aluminum pickguard on this bass. I'm guessing I can do the same but it may require a little more sanding than it would with another pickguard.

I have had success using a fine, small - flat file to take a bit off of a gold anodized pickguard.

 

[Inky13]

I don't know if there is much difference between so called "vintage replacement P pickups", IMHO.

Here on Talk Bass, favorites are Fender Original P Pickups, Seymour Duncan SPB-1, EMG Geezer, Lindy Fralin, Nordstrand NP4 and NP4v, Fender Custom Shop '62 and there are more. Now, I've tried about 4 different ones of these and blind folded, I can't say I or anyone else can really tell much difference.

One P Pickup that I've tried and found it to be different in a nice way is the Rio Grande Vintage P. It has some really nice definition and clarity that the ones up above don't have.

About the Nordstrand..............I read a very fantastic explanation about his vintage pickups. He uses a computer program to scatter wind his pickups. This means that all of this pickup are scattered wound pretty much exactly the same. Meaning each pickup is gonna be identical to all the others. Pretty cool!

Other pickup makers who scatter wind by hand, well each one of their pickups are different.

I don't wanna knock anybody who winds pickups but does Seymour Duncan or Lindy Fralin or whoever REALLY personally wind each and everyone of their pickups? Of course not! What's in a name?

Final word...............IMHO, strings are about the biggest factor in a bass guitar's sound.

Couldn't agree more. Installed SD vintage pups in a cheapee Yamaha and couldn't hear much, if any difference. I really thought they would wake it up. Kinda disappointed.

 

[Yahboy]

Couldn't agree more. Installed SD vintage pups in a cheapee Yamaha and couldn't hear much, if any difference. I really thought they would wake it up. Kinda disappointed.

Thats mean your Yammy Stock P pup nail the nice Vintage PVibe. Congrat!!!

 

[JGbassman]

I'd will suggest EMG geezer butler pickups as well. There is a certain midrange bump that really brings out the essence of the precision bass sound. This is the sound I've searched for forever. I have a set of regular emgs in another p bass that I used to love, but now it just sounds so one dimensional compared to the geezers.

When you add the fact you get all new electronics with the kit, and they are solderless connectors, they are a great bargain.

 

[Inky13]

W

Thats mean your Yammy Stock P pup nail the nice Vintage PVibe. Congrat!!!

Wish I'd known that before I did the switcharoo!

 

[PawleeP]

They did, but in a head-to-head with the Geezer at Sam Ash about a year ago, the Geezer stomped the post-2012 stock pickup into the ground. Like you, I found it to be mushier than the Geezer, which to me is perfection. But the post-2012 AmStd pickup IS better than the pre-2012 AmStd pickup, which is absolute garbage.

Sounds like these highway one p pups i bought may be garbage too, since they are maybe a half step cheesier that the pre 2012 am std pups.. and thoughts, before i waste my time? was gonna try them <as a possible upgrade from the ceramic stock ones> in an ibby reverse p/j (ex404) .. p

 

[JimmyM]

Sounds like these highway one p pups i bought may be garbage too, since they are maybe a half step cheesier that the pre 2012 am std pups.. and thoughts, before i waste my time? was gonna try them <as a possible upgrade from the ceramic stock ones> in an ibby reverse p/j (ex404) .. p

Well I know nothing about the Ibby pickups, but yeah, I believe the HWY 1's used that same pickup. Very nice basses except for the pickup.

 

[PawleeP]

Well I know nothing about the Ibby pickups, but yeah, I believe the HWY 1's used that same pickup. Very nice basses except for the pickup.

Wondering if the highway ones are rewindable? lol have 2 sets, and not sure if they would give me a more vintagey tone, vs the stock ceramic magnet p pups, maybe i should just go with nordstrand, rio grande or reed james..

 

[JimmyM]

Wondering if the highway ones are rewindable? lol have 2 sets, and not sure if they would give me a more vintagey tone, vs the stock ceramic magnet p pups, maybe i should just go with nordstrand, rio grande or reed james..

Nordy would be my choice out of those 3. Never Reed James unless you want to get yelled at when you dare to ask why he's 6 months overdue.

 

[PawleeP]

Nordy would be my choice out of those 3. Never Reed James unless you want to get yelled at when you dare to ask why he's 6 months overdue.

I read somewhere, that the fralins and now i see nordys are not very vintage-ish soundind! p

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

On my 1996 Am Std PBass I replaced the stock pickup by those Fender Original. It's about ten years now. I still like them. They sound punchy and bright with the typical 2.5Hz accentuation typical of a vintage P pickup. I feel they are perfect for an authentic vintage tone using flatwounds. If I played with rounds I'd probably instal the Pure Vintage 63 which are a bit fatter sounding and a bit darker. Another great option is the Seymour Duncan SPB1 for a great vintage tone.

 

[TheCouchBassist]

Just installed the Pure Vintage 63’s in my CIJ P-Bass and love them. The Custom Shop 62’s (I had a 2012 AMSTD for three years) seemed a bit mid-scooped. I think Fender tried to make them sound more “modern”. The 63’s are wonderful, very balanced across all four strings and retain both punch and clarity no matter where I have the tone knob. Really the only adjustment I had to make was to lower the pickups a bit to account for the higher output.