Anyone convert their P to a PJ and regretted it?

[FishDub]

Just curious- The standard MIM P I just got sounds crazy good and will not modify it. Lots swear by the PJ. I have had a few PJs in the past and let them go. There is just something about the plain ole P being simple, and I actually thought the PJs I had didnt sound as good even with the P pickup isolated. But I am certain that many here own a P,PJ and J..IDK lately I've just preferred the feel and sound of my standard, simple P.

 

[Minimalist]

Yes. And I converted it back to a P and painted it pink.

If you want a PJ check out Yamahas BB line. Those are much better than any Fender PJ I ever played. Factory or converted.

 

[FishDub]

Yes. And I converted it back to a P and painted it pink.

If you want a PJ check out Yamahas BB line. Those are much better than any Fender PJ I ever played. Factory or converted.

There is no way I’m considering it. However, the Spector reverse pj has me curious…

 

[Snert]

Yes, my early Ibanez RB. Back then I assumed all J PUs sounded similar and the SD I installed sounded odd with the stock P. My hand cut PG all looked like, well, rubbish.

 

[bassboysam]

Converted my Lakland Bob Glaub, but I also swapped the original P with an Avedissian and also got them to wind me a J to match well with the P. no regrets

 

[chris_b]

I did the PJ thing in 1989. I had a pretty anaemic Precision bass and replaced the pickup with a Bartolini. That improved the sound 1000%. Spurred on by this improvement, I had a J and preamp fitted. That expensive and unreversible mod improved the sound by 10% at most. IMO that was not worth the cost and effort. These days I'd buy the bass that made the sound I wanted rather than taking a punt on modding.

 

[staurosjohn]

About 10ish yrs ago I had one of my FrankenFenders routed for a J pu… never enjoyed playing it again … I did sell it & now I stick with P’s (primarily w/J necks) I rarely use the ‘tone’ knob on my basses - had this wired V/V… but seemed to lose the ‘low-mid’ range… no matter how I mixed the pups.

 

[HardNHeavy]

converted no, just dropped different pups and J necks into the empty bodies. simple builds with CS 63's which to my ears, is more full sounding vs the Barts which are far brighter.. i'm ok with their overall sound...but havent showed them any love past cpl months.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I have never personally done this but I know several older bass players who did this to their 60s and 70s P-basses in the 80s and deeply regret it today.

I also know several guitar players who installed Floyd Rose tremolos (+ often also a bridge humbucker) in their Vintage Strats in the 80s and regret it even more. Some of these guys have even converted the guitar back to vintage Strat specs now but the resale value is still completely ruined of course.

Doing it to a MIM Standard is obviously a completely different scenario. Personally I would never do it, as I never use bridge pickups or blended pickups, but if you do, why not? It's not as if these basses will ever sell for insane "vintage" prices. But then again, who knows? 20 years ago I would have said the same about 70s Fenders.

 

[Johnny Alien]

Not a fan of the P/J setup at all. Visually or tonally. It for sure changes the P tone even when not using the J pickup.

 

[MtManiac]

Seems like a lot of work. To each their own, but it’s not for me.

If you’re looking for that reverse split coil PJ Spector sound check out the Charvel pro mod San Dimas PJ.

 

[Pauly 4001]

Yes. And I converted it back to a P and painted it pink.

If you want a PJ check out Yamahas BB line. Those are much better than any Fender PJ I ever played. Factory or converted.

I bought this converted BB1200 because it was so darn cheap but the fretless conversion goes along nicely with the added bridge position jazz pickup

 

[Ostie]

I have a Fender LE Mustang with PJ. I never use the J pup because I already have a J. So if the J pup disappeared, I’d never miss it.
Edit: I didn’t convert it, it came that way, but I’d never add a J after having one.

 

[40Hz]

I was curious about a PJ since I couldn’t see what the big deal was. But rather than mod either of my of my perfectly good PBs since I already had a bin of parts, I just put a frankenbass PJ together to check it out.

Squier PJ body and JB neck, and a set of Wilde pickups.

Turned out pretty nice. And I finally found a use for those blue DR Neons I got as part of a string bundle deal. (They’ve since been replaced with a set of Hi Beams.)



Interesting sound that has its uses. But nothing super special IMO. Kinda like a PB with the option to dial in a little edge courtesy of the jazz pup. More along the lines of “also nice to have” rather than essential. I don’t find myself playing it all that often.

TL-DR - the PJ sound isn’t special enough to make it worth modifying an existing bass unless you’re looking for something to do.

Just my 2¢ anyway.

 

[jeff62]

My PJ is a Tony Franklin model which has a 3-way switch, isolating the P (or the J) when selected. With the switch, to my ears, the P is not affected in the least when isolated (I’ve got two other P’s to compare against). And the benefit is being able to add the J to get bite from the bridge when both pickups are selected.

 

[logdrum]

Get a 3 way switch (VVT) or go active balance. That's the ticket to not lose the P ness of it. My MIJ Jazz Special came like that. I upgraded the pickups to an EMG GZR pair and also changed the controls to EMG because the TBX tone was noisy. Even better. The EMG J is also higher output and is balance with the P

 

[Rib 13]

I knew a bunch of folks who did it in the 80s and folks who had did it in the 70s before I knew them........the only regrets that Ive heard was from guys a few decades ago that were kicking themselves for devaluing the instrument during the vintage/collector heydays - I dont recall anyone ever mentioning that they regretted it because of sound/tone.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I did the PJ thing in 1989. I had a pretty anaemic Precision bass and replaced the pickup with a Bartolini. That improved the sound 1000%. Spurred on by this improvement, I had a J and preamp fitted. That expensive and unreversible mod improved the sound by 10% at most. IMO that was not worth the cost and effort. These days I'd buy the bass that made the sound I wanted rather than taking a punt on modding.

I was half-expecting to see something like this. Guessing you'd get far more mileage from adding an alternatively-voiced P pick-up. I don't have a clue as to what would work in any given situation but everybody & his brother manufactures aftermarket options.

Riis

 

[blmeier7]

I've owned lots of J's, P's, and a handful of PJ's. Multiple times I've considered routing a J pickup into one of my P's, but I've never done it...I think I would regret it.

The PJ config is just so versatile it's hard to resist. But I've never fallen in love with the tone of a PJ that has both pickups full on...at least not the way I have about a nice J or P bass. I was just about ready to give up on PJ's for good until I got a Yamaha BB434. This bass sounds so good! My theory is that Yamaha has tuned their PJ pickups to compliment each other extremely well since they rely on this pickup set for their whole BB line. The majority of PJ basses I see out there use a dedicated P pickup, and combine that with a dedicated J bridge pickup...and that works ok, but has always left me feeling that the tone is unbalanced and missing something.

With all that said - I'd personally try out a Yamaha BB before routing a P bass.

 

[Port]

I bought a stock '72 Precision fixer-upper circa '90 and added a Jazz pickup along with the other repairs needed. It was the trend among us hot rodders at the time. This is still my #1 today. The J pickup comes in handy here or there but usually it's off, the P pickup alone does what I need. Sonically - no regrets. Value is compromised, but I doubt I'll ever sell this bass anyway.