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Aw man, Fender, really?

sloppy_phil

sloppy_phil

Aug 21, 2011
4,047
9,507
Toronto, ON, Canada
#1
Just thought I'd take a moment and have a little whinge; student came over this aft with new Custom Shop 60's pickups for his '00 MIM Jazz Bass that he wanted to install. Neck p'up went great. Ready to mount the new bridge p'up, and wouldn't you know it, but the cover (not the actual p'up itself) is probably about a 1/4" too long to fit inside the route! Absolutely bonkers. I'd *perhaps* expect something like this going from a janky Squier to an MIA instrument, but this feels wrong. Shouldn't there be standardized routing specs for the bridge pickup cavity? Not having ever owned a Jazz, and therefore not up on little design idiosyncrasies from year to year, is this something I should have expected? Perhaps this is a well-documented issue that I was just completely unaware of, but if not, it's quite the bugger.

Student had a jam this evening to go to, so I taped the p'up down and wired it up. But he's going to have to get the route extended in order to fit the stupid cover. Luckily it seems his dad has the tools and wherewithal to make it happen, but still.

Just had to share this experience, as the student just headed out. I have a Rick, which is a company legendary for fun design "quirks" of this sort of nature (putting it mildly). But I expected a little better from a Fender-to-Fender mod
 
#6
sloppy_phil said:
Just thought I'd take a moment and have a little whinge; student came over this aft with new Custom Shop 60's pickups for his '00 MIM Jazz Bass that he wanted to install. Neck p'up went great. Ready to mount the new bridge p'up, and wouldn't you know it, but the cover (not the actual p'up itself) is probably about a 1/4" too long to fit inside the route! Absolutely bonkers. I'd *perhaps* expect something like this going from a janky Squier to an MIA instrument, but this feels wrong. Shouldn't there be standardized routing specs for the bridge pickup cavity? Not having ever owned a Jazz, and therefore not up on little design idiosyncrasies from year to year, is this something I should have expected? Perhaps this is a well-documented issue that I was just completely unaware of, but if not, it's quite the bugger.

Student had a jam this evening to go to, so I taped the p'up down and wired it up. But he's going to have to get the route extended in order to fit the stupid cover. Luckily it seems his dad has the tools and wherewithal to make it happen, but still.

Just had to share this experience, as the student just headed out. I have a Rick, which is a company legendary for fun design "quirks" of this sort of nature (putting it mildly). But I expected a little better from a Fender-to-Fender mod
Click to expand...
You’re right .. it’s a well documented fact on certain old version of the MIM jazz basses to such an extent that some after market pickups manufacturers produce bridge pickup with the same size as of the neck ones to suit these MIM models ... you should have known this unfortunately
 
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#8
I put new SCN pickups in my MIM. I bought them from Fender and they fit perfectly so go figure. SCNs were the standard pickups in MIA basses for a time and all I can say is they really brought my MIM jazz to life!
 
#11
sloppy_phil said:
Just thought I'd take a moment and have a little whinge; student came over this aft with new Custom Shop 60's pickups for his '00 MIM Jazz Bass that he wanted to install. Neck p'up went great. Ready to mount the new bridge p'up, and wouldn't you know it, but the cover (not the actual p'up itself) is probably about a 1/4" too long to fit inside the route! Absolutely bonkers. I'd *perhaps* expect something like this going from a janky Squier to an MIA instrument, but this feels wrong. Shouldn't there be standardized routing specs for the bridge pickup cavity? Not having ever owned a Jazz, and therefore not up on little design idiosyncrasies from year to year, is this something I should have expected? Perhaps this is a well-documented issue that I was just completely unaware of, but if not, it's quite the bugger.

Student had a jam this evening to go to, so I taped the p'up down and wired it up. But he's going to have to get the route extended in order to fit the stupid cover. Luckily it seems his dad has the tools and wherewithal to make it happen, but still.

Just had to share this experience, as the student just headed out. I have a Rick, which is a company legendary for fun design "quirks" of this sort of nature (putting it mildly). But I expected a little better from a Fender-to-Fender mod
Click to expand...

This is why you do research and take measurements before ordering parts. Hopefully your student has learned from his mistake.

Why would you expect better from Fender?
 
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#13
landrybass said:
My room mate just bought a Mod Sop tele, it had a bad grounding hum new out the box. Shop repaired and warranty covered but still.
Click to expand...

"But still" what? The warranty worked and the bass was repaired without any issue? Stuff happens, and that's why there are warranties. Fender cranks out TONS of instruments, and although we'd like to think they should all be perfect, things do happen (which, again, is why there is a warranty). If that's not sitting well with you there are countless other options out there. Just saying.
 
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#14
Yup, my MIM fretless has this 'issue' (quirk). I dropped a set of Fender original Jazz pu's in it and ended up literally forcing the bridge pickup into the rout. Cheap bass, and I got the pickups for dirt cheap so I really don't care. Sounds great.
 
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#15
As mentioned above several times … VERY WELL DOCUMENTED ON TALKBASS … I have wrote in probably a couple dozen threads, that the change to conventional size Jazz pups took place during July of '01 for the '02 model year … to be safe, you want to look for a serial # starting MZ2xxxxxx … you will find some MZ1 that will be conventional size, they are from the 2nd half of '01 … along with the pup size change, body wood also went from poplar to alder, and the Strat style knobs on split-shaft pots, where changed to conventional Jazz 'top hat' style knobs on solid shafts with a set screw at that same time (2nd era of MIM Standards)… it is kind of hard to tell sometimes in pictures, but you can also look at the pups in a MIM Standard Jazz and if the A & D pole pieces are raised, they will have the conventional longer bridge/shorter neck configuration …

With all that said, it takes about 20 minutes with a Dremel to fix the bridge cavity to accept the longer cover, then it is done and you never have to worry about it again … while you are at it, good time to shield the cavities, as there will be none … that didn't take place until the 2006 model year for MIM Standards ...
 
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#20
Smooth_bass88 said:
Yup, my MIM fretless has this 'issue' (quirk). I dropped a set of Fender original Jazz pu's in it and ended up literally forcing the bridge pickup into the rout. Cheap bass, and I got the pickups for dirt cheap so I really don't care. Sounds great.
Click to expand...

Exact same thing happened to me. I ended up sanding down the sides of the covers until the thing would squeeze down far enough. The Originals sound awesome in my MIM.
 
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