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Bill Lawrence J-45 low output?

Bassy Davy

Bassy Davy

Supporting Member
Jul 5, 2002
106
153
Austin, Texas
#1
I have a Warmoth P with a BL P-46 that I took to a tech to install a J-45 bridge p/u that I had previously in a J bass. He called today saying that the J p/u has a very low output compared to the P p/u. Says that when the volume (it's wired v v t) is full up on both, the P drowns out the J. He says the the output on the J is 4 volts. A little background: This bass started out as a P, and he had to add a pot, and do some routing as well.

Has anyone heard of this before? Can a pickup weaken over time and cause the output to diminish?

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
#2
My guess is he didn't wire it right. The half lives of modern permanent magnets, assuming you keep them out of a house fire (they're good up to over 900 degrees), are much longer than your lifetime. Most pickups don't "diminish" on a practical level - they work as they were made until something kills them, like an open circuit (corrosion) or a short. Treated well, your grandkids should be able to use them just fine. We all know 60 year old Fenders work fine with the original pickups.
 
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#4
I have a pj with that pickup combo and it's pretty well balanced.
If you had the j pickup working properly in another bass then it sounds like a wiring issue.
Those pickups don't have a typical hot/ground wiring. Perhaps the tech should look at the wilde website for wiring info.

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Btw, if you're like me. You'll love the sound of the pj combo. I added a series/parallel push/pull volume pot to the P pickup on mine for a little more versatility when blending with the J.
 
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#6
Photo? How close to the bridge did he put it? If it’s slammed right up against the bridge, that’ll make any pickup sound thin.
 
#7
Bassy Davy said:
Hmm, this is the 1st time I've used this tech...
Click to expand...

He told you "the output was 4 volts"? I'd be curious to understand what the heck he was measuring if he got that result. Bass pickups don't put out anywhere near that kind of level. Something ain't right here

It is possible (Indeed, likely) that the P neck pickup would have more output to start with - with both pickups at the same height. But...typically you then adjust heights on the pickups - the neck goes down, away from the strings, the bridge pickup goes up near them, and you (most of the time) can get them to play very nicely with each other.
 
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#8
P-46 and J-45 are well balanced on my bass. The bridge pickup is set a little higher (closer to the strings) to achieve this, but that is to be expected.
 
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