Clever way to convert Jazz to P/J?

[Garrett151]

Yeah I've heard a lot about this. I don't think I'm going to be using the pickups blended very often. Actually, I don't even think I'm going to be using the bridge pickup solo'd very much anyway. I really want a P sound because I just bought a boutique Jazz.

The only real reason not to do it is that it might not work as well as you hope. Pickup balance is a problem with P/J's unless you go active. It's an age-old problem. The only good way to do it passive is the way Fender did it with the Tony Franklin.

 

[David Jayne]

Well, in that case maybe you'd be happier trading your mexi J for a P. You could probably find someone here that would do a straight up trade. Just a thought. Whatever it's worth now, it'll be worth less modded.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I've been considering a P/J, using a J body, P neck, and reversed P p'ups.

If you are you aware of any such builds, I'd love to see 'em.

 

[moonshinegtrs]

That's a warmoth guard on your jazz? Could you do me a huge favor and measure from the 12th fret to the pickup on both the jazz and Pino (I assume that's a Pino...)? I would love to know if they match. Thanks!

The distance from the middle of the 12th fret to the middle of the polepieces on the bass side of the pickup is approx. 11" on both basses, which is the standard location on a Precision.

This is why the pickup is mounted so low on the pickguard. I wanted the bass to sound as close to a p-bass as possible.

Moonshine

 

[Garrett151]

I'm too attached to this bass. I have too much money in it to justify trading it. And I love the neck a lot. I'm not too concerned about value because I don't plan on ever selling it.

Well, in that case maybe you'd be happier trading your mexi J for a P. You could probably find someone here that would do a straight up trade. Just a thought. Whatever it's worth now, it'll be worth less modded.

 

[Garrett151]

Thank you! Is that the stock pickguard from warmoth with the P rout already cut by them?

The distance from the middle of the 12th fret to the middle of the polepieces on the bass side of the pickup is approx. 11" on both basses, which is the standard location on a Precision.

This is why the pickup is mounted so low on the pickguard. I wanted the bass to sound as close to a p-bass as possible.

Moonshine

 

[Garrett151]

So I have decided to attempt this project. I bought a pickguard from StrangerDanger and it looks like its going to work great. I happen to know a carpenter who does a lot of work for a high end audio company making speaker cabinets, so he will be doing the routing work for me. Because of this, this will not be a very detailed project thread. Instead, it will just be to show that this is possible and how I did it.

Now for pictures:

My 2003 Mexican Jazz Bass all naked and ready for routing:

And with the pickguard on:

 

[JoeWPgh]

I have to balk a bit at this. While it may be exciting to you, there is nothing new here. Fender made basses with this pickup config because so many people were doing it on their own. That said, nice job of it.

 

[Garrett151]

Trust me, I'm very aware. I am doing this so I can get more functionality out of a bass I otherwise won't be using. Also, I'm doing this for fun. I'm not trying to do anything new here.

I have to balk a bit at this. While it may be exciting to you, there is nothing new here. Fender made basses with this pickup config because so many people were doing it on their own. That said, nice job of it.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

I don't understand. Why don't you just get a split coil j pickup?

 

[Garrett151]

Because that's way too easy.

I don't understand. Why don't you just get a split coil j pickup?

 

[David Jayne]

I don't understand. Why don't you just get a split coil j pickup?

Won't sound like a P. Been there. You need the wide, flat coil to get the sound.

 

[miles'tone]

I have indeed done this with a Warmouth p/g - they do come with a bit of extra mass towards the bridge so you can get the P-pup in the right place.
I too used the (new, sharp) chisel approach and found very easy to do.
Just take the jazz neck pup out, lay the new p/g in place and draw around the inside of the P rout with a thin tipped magic marker (if you got a black bass use a tippex pen) then take a steel rule and a Stanley knife (or whatever you call a sharp craft knife) and score around the P shape to be removed. This will prevent the chisel pinging off any finish beyond where you want to go - as has been stated before here, the bottom part of the Warmoth p-g doesn't leave any rpom for error but as long as you carefully score through the finish and take care with the chisel, you'll be fine.
Plus you already have the old jazz rout you'll be going over so you'll be removingless wood than you think. You will find you can use the old J rout as a depth gaugw too so you easily won't go too deep.
I put a Fender original P-bass pickup in my American standard jazz and it was brilliant! Don't listen to those who say it won't make any difference to your tone - it does. Your bass will sound like an American vintage '62RI Precision. Trust me! I did match that by putt a Basslines Antiquity II jaz pup in the bridge to help balance the two pups out and never was bothered in the slightest that there was a tad of hum there as the jazz pup will no longer be hum cancelled but such is the nature of isolated jazz pups anyway.
You won't be able to go back to the original pup configuration as the new P rout will be visible under the edge of the old jazz p/g.
I just followed the P/J wiring diagram on the Seymour Duncan Basslines website and was golden. You could put in a 1k cap to be EXACTLY like a '62RI P-bass but I didn't and was still over the moon! (felt very pleased with myself after too!)
Go for it I say. Good luck and have fun!

Edit: excuse all the typos as I'm ill in bed and can hardly see my phone screen!

 

[miles'tone]

Oh I see you're at it all ready...

*note to self - do not post on the internet when you are pretty much hallucinating off illness and meds*

:O

 

[Garrett151]

Thanks for the support! I plan on using that pickup too. I'll just be using a router instead because I have access to one.

Oh I see you're at it all ready...

*note to self - do not post on the internet when you are pretty much hallucinating off illness and meds*

:O

 

[Garrett151]

Dropped the bass off at the router's house and ordered an Original '62 Precision pickup from the classifieds. Only the best.

 

[miles'tone]

Good choice.

 

[khutch]

I don't understand. Why don't you just get a split coil j pickup?

If you are hoping to get a P bass sound that will not work. The sound a pickup produces comes from its placement as well as its construction. If you want a P bass sound then the Blacktop pickguards linked to above are a poor choice because they put the pickup too far towards the neck. If you put a P pickup in the right place on a Jazz pickguard it will extend past the bridge side of the pickguard or very nearly so as on the Warmoth pickguard. Evidently Warmoth has the pickup route in the right place or very close because it does nearly penetrate the bridge side. As someone mentioned above with little plastic available in that area to cover your mistakes you have to work quite carefully around that edge of the route. Those who consider that such a simple job that everyone should know how to do it are wide of the mark. It is going to take a lot more skill than changing a tire and that is already a job that is beyond a great many folks these days.

Another feature of the P pickup is that the EA poles are in a different location than the DG poles. A straight inline J pickup has all four poles in the same position. So a J pickup cannot give you a P pickup sound even if it is a split coil design. There are two things you could potentially do to make it come closer. One is to mount the pickup midway between the pole locations on a P pickup. That might work. Another thing you could try is to mount the J pickup on an angle so that the E and G poles are in the right places and that would put the A and D poles quite close to the right places. I suspect that could work quite well although I have never seen a report of someone trying it. Unfortunately either one requires that you custom make a pickguard or have one custom made (there are companies that do this, sorry but I don't know the names).

You would probably need to use a bridge length pickup if you put it on an angle to keep the poles lined up with the strings better. In that case you would need to use split or dual coil pickups to get hum canceling. And the OP should consider a split coil bridge pickup for his project too because that would give him hum canceling on both pickups and still get close to a single coil sound on the bridge.

Ken

 

[Garrett151]

Thank you for this reply! It kind of puts a few of my thoughts in words. For the reasons you stated, I'm not using split coil J pickup and instead am cutting a chunk out of my bass. Fingers crossed!

If you are hoping to get a P bass sound that will not work. The sound a pickup produces comes from its placement as well as its construction. If you want a P bass sound then the Blacktop pickguards linked to above are a poor choice because they put the pickup too far towards the neck. If you put a P pickup in the right place on a Jazz pickguard it will extend past the bridge side of the pickguard or very nearly so as on the Warmoth pickguard. Evidently Warmoth has the pickup route in the right place or very close because it does nearly penetrate the bridge side. As someone mentioned above with little plastic available in that area to cover your mistakes you have to work quite carefully around that edge of the route. Those who consider that such a simple job that everyone should know how to do it are wide of the mark. It is going to take a lot more skill than changing a tire and that is already a job that is beyond a great many folks these days.

Another feature of the P pickup is that the EA poles are in a different location than the DG poles. A straight inline J pickup has all four poles in the same position. So a J pickup cannot give you a P pickup sound even if it is a split coil design. There are two things you could potentially do to make it come closer. One is to mount the pickup midway between the pole locations on a P pickup. That might work. Another thing you could try is to mount the J pickup on an angle so that the E and G poles are in the right places and that would put the A and D poles quite close to the right places. I suspect that could work quite well although I have never seen a report of someone trying it. Unfortunately either one requires that you custom make a pickguard or have one custom made (there are companies that do this, sorry but I don't know the names).

You would probably need to use a bridge length pickup if you put it on an angle to keep the poles lined up with the strings better. In that case you would need to use split or dual coil pickups to get hum canceling. And the OP should consider a split coil bridge pickup for his project too because that would give him hum canceling on both pickups and still get close to a single coil sound on the bridge.

Ken

 

[miles'tone]

Dropped the bass off at the router's house and ordered an Original '62 Precision pickup from the classifieds. Only the best.

Pics and soundclips if poss when you're done!