Fender Custom Shop 60's Jazz Bass Pickup Help

[Rockin Jimmy]

I decided to do some work on my '95 Fender MIM J bass with new electronics and pickups. I added a push/pull pot for parallel/series and did the treble bleed mod. I bought the CS 60's pickups, and that is where the issue is. The bridge pickup is too big for the bridge slot, so I had to switch it to the neck slot and put the neck pickup in the bridge slot. Besides having to modify the pick guard, are there any issues with this switch? Has anyone done this before? How does it change the sound? I haven't quite finished, so I'm not sure what effect it has.
I could route it out a bit with a dremmel to make it fit right, but my finish work is not the best and I worry about screwing up the finish. Seems like overkill to take it to the shop and have it done professionally. I can't keep throwing $$ at it, I put too much into it already for what it is.
Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

 

[cataract]

Not sure if this is helpful but some good reading on the subject nonetheless—
Can you put a bridge position pickup in the neck position?

Ok to switch neck and bridge jazz pickups?

 

[Rockin Jimmy]

Thanks for the info. Both good reads. Interesting that someone else had the exact same issue with a 90's era MIM J bass. Seems like Fender would have at least standardized the routing pattern. The J bass hasn't really changed much over time, except for some little things.
Sounds like I'm going to play it, be annoyed, then rout it out so that I can switch them to the correct positions.

 

[Slater]

Pre 2001 Fender MIM Jazz basses had neck sized pickup cavities in both the neck and bridge positions.

 

[Rockin Jimmy]

Thanks for all the info. After a lot of agonizing, I decided to use a Dremel to route out the bridge cavity a little bit. I agonized because me fine finish work is not always great.
I did the routing with the Dremel and it came out pretty close to perfect. No paint chips on the top and fairly straight lines. You can't tell I did the work at all. I repainted with shielding paint and will solder the pickups back in tonight. Can't wait to have this project finished and get to play my favorite bass again. These projects never work out as easy as they look like they will.