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Fender JP 90 club?

#241
So, here's my project progress with pictures. I installed copper foil in the body cavity, with a little overlap so it grounds to the copper on the back of the pickguard.

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I'm putting in a set of Fender Yosemite P-J pickups. Used the clear pickguard as a fitment jig. Weirdly, there were no foam pieces in the box for the P-pickups. So I got some from Stew-Mac. These are US made, alnico magnet, so they need a full thickness foam, unlike the import style pickups that came in the JP-90, which have a ceramic bar magnet underneath.

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Here is the body all buttoned up. I'm still waiting for new pots, so the original ones are back in for testing. The protective film is on the WD pickguard. I opted for all black screws for the guard and pickups. Had to do a little filing on the on the J-pickup, as the JP-90 had a neck-size pickup installed at the bridge, and the WD guard is a faithful duplicate of the original.

You can see the copper shielding around the pickups. I might black it out once the new pots get here and I open it up again.

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I got the neck back on, strung it up and did a quick setup.

Plugged it in and got sound, but it was late and my wife is asleep, so didn't crank it up. But everything is working well and it sounds really good. Super quiet with all the shielding and this pickup set is well balanced tonally. I think it will be a touch bright with the original 500k pots in it. The Fender Yosemite P-J set is still on sale price, under $100 for the set, a great deal for USA made genuine Fender pickups.

Did some analysis of the original pickups, will put up a post later on that.
 
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#242
Great post, these are a nice bass to find a little beat up and do a custom rebuild, solid foundation to start. I was going to go with a heavier mass bridge and maybe pop some Dimarzio model P/J set then go V/V/T I have laying around but this bass has a lot of character as is, so I might just replace the PG and call it a day.. keep us posted with your project, interested to see how it sounds?
 
#245
Well, she's back together and jamming. I was able to massage a standard Switchcraft output jack into place by trimming the phenolic insulator around the jack.

Also, I installed Bournes '95' guitar pots 250kA with the 3/8" bushing and standard knurled split shaft. They are the sealed, black plastic ones. They're very well made and probably will last a very long time. The square body is about 16mm, so they will fit the tight space inside. I find the taper a bit too fast, but they turn smoothly and precisely, and I figure on never having to fool with them. You'll have to very slightly ream the holes to fit them. The original pots are nominal 9mm (measure at 8.8mm or 11/32") bushing mini pots. Very hard to source. Most of the minis are 8mm or even 7mm. All that is needed is a 3/8" drill bit, just work it with your fingers to slightly enlarge the holes, same for the jack. Any other small-body standard 3/8" bushing pot will work too.

Did something a little unconventional and configured the tone with Fender's "Greasebucket" tone configuration. I'm not 100% sold on it, but since the pickups are Fender Yosemite that I auditioned on brand new American Performer P-bass P/J with the greasebucket tone, I figured I'd give it a try. (hate the name - where did they come up with that?). It's more "clear" for lack of a better word. It doesn't get as muffed as a conventional tone. I'll live with it a while and see. Easy enough to rewire.

I found the original bridge that I took off shortly after buying the bass new in 1993. It was in the plastic box the LeoQuan BA-II bridge came in. Gave some thought about trying it, but the BA-II is black and looks great and is working fine and it's been there for 25 years already.

The tone is what I was looking for. Clear, bright but not harsh. The P has a nice deep bassy tone, with good clarity. The J in the bridge has that sparkle with good overtones, again, with lots of focus and clarity. It sounds a bit like a towel being lifted off the speaker. Just more clear, depth, and more output. Getting the strings more centered seems to have cured the "lumpy" and wolf-tones. All the new copper shielding foil is really working too, super quiet, no static from touching and handling, etc. The WD pickguard is really good too. Nice and thick, feels solid. Minimal dinking with it.

I'll do a tone demo sometime. I haven't seriously played bass in maybe 15 years now. But I got to work on my very sloppy and janky playing, try and overcome my guitarist bad habits.

Also I'll do a documentation of the original pickups, ohms, magnet construction, dimensions, etc, for anyone interested.
 
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#247
Well got the new PG, simple black/white/black..I think the original color scheme is growing on me! Unfortunately, I’m probably throwing this baby up on the classifieds? With gigs getting canceled and a MM Caprice on the way I can’t justify keeping another bass in the closet :cool: but dang if my back ever went out this would be the bass for 4 long set gigs!

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#248
wyleeboxer said:
Well got the new PG, simple black/white/black..I think the original color scheme is growing on me! Unfortunately, I’m probably throwing this baby up on the classifieds? With gigs getting canceled and a MM Caprice on the way I can’t justify keeping another bass in the closet :cool: but dang if my back ever went out this would be the bass for 4 long set gigs!

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Nice bass. Find out which one you like better ;)
 
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#249
wyleeboxer said:
Well got the new PG, simple black/white/black..I think the original color scheme is growing on me! Unfortunately, I’m probably throwing this baby up on the classifieds? With gigs getting canceled and a MM Caprice on the way I can’t justify keeping another bass in the closet :cool: but dang if my back ever went out this would be the bass for 4 long set gigs!

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She’s a beauty, let us know when you list it.
 
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#250
If I was going to keep it I would probably go in the extreme opposite direction with some humbucker Dimarzio model p/j pups but the more I play it through my live rig the more I like the original pickups.. I think the best way to describe the tone of this bass is that it has some Joe Dart zing, hence I put some Dunlop SB stainless strings on, holy cow what a slap machine! The P pup sounds deep but articulate and both pups on gets the slap thing going. The bridge pup is a little on the weak bright side but works well with the P pup.
 
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#251
wyleeboxer said:
Well got the new PG, simple black/white/black..I think the original color scheme is growing on me! Unfortunately, I’m probably throwing this baby up on the classifieds? With gigs getting canceled and a MM Caprice on the way I can’t justify keeping another bass in the closet :cool: but dang if my back ever went out this would be the bass for 4 long set gigs!

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Well I put her up for sale in the classifieds, just can’t justify keeping it. But may end with it in the end.. which ain’t bad, but don’t want this bass to sit in the closet for the rest of its life either ;)
 
#259
Hi all, new member here. I've had a JP-90 that I picked up locally from a guy on Craiglist in like 2008 I think? I don't remember. Been playing it exclusively since then (couple times a month, with some stretches of no playing). I've loved the JP-90 and honestly had no idea it was such a niche bass until I started researching recently. However, I've wanted a MM StingRay for years, so just picked up a Sterling by MM StingRay (couldn't justify the full price of a MM).

All that said, I have a couple questions about the JP-90 for those who know them well.
  • Would I be dumb to sell it? Seems like these are starting to become a bit rare. I don't need the money at this time. Is this something worth holding on to?
  • I had it set up at a shop last year for the first time since I've had it. I'm admittedly not a gear head and have not historically been good about maintenance. So that fixed a lot of things, but one thing that's still happening is the A and D strings both have dead spots/buzzing up on frets 15-19 (or the note doesn't change when changing frets). The E and G strings are fine. It looks like the neck pokes up a bit at the very base of it (see photo) but I'm not sure. Anyone have insight on this? Is it fixable? This is one without the skunk stripe on the neck and the truss adjustment down at the base of the neck.
Thank you for your help!
 

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#260
Welcome!

if you’re into selling, these have been stuck around $500 for years now. Yours is a great-looking example.

I’m not sure what you mean about the neck sticking up. Compared to other Fenders, the JP90 will show more of the truss rod nut than other heel-adjust models because the pickguard doesn’t kiss the neck. This makes it appear “taller,” though it isn’t really.

If you’re worried about back-bow, your setup guy should have tweaked the rod to handle that... anecdotally, the JP90s without skunk stripes had fewer problems with their necks than the ones WITH stripes.

Let me know if you want a club number.
 
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