Fender P/J style Jazz done (pics inside)

[Anonymous Guy]

Great looking bass dude! Bet it sounds great too... Clips?

I wish, but I don't have the ability to record anything at the moment. If I had my friend's Mac it would be much easier...

It's not that the magnetic pull is gonna effect the tone, is that the P pickup is 1/2 an inch closer to the neck on this bass. If you slap a P pickup on a jazz body in its regular position, it lies over the edge of the pickguard.

The reason why its positioned like that is because I had used a pickguard from a Mark Hoppus bass, which has the repositioned P pickup as a factory default. To be honest, I like it better because, as BigOlHarry mentioned, the sound is a bit more mid-focused but also a bit warmer, and much heftier because of the Quarter Pounder pickup. The positioning of the Jazz pickup was based on standard Jazz spacing because I wasn't going to have the existing cavity filled and re-routed.

Here's a less angled top shot:

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I had looked at Warmoth's more "traditional" P on Jazz pickguard, but I didn't find the look of the pickup protruding on the edge of the pickguard very aesthetically pleasing.

Also, the P pickup being in that position helps me cop Mark Hoppus' tone

Cool but I played a peavey the other day and the QP j wasn't nearly as hot as the QP p. If I had a P/J the j would be as hot as the p.

I have a Jazz Bass loaded with single coil Quarter Pounders, and by nature, they're not quite as hot as the Precision QPs. Besides, the bridge Jazz pickup doesn't have to match the hotness of the Precision in a P/J to add a little color to the P sound.

Unless you plan on soloing the Jazz - but a simple volume adjustment should do it.

 

[Anonymous Guy]

How about if the pup is reversed, like Sandberg (and a few others) do? Wouldnt that bring the E and A in to the right position but leave the D and E in the wrong place? That might be an option i might look in to.

Mark Hoppus' current basses actually have the flipped P pickups in that position:

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He A/Bed tones between both positions in this link: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Bass 1 has the P pickups in their standard spots, but with the slightly closer-to-the-neck position installation that was mentioned earlier. Bass 2 is the one above.

 

[yellofury]

I did think about the Aerodyne Jazz Bass at first, but I wanted more of a traditional look - the Strat jack, lack of pickguard and thinner body width turned me off from it.

Oh I hear ya
You got a great looker there!!!

anyways the newer Aerodynes have a more common top jack
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still has the thinner body and binding though
they are lookers though

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this one seems to have the traditional dual J pups

BTW these are from Ishibashi
great place for window shopping
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[Anonymous Guy]

Those Aerodynes look great!

Unfortunately, I think those models are for sale in Japan only. All we get down here in the US is the Black P/J with the Strat jack.

Several years ago, the US did get black ones with the standard jack. The Strat jack is a recent revision of the design offered in the US: Invalid Link Removed

 

[dave_bass5]

Thanks for the advice guys.
I had a listen to the A/B test and i would be happy with both so i see its not really going to be a problem how the NP5 is put in.
Ive not even heard a NP5 pup yet so its going to be a strange experience but hopefully a good one.

Anonymous Guy, i look forward to hearing any clips you record. Good luck with it, it looks great so it must sound even better ;-)

 

[ashtray]

Funny how your Squier was the opposite of your build - P body, J neck! Otherwise they're a "perfect" match for each other, color scheme and all. Hope you threw some old pickups in the Squier so it's still playable.

Nice build on the Jazz body.

 

[Anonymous Guy]

Funny how your Squier was the opposite of your build - P body, J neck! Otherwise they're a "perfect" match for each other, color scheme and all. Hope you threw some old pickups in the Squier so it's still playable.

Nice build on the Jazz body.

Hah, true and thanks. Right now its more of a wall decoration rather than a playable bass. I threw in the old Squier pickups (the quarter pounders have been in that bass longer than the original pickups ever were!), but they're not wired at the moment. Whenever I get the chance, I hope I can get my first bass revived someday...

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[LCW]

So how much wood had to be removed from the jazz body?

I have a Mighty mite neck hanging on wall and i am picking up my pay check today so i may have to do a build.

 

[Anonymous Guy]

So how much wood had to be removed from the jazz body?

I have a Mighty mite neck hanging on wall and i am picking up my pay check today so i may have to do a build.

Not much, since the Hoppus P position is right over the Jazz pickup route:

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[ghostjs]

nice! how much did the total cost?

 

[Mads]

Very nice bass, wish I had time to pull something like that together myself...
Maybe in January. (famous last words)

 

[Anonymous Guy]

nice! how much did the total cost?

The body went for around $150 on eBay and the pickguard was $20. The other parts (neck, pickups, bridge, etc) I already had on hand, and the new CTS pots were covered by the luthier costs. The cost of labor was a bit more than the prices of the parts obtained from eBay (I don't want to disclose the luthier's prices), but he did VERY good work.

 

[Tommygunn]

I have a Jazz Bass loaded with single coil Quarter Pounders, and by nature, they're not quite as hot as the Precision QPs. Besides, the bridge Jazz pickup doesn't have to match the hotness of the Precision in a P/J to add a little color to the P sound.

Unless you plan on soloing the Jazz - but a simple volume adjustment should do it.

Yeah I guess you are right. But I would have something more exotic if I had a P/J. So if I would solo the bridge it would give me a "better" tone than something close to the neck pup. It's a sweet bass. I forgot to put that in my original post, I tend to attack rather than be nice

As much as I disagree with the bridge pup I would buy it if you sold it. I could always play with the tones and if I really didn't like it I could switch pups. I would mostly solo the neck anyways. I'm a pbass guy.

If you do sell it send the same pm to me as you do LCW!

 

[TigerClaw]

Man, I wish I could play this bass. This looks so good. I'm sure it sounds amazing.

 

[Luke.Walton]

Very nice bass, I love PJs

Agree with the others, very nice.
I recently got a Lakland DJ5 and dont like the tone so ive ordered a Nordy NP5 to go in the neck position. My DJ5 is also black and im really looking forward to getting it all sorted.

Can you tell me how different the bass now sounds, does it sound pretty close to the P with just the front pup on?

Again, good work and enjoy.

I'm also looking forward to seeing this.

 

[Tommygunn]

God! GAS!

 

[dave_bass5]

Well, my DJ5 is now finished.
Ive posted in other threads but just to recap.
I got the NP5 put in and its sounds ok. I had the shop put a push/pull volume control on the bridge pup so i can take it out of circuit when not needed.
Not sure i would say its the tone i was looking for but its a good one none the less.
The DJ5 seems to produce quite a deep tone and the pickup change hasn't altered this. Its a P but not quite as thumpy as i hoped for. Its lacking the low mid kick that my Fender P5 had. I also found the bridge pup was picking up more noise so ive just put a Nordy NJ5FS in and im hoping it will be a bit quieter.

Its worked out about £300 more on top of the bass. Not sure its been worth it but i am happy with it. One thing that i am very pleased with is the PJ tone. This is my first experience with a PJ and i do like it. I didnt really plan on using the bridge pup much but so far (2 gigs) ive found ive had it on quite a bit.

Ive not got a gig until the 13th so i wont know how well my soldering skills have been but im sure its all going to work out well. Im very worried about buzz and RF noise but hopefully the two split coils will hold that off. Im thinking of shielding it as well at some point but ill see how it goes.

 

[your idol]

way rad. hope you enjoy it

 

[Stev187]

Very sorry of the necrobump, but this is the exact issue I wanted to ask about and discuss; better than starting a new thread, I imagine.

TOPIC: P/J conversion on a Jazz bass body by putting the neck pickup in the "easy" spot as opposed to the traditional P position. Consider what anubis16 rightly points out:

It's not that the magnetic pull is gonna effect the tone, is that the P pickup is 1/2 an inch closer to the neck on this bass. If you slap a P pickup on a jazz body in its regular position, it lies over the edge of the pickguard.

Anonymous Guy's photo and description below is interesting; it puts the P pickup in the "wrong" place (what I would call the "easy" place); I've played basses like this and the tone is interesting. It's not exactly the P sound, but soloed that pickup makes the bass have a convincing P tone. It's also easier to put Humpty Dumpty back together again if you want to go back to J/J. Less routing, too. Other threads have called this the "Hoppus" position, but that also has the P pickup flipped, I think. I've played those basses, too. Very bright tone in that config. What I am planning is almost identical to the photo below, but I'll be using EMGs and the BadAss II.

So I necrobumped to see if others have done the Jazz P/J conversion this way. I love everything about my Jazz basses, except I'd like one to be P/J. I am also thinking of thowing an ashtray pickup cover over the P to keep it looking like a Jazz bass. Stories? Sound clips? Photos?

Here's the rest of Anonymous Guy's post for reference. Thanks!

--Steve

The reason why its positioned like that is because I had used a pickguard from a Mark Hoppus bass, which has the repositioned P pickup as a factory default. To be honest, I like it better because, as BigOlHarry mentioned, the sound is a bit more mid-focused but also a bit warmer, and much heftier because of the Quarter Pounder pickup. The positioning of the Jazz pickup was based on standard Jazz spacing because I wasn't going to have the existing cavity filled and re-routed.

Here's a less angled top shot:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[J Posega]

Very sorry of the necrobump, but this is the exact issue I wanted to ask about and discuss; better than starting a new thread, I imagine.

TOPIC: P/J conversion on a Jazz bass body by putting the neck pickup in the "easy" spot as opposed to the traditional P position. Consider what anubis16 rightly points out:

Anonymous Guy's photo and description below is interesting; it puts the P pickup in the "wrong" place (what I would call the "easy" place); I've played basses like this and the tone is interesting. It's not exactly the P sound, but soloed that pickup makes the bass have a convincing P tone. It's also easier to put Humpty Dumpty back together again if you want to go back to J/J. Less routing, too. Other threads have called this the "Hoppus" position, but that also has the P pickup flipped, I think. I've played those basses, too. Very bright tone in that config. What I am planning is almost identical to the photo below, but I'll be using EMGs and the BadAss II.

So I necrobumped to see if others have done the Jazz P/J conversion this way. I love everything about my Jazz basses, except I'd like one to be P/J. I am also thinking of thowing an ashtray pickup cover over the P to keep it looking like a Jazz bass. Stories? Sound clips? Photos?

Here's the rest of Anonymous Guy's post for reference. Thanks!

--Steve

I have a J body PJ with a Hoppus pickguard and only the P pickup is wired in right now. It sounds like a regular P crossed with a single coil P. I like it a lot, but I prefer my regular P's. I have to get a better J to pair with the Dimarzio P that's in it.