Fender Player Series bass has the wrong pickup

[Chuck M]

I bought a Player Precision from Sweetwater shortly after they were introduced. I waited for one that was not too heavy and had pretty wood. I put a set of LaBella flats on it and have been enjoying its great tone and lovely neck.

All this talk about wrong PU's prompted me to pull the PU this morning....the poles look like alnico but I wanted to be certain about what PU is in my bass. My bass has the correct alnico 5 PU's in it.

For what it is worth, I also own a Squier VM P 5 and put all USA electronics in it including a Fender American Standard PU. The Player and the Squier sound very much alike. Another side note is that the Squier sounded very good with the original electronics in it and I would never go to the expense or trouble to change the electronics on another one. The improvement was so slight that it is not worth it.

 

[fhm555]

Yep. It is in the Invalid Link Removed in the No Warranty section.

"Information and related materials are subject to change without notice. "

It is interesting to me that so many are so quick to want to burn Fender at the stake because the pickups are listed incorrectly. It sounded to me like the OP returned the bass because he didn't like the way it sounded. That's valid, and I understand the OP's frustration if he didn't like the sound, and then he discovered he didn't get the pickups he expected. However, I'll bet those P basses sound good; I never met one that didn't. "Good" is subjective, though.

When i was racing toy cars a company named Kyosho built the best 8th scale buggy in the business. Most people who didn't race one talked about what a piece of crap it was, only problem with that logic was it was (at the time) the winningest buggy in 8th scale buggy racing.
I'm not sure why it is, but when something is the biggest seller or best performing, etc, a certain number of people will slag on them for no other reason than they are at the top of the heap.

 

[Cygnus0820]

I have the standard MIM limited edition ocean turquoise pbass. The pickups in mine are hotter than other MIM standard basses. I tested it side by side at Guitar center the day I bought the thing. I could not believe how nice it sounded and played and that's the reason I bought it. It's my first P bass.
Mine does NOT have a Fender stamped neck plate.
I'm starting to think the standard and player series version of this particular bass are Frankenstein's of sorts. The neck on mine is the player series neck but it's supposed to be a standard, the player series pickups are supposed to be alnico 5 but they're clearly not. I wonder if mine are?
Some have the fender neck plate, some don't, some say limited edition on the neck, some don't. Whatever!! hahahaha I love mine and it sounds amazing. For the price I paid I am super pleased.

 

[micguy]

I have a 2017 MIM P Bass.
The pups are the weak spot so I put Dimarzios in and what a huge difference. I think the Performer bass is identical sans Fender Logo. I really dig mine after the pup upgrade.

So, you upgraded the steel pole piece/ceramic pickups with some steel pole piece/ceramic pickups?

I agree Dimarzio makes good pickups - I have some in my basses, but you should know that most of the Dimarzio P pickups (the model P, the Will Power, and the Split P) have ceramic magnets and steel pole pieces (the Area P is alnico 2 pole pieces, but hard to find). If Fender is making pickups that way, that doesn't mean they're bad. Of course, if they're advertising them as alnico, and the pole pieces are steel, that's an issue.

It is possible to make pickups that are both ceramic and alnico (they would look like the picture posted on this thread) - Dimarzio does that with their Ultra Jazz model. If Fender is doing that, then their advertising is omitting some details, but maybe it's not an outright lie.

 

[HamOnTheCob]

Who is putting crap pickups in these basses?

With respect, FWIW, while I understand the advertisement doesn't match what's in the bass and that's a problem, I think it's a mighty stretch to call the pickups "crap". Run of the mill MIM Precisions sound fantastic, and while they may sound "different" than Alnicos, I wouldn't agree they sound "worse" than Alnicos. YMMV, of course.

 

[Turbo Sparky]

Whew. Glad Fender isn't in the vehicle manufacturing business. Would hate to buy a Ferrari with a Suzuki engine...

 

[NL_Bsss65]

When I first got my hwy - jazz in 2009 it had a different neck pick up in it than the bridge not sure if it was from the factory like that or someon bought it before me and swapped it and brought it back either way I soon returned the bass for a proper one then.... then there's that story but it's way too long and for another day lol

 

[City]

Yep. It is in the Invalid Link Removed in the No Warranty section.

"Information and related materials are subject to change without notice. "

It is interesting to me that so many are so quick to want to burn Fender at the stake because the pickups are listed incorrectly. It sounded to me like the OP returned the bass because he didn't like the way it sounded. That's valid, and I understand the OP's frustration if he didn't like the sound, and then he discovered he didn't get the pickups he expected. However, I'll bet those P basses sound good; I never met one that didn't. "Good" is subjective, though.

But the OP caught the issue. Many won't. Many purchasers don't exist on this site. How would they know? Yeah, I jumped into this bass from GC too. I can't tell you what pickups were in mine. I have them in a drawer since I put Geezers in mine, but still, I will look when I get the chance. Too late for me to do anything about it. So there's that.

 

[ThingsAbove]

I never called the ceramic pickups "crap". But this bass was advertised to have Alnico5 pickups which are typically considered upgrades from ceramic pickups, and they were not.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I've noticed errors on Fender's website before. Oh well, some companies have great websites... and some don't.

Exactly, their websites and even the catalogs have been rife with errors for decades. Anyone remember the Geddy Lee jazz bass with the "alder" neck?.

 

[Doc Blue]

"subject to change without notice". Notice from Fender, or notice by the consumer?

A lot of buyers wouldn't or didn't notice. ThingsAbove did. Good for him!

 

[mbell75]

The issue is that the alnico pickups as standard on the player series were one of the differentiators from the MIM standard which historically had ceramic pickups. In theory, you would not need to upgrade the pickups as most of us have historically done.

Exactly, and if Fender is charging a $200 premium over the Standard model, these damn well better have upgraded Alnico pickups. But they don't.

 

[lowendblues]

I got a good price on mine. I'll have to check the Pup's out though, I'm really curious now.

 

[Frankie Fender]

I got a good price on mine. I'll have to check the Pup's out though, I'm really curious now.

+1 I like the way my player OT sounds, but now I'm curious to check 'em out.

If it is ceramic I will try swapping it out with an Alnico that I pulled out of another GC American Made Special I have. I put the Vintage '63s in that one, so the original pup is sitting on the shelf.

 

[SJan3]

So, you upgraded the steel pole piece/ceramic pickups with some steel pole piece/ceramic pickups?

I agree Dimarzio makes good pickups - I have some in my basses, but you should know that most of the Dimarzio P pickups (the model P, the Will Power, and the Split P) have ceramic magnets and steel pole pieces (the Area P is alnico 2 pole pieces, but hard to find). If Fender is making pickups that way, that doesn't mean they're bad. Of course, if they're advertising them as alnico, and the pole pieces are steel, that's an issue.

It is possible to make pickups that are both ceramic and alnico (they would look like the picture posted on this thread) - Dimarzio does that with their Ultra Jazz model. If Fender is doing that, then their advertising is omitting some details, but maybe it's not an outright lie.

What part of my quote makes you think I didn't know that? Not all ceramic pups are created equal and I happen to dig the model P. It is indeed, IMHO, an upgrade from stock MIM pups.
My suggestion is to upgrade the electronics if you otherwise dig the bass.

 

[lowendblues]

I was going to go with a cream dimarzio anyway just for the late '70's vibe.

 

[Da_Niet]

Newbie here, but can one eyeball the pickup type just by looking at it without having to take things apart? I, too, just bought what was advertised as the "Player" version of this limited edition Ocean Turquoise p bass at $599.99. There is no decal or sticker on the back of the headstock indicating the "Limited Edition " model but it does have the F stamp on the back of the body plate. The neck feels very nice to play on, and the overall feel of the bass is great. But I do wonder if I have alnico or ceramic pickups. If there's a way to tell just by looking at them in place, without taking it apart and looking underneath , I'd like to know exactly what to look for.

 

[Iridescentone]

Well then it's false advertising...
View attachment 3401463

This is the spec sheet from GC's ad, right? I'm searching Fender's site, not seeing these specs re "alnico" pickups for their Player Series P bass. Did I miss it?

From GC: GC clearly specs alnico poles.

Invalid Link Removed

At Fender site: Not seeing any mention of pickup pole specs.

Invalid Link Removed

At this point, I'm wondering if GC may be the misinformation culprit here, with some cockup re one of their special editions? Not quite ready to lynch Fender yet, unless it's Fender's job to police the idiots at GC.

 

[SJan3]

I was going to go with a cream dimarzio anyway just for the late '70's vibe.

Like this?

 

[The Bass Clef]

With respect, FWIW, while I understand the advertisement doesn't match what's in the bass and that's a problem, I think it's a mighty stretch to call the pickups "crap". Run of the mill MIM Precisions sound fantastic, and while they may sound "different" than Alnicos, I wouldn't agree they sound "worse" than Alnicos. YMMV, of course.

Yeah, I forgot "crap" is a big trigger word around here.