Fender Plus Deluxe Club

[JIO]

I'll have to go take some pickup measurements on one of mine when I get a chance.

I'm pretty sure they are the same -

I had a 2000 MII Squier J that had the same set-up. (both pu's the same width)

 

[Relsom]

Ooooh, your red Plus is AMAZING.
...Anyway... Heres a Neck, Lace Sensor, and Bridge photo. The difference is hard to capture, but it's definitely there. The centers for the mounting screws measure a bit over 1mm in difference. I don't know how consistent the factory was drilling for these back in the early '90s, but the holes in the Lace tabs were elongated, so it's conceivable that there may have been some variance I guess.
The other photo is of that '92 I had. As I recall, no "adjustment" to the mounting tab routes were done to accommodate the Fender CS 60s neck pickup, though I do recall opening up a jazz recently that had a 2nd set of mounting screw holes. I just don't recall if it was this one or not. I sold it a few months back. I did not find the slight gap at the ends of this shorter pickup in the route intolerable. I only showed 1 of the Lace pickups since they are indeed the same @JIO .

 

[Relsom]

The Kubicki/Fender 9v pre has integrated pots in the circuit-board harness, so if using a standard J plate - it wouldn't fit. The flange routs on the J+ N-pu will not allow a standard J N pu as they the N & B pu's (and routs) are the same width. And yes, it's a well designed bridge.

I was tired and apparently viewing this on my phone last night was messing with me. Seeing it now full screen on my pc got me sorted. Yeah......

 

[nigel davenport]

Ooooh, your red Plus is AMAZING.
...Anyway... Heres a Neck, Lace Sensor, and Bridge photo. The difference is hard to capture, but it's definitely there. The centers for the mounting screws measure a bit over 1mm in difference. I don't know how consistent the factory was drilling for these back in the early '90s, but the holes in the Lace tabs were elongated, so it's conceivable that there may have been some variance I guess.
The other photo is of that '92 I had. As I recall, no "adjustment" to the mounting tab routes were done to accommodate the Fender CS 60s neck pickup, though I do recall opening up a jazz recently that had a 2nd set of mounting screw holes. I just don't recall if it was this one or not. I sold it a few months back. I did not find the slight gap at the ends of this shorter pickup in the route intolerable. I only showed 1 of the Lace pickups since they are indeed the same @JIO .
View attachment 7238851View attachment 7238852

Cool, thank you for all the info!

 

[JIO]

It was called Midnight Wine if I remember correctly. It looked very dark in low-light but was almost 'cranberry' under bright light. It was one of the few basses I've owned that I didn't mod in any way, partly because I'm a big Kubicki fan..

 

[nigel davenport]

Ooooh, your red Plus is AMAZING.
...Anyway... Heres a Neck, Lace Sensor, and Bridge photo. The difference is hard to capture, but it's definitely there. The centers for the mounting screws measure a bit over 1mm in difference. I don't know how consistent the factory was drilling for these back in the early '90s, but the holes in the Lace tabs were elongated, so it's conceivable that there may have been some variance I guess.
The other photo is of that '92 I had. As I recall, no "adjustment" to the mounting tab routes were done to accommodate the Fender CS 60s neck pickup, though I do recall opening up a jazz recently that had a 2nd set of mounting screw holes. I just don't recall if it was this one or not. I sold it a few months back. I did not find the slight gap at the ends of this shorter pickup in the route intolerable. I only showed 1 of the Lace pickups since they are indeed the same @JIO .
View attachment 7238851View attachment 7238852

I'm about to pull the trigger on orderings some different pickups and I am re-reading your post.

So you were able to just have a regular set of Fender CS 60s installed with no problem? Regular sized bridge pickup and regular sized neck pickup?

Thanks!

 

[Relsom]

I'm about to pull the trigger on orderings some different pickups and I am re-reading your post.

So you were able to just have a regular set of Fender CS 60s installed with no problem? Regular sized bridge pickup and regular sized neck pickup?

Thanks!

Yes, that's how the bass arrived. No noticeable modifications to the mounting tab routes on the neck pickup.

 

[nigel davenport]

Yes, that's how the bass arrived. No noticeable modifications to the mounting tab routes on the neck pickup.

Nice. Just ordered a set of Super 55s. Hopefully they both fit, if not I’m sure I can flip em!

 

[JIO]

Nice. Just ordered a set of Super 55s. Hopefully they both fit, if not I’m sure I can flip em!

I do like the Super 55's, and am glad to hear they are still making them. I have an Audere active J I built that has them - great sounding pu's.

 

[nigel davenport]

I do like the Super 55's, and am glad to hear they are still making them. I have an Audere active J I built that has them - great sounding pu's.

Found a set of new old stock on Reverb! They aren’t made anymore I guess but I saw enough good reviews of them and they were a fair bit cheaper than the Fralins I was looking at

 

[JIO]

Found a set of new old stock on Reverb! They aren’t made anymore I guess but I saw enough good reviews of them and they were a fair bit cheaper than the Fralins I was looking at

I've used Fralins and the Super 55's are just as good sounding - and being split-coil they are noiseless.

 

[Relsom]

I'll have to check those out.

I've used Fralins and the Super 55's are just as good sounding - and being split-coil they are noiseless.

 

[nigel davenport]

Sup. I own 2 of these. A 1992/1993 Jazz Bass Plus (“midnight blue” with ebony fretboard), and a 1992 Precision Bass Plus Deluxe (ebony fretboard in the famous/infamous “Caribbean Mist” color).

i’ve had the J bass for 10 or 12 years; I picked it up back when they were insanely cheap as a back-up to my ‘94 boner bass (I guess I like the weird models). I’ll admit that the “insanely cheap“ part was most of the reason I bought it, although it definitely plays well, feels great, and stays in tune great. The p bass is more recent/a pandemic purchase. I just happened to get lucky and see it right away when it went up on the Guitar Center website for a good price.

it’s been interesting to see the public opinion on these shift so much. People really used to thrash them 10-15 years ago…on that note, I kind of want a V now, but the knock on them seems to be that the B string isn’t very good. Is this still the prevailing opinion?

My only complaint about the series is that I found the necks to be really, really finicky. My J bass absolutely loses its mind if you even try to down-tune a step, and I thought that maybe it was just that particular one, but then the P bass seems to have many of the same characteristics. I started asking around, and sure enough, that seems to be the other major knock on these. I have read that they messed with the neck profiles and length/scale a bit too much, and that made them a tad unstable. I’m curious if others have noticed the same thing.

Indeed, the scale is the one thing I don’t like about the P bass. Yes, yes, I get that it has 24 frets (it has 24 frets!), but I don’t like the feel of the extra length. And does anyone really need those two additional frets?

I wasn’t really aware of these when they came out (I distinctly remember seeing jazz basses with the more futuristic “jazz bass“ script at the time, but I didn’t know what it meant), but I feel so bad for Fender in hindsight. They spent years developing these in the late 80s, and then grunge came along and made them obsolete for a huge portion of the market pretty much the second they came out. This line offered modern designs, modern colors, modern tones…and suddenly everyone wanted the exact opposite.

And that kept them and down for a long, long time. It was mind-blowing to me when I bought my J Bass Plus that I could find an American-made Fender, much less something that had been top-of-the-line, for under $600. But I remember even the haters being like “eventually people are going to figure out that these are great basses for the money and are insanely undervalued,“ and it seems like that day has finally come.

I agree that the neck needs constant tlc. I put a set of low tension TI flats on my Jazz Plus. Thankfully they play and sound great.. It has a 1 piece maple neck. It's gorgeous. Feels "boutique"..

Sorry for the necro post quotes! Just curious what ya'll meant about the neck being finicky and needing tlc. Was it like intonation issues, tuning stability or something else?