Fender Vintage Hot Rod 60's Precision Bass

[noeinstein]

Can anyone tell me whether the jazz pickup on this bass has 60s (or 70s) spacing?

 

[Longwheelbass]

Since it was never a factory offering up until probably this particular model it would be hard to say without seeing the exact measurements between the split P pickup and the J pickup. And "60's spacing" really refers to a Jazz Bass pre or post 1969. And ultimately, it was only about a quarter inch to 3/8 of an inch difference between a 1969 J Bass and a 1970 J Bass. And the generally accepted myth is that the factory decided to shift the J neck position pickup back a quarter inch to hide it completely under the bridge cover - on pre-1970 models you could always see the two black pickup cover moulded halfrounds and the screw heads poking out from the open end of the bridge cover. So it's a miniscule change, hard to pick sonically, (tho many will swear they can tell the sound difference just by hearing a 60's J versus a 70's J, but until someone sets up a double-blind test and proves this I don't believe it - I'd be more inclined to believe they are hearing different values and types of capacitor - which varied regularly in the late 60's through to mid 70's, and can have a significant tonal effect on the sound. Many of the .05-installed caps on a Jazz Bass will make it sound darker, whereas a 0.022 which were regularly installed in the pre-70 J basses give the bass a slightly brighter, honky tone, particularly when the bridge pickup is soloed. Add to this that many J basses had poly 0.022 caps in them which sound even more bright than a ceramic or the common dark blue wax 0.022 cylinders seen on a lot of 1968/69 J Basses) and I have seen many examples of J Basses post 1970 where the bridge is actually set a quarter inch further BACK from the bridge pickup - as it appears there may have been a consensus amongst the set-up staff at the factory around that time that certain Jazz and Precision Basses were not intonating properly - particularly on the G string - hence a slight shift of the bridge south and a longer intonating screw on the G. This practice seemed to disappear by mid to late 70's however.