Hahahahaha!!!! This one simple truth about us musicians will stand till the end of time. We buy, sell, and trade so much gear, at 59 yrs I can truthfully say there are a lot of pieces I still wish I had... and no matter how good something is we see that bone reflected in the water and drop what's in our mouth for the reflection, and then we got nothing. Or to pay a bill. Damn. The gear I used to have! LOL.
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Grestch junior jet II pickup upgrade
- Thread starter yucafrita
- Start date
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,155
- 256,547
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
This 2018 Chowny CHB-1 came with Artecs. Replaced the (presumably Chinese) pots with CTS pots, Switchcraft jack, and a Nordstrand Tone Drop. Left the Artec humbuckers alone. They sound great to my ear. "This is a bass that needs flats," my luthier declares.
I've installed the Kickass Bridge. It's a very nice bridge. I'm not sure if it matters tone wise, but it looks great and the string spacing is adjustable. I've ordered a set of artec humbuckers. I'm not happy with the volume coming off of the bridge pickup, and I found a set of alnico's for $35 with free shipping on Ebay, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
That heavier bridge on my bass noticeably improved the sustain. I like the comment on the flats! I may just try that! Your Luther may have something there Morrighan.
I put flats on my G2220 at the same time I installed the KA Bridge. I like the feel of them. I will say that the tone changed, not better or worse, just different. More mellow I suppose. I just twiddled the knobs on my amp. That said, the more mellow tone got me wanting to address the bridge pickup (level) issue. So I ordered some Artec's. They are cheap enough that I can see trying the ceramics at some point too.
Changing to flats does alter the sound a bit. Roundwounds have a little more edge and are a little more articulate. Think jazz with flatwounds.
I recieved the artec's and wow, the poles on the bridge pickup will be way off the line of the string. Looking more closely at my stock pickup and it's mounting, I suspect that the low volume on that pup is due to the same. The pup is slightly off center, which might put the bass side pole more under the string.
I got the Kick ass bridge, so I guess I can adjust the string spacing a bit. It looks like the only rail/blade option is the tv Jones Thunderblades, but they are $150 each.
I got the Kick ass bridge, so I guess I can adjust the string spacing a bit. It looks like the only rail/blade option is the tv Jones Thunderblades, but they are $150 each.
If you want a truely great junior jet, there is no cheap/easy way out of this. Even the tv jones are tricky to install...as well as being prohibitively expensive to the point that you better like it or you're losing alot on resale...but once they're in it becomes clear that they are the best option by far, and those chinese ebay pickups don't even compare...this is all fender's fault
When I had a 2 pickup junior jet, I bought a pair of blacktop filtertrons thinking they'd be perfect for it since they're gretsch pickups going in a gretsch bass...boy was I wrong. The string spacing was way off on both pickups, and aligning it with the neck would misalign it with the bridge and vice versa. Turns out, both the string spacing and pickup placement were different from the electromatic those pickups were designed for, and those ebay pickups are likely to land you in that same boat unless they are of the blade/rail design
I wish I could find a way to connect to someone who's replaced the original single-coil pickups in a G2220 Junior Jet bass. I've been actively looking for a set of the originals but haven't found any advertised for sale.
