Has Fender ever changed the Precision pickup location?

Yeah, kind of, when they switched from the original single coil to the split coil in 1957. It's my impression at least that the single coil position feels closer to the neck, not sure it actually is.

Edit: well, either half of it moved, or they both moved somewhat, since the split pickup isn't linear like the original. The overall position might not have moved much though.

 

Not on their flagship Precision bass. But other basses - Urge, Blacktop Jazz, Reggie Hamilton, etc. - have had some different placements of the P pickup.

EDIT: My mistake. The RH jazz has a P pickup in the normal location.

 

The Mark Hoppus 'Jazz' bass, the P-pup is closer to the neck, and the splits are reversed. Allows for more punch, apparently.

 

Has anyone ever explained how this delivers more "punch?" And I'm not talking about some basement warrior deliberating over an oscilloscope readout, I'm talking about in the mix.

 

That's a very good point. "Punch" usually comes from moving the pickup closer to the bridge, doesn't it? I'm sure that's what they did with the current Fender Proto Precision.

 

Just a guess, might have something to do with flipping the halves, changes the relative tone difference between the E A and D G pairs. The one in your video wouldn't have that effect, of course. Then again, it might just have been Mark Hoppus deciding to be different for the sake of being different (that is, advanced studies on the tonal impact may not have been undertaken).

 

I like how in that video they say they were really thinking differently about the bridge so they made a brass bridge that was either top load or string-thru. That is really thinking outside the box! LOL Sweet bass though.

 

I noticed that too. Pretty revolutionary.

I do really like how the bass itself sounds.

 

IME, the closer to the neck the pickup is, the less "punch" it will have. Pups closer to the neck tend to exhibit a "blooming" attack, while pickups toward the middle or bridge have a more immediate attack response and faster decay. Pickup type will obviously determine the ultimate result, but as far as P's and J's go, I thought this was widely accepted as a predictable result.

I have always thought of "punch" as an immediate attack with a faster decay, but that's just my definition.

 

Right. I know that a few PJ Fenders have had different pickup placements. For example, the Jazz Bass Special:



As you can see (if you look closely), the pickups (well, at least the P pup) are closer to the bridge than the pup in a regular Precision bass.

 

I don't see that at all. In addition, my Jazz Special has its P pickup in the same place as my Highway 1 Precision: 10.5 inches from the 12th fret.

 

The non import Aerodyne jazz bass has the p pickup closer to the neck than normally found on a regular single pickup p bass.

 

The Fender Precision Elite II made in the 1980s had two pickups. One appears to be in the standard location and the other Precision style pickup was located by the bridge.

 

The Reggie has the P pickup very nearly in the standard position, just a few mm too close to the neck, as do some of the Jaguars. The Fender PJs that are built on Precision bodies have the P pickup in the standard position. Other Fenders may put them in other positions. This is true of the current models that I have looked at, I can't say what Fender may have done in years gone by.

 

Thanks! Yeah, that's a Squire, not a real '53, but the proportions are right, and that's what I remembered - about an inch close to the neck for the old single coil.

 

My Lakland Skyline has that feature...Fender didn't invent it...just sayin'

 

Since you went to all the trouble to make that picture, I will go to the trouble to point out that the nuts on these basses don't line up. They don't appear to all be pictured at the same scale, so I'm not sure your drawing means much.

Even so, I had thought the Reggie had the P slightly forward on the CS model. Now I realize that this is an optical illusion caused by a difference in the number of frets.

 

Hmm. You're probably right... Of course, I never looked at the specs for the pickup placement on the JBS, so maybe it was just an illusion (to me) because of the Jazz pickup being there.

 

"doing it the way Fender Should have" all along!

I personally like the ability to chose through the body or top loading....