I built the wrong bass (silly me)

[darwin-bass]

I recently built the J bass "of my dreams". P body, JJ pickups. It has been great. And then today I discovered it has 70s pickup spacing. I had been targeting 60s spacing and with all the other things to consider I lost track of that one thing.

No wonder it is so bright when I play slap .

Thread 'NBD: Warmoth Fender Precision JJ Jazz'

Mar 14, 2025

This is the fifth bass I swore I'd never have. Four basses is enough. I don't need five. And yet, here we are.

My other four are a pair of 32" scale P's, a fretless 32" scale Stingray and a 34" scale Stingray. Actually they are all 100% Warmoth so the 'Rays are not actually MusicMan basses, but you get the idea.

This one is a hybrid. I had some goals:

1. Passive J sound
2. P body or similar for reduced size and no lower bout.
3. J width neck
4. As light as I can reasonably make it. Goal is under 8.5 lbs. 7 Lbs would be fabulous.

Parts used:

• Fender Am Performer...

• darwin-bass
• Replies: 23
• Forum: Basses [BG]

• 
• 

 

[Minimalist]

Annoying but people got the wrong leg amputated or houses were built on the wrong lot. considering that, you didn't do that bad.

 

[B-Mac]

I recently built the J bass "of my dreams". P body, JJ pickups. It has been great. And then today I discovered it has 70s pickup spacing. I had been targeting 60s spacing and with all the other things to consider I lost track of that one thing.

No wonder it is so bright when I play slap .

Thread 'NBD: Warmoth Fender Precision JJ Jazz'

Mar 14, 2025

This is the fifth bass I swore I'd never have. Four basses is enough. I don't need five. And yet, here we are.

My other four are a pair of 32" scale P's, a fretless 32" scale Stingray and a 34" scale Stingray. Actually they are all 100% Warmoth so the 'Rays are not actually MusicMan basses, but you get the idea.

This one is a hybrid. I had some goals:

1. Passive J sound
2. P body or similar for reduced size and no lower bout.
3. J width neck
4. As light as I can reasonably make it. Goal is under 8.5 lbs. 7 Lbs would be fabulous.

Parts used:

• Fender Am Performer...

• darwin-bass
• Replies: 23
• Forum: Basses [BG]

• 
• 

Could've been worse...you could've made it left handed.

Enjoy it!

 

[darwin-bass]

Funny thing is I aways wanted to try a 70s spaced J bass.

But I must admit it is a bit embarrassing to have missed such a detail. Oh well. I'm just gonna play it and not worry about it.

 

[Mister_GothFrak]

I mean, you could always route/cut/scrape/sand/use light explosives... and slide the pups over to wherever you think sounds best. *shrug* That seems like one of the easier things to modify.

 

[SharpCat]

So are you saying Am. Performer bridge pickup is at the 70s location, then? That's unexpected. Now I wanna measure all my PJs.

 

[SharpCat]

So are you saying Am. Performer bridge pickup is at the 70s location, then? That's unexpected. Now I wanna measure all my PJs.

Squier CV70s jazz (control)	62mm
Fender Player Plus P	65mm
Sonorous Guitars aftermarket body	65mm
Yamaha BB734a	65mm

Measured center of bridge pickup poles to center of bridge screws.

 

[darwin-bass]

I could route a larger neck PU opening and move the neck pickup 0.4 inches closer to the bridge.

 

[Pep]

I could route a larger neck PU opening and move the neck pickup 0.4 inches closer to the bridge.

I could be wrong but in reference to the 60s pickup positioning, the neck pickup location seems to be the same, but the bridge pickup is further away from the bridge in the 60s configuration.

 

[2cooltoolz]

Sell the body and buy a 60's spaced.

 

[2cooltoolz]

Sell the body and buy a 60's spaced.

Never mind. I checked the original thread.. That body is yours to live with....

 

[Flaked Beans]

burn it and get a new body and don't be a sissy, get another one.

 

[MrWolf14]

I completely disagree with the OP: this bass is a thing of beauty!

No way this can be marked as "wrong".


...and by the way:

No wonder it is so bright when I play slap

this doesn't sound like a real problem: Jaco needed no slap

 

[Malak the Mad]

I could route a larger neck PU opening and move the neck pickup 0.4 inches closer to the bridge.

...and you should be able to keep the bridge-side of the route untouched, ja?

4-String Double J-Bass Modern Player® - Bartolini Pickups & Electronics

Fender Modern Player J-Basses® have wider pickups than Standard J-Basses® to allow for humbucker coil structures. These upgrades are designed to fit 2012-2013 Modern Player basses and Blacktop basses. Many other bass builders use this shape – often with the extra challenge of modifying 2 9J...

bartolini.net

 

[Smooth_bass88]

FWIW I have a Fender Mim Geddy Lee and I use it quite a bit. But for gigs that require a bright snappy tone, this bass's 70s pickup spacing is perfect. It's great for slap/pop.

 

[darwin-bass]

I could be wrong but in reference to the 60s pickup positioning, the neck pickup location seems to be the same, but the bridge pickup is further away from the bridge in the 60s configuration.

Exactly, but if I were to move the neck pickup (which I'm not going to do, btw), I could restore the 60's spacing but with both pickups shifted a tad toward the bridge.

 

[darwin-bass]

I played the bass this Sunday (church gig ya know). Played one song with a pick and I thought it sounded really good. Like, better than I was expecting. Listening to the recorded live stream I liked the way the bass sat in the mix both with pick and finger style.

 

[mellowgerman]

What if you went for the double J humbucker in the bridge position, like those 90s Fender Deluxe Precisions had? Just extending the cavity toward the neck, then you could wire it with a switch to activate the neck-side coil solo'd for the 60s voicing, bridge side for 70s, and humbucker options. Only drawback would be that one or the other coil solo'd would not be humcancelling, combined with the neck pickup

 

[Bevan777]

What if you went for the double J humbucker in the bridge position, like those 90s Fender Deluxe Precisions had? Just extending the cavity toward the neck, then you could wire it with a switch to activate the neck-side coil solo'd for the 60s voicing, bridge side for 70s, and humbucker options. Only drawback would be that one or the other coil solo'd would not be humcancelling, combined with the neck pickup

This is a good idea actually.

 

[Malak the Mad]

What if you went for the double J humbucker in the bridge position, like those 90s Fender Deluxe Precisions had? Just extending the cavity toward the neck, then you could wire it with a switch to activate the neck-side coil solo'd for the 60s voicing, bridge side for 70s, and humbucker options. Only drawback would be that one or the other coil solo'd would not be humcancelling, combined with the neck pickup

Sure it can. The Bartolini link I included in my post earlier this morning is a quad-coil pickup. Even if you soloed on “coil”, it should still be humcancelling.