i have a fender geddy lee jazz bass and am wondering if it's possible to install a P Bass Pickup without removing the Jazz pickups. would it have to move my j pickups? what else would i have to do?
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Installing P bass pickups
- Thread starter Shwashnashnic
- Start date
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Shwashnashnic said:
That's a tough one...it's easier to add a Jazz pickup to a P than the reverse.
You COULD drop one in between the 2 Jazz pickups, but then it wouldn't leave much room fer playin' if you like to play off the back of the front Jazz PU or off the front of the rear pickup. You would have to rout the body to do this.
Or, you could get rid of the front Jazz pickup and do some radical surgery to your bass' body...You'd have to rout for the new pickup, probably do some filling for the 'old' pickup rout and then find a pickguard to hide the whole hideous mess.
If you value the resale on your Jazz (or just value your Jazz in the first place_, or if it's say older than say 10-15 yrs. old (yeah, I know they haven't made this model for that long) I'd avoid it and look for another solution...like I bet one of the fine aftermarket pickup winders has a Jazz size pickup with a "P-style" tone.
Or maybe find a bass that's already got the pickup combo that you're comfortable with.
Your Geddy won't be worth sh*t in a handbag after you hack it with a P pickup.
Buy a P-bass instead. Everybody should have at least two basses. String the P with flats and get that P sound... string the Geddy with rounds and get that J vibe. You cannot do everything with a single bass, even though the Fender Stu Hamm version thinks otherwise. Flats and P-basses go together.
Buy a P-bass instead. Everybody should have at least two basses. String the P with flats and get that P sound... string the Geddy with rounds and get that J vibe. You cannot do everything with a single bass, even though the Fender Stu Hamm version thinks otherwise. Flats and P-basses go together.
bgavin said:
+1 Couldn't agree more with this. One day you'll regret butchering your Geddy.
Grab one of those $109 P-basses from Rondo if money's tight. But leave the Geddy intact.
FWIW:
I've gotten better P tone from several J's to date than ANY P to date. In fact I just ran a Bongo pup and it had a very tasty P tone - probably best to date. From recall I got good P tone from Bart 9cbjd's (but very low output pups - pre maybe if you don't have mega amp), SD Steve Bailey active J's, Bart active 9E's (the bridge of the set is actually a passive pup). None of which are probably appealing to you but there have been others I know so you might read through the J pup experiment.
The Marcus Millers (vintage fenders) put out a decent P tone and were one of the best pup sets I've experienced period. From what I remember the Geddy's were too bright and not full enough for me through my rigging.
But series could make them passable for you. You've got them so I would do that before anything. You could also try some caps and probably darken them as much as you want. Think Smash has a decent thread on caps - and one on series for J's for that matter.
I've gotten better P tone from several J's to date than ANY P to date. In fact I just ran a Bongo pup and it had a very tasty P tone - probably best to date. From recall I got good P tone from Bart 9cbjd's (but very low output pups - pre maybe if you don't have mega amp), SD Steve Bailey active J's, Bart active 9E's (the bridge of the set is actually a passive pup). None of which are probably appealing to you but there have been others I know so you might read through the J pup experiment.
The Marcus Millers (vintage fenders) put out a decent P tone and were one of the best pup sets I've experienced period. From what I remember the Geddy's were too bright and not full enough for me through my rigging.
But series could make them passable for you. You've got them so I would do that before anything. You could also try some caps and probably darken them as much as you want. Think Smash has a decent thread on caps - and one on series for J's for that matter.
