J pickup hole options

What don't you like about a j? There are a bunch of manufacturers who are putting split coil or humbucker coils in a j shell. That might be the easiest.

 

If you route out the pickup hole to fit a Bart P4 shell.....then you open up a whole world of easy drop in pickups.

 

I've had a few basses where I used a Dimarzio model J in the neck position (some have the same pickups in the bridge position as well). That's an in line hum cancelling J shape pickup.

If you blindfolded me, and I couldn't touch the pickup to know what it really was, I think a lot of the time I'd think I was playing a P (and I'm pretty darn picky about tiny details in my sound). There's a range of sounds you can get from relatively standard P pickups - the Dimarzio Model J in a neck position is somewhere within that range. I'm pretty sure ALL of the time, the audience wouldn't notice the difference.

 

you have many options. depends upon your wood working, pick-guard making, and wiring skills. i've done a fair amount of these using Fender parts onto non-Fender bases.

one thing i will advise though is to make sure the pick-up covers are attached securely if you are choosing split passives (or any other pu's with loose covers) -i'll use two small bits of Kapton tape for this. the leads where attached to the base plates are very fragile and i've seen them broken by the cover nipping them off by being mis-positioned. not an easy fix when they are cut loose.

if buying used, check their specs. sometimes used p/u's are chucked into a box with "stuff" and are in contact with other metal "objects" or are found stuck to themselves causing output issues.

 

If your real goal is just a hum-free pickup in a J shape, you definitely have tons of options!

I'm partial to Bartolini for j's. They have their Classic, B axis, and Original pickups available in dual coil, which is really just a split coil like a P pickup (one coil under each pair of strings). So it's hum cancelling but fits in a J shell. They sell the original and classic in a true single coil too, so if you shop for theirs, make sure you're getting the split coil.

Lots of other brands do this same arrangement of two coils in a J shell (Fralin, Nordstrand, Delano, Aguilar, Dimarzio, even Fender themselves). Some of these sound like J pickups, some sound like P's. Some sound like something else. You have lots to choose from! You can definitely get hum free without having to route the body at all.

What you don't get a lot of in a J shape is split-able humbuckers, so if you want to be able to do coil switching then you probably should just route out to one of the popular humbucker shapes.

 

A) Split coil J pickup will be the easiest path. Dimarzio Model J for beef, Area J For “close to split coil” sound. (Other manufacturers can be found as well.)

B) you can route the body, and get a Jazz pickguard with a P cut out- but don’t you have a TMB? Why add another PJ? Rock that J bass, baby!

 

here's an Ibanex GSR100EX conversion i'm working on with new pg, foil shielding, new pockets, and all the control cavity trimmings needed to accept vintage (mid-80's i think) Fender Mustang pu's with a top mounted jack. i designed, programmed, and cut out the pg with a desktop cnc mill but it's not necessary.

 

You might consider a MM pickup style.

I haven't done a conversion from J pickup, but I believe the route should end up larger than the J route for the most part. The only area that might not cover the old J pickup route is a small bump where the the mounting ear would be for the J pickup. The MM typically has two "ears" at the top as opposed to the single ear of the J pickup.

I love the MM pickup style; quiet with tons of thick tone in the right position. If you're cost-conscious you can purchase a pretty good MM style approximation from Guitar Fetish.

GFS MM Pro Music Man size pickup- MAXIMUM string response!

 

As mentioned by Arie X, it depends on you’re woodworking skills. I’ve done it and it’s fairly straight forward. But I have the tools and I’m handy with woodworking. To do this properly (Fender PJ), the top of the Precision pickup (closest to the neck) should line up exactly with the top of the J pickup. I made a template, but they are available on line (i.e. Stewmac). With the template, you'd use a router and carve out the hole for the pickup. I first did this on a scrap piece of wood.

However, you would need to get a new pick guard because the precision pickup would go outside of the original Jazz pick guard.

 

Do you already have the tools and templates? If not it might be cheaper to buy what want from the start.

 

It's very easy to enlarge the cavity to fit a P pickup. It's harder to enlarge the cavity AND make it look nice
However there will be a pickguard covering it so... go for it, just be slow and careful. I have done that using chisels. Carefully. The result doesn't look amazing but it's not too bad either, and once I put the pickguard on nobody would know any better. I would start by getting the pickguard first, with the routing for the pickup you want, then use that to mark where you need to remove wood... and start chiselling away.

 

Not sure if *these* have been mentioned... I have a set in my Jazz ‘assembly/build’.

 

And IF you decide to keep the Jazz Bass rout and get stacked or side x side humbuckers in a traditional Jazz Bass shell, BE SURE and double check the size of the rout vs. what you're going to buy.

Traditional Jazz Bass pickup sizes had the bridge pickup just a bit wider than the neck pickup. Over the years, it varies: Some makers use two of the same size, the depth may vary, etc. So just double-check that what you want to buy IS a drop-in for the body you have.

 

Here's a "think outside of the box" solution fuhya ...

51 Split-J

Don't be thrown by the uninformative (and silly) ad copy. This is essentially a pair of humbucking '51 - '56 style P-Bass pickups built into a coupla Jazz casings. I have the Nordstrand 51P4S pickup in my Warmoth '54 Precision build and it is a killer pickup, IMHO ... wonderful tone, quiet as a church mouse, hotter than most similar pickup offerings and it has excellent string balance with its staggered pole pieces. The 51-split-j-1 is essentially the same pickup. It sounds good with both pickups or either pickup solo'd, IMHO. Check out this demo ...

 

Why get a J body if you really want a P?

 

OK, my "first thing I'd grab running from a fire" is a '73 P neck on a J body. All the basses I end up keeping have that neck shape. I like J pickups for most of my applicaitions but it's totally subjective, I also like my standard Ps. There are a lot of split J pups that are punchy as Mike Tyson and are also quiet. And/or maybe a preamp could drive your tone where you want it. My Lindys with John East pre can hit the throat.