jazz bass pickup magnets dont match strings spacing

[ppg]

Hi, I just brought home 92' MIM Jazz i bought earlier. It needs new pots and some other stuff probably, but what I noticed is one weird thing:

The strings are not placed between the magnet heads, only one that fits is G string and only on bridge pickup, which I found really strange. Its really weird because even the holes for pickups somewhat doesnt fit tight, after all, here is a photo of her:

What do you think? I have no idea what could possibly be causing this, maybe these arent original pickups (how do you recognize them, they have some serial or what?)

 

[PilbaraBass]

the MIM jazz pickups have the same pole spacing for both pickups. The string spacing gets closer to the bridge and hence it matches there... on the neck pickup, the string spacing is narrower.

in some replacement pickups, you'll actually get BETTER line-up with pole spacing...

 

[James Simonson]

I could be wrong but it looks like you have two bridge pickups in the bass. The bridge pickups are slightly longer than neck pickups. If they are both the same size, then that's probably the problem.

 

[Aspidites]

I could be wrong but it looks like you have two bridge pickups in the bass. The bridge pickups are slightly longer than neck pickups. If they are both the same size, then that's probably the problem.

IN MIM Jazz's they are both the same size from the factory.

 

[Muaguana]

It's probably just a sloppy drilling job from the factory. I have a similar issue with my Squire VM, although it's just the neck pickup that's off-kilter. The screws aren't aligned horizontally, so the pickup is slanted and, thus, not all pole pieces line up with the strings. Your bridge pickup looks like it sits at a slight angle, so that's probably the reason.

 

[Craig_S]

IN MIM Jazz's they are both the same size from the factory.

No they're not. They once were, but are not now. This bass has two of the same.


It doesn't affect anything but the look, correct?

 

[Aspidites]

No they're not. They once were, but are not now. This bass has two of the same.


It doesn't affect anything but the look, correct?

The bass in the OP is a 94 which were the same size as were the pups on the 2000 and 2004 MIM Jazz's I had.

 

[Craig_S]

My 2004 has different sized pickups. How is that explained? My 2000 MIM Deluxe had different sized pickups, as well. The current models do not use the same sized pickups.

 

[Aspidites]

My 2004 has different sized pickups. How is that explained? My 2000 MIM Deluxe had different sized pickups, as well. The current models do not use the same sized pickups.

My 2000 was not a deluxe and as for 2004 maybe it was early vs late year production., maybe that was the year it changed.

 

[James Simonson]

Could be easily fixed with a proper neck pickup and a new pickguard. All that stuff is on ebay all day. Alignment, in my opinion, is the key to making affordable basses sound great. Especially the jazz bass.

 

[carlos840]

Its pretty common, both my jazz basses have this problem to some extent on the E string.
If you check on the Fender website even the basses they use as "models" sometimes have it.
Your bass definitely has it pretty strongly but it shouldnt make a difference in tone!

 

[Aspidites]

Its pretty common, both my jazz basses have this problem to some extent.
If you check on the Fender website even the basses they use as "models" sometimes have it.
Your bass definitely has it pretty strongly but it shouldnt make a difference in tone!

Gorgeous SB2!

 

[steveinohio]

Ive never noticed a real difference in sound when this happens. Some guys swear they do. I really never notice it until one of these threads pop up.

 

[James Simonson]

It makes a huge difference. I can't deny it. If it's right over the pole, it sounds harsher. In between the poles adds some air. I've probably fixed that problem 20 times. Don't believe the magnetic field mumbo jumbo... it matters.

If he switched out that neck pickup and added a bridge with adjustable side to side or a well sloted badass, the bass would probably sound 10x better. I'd put money on it.

 

[chicago_mike]

In the 90's all the MIM Jazzes used the same sized pickup. Neither size are direct size to american counterparts.

The closest known replaces are from EMG, the MIM j set. Before that you had to sand paint off the cavity and do some extra sanding to get pickups in those cavities. Most of the 90's mim jazzes also had a neck pocket discrepency. If you notice on many how the E string is off alignment to the other strings. It might also be the bridge alignment too. But the E is more inside than the other strings.

These were all over the place at my local GC. Around the same time that GC was carrying Hartke and the BBE 383 Bass preamp just came out. Other toys around that time were the Epiphone P and J basses. Those were like $199 and weren't too bad.

 

[Muaguana]

I've been doing some reading on the interwebz, and according to some guy on one of the many guitar/gear forums, Fender instituted a change in the pickup size after 2001, though I haven't found an exact date yet, and I have seen one or two threads posted well after then regarding the size issue in new MIM jazzes.

Will keep looking for more info.

 

[Papersen]

That`s right.
It`s a problem with early MIM jazzes. When production started in the early 90`s both pickups had same length.

It was solved later (late 90`s?), but in the beggining was just like that. If you plan to keep the bass, maybe upgrading to a set of EMG pickups could be a good option.

 

[Lacko]

Hi guys! What do you think, this is too bad?