Jazz Pickup Placement in Fender Precision Hot Rod / Hot Rodded

Not sure exactly which is '60s or '70s, but I've found there were two placements on the different runs. The some had the J 1-3/4" from the D&G coil of the P and on the others it was 1-3/8" from the D&G coil. Mine had the 1-3/4" spacing.

 

I'm not sure which one it was labeled. Mine has a '99 serial number so it was one of the earliest ones.

 

If you can see the front/top head-on, see if the bridge pickup is parallel with the tone knob. If so, it's a '70s placement. For example, here's a Squier Classic Vibe Jazz, which has the classic '60s pickup placement…



…and here's a Fender Classic '70s Jazz. Note the difference.

 

what about the Tony Franklin? Is that in the same position of the Hot Rod?

 

looking at the TF, it appears to have the same 1-3/4" pickup spacing as on some of the hot rod P's. compared to the above pics posted by Malak the Mad, it would put the bridge pickups in the '70s position. so now we know that the hot rod/hot rodded P's had both '60s and '70s spacing on the J.

 

I have a '99 Hot Rodded P, with the J pup in the '60s position. The only factory PJ (out of 5) that I have, which has the '70s J pup position, is the Tony Franklin.

I've also heard that some of the '99-'02 Hot Rod/Rodded P-basses came with the '70s J pup position.

 

My 2000 Hot Rod/Rodded P is 60s position.

 

The one I had to was the 60s position, it was a sunset orange 2000.

 

60s

 

The position of the P pickup (relative to nut and bridge) varied somewhat, from model to model, so I don't think you can go just by position of the J pickup relative to the P pickup. The easiest reliable measurement that I've found is from center of the J pickup poles to center of the middle bridge mounting screw. That eliminates bridge design and style variations, as long as the original factory mounting holes are used.

On actual '70s Jazz basses I've measured, the distance from J pickup pole centerline to middle bridge mounting screw centerline is 3.4375" (i.e., 3 7/16" or 87.31mm). My 2005 Tony Franklin has the same measurement.

All my other factory PJs, including an Am Vintage Hot Rod '60s P-bass, measure 3.6875" from the J pickup pole centerline to middle bridge mounting screw centerline (i.e., 3 11/16" or 93.66mm). That matches the measurement of the current Am Standard Jazz Bass, which Fender claims to be the '60s pickup location.

BTW, on my AVHR '60s P-bass, the measurement from P (treble side) pole centerline to J pole centerline is 2.25" (57.15mm).

[Edited to correct 60s/70s measurements, which I had swapped.]

 

Yeah, I prefer to measure from a known location, independent of the position of either pickup (such as the nut, 12th fret, or bridge mount screws). Comparing measurements with a current-design MIA Jazz, as you did, seems to be pretty conclusive.

Here's a photo of my 1999 Hot Rod P-bass, with original body and swapped neck.



Comparing my bass in this photo to your bass in the photo above, the difference in spacing from the edge of the pickguard to the J pickup is apparent, though not as conclusive as direct measurement.

 

FYI, and for what it's worth: The official Fender service documents seem to indicate that the 1999-2000 models were called "Hot Rod Precision Bass," and the revised 2001-2002 models were called "Hot Rodded Precision Bass."

The only part number differences are necks and bodies. In the revised (2001-2002) service diagram, only the "solid color" (i.e., Black and Olympic White) bodies have a different part number. The same part number is shown for all 1999-2002 bodies in 3-Color Sunburst, Natural, and Sunset Transparent Orange.

I'm sure this is not the only known anomaly in Fender service documents, but it does seem odd that the service documents don't clearly indicate a change in the J pickup location, unless that was correlated to body color.

Unfortunately, left-handed instruments are not covered in those Fender service documents.

 

I think what messes me up on the name is that the info I got from Fender regarding my serial number is that the MODEL name is "Hot Rod Precision Bass", but the SERIES name is "HOT RODDED AMERICAN STANDARD SERIES"

 

I have both.

2001 Hot Rodded Precision = 60's Spacing (much closer to the Precision pickup)
Tony Franklin Fretted = 70's Spacing (closer to the bridge)