Pickup springs

[Eric Shepherd]

I have a question for all you folks out there and it's bugging me..
Every time I cut a pickup hole in a body the same damn thing pops into my head..
Why the hell are the pickup springs for a bass guitar underneath the pickup tabs and the springs for a standard guitar above the pickup tabs..
I have tried the old google thing without success, from what I can see there is no real reason for it other than habit or it's what everyone does.. What ever reason you come up for one doesn't explain the other..
I'd like to think I'll go to my grave with this resolved..

 

[MIMike]

Like on a strat? It’s because the pickups are mounted to the pick guard on a strat and mounted to the body on Fender basses.

 

[Eric Shepherd]

Like on a strat? It’s because the pickups are mounted to the pick guard on a strat and mounted to the body on Fender basses.

But I have a Fender Jazzmaster and one is in the body the other in the pickguard yet both have springs underneath.. If Fender can make a bass like that why do they and others do it differently on an electric..
Look I know this is kinda stupid and who really cares but your answer is as close as I'm ever going to get.. Maybe it's just because Fender dominates the market so much every one else has to follow..

 

[MIMike]

Jazzmaster pickups are (both of them) mounted directly to the body, just like a Jazz Bass, that’s why the springs are under the pickups.

 

[bassdude51]

On Fender Telecaster guitars, the neck pickup is screwed down just like the bass pickups.

Most Fender basses have rubber sponges under the whole pickup. Don't know what kind of basses you are dealing with.

 

[blastoff]

i reckon since bass pickups are larger compared to the thickness of the body (which is the same, be it a precision or a strat) it makes more sense to screw it down into the body. dainty little guitar pickups can have smaller tabs and be suspended under the pick guard very easily.