Poll: Jazz bass pickup location

[eastcoasteddie]

True story. My sophomore year in high school (early 80's if you keep track of such things) I wrote a paper for English class. I used the word "bassist" in that paper and it was marked as incorrect. I should have used "bass player" instead. I appealed to the teacher and even brought in a copy of Bass Player magazine within which the word bassist was used extensively. She refused to rescore the paper which would have brought a B to an A according to the scoring criteria as there were only a few other corrections.

But the words “Bass Player” are on the cover of the magazine…

 

[TonyP-]

I'm actually glad to see this thread come back up since I'm messing around with a 70's position again.

Since this thread erected I have learned that for me the real magic is and bigger difference is where the neck pickup is located.

 

[micguy]

I vote "50's position": Neck pickup in the same position as a 51P. Bridge position is further way from the bridge than the 60's position. It gives the instrument more...cahones - deeper and throatier sounding.

If Leo had made J's this way from the beginning, he would have had issues with too much bass for his amps (just like with a 51P), but nowadays, when amps have caught up, it's a better sounding solution.