Question on Fralin Split jazz bridge pickup with 5% overwind

[pbass888]

Hi folks!
I am planning to pull the trigger this weekend on a bridge pick up for a passive, four string, fretless. I was hoping to get opinions of folks who have used this particular pick up in their jazz bass, either fretless or fretted.

Anyone use this bridge pickup, or use it and replace it with something they like better?

Thankyou!
Pbass888

edit: I play fingers with only and style is jazz, and currently have some really old model j pickups that I do like a lot.

 

[douglasbass]

I have this exact pickup in both neck and bridge -- replaced the stock Fender ones. I also play finger style and these sound great to me. Definitely 'hotter' with the 5% overwind. I didn't think I'd use the bridge pickup much as I prefer the tone of a J neck pickup, but it works really well blended with the neck, not shrill at all.

 

[pbass888]

Thankyou! I have heard good things about this combo of standard split coil neck and +5 overwound. And I’m so that bridge pickups have generally more winding to begin with than neck pickups on many sets that I have looked at .

@douglasbass did you consider the +5 neck and +10 bridge? Or is this getting rid of too much high end ?

thank you for your comments !

 

[douglasbass]

Welcome @pbass888 ; I did not consider the +10 bridge, as I asked Fralin about going +5 on both for the styles I like (reggae, soul) and they said that would be a good match. I also liked that Fralin was responsive, so I'm sure they would answer whether +10 would lose too much high end, for what you like to play. Aside, there are so many pickup makers to choose from, so this kind of customer service stood out to me.

 

[pbass888]

Thank you for all your help @douglasbass! I am going to place my order for a standard neck and a +5% overwound bridge for a fretless passive 4 string.

 

[Lumpy_Bass]

Thank you for all your help @douglasbass! I am going to place my order for a standard neck and a +5% overwound bridge for a fretless passive 4 string.

I just ordered a set with this spec. How did you end up liking them? Do you still have them installed?

 

[claudel]

I have a set w/ standard "P" & 5% overwound "J" in my latest and am still getting used to it overall but I'm seeing no signs of wanting to change pickups after a couple of months.

The extra hair on the bridge is quite musical and seems to enhance the harmonic complexity.

 

[pbass888]

I just ordered a set with this spec. How did you end up liking them? Do you still have them installed?

After a year on a fretless passive jazz bass with ebony fretboard I am still very happy with the Fralin split coils. I usually have the bridge on full , the neck about 40-60 pct open and the tone knob gets adjusted to the room etc. The bridge pickup has the thickness that I was looking for while still being very articulate. The neck can get really fat and almost come to the sound of my previous pickups (model j dimarzio). Balance across strings is great and the clarity is outstanding.

 

[nonohmic]

I have a set w/ standard "P" & 5% overwound "J" in my latest and am still getting used to it overall but I'm seeing no signs of wanting to change pickups after a couple of months.

The extra hair on the bridge is quite musical and seems to enhance the harmonic complexity.

After a year on a fretless passive jazz bass with ebony fretboard I am still very happy with the Fralin split coils. I usually have the bridge on full , the neck about 40-60 pct open and the tone knob gets adjusted to the room etc. The bridge pickup has the thickness that I was looking for while still being very articulate. The neck can get really fat and almost come to the sound of my previous pickups (model j dimarzio). Balance across strings is great and the clarity is outstanding.

All great to hear. I'm a few months away from nailing down specs on a custom, and the Standard P + Overwound 5% bridge J is the frontrunning option for electronics.

What tone caps are you running? 250k? 500k?

 

[pbass888]

All great to hear. I'm a few months away from nailing down specs on a custom, and the Standard P + Overwound 5% bridge J is the frontrunning option for electronics.


What tone caps are you running? 250k? 500k?

250k here , did not notice any difference in my bass with a 500k.

 

[claudel]

All great to hear. I'm a few months away from nailing down specs on a custom, and the Standard P + Overwound 5% bridge J is the frontrunning option for electronics.

What tone caps are you running? 250k? 500k?

I tried a few different configurations and wound up with 500K linear volume 100K M/n blend & 250K audio tone with 0.1 cap.

Wound up using Invalid Link Removed. Great feel. Solid construction.

 

[iiipopes]

I have not used this particular pickup, but generally, a split-coil J-pickup will have a little more mids than a similar single coil, and any overwind means even a little bit more mids.

 

[MichaelPatrick]

Did you ever do any recordings with the Model Js in the fretless? I’m toying the idea of dropping them in and I’d like to get a thick sound.

 

[pbass888]

Did you ever do any recordings with the Model Js in the fretless? I’m toying the idea of dropping them in and I’d like to get a thick sound.

I did not record the model J but they were very thick sounding. I just needed a little more clarity.