Replacement help

[BW604]

Looking to upgrade my first bass for sentimental reasons. Its a old passive (1980s) Vista with P bass/Musicman pickups. PJ replacement sets are easy to find. P/MM not so much. Anyone have any ideas on compatible replacents??

 

[ahbass2500]

If it is this... Vista Bass Guitar Vintage 80's - Black/Mirrored MIJ Rare | Reverb, then that is not an MM pickup it is a Double J. Reverb seems to have a few cheaper options. You can probably find some nicer ones too (Bartolini makes a Double J and should have P that goes well with it). Downside of nicer ones is that you will spend more than the bass is worth on it*. Check dimensions against what you decide to buy just in case they are different.

*Not knocking the spending more than it is worth, just noting it is a consideration. I still have my first bass. Peavey Milestone I. Mods I have installed on it are worth more than the bass and I am completely okay with that.

 

[BW604]

That's it! I stand corrected, it is a double J. I understand that any real investment will be more than the bass is worth money wise, but it's just something I want to do. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Double J’s were popular at the time or a little before and are a little more difficult to find now. Rio Grande has a couple of options and can probably recommend a P pickup to pair it with. Sentell has a double J or two also and I’m sure can recommend a P pickup. sentellpickups.com

As mentioned above, double check measurements, the size of the pickup and the location of the ears on your existing pickups.

 

[BW604]

T

Double J’s were popular at the time or a little before and are a little more difficult to find now. Rio Grande has a couple of options and can probably recommend a P pickup to pair it with. Sentell has a double J or two also and I’m sure can recommend a P pickup. sentellpickups.com

As mentioned above, double check measurements, the size of the pickup and the location of the ears on your existing pickups.

Thank you for the info.

 

[ctmullins]

Custom winders can do it (obviously). Many are no more expensive than off-the-shelf items. Sentell and 916 are my two favorites. It costs nothing to ask!

 

[BW604]

T

Double J’s were popular at the time or a little before and are a little more difficult to find now. Rio Grande has a couple of options and can probably recommend a P pickup to pair it with. Sentell has a double J or two also and I’m sure can recommend a P pickup. sentellpickups.com

As mentioned above, double check measurements, the size of the pickup and the location of the ears on your existing pickups.

Thank you for the info.

Custom winders can do it (obviously). Many are no more expensive than off-the-shelf items. Sentell and 916 are my two favorites. It costs nothing to ask!

Good to know, thanks!

 

[sunbeast]

There aren't many replacement pickups made for "double J" sizes, but I have worked on a few 80s basses with these pickups where the coils were removable from the cover and could be replaced with other J coils. Not sure if your bass has a removable cover like that though might be worth a look. Some caveats though- you could likely just buy a standard vintage-style J set and put it in there but the neck coil would be a bit shorter and with different polepiece spacing (it would probably work/sound just fine but not align with the holes in the pickup shell which could be aesthetically bothersome), on the other hand if you were to procure two identical bridge-sized single-coil J pickups they wouldn't hum cancel when combined (unless you custom ordered them to be built RWRP for humcancelling) and no guarantee that the polepiece spacing would exactly align with the holes in the pickup cover (sometimes pole spacing isn't perfectly standardized). That said, you could get custom coils made for the existing pickup cover.

Warwick makes a few basses that use double-J pickups, though not sure if they are the same size as your example (again this isn't a standardized shape like a normal J or P pickup). Bartolini makes a pickup to fit a later Fender take on a double J + P (Fender Deluxe Precision bass), so that might fit right (I'd definitely measure first though): New Bartolini pickup made for the Fender American Deluxe Precision Bass!

 

[crazycloud]

If you find the pickup length is a standard size, you could always get say a pair of Dimarzio Js, cut off one set of ears and glue them together. These are as common as muck and tend to be cheap second hand. The Dimarzios are also a linear split coil.

Schaller also made dual Js that I see pop up for sale from time to time.

 

[sunbeast]

If you find the pickup length is a standard size, you could always get say a pair of Dimarzio Js, cut off one set of ears and glue them together. These are as common as muck and tend to be cheap second hand. The Dimarzios are also a linear split coil.

Schaller also made dual Js that I see pop up for sale from time to time.

Yeah I believe the Schallers were the go-to stock pickup in a number of 80s instruments that used this arrangement