I know there are a few threads on replacing squier cv mustang bass pups - i even chimed in that I like the stock pickup but after a few months I've decided they may be too quiet and too lackluster. Its hard to tell on videos about the output and I play with a pick mostly and like a full thick rich tone - looks like Lollar and Nordstrom are the frontrunners. Anyone able to comment on the output and are there any other suggestions?
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Squier CV Mustang Bass needs more powerful pickups
- Thread starter don21480
- Start date
I had a MIJ mustang with the nordstrand pickups in it. They sounded very good to me. They were put in by the previous owner so not sure what the stock or squier stock pickups sound like for comparison sorry.
I have another set of nordstrand pickups waiting to go into a shortscale build if that says anything
I'd have been happy purchasing mustang pickups from nordstrand or lollar (I have lollar single coil and split P pickups) but im in aus and needed other items available at bestbassgear and only wanted to pay one lot of shipping.
I have another set of nordstrand pickups waiting to go into a shortscale build if that says anything
I'd have been happy purchasing mustang pickups from nordstrand or lollar (I have lollar single coil and split P pickups) but im in aus and needed other items available at bestbassgear and only wanted to pay one lot of shipping.
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I did just take the pickguard out, remove the stock pickups, and realized 2 things - the springs were too long so that I could not compress them enough to get the pickups close enough to the strings and that the pickguard cutout for the pickups were too snug so it was hard to adjust the pickups so I cut the springs in half, sanded the inside of the pickup holes and reinstalled the pickups and adjusted a little closer to the strings - now at 5/64 and the output and tone are better; not ideal but better.
I put Curtis Novak pickups in my Vintera Mustang due to the low E not sounding good with the originals. They are great.
+1 on the Nordy. It has a little bit more wire than stock and double poles like a P-pickup, and has a bigger tone. I have one in my travel bass.
Just a tad, if at all. Mostly, I perceive a more "solid" tone. But then again, I may set my pickups a hair lower on this particular bass.
https://nordstrandaudio.com/collect...bass-pickups/products/nm4-mustang-replacement
Your power is right here
Your power is right here
Has anyone used these in a Squier CV Mustang guard? I don't have a very detailed measuring tool, just a plain old ruler so thought I'd ask.
I checked the pups with a volt meter and measure 7.6 ohms but very low output. The wire harness was a completed setup with CTS 500 pots so I don't think it's wired incorrectly. That wire harness is identical to the one in my Fender Musicmaster parts bass and that has a Sentell pup measuring 8.8 ohm. The output on that bass is alot higher and better tone. I'm looking to get these two as close as possible in volume/output so when I want or need to change at a gig it's as seamless as possible.
Um, which pickup? We've been talking about different pickups in this thread: stock, Nordy, etc. Also, please remember that the loading of the circuit through the jack may lower the DC ohms reading of a pickup by as much as 500 to 1000 ohms. to get a true reading of the DC resistance of a pickup, you need to unsolder the hot lead and measure from the hot lead to where the pickup ground solders onto something.
I did measure the ohms directly on the leads from the pickup. The wire harness has quick connects so pretty easy to get that. Same harness is in both project basses. Yes, I'm one of those guys who has no confidence in soldering so I'll say that up front. They look like this and have worked well for me so far.
I thought I had quoted the pup type in my post. It's the NM4 Mustang replacment mentioned by @PeaveyPlayer above. I'm trying to decide between this pup and one from Sentell. I have a Sentell in my other parts bass and it's awesome so kind of leaning that way but wanted to ask about this one.
Hope that makes sense, sorry if I'm not giving enough info for my questions.
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Do you know what kinds of magnets are in the Sentell (ceramic bars on the bottom or alnico pole pieces most likely)? Is it a humbucker? Resistance readings only really tell us anything about output when all the other parts of the pickups being compared are equal (same magnets/type, same wire, same/similar coil design, etc)
The Sentell ones I'm probably going to get are Alnico 5 poles, same as the ones in other bass that I'm very happy with. That bass was overwound to 9 ohm and these new ones are 9.9 ohm rated. My goal after all is to make these as equal as possible so little tweaking is needed if I change over at a gig. Their service is great and just makes sense (to me) to go with what I'm happy with.
There's lots of posts on here talking about how the resistance/ohm reading can be one thing but the output is another which seems to be the case with these original pups. Love the bass but adjusting pickup height still results in low output. Since the wire harnesses are the same I did swap them over to test and the low output stayed with the pups in the Mustang project bass, even though they read 7.6 ohms they are very quiet.
Sorry it sounded like you already have a Sentell in your Musicmaster bass that you were comparing output levels with? Or I misunderstood? That’s the pickup I was asking about magnets in. Musicmaster pickups are traditionally Stratocaster pickups with 6 alnico poles, while a Mustang pickup traditionally has just 4 alnico poles, so if you were using two pickups with identical alnico magnets I’d expect the Musicmaster to be a bit hotter due to the extra magnets. You should get a bit of boost from the series connection of the coils of the Mustang pickup, but they may have just used relatively weak magnets in your Mustang pickup. Lots of different factors involved, but in general I would expect a bit of a hotter wound Mustang pickup to match fairly well with a typical Musicmaster pickup assuming both are using alnico 5 magnets. If your Sentell Musicmaster pickup has ceramic bar magnets then it will probably be higher output than most alnico Mustang pickups.
An easy thing to try is to add some additional ceramic (or even small neodymium) magnets to the bottom of your current Mustang pickup, which will boost its output. You may well affect the magnetism of the current magnets in the process however
Thanks for replying. Maybe I wasn't clear either.
Just to clarify, my "Broncomaster" parts bass has the Sentell in it now. Overwound to 9k to match the Squier Musicmaster I already have. 4 magnet, Alnico 5's.
My other parts bass, my "Broncostang" has a set of original Squier CV Mustang pups in it currently. I tried a "cheat" by putting a boost pedal in my signal change to compensate for the low output but in order to match the Broncomaster volume I often get alot of boominess, just a hassle have to tweak and play around during a gig if I want to switch. I like to play them both.
So I purchased the Sentell's over lunch. $100 is a small price to pay to get as similar an output as possible out of the two basses. As I said, the low output followed the pups when I swapped the identical wire harnesses so in my mind's idea of troubleshooting they are just really low output even if they read 7.6k on my volt meter.
Hope that makes sense. There's lots more to all this that I don't know. I've seen others commenting on the low output of the Squier CV Mustangs so maybe it's a common issue even if I'm misunderstanding one element or another.
Quite possible- not all magnets are the same as far as power (even two alnico 5 magnets are not necessarily the same), alnico magnets are fairly easy to demagnetize, and Sentell may use more powerful magnets to begin with. The amount of wire is one part of the output equation (which is part of what you are measuring when measuring the resistance), but the magnets are usually a bigger part of it- that’s why most ceramic mag pickups tend to be louder than comparable alnico pickups even when they have lower resistance readings. Resistance measurements of the coil only tells you anything about output when you know the rest of the design is identical. Getting another pickup with similar specs from the same pickup maker (as you have) seems like the best way to even the odds of getting something more similar
This is the harness I used, CTS 500 pots, not a Mustang one.
When I purchased the seller also put the correct tails on for where I could wire the pickups to. This Mustang parts bass was the first/only one I assembled from parts. I'm not a skilled luthier by any means.
