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Trying to ressurect my old squire..help

T

TeeMartin

Jul 18, 2006
635
9
#1
Hey there

I had an old Squire P-bass rotting in the corner, and decided to defret it. I'm done with the neck, but I decided that I might want a new set of pickups too.

Also, I think some of the wires inside the bass are broken and need to be replaced. I absolutely suck with electronics so I can't fix it myself.

I've always liked the growl of a jazz bass so I'm thinking I want to get jazz pickups. What pickups would you recommend?

How much would it cost to get my current wiring fixed? How much am I looking at for new jazz pickups? Which pickups do I need to replace (just the two small ones?)? Should I just go buy a jazz squire??

Thanks
 
#2
Tee,

Don't underestimate your own ability. To rewire the P-bass, this is what I think you'll need.

- 35W soldering iron, old sponge to keep damp while soldering, and .032" diameter solder for electronics work from Radio Shack.
- Practice your soldering before you start your work. *Practice a lot* with spare wire on the old pots from the bass.
- From www.guitarelectronics.com, order 2 new 250K CTS-brand audio taper pots with the splined top, and a shielding kit that comes with copper tape, wire, and shrink tubing.
- I'd recommend a P-46 pickup from Bill Lawrence ( www.billlawrence.com ), as these are inexpensive and Bill makes the best pickups for the money you'll spend. I'd also get a bass Q-filter for installation (this is optional, but I have one on my P-bass and makes the tone knob so much more responsive). You'll get all the wiring diagrams from Bill to do this by yourself. Whatever capacitor Bill recommends you can pick this up at the local Radio Shack.

I speak from experience. Above is what I have done...on more than one occasion (3 basses, 5-6 guitars). I do not work for Bill Lawrence, Radio Shack, or Guitar Electronics, I'm just advising on what worked for me, on many occasions, and when I started out, I was also a novice like you to soldering.

By the way, I resurrected my Squier Musicmaster bass, and gig and practice regularly with it.

Hope this helps and good luck
 
#4
You don't seem to know what a jazz pick-up or a pbass pickup is, On your bass the two pickups are in fact one pick up that is a p-bass pichup, on jazz basses you have two pickups as opposed to yours wich has only one, jazz pickups are not the same shape as p-pickups at all they are long slim rectangles and wont fit your cavities at all so you'd basicaly have to get someone to rout the pick up cavitys, that means cutting holes in the wood, plus you'd have to buy a new pickguard... i think this project is going to cost you quite a bit of money if you don't plan to do everything by yourself...
 
#5
Apparently not all Squires have the same pickups. I don't have a camera so excuse the poor diagram

It pretty much looks like ths:

Code: 
 ....[ ]......[]
[ ]..[ ]......[]
[ ]..[ ]......[]
[ ]..[ ]......[]
[ ]...........[]

The two in front look the same, they are both thicker and and shorter than the one at the end.

edit: This bass looks like the same model as mine

Invalid Link Removed
 
#6
Looks like a "P Bass Special" - a split p-bass pickup in the neck position and a j-bass pickup in the bridge position. You can replace either one, or both. I'm partial to Seymour Duncan pickups. Maybe a p-bass quarter pounder would be to your liking.

Be careful, however. It's easy to spend as much (or more) on "fixing up" a squier than if you just went out and bought a good used MIM (made in Mexico) Fender. Given the choice, I would opt for the used MIM Fender over a hot-rodded Squier.
 

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