I have an '88 Fury and the output measured 14.36ohm,I also have a '96 and the measurement was 7.91ohm.Comparing the two you definitely notice a difference in output and would have to dial back the '96 if switching.
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I don't have a meter, but I have been tweaking back and forth with the new 91 and the 93. So yep, I got the bass, and I'm pretty sure it is the same one I missed at $125 with the case, and suspected was relisted for $300. Seller admitted to recently picking it up, and changing out the speed knobs for strat knobs, and keeping the case. He did well, got a few extra bucks ( $140 from me), and kept the case, strap and metronome that was pictured in the original ad for the first pinstripe I missed. So it is finally mine.
About that 96, is it the type with the bar magnet on the bottom, and the thin red and blue wires, or is it with magnetic pole pieces and the fatter black and white wires? I would think the post 94 was when they started with the cheaper import pickup. Or perhaps what I am assuming is USA in my 93 is just a higher quality import pickup?
The 91 5 wire is both noticeably quieter and less bassy than the 93 3 wire. I had added cotton to raise the 93 pickup to bring it up to the level of my vfl foundation which is quite hot, and it may have even exceeded it by a tad. I removed the cotton to put it back to "stock" max height (foam only) which is lower than I am running the 5 wire which is on springs. This was after realizing that the seller might have put the pickup back in backwards when he took one coil out for that picture, it sounded OK through his TC helicon voicelive plugged into his car stereo, but who knows what eq curve he dialed in while I was moving my car to the same lot he was in. When I got it home in headphones it seemed really honky in the mids and totally anemic in the lows, and a Yuuuge difference compared to the 93. I looked at his picture again and flipped the pickup so the colored leads were both coming from the inside ends of the coil, for maximum slack, which made sense to me. He put it in backwards so it was out of phase, DOH! Still when in phase, it was not as hot as the 93, so that's when I took the added cotton out of the 93 to lower the pickups a bit. They are closer to each other now, but there is no way I could plug and play these 2 as backups for each other without tweaking the gain and or bass on the amp.
The 5 wire does seem to have a bit more presence in the mids like a vintage p bass, where the 93 is a bit punchier. The 91 seems a tad heavier too, so perhaps the body is not resonating as much as the lighter 93 with a worn out/soft finish.
Buzzing starts around 11th fret, and the relief looks decent, maybe needs a tad more loosened once I get the proper wrench. I was hoping there was a little tilt I could remove, but the heel was flush. Maybe I will give the saddles a slight tweak in the meantime. Both of these Furies have lower action than I usually use, lower than my foundation, milestone II and my USA fenders (my geddy has low-ish action too).
As always, I won't really get to the test shootout until the next time I get to plug them into an amp rather than headphones, at real volume that I can't do here. Unfortunately the band I was using my fury and foundation in just had its plug pulled, and the only band I am playing bass in is in drop C and I dedicate my epi birds to that one.
I need to be more proactive in my search. I have been distracted by things like this fury, and trying to play guitar with my singers original band.
There was a scare when I got the fury home, I forgot to do my neck knock check for busted/loose truss rod, and was relived that it seemed fine (can hear some ringing a bit but no buzz or rattle in the neck), but I noticed something knocking inside the bass, so I took it apart, and found the broken off tip of a cable in there. Yes it is also possible that it was I who put the pickup in wrong at that time, since it did sound full when demoing it, and this guy seemed smart and careful enough to make sure it went back the same, and I was a little overtired when searching for that rattle.
So then I ended up having to make an adjustment to the input spring, since it was gripping way to hard. An easy fix, just carefully bend it back a bit.
Overall I am pretty stoked, a bit bummed that the pickups are different output and tone spectrum, but that is not always a bad thing, variety is good and having to do a slight gain tweak and maybe a lows tweak isnt a big deal. I'm just ocd about backups, and need to get over that, can't have 2 of everything.
Oh yeah, milestone II is going bye bye. 3 USA peaveys is enough for now, and the import is now the odd man out. I'm going to put the original pickup back in it and save the QP and cts circuit for my fretless project.
