Upgrades for Classic Vibe 50s

[tmckenn2]

Hey folks. I picked up a lovely blue classic vibe 50s precision from letgo yesterday. And neck is great, all looks good, but low low pickup output (yeah, something’s wrong) and scratchy connection. So, since I have a Duncan single coil replacement in a box here, I’m wondering if I should swap the stock pickup and consider just replacing the pots and jack all at once and have this bad boy playing like new.
As I said, I have the Duncan, but any suggestions/links for the pots? And I hear folks talk about changing the capacitors too?
What do you all think?

 

[Zoobiedood]

If the pots and cap are fine, I'd say stick with them. If there is an issue, change them, but no need to swap out perfectly good parts.

 

[Yahboy]

I recall that cavity are tight for CTS pot.
And the stock control plate pot hole are smaller whIch only fit stock Alpha pot.

 

[Wisebass]

hi tmckenn2

a lovely blue classic vibe 50s precision

??????

What do you all think?

I think we all want to see some pigs!

eemm sorry PICS!!!!!




may the bass be with you

Wise(b)ass

 

[mongo2]

I'd install the Duncan without changing the controls. It will help verify the OEM pickup was at fault. If I still had the problem then I'd change the controls.

BTW, I now use a humbucking dual blade/coil Strat style pickup in my DIY SCPB. It cost me less than $15 online and sounds just the way I want.

 

[kodiakblair]

So, since I have a Duncan single coil replacement in a box here, I’m wondering if I should swap the stock pickup

It's been my experience that swapping one single coil for another is a pretty much pointless task. The Duncan had less output than the discontinued Wilkinson. The Wilkinson's replacement from Roswell sounded the same,so did handwounds from Bloodstone,Herrick and Lourerio.

In a blind test asking folks to spot the $10 Chinese single coil from the others, 75% got it wrong

Changing the cap will only affect how much treble you roll off . Swapping from a linear pot to a taper will change the pot from being what's best described as an on/off switch

There's far more to be gained from trying different string types like flats/tapes/half rounds or groundwound etc.

Forgot to say.

Enjoy the bass. It's good to see all this interest in SCP-basses recently

 

[tmckenn2]

Thanks for all the replies! Very informative! Turned out the stock pickup was shot but all the other controls and electronics were just fine once the pickup was swapped for the SD I had. Funny not about Wilkinson/Roswell comment, I actually have a Harley Benton P50 with a Roswell and if I didn’t have the SD on hand, I was probably gonna pop that out and try it in the Squier!