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Vintage Noiseless Active pickups

B

beefcake92

Feb 7, 2010
11
0
#1
Hello, i have a question about these pickups, they came on my fender active deluxe jazz bass. I bought the bass at a local music shop about 2 years ago, the store has free tune ups for a year when you purchase a guitar there. About a month ago i brought my electric that had been under service with the local music shop since i had received it to a bass lesson for a change from taking upright lessons. My bass teacher was shocked when he looked at my pickups and saw that the metal circles in the pickups had been pulled out at different lengths across the pickups. According to him you are not suposed to pull out the metal pieces and they are suposed to lay flat. I cant remember when i got the bass if it layed flat across the pickup or was so called "honeycombed" across, and the guy who serviced my bass is no longer working for the music store to question about this.

My question to you guys is if these bass pickups are meant to have the metal pieces up or if they are suposed to be flat. They are Vintage Noiseless Active pickups.
 
#2
If the pickups are truly the vintage noiseless then the pole pieces should all be flat. A way to check if they are indeed vintage noiseless pickups is that the pole pieces all have beveled edges. If the edges aren't beveled then you have different pickups inside the noiseless covers.

Pictures would be most helpful in this case.
 
#3
These pickups come stock in the bass. So you are saying that if they are really the pickups that should be in my bass they should be flat? I cant post a picture at the moment but it looks as tho my pickups pole pieces are way further out than other other pictures of the pickup i can find. Almost like the guy at the music shop took a pair of pliers and pulled them out further for some reason.
 
#4
First off, those pickups are passive.

Some pickups have staggered pole pieces for a more consistent string response on basses with a curvy fretboard radius. Most non-adjustable Jazz pickups always have flat pole pieces though.

Take a look at the underside of the pickup to see whether the pole pieces lie flat with the flatwork or if they are pushed up.
 
#10
Bijoux said:
yeah, you know, I thought that was weird at first. I actually prefer when they are all flat. also, although seems like a good idea in theory,but I am not sure that it works that great either...
Click to expand...

The main problem is that my strings are constanly hitting the poles because they are so high up, it makes a clicking noise when it collides making my sound so crappy when i play aggressivly.
 
#14
beefcake92 said:
Interesting, do you think that the guy who serviced my bass couldeve ignorantly pulled the pole pieces out? Im still fuzzy to if they are meant to be staggerd or if they come flat out of the box.
Click to expand...

Like I said, take a look at the bottom of the pickup to see if the pole pieces lie flat with the flatwork, or if they are pushed inward.

You risk damaging the coil by trying to hammer the pole pieces up.
It's doubtful that your tech would have done such a thing, whether or not there was a problem with the string response.
 
#16
right, your pickups are normal; just lower them until they stop hitting the strings.

better yet, bag them entirely, as they're weak and dull compared to what else is out there. if you want to keep the "vintage" vibe and the hum-canceling, the dimarzio area Js will blow them out of the water in terms of output and liveliness.
 

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