Yamaha bb pickup replacement

Does the pickup cover come off? Possible the coil and pole-spacing are the same as a standard Precision so you could just swap covers and not drill new holes

 

Worst case - cut a new surround plate from plastic stock and then you can mount whatever you want.

The brass plate underneath is likely just for shielding. If your new pickups are unshielded you can leave it. If your new pikcups have shielding, it can go.

 

I’m assuming the height screws thread into this brass plate and the height is held by springs like a typical humbucker? It seems to me that if you are able to remove the coils from the plastic covers without damaging the pickups that there should be an alternative way to hold the plates in place should you substitute a set of traditional P pickup coils in their place. Hard to visualize without pictures of the bottom of the pickup. It should be noted that a brass plate directly beneath the magnets would affect the sound of the pickups as well

 

If you take out the 3 long screws visible from the top, the plastic surround should come off. Then try taking out the oppositely-placed three short screws. See if the guts of the pickups come out of the plastic cases then. I'd they do, @sunbeast's suggestion is that you may be able to just pop the guts of any traditional P pickup in there.

If they don't come apart, then you can make a tracing of the plastic surround on a piece of pickguard material, but trace an opening that matches a traditional P pickup. Then you can cut it out and use that as a surround to allow you to mount any P pickup you'd like.

 

The issue with the first idea would be that the Yamaha pickup is held up by the pickup ring vs the standard body-mount. You would need some sort of threaded plate like the Yamaha’s underneath in order to hold it up, or conversely you could just mount the pickup to the body and just have holes through that pickup ring to adjust through (which might work).

Does the bass look weird with no ring on there? You could have a custom trim ring for not too much that you could mount a standard P inside. I’ve gotten some nice custom parts made by Dave at Frets on the Net before and he does quality work in a number of different materials to your specs: Frets On The Net Home

 

Is there something actually wrong with the pickup? Generally, I find that those older BB basses with that particular kind of pickup are very, very good. There's little to improve upon tone-wise.

 

I wouldn't rule out the custom pickup ring idea- I can almost guarantee Dave at Frets on the Net that I linked to will charge less than a pickup rewind, and then you'll be able to swap pickups at will for any traditional P pickup mounted to the body of your bass. You'll just need to trace the ring and its outside screw mounting holes then trace a standard P route inside of it that aligns with the current spacing, then you can get whatever material you want. I had him make a set of rings to adapt Thunderbird pickup rings to hold Jazz pickups last year using black satin anodized metal and they were done perfectly and delivered before the estimated time (even during Covid summer).

The problem with a pickup rewind is that if you don't like it after the rewind you'll have to keep trying, which means more $$. Not sure of the design of this pickup internally, including magnets used and the effects of that brass plate underneath- but you will be tied to that stuff too unless you do a complete rebuild (even more money) and unless you pay for a good custom build you probably aren't adding resale value if you ever want to sell the bass in the future (while the custom ring would make the pickup swap for traditional pickups easily reversible apart from the hidden body-mount screws for the pickup- and even add value for someone who wants the Yamaha bass build quality but wants the option to try different pickups like yourself!).

 

Did you ever successfully replace the pickups? If so, do you have the old pickups and pickup ring still? I'd possibly be interested in buying them off you...

 

I was researching the same problem with my Yamaha BB450 on how to mount a different pickup when I came across your thread.

I ended up doing the same, mounting them without the plate. It does allow me to keep it original by not modifying the plate. Although, as you say, it looks a little funky.

Bottom line, it sounds good!

 

Hit up Dave at Frets on the Net for some custom pickup rings!

 

Is that Frets.com?

 

Frets On The Net Home
You can send him a tracing using the original ring as a guide then with the new pickup traced inside, and choose from a number of metals and other materials. I’ve used him before for custom rings and was very pleased!