You guessed it... another "keep or sell" (50's Sting Sig.)

Actually. I guessed “Which pickguard looks best with my Squier J bass.” Oh well, carry on.

 

I voted for all 3 options.

It seems to have sentimental value and plays great, therefore you should keep it.
It doesn't sound the way you want it to, therefore you should sell it.
It isn't my bass, therefore I don't give a care

Maybe get it routed for a pickup that you like? Or keep the neck and sell the body?

 

Keep it and have it routed for a TV Jones Thunderblade pickup.

 

I voted "Keep it".

I considered selling my 1988 Carvin fretless many times after I stopped playing around 1994, thinking "I'll never pick this back up again". I don't know whether it was nostalgia or just plain old laziness, but I never did.

Fast forward to 2018 and lo and behold, I get the playing bug again. I've been so happy to have it every day since I picked it back up. It is home; my oldest friend. It is the bass against which I compare all others, and only my newly acquired Pedulla exceeds it. Yet, I still gravitate back to my Carvin. I don't have to think about playing it; I just do it.

As to yours and the sound, keep it, and when you get some spare $, see if a good luthier can find a pickup that will suite your taste (here's a possibility: Split '51 P-Bass - Lindy Fralin Pickups ), or maybe even modify it to fit a pickup style that you know you like.

Don't get rid of it; you'll regret it and be searching for it, or one like it, for a long time after. There are too many stories here on TB about "lost loves."

 

Relic

 

It sounds like you love the bass so wait until you can afford a new pickup/electronics ... maybe post the pickup question in the "Pickups" forum.

 

That or a ThunderBucker!

 

i voted "keep" just because it would be my method these days --- and to modify it to make it one of my mains. but that's just my version of "practical."

i hope you arrive at a decision which works the best for you! good luck!

 

At this time. But down the road, you may. Combine that with being your first real bass, I'd keep it. It's beautiful!

 

I say keep unless you need to fund something specific. Don’t sell unless you have a good reason.

Or try different strings. On my 51 MIJ reissue I had Ken Smith Compressor strings. Sounded amazing.

 

You mentioned you had tried a Lollar pickup. Is that a humbucking? I have a SD stacked humbucking in my '56, no routing necessary, same look, but a thicker sound.
As with all pickup swaps, your bass will have the same "voice" but you can significantly shift the frequency response and output with a different type of pickup in there... and I tried (and currently use) a stacked humbucking.

 

^^^This^^^ Then kick yourself for not having done it ten years ago.

 

Interesting... that Fralin mentioned is a side-by side humbucking. Again, made to fit your bass without modification.

 

Pick up the phone and call Lollar, tell them what’s up, see what they say. Sounds weird, I think Lollar singles are the best.