Thanks!
It's a Hipshot. Which segues very nicely to a broader topic -- replacement hardware.
Assuming you are working toward a quality bass eventually, one that has the looks, feel and sound you want, you are going to want something better than that POS bridge that comes standard on cheap Fender copies and most cheap Fenders. My favorite is Schaller, but there are many good ones including Hipshot, Babicz, Gotoh, KSM, even Fender makes some good bridges. I'm not a big fan of Badass bridges (they're out of production anyway) but some people swear by them, and I'd rather have that than the cheapo Fender bent peice of metal. I like having the extra mass and weight, but some people don't -- fortunately, there are enough options for all of us. The Babicz in particular was specifically designed to be a lightweight direct replacement for Fender bridges.
Tuners also come in many varieties. The most important criteria for me is that the gears are tight. I don't want any slop or play, at all, and it should feel absolutely smooth when you turn them. The higher gear ratio, the better. Again, these can be heavy or light. On a Fender style 4-string bass, though, the typical lightweight tuners would look pretty odd. I prefer wider posts, as it puts less stress on the string, but it is just a preference. Good makers of tuners include Schaller, Hipshot, Gotoh, Grover, and again, Fender makes some good ones.
I dare say that IMO, hardware matters more on a bass than it does on a guitar. Not that you ever want low quality stuff on a bass or guitar, but with a bass, the vibrating strings have a lot more inertia in them, which means it puts more physical demands on the hardware at either end. The same amount of metal that might be suitable for a guitar bridge, for example, might not be quite strong enough to hold up to the full stress of heavier bass strings, and could cost you some sustain. There are different opinions an the matter, but since I'm writing this post, you get my opinion.
Regarding the pickup search, I empathize. There are a lot of botique pickup makers out there, and most of them have a diehard following. I will tell you this, though, I took a gamble on some
Fender Super 55 dual-inline hum-canceling pickups on ebay. As pickups go, it was an inexpensive gamble. I sent my bass body and pickups down to Michael at
Turnstyle Switch where he did a custom electronics job for me. When he got everything wired up, put a neck on it, strung it up and plugged it in, he was astounded at how good they sounded. When I finally got the bass back, put together and set up, I was giddy. Every time I play somewhere, I get comments about the tone. Anyway, I throw that out there for your consumption. The bottom line is you don't have to break the bank to find good sound, and you also don't have to limit yourself to SD or EMG to find reasonably priced good sounding pickups.
One other thing that might interest you -- Fender makes a bass with two precision pickups in it. It's a jazz body, which you'd have to deal with, but it could be fun, and it would give you the bridge punch you are looking for. Plus, as Fender basses go,
it's not that expensive. It even has a bridge that's a step up from their cheapo stuff. (I'd still replace it, though.)
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