J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

Oquedo

Oquedo

New member
So, after borrowing a bass from my bandmate (I'm a guitar player) and doodling around with it for days, I find out that I really like playing bass. And as a lefty who lives in Costa Rica there are not many options for me, or none at all, in the guitar shops around.

I'm not planning on switching instrument or band, yet, but I really want a (lefty comfortable) bass on a low budget. So I've decided to assemble my own fender type bass. One part at a time.

I already bought a MIM Jazz bass body on ebay, and will get a Mighty Mite neck soon.

So the question is:

Is it a good idea to put a P bass pickup on this baby, with a jazz bridge pickup?

I play rock and blues so I'm leaning toward vintage passives. Seems easier.

I haven't really ever played a fender bass before so I don't know the actual differences, that's why fitting a hybrid fender type bass seems a good idea.

What do you guys think? Ideas? Recommendations? :scratchch
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

You mean like this?

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0138301301

0138301301_frt_wlg_001.jpg
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

I guess this pic shows the idea better. And also raises a question upon the placement of the neck p.bass pup. It seems to be way to close to the edge of the pickguard.


pj500.jpg
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

Oquedo said:
So, after borrowing a bass from my bandmate (I'm a guitar player) and doodling around with it for days, I find out that I really like playing bass. And as a lefty who lives in Costa Rica there are not many options for me, or none at all, in the guitar shops around.

I'm not planning on switching instrument or band, yet, but I really want a (lefty comfortable) bass on a low budget. So I've decided to assemble my own fender type bass. One part at a time.

I already bought a MIM Jazz bass body on ebay, and will get a Mighty Mite neck soon.

So the question is:

Is it a good idea to put a P bass pickup on this baby, with a jazz bridge pickup?

I play rock and blues so I'm leaning toward vintage passives. Seems easier.

I haven't really ever played a fender bass before so I don't know the actual differences, that's why fitting a hybrid fender type bass seems a good idea.

What do you guys think? Ideas? Recommendations? :scratchch
Click to expand...

My suggestion would have been to order one of these for $150:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BroncoBsBlk/

I am really blown away by mine. I honestly bought it (for $100 used locally) just to use for parts, but it ended up being a really decent bass.

But since you have already started down another road, I guess I won't suggest that.

To answer your questions, I think it is a great idea to put a P Bass pickup in it. I wouldn't have a Jazz Bass any other way. I am not a fan of Jazz Bass pickups. But people doing what you are asking about is classic. It is how the P/J setup came about in the first place. I've only had one P/J bass, and only for about half a year, but I can say that to me, the J pickup is practically worthless. (Makes me feel really stupid for buying a Quarter Pounder for the bridge position on that bass!) Others like it, though.

I'd go for passive pickups. They just sound better to me...for every conceivable purpose. Here is a funny story. My first bass that was actually mine, not my dad's, was a G&L L-2000 fretless. It was used when I got it; here was no instruction manual or anything, and no Internet to look it up. The bass had three switches on it, and I didn't really know what they did. So when I got the bass, I just tried every combination until I found the one that sounded far superior to the rest, and then I never touched the switches again. Years later, I realized that I could look up the instruction manual on the Internet. I found out that one switch was a pickup selector; I always had it set to the lowest sounding pickup. The other was a series/parallel switch; obviously, with one pickup, that did nothing. The other was an active/passive switch; I had it set to passive. What? All those years I thought I was playing an active bass, and changed the battery and everything, I was actually not. I just don't "get" the appeal of active electronics. They sound so "myeh" to me.
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

My J-shaped PJ bass has the split pickup in pretty much the same position as the fretless pictured above. I chose Bartolini 8S/9JL pickups. (Can't remember whether it was 9JL-1 or -4?) Unsurprisingly, even with the P set low and the J set high, the P dominates.
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

So I guess maybe a getting a hotter bridge would be a good idea right? To compensate for the extra output of the P-bass pup. ?
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

A PJ bass isn't as much more useful as -say- a HSS Strat is over a SSS Strat.

In the Strat you usually play either bridge pickup or neck/neck+middle. That means you can freely pick whether you have a humbucker in the bridge or a singe coil without messing with the neck choice. There is the popular bridge+middle notch position which you do damage by compromising the S bridge pickup but you get to keep the rest.

In the bass things aren't that easy since almost nobody uses the Jazz bridge pickup on it's own. And if your "neck" pickup is a precision pickup you don't get to have most of what Jazz players do. So you get a more flexible P bass, not a choice to do J sounds.

Real men play '51 style Precision basses...
 
Re: J/P Bass Project - Recommendations

Thanks uOpt, thats the kind of info I was looking for.

I did thought about a '51 or something like that. A single pickup will help to let go of the pickup neurosis and just play.

But now I have a jazz body and have to fill it. Maybe it would make more sense to just go with what It was meant to be. And there's no need to rout too.
 
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