Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

[musicmasterbass75]

Hi. I recently bought a 1975 Fender Musicmaster Bass. The single coil stock pickup sounds great, however I just can't get enough bottom end. I want to replace the pickup with something that has more power. If anybody has any ideas or has done modifications on a Musicmaster bass could you please let me know. THANKS!!!!!!!!

 

[mrid]

Re: Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Seymour himself once recommended a Cool Rails pickup for this application.

 

[Indie P Bass]

Re: Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

If I were you'd I'd put a 1/4 pounder for the 51's in it. I know those basses just have a strat pickup in it, so putting a bass pickup in it would be a start. Now, the pickguard isn't routed for the 51' pickup, so you'd rquire A) a new guard or B) a new route on the guard. I'm sure WD could get you a Musicmaster Bass pickguard routed for a 51.

Also, you might want to consider getting a Squier Vista Series Musicmaster pickguard. That guard was routed for the 51' pickup already.

 

[bassdog54]

Re: Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

I put an SD scpb-2 in my '78. BIG improvemant. I just had to file the pickguard a bit. The pup will go through it. Bob

 

[billbass1]

Re: Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

I just replaced my stock 73 Fender Musicmaster pup with a Basslines Quarter Pounder
SCPB-3. I now regret doing so because my stock original PUP had about twice the output of the now SCPB-3. Oh well.........

 

[Scott Miller]

Re: Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

Seymour recommends a Cool Rail. It fits the route, the tone is good for that instrument, and the rails cover the string spacing with no problem.

 

[billbass1]

Re: Need to replace my 75 musicmaster bass pickup(not enough punch) ANY IDEAS?

Seymour recommends a Cool Rail. It fits the route, the tone is good for that instrument, and the rails cover the string spacing with no problem.

Yeah, I had considered that option. I decided to go with the quarter pounder because I read that someone had replaced their Squier Bronco bass pup, which is essentially the same as the old Fender Musicmaster, with the SCPB-3
and had gotten very good results. I guess those old Fender Strat pups they used back then are much better than the Bronco pups used now. Anyway, I do like the tone on the SCPB-3. The thing is, I have to turn the volume on my amp up 2 1/2 times greater to acheive the same amount of output as the original pup. I am gonna keep the quarter pounder installed. I also have a Roland V- Bass pup on the Musicmaster and I am blending both pups so I do get a real nice tone.
I have another Musicmaster bass also, but I am gonna keep the stock pup in that one. This one has a Roland V-Bass pup also.
Last week I replaced the split coil pup on my inexpensive short scale SX P-Bass with a Quarter Pounder SPB-3. Now that made a HUGE diffrence in both the volume and tone. They both increased dramaticaly. The stock pup was really just a toy.