Check out the pickups on this Aria

[jezzaboy]

Can anyone explain the curve in the pickups? I`ve never seen anything like those! Also, a tad expensive or am I talking mince?



[url="http://glasgow.gumtree.com/glasgow/14/69324514.html"]http://glasgow.gumtree.com/glasgow/14/69324514.html[/url]

Jez

[spinynorman]

Extraordinary.

I found a luthier site refering to old Gibson pickups, says "In Late 1963 they started using Polyurethane coated magnet wire to wind the bobbins instead of the dark colored plain enamel of the PAF. [url="http://searcystringworks.blogspot.com/2010/02/1963-gibson-patent-no-pickups.html"]The bobbins are made form butyrate and prone to warping[/url]." So maybe that's it with these too.



Presumably they had pickup covers originally, but he's given that up and just driven 2 posidrives straight through between the poles. No idea how he can claim that's in excellent condition. I suppose it's possible they work ok, but it must affect the balance between the strings surely? Incredible tone - incredible if there is any.

Nice use of CAPS anyway.

[Ou7shined]

He knows his Fenders though.

[Bassassin]

I've seen pups like these before on old Jap basses, but they're really not very common. I'm fairly certain the units wouldn't have had covers of their own, and the screws holding them in are the originals - there are no other holes. This is the way P90 guitar pickups are fitted, too.

Remember on these old 70s Jazz copies the pickups are intended to be hidden under chrome ashtrays, as per the originals, so it's very common to find pickups that aren't copies of the originals hiding under them. On cheaper copies, small chrome Telecaster-type "lipstick" pups are common, and on slightly better ones you often find square chrome high-output singlecoils. I've seen other Matsumoku basses with pups very similar to proper J units, except the adjuster screws are at the ends, rather than the sides.

As time went on, JapCrap got more authentic and pups tend to be more like the originals - although Jazz pickups with rounded ends always stayed very common. Same thing applies to P copies too - I've seen some pretty strange pickups on some of them.

This is a little bit overpriced - to the tune of £75 - £100 or so.

Jon.

[spinynorman]

You're not saying they're supposed to be bent like that, though, surely ..... ?

[Bassassin]

Nah - the bobbins have clearly warped & deformed, the poles (particularly on the neck pup) appear to be different heights, so presumably they're loose. No reason why they shouldn't be functional, but like you said string levels are probably all over the place.

J.