Add jazz pickup to fretless Precision

[dmckee]

I have an American Special Precision which was converted to fretless by a previous owner. It’s a lovely job actually - nice big slab of ebony. 

Anyway, I’d like to get a jazz pickup put in it, to make it a bit of a Tony Franklin clone. 

Any suggestions for pickups? I think it’s the standard American split coil that’s in there, so is there a good J pickup to pair with that, or do I buy a matching PJ set? 

Likely to get a 3 way switch, so want pickups to be well balanced. 

[franzbassist]

That was a nice bass

If it were me I'd buy a matched PJ set rather than try to mix and match.  I'd imagine you're much more likely to get a good result that way.

[jebroad]

look at the EMG geezer buttler signature set

[Beedster]

2 hours ago, walbassist said:

That was a nice bass

If it were me I'd buy a matched PJ set rather than try to mix and match.  I'd imagine you're much more likely to get a good result that way.

Absolutely, I've done this many a time, and eventually settled on a Nordstrand NPJ4 set, which gave the tone I wanted plus was relatively well balanced between the two PUPS. I've owned other sets in which I always had to roll back volume on the Precision PUP if I wanted to be able to move between PUPs live. I also use a stacked VT/VT per PUP circuit that gives me some flexibility when moving between PUPS also (I quite like having the J tone rolled off a bit with the P wide open). Placement of the J-PUP is also critical, too close to the bridge and there's likely to be a drop in output relative to the P-PUP irrespective of which set you choose, too close to the P-PUP and you may not get the tone you want form the new PUP. 

Of course, John East removed the need for any of this luthierie malarky when he developed the brilliant P-Retro, but it's been unavailable for over two years now  

[project_c]

I'm just about to do this to one of my P's today, although I'm also replacing the fretless neck with a fretted one for now (I'm keeping the fretless neck, but I'm saving it for another build). I have a Duncan Quarter Pounder PJ set going in there, 70s position, V/V/T. I've already used that set in another bass so I can confirm it's a good set of PJ pickups if you like a weighty precision tone. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by project_c

[dannybuoy]

Whatever you choose, I'd go for something with a high output to better match the P pup, and possibly a split humbucker design to avoid noise. DiMarzio Model J ticks both boxes!

[dmckee]

Yeah, I think a matched pair makes more sense and I’ve used Nordys in many basses. Saying that, i have a single coil QP in my Tele bass and I prefer that I think to the Nordy 51P. And it was the DiMarzio Model J that Tony F put in his original PJ fretless. Hmmmm! 

Anyone have a handy link to the measurements for the 70s pickup position? I think that’s what I want for this. 

[ikay]

Re 70s J bridge pickup position - my '72 measures 377mm from 12th fret to centreline of the pickup poles.

[dmckee]

Cheers for that!