Suggestions for upgrade of the "J" like bridge pickup in an Aria Pro II Laser Electric (won't fit regular J dimensions)?

[Baloney Balderdash]

So as I wrote in another post last night I fell in love with my first bass ever and old main an Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic last night.

But while the neck/midle position pickup which is an about big soapbar size humbucker, I assume split coil reverse P like pickup judging from the pole pieces, has a quite high output, a nice fairly aggressive character and sounds amazing the bridge J type pickup sounds really weak, thin and anemic, so I am pondering on replacing it.

However a regular J pickup won't fit into the cavity as the screw holes on this is at the ends of the length of the pickup, missing room for the screw hole ears on the side, though, except for missing the side screw hole ears, the cavity is slightly wider and longer than a regular J pickup cavity.

To be exact the bridge pickup cavity is about 26.5mm (1.043") wide , 119mm (4.685") long, and the string spacing at the bridge pickup placement is about 16.5mm (0.65").

This as far as I have been able to conclude makes room for either a Tele bass type pickup, though the pole spacing of those will be way too close together for the actual string spacing of my bass at the bridge pickup cavity, or a Strat guitar pickup, which, to make sure it covers the strings, would have to be a blade style one, I have checked and the blade would typically be just about 60mm long, while the overall string span at the bridge pickup on my bass is just about 50mm (I don't actually care about some of the cavity being left not filled out by the pickup at all).

So far having looked through Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio's offerings for blade Strat pickups, particularly judging from the DC Resistance/Output and tone profile information on the home pages, the DiMarzio DP182 Fast Track 2 blade humbucker Strat guitar pickup seems to be closest to the the kind of pickup I would be looking for, which is high output, pronounced mids and not too pronounced highs, but I am definitely open to other suggestions that'll fit those criteria and will fit the pickup cavity.

So anyone got any suggestions to alternatives I should look into for this?

Here's a pickture of the pickups in my Aria Pro II Laser Electric to give you a better idea :

Edited December 7, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[ped]

Not 100% sure but perhaps having the pickup rewound would be the best option. It'll look the same but be 'different' underneath. I don't think the J pickups in these were designed to be used solo, more as a touch of seasoning of the P pickup.

[lemmywinks]

What does the rear of the pickup look like, can you not take the guts out of the outer casing and swap them for a regular J pickup?

Edited December 7, 2020 by lemmywinks

[Baloney Balderdash]

59 minutes ago, ped said:

Not 100% sure but perhaps having the pickup rewound would be the best option. It'll look the same but be 'different' underneath. I don't think the J pickups in these were designed to be used solo, more as a touch of seasoning of the P pickup.

My guess is that having the pickup rewound would end up costing more than buying a new one, but then again I never had this done, so I might be wrong in that assumption, also I would guess it would need a new magnet as well, as testing the magnetic pull on respectively the P like humbucker neck pickup and the bridge J like pickup in comparison the pole pieces on the J has a much weaker magnetic field.

Finally I would rather want something that adds more snap and bite than something that tame down the humbucker neck, and as I said I don't really mind some space of the bridge pickup cavity eventual not being filled out completely by the new pickup at all.

I appreciate your suggestion though. 

52 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

What does the rear of the pickup look like, can you not take the guts out of the outer casing and swap them for a regular J pickup?

I didn't think of that, brilliant idea, thank you. 

That might actually turn out to be the best possible solution, if it is doable that is, haven't actually ever had the pickups out to have a look.

Though the covers does have an arc, approximately following the fretboard radius, but I guess that technically will make no difference on whatever J pickup it might be possible to fit inside it anyway (except slightly limiting how close I can raise it towards the strings (the pole pieces of the stock bridge pickup, unlike the flushed pole pieces of the neck, are staggered and sticking out a bit)). 

In case this is actually possible I might consider either the Seymour Duncan STK-J2 Hot Stack Jazz Bass J pickup, or eventual, for a much cheaper solution, but one that seems to get a lot of praise on the internet, the Entwistle JBXN  J pickup, utilizing neodymium magnets. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[lemmywinks]

18 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Though the covers does have an arc, approximately following the fretboard radius, but I guess that technically will make no difference on whatever J pickup it might be possible to fit inside it anyway (except slightly limiting how close I can raise it towards the strings (the pole pieces of the stock bridge pickup, unlike the flushed pole pieces of the neck, are staggered and sticking out a bit)). 

In case this is actually possible I might consider either the Seymour Duncan STK-J2 Hot Stack Jazz Bass J pickup, or eventual, for a much cheaper solution, but one that seems to get a lot of praise on the internet, the Entwistle JBXN  J pickup, utilizing neodymium magnets. 

 

Funnily enough I spoke to Nordstrand about raising the pole pieces on one of their pickups to match the fingerboard profile of my Sire, they said it would be fine to push them up from the bottom but a bit risky to push them back again. This worked on Nordstrands as the pole pieces extend a bit below the base whereas the original Sire pickups are flush.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Found this doing a Google search on "Aria Pro II Replacement pickups" :

https://www.rautiaguitars.net/aria-pro-ii.html

 

The MM/MB-pickup seems promising and should fit perfectly in the bridge cavity.

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

46 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

Funnily enough I spoke to Nordstrand about raising the pole pieces on one of their pickups to match the fingerboard profile of my Sire, they said it would be fine to push them up from the bottom but a bit risky to push them back again. This worked on Nordstrands as the pole pieces extend a bit below the base whereas the original Sire pickups are flush.

Well the Entwistle JBXN J pickup got screw pole pieces so if I go for that it should be possible, even if the pole distance turns out to be slightly different and doesn't fit the holes in the cover at least I will be able to raise the middle pole pieces according to the arc of the original pickup cover. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash