Fender American Pick ups

[Teddy_Hitch]

Hey guys was just wondering if anyone knew if you can buy the standard pick ups that go into American series precision basses?

I have a highway 1 which comes with the mexican pick up and was just wondering if it was possible to switch it for an american one!

Cheers in advance!

[Cat Burrito]

Yes you can. It might be worth having a look at some other brands too but yes a Fender replacement will be fine

[harlowbassplayer]

sup i say if you are thinking about getting fender's p bass pickups i would say go for the vintage american ones

for that vintage fender tone

[Lozz196]

You certainly can - tho finding one new may be a bit awkward.

However I also wanted one of these recently, and put an ad in the Items Wanted post here, and had 3 replies. I bought one, so there are another 2 out there - may be worth looking at my thread, and contacting the people on there - for info, I got mine from RayFW, so his has gone.

Agree abt the Vintage/Original - good pickup, I got one for £56 from Axesrus - seen them for over £80 so was a good deal.

[Quatschmacher]

Here you go: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2010-Fender-American-Standard-P-BASS-PICKUPS-Pickup-Set-/190438747822?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2c5708aeae"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2010-Fender-American...=item2c5708aeae[/url]

This seller has loads of parts, he has the vintage pickups too.

Edited September 17, 2010 by Quatschmacher

[LawrenceH]

[Hijack] I'd be very interested to know the pickups fitted to various Fender basses, and how they relate to the ones available for sale separately. Is there anywhere giving definitive info, or does anyone here know? [/Hijack]

[Lozz196]

Fenders website lists the various pickups they make, Clicking on each respective bass details the pickup that is fitted to that model.

You can order most (if not all) of their pickups individually, however the only one that seems to be widely sold is the Vintage/Original, which used to be called the 62. Its a pretty good pickup, great for upgrading say a backup MIM Precision, if yr main bass is a MIA Precision. Its a "fatter" sounding pickup, so makes the MIM more comparable to the MIA (this is what I`ve done, and I`m very pleased with it).

[Teddy_Hitch]

Thanks for the replies chaps, still a little confused though.

Fender's site says I have a Standard Vintage Alnico Split Single-Coil Precision Bass® Pickup in my highway 1, is that this pickup:

[url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/fender-original-vintage-p-bass-pickup--47773"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/fender-origin...s-pickup--47773[/url]

?

[Lozz196]

Going by the wording, it looks like it, however theres an easy way to tell, by looking at it closely.

The pickup in yr link, if you enlarge it, where the pole pieces are, they are chamfered at the top, giving a stubby "cut-off-at-the-top" conical effect, whereas the pole pices on both the MIA & MIM are just cylindrical with a straight cut at the top.

[dave_bass5]

I tried to get a MIA pup at the beginning of this year. I gave up in the end and i was quoted 6-8 weeks delivery time by most retailers.

Ive just swapped out the stock pups in my HW-one Jazz for a set of Wizards and what a difference. The tone was good to start with but these wizards have really thickened it up. So much so that my P bass GAS has gone for now.

By the way, i was under the impression the HW1 and HW-one comes with USA pups, not MIM. I guess i could be wrong.

[Teddy_Hitch]

I have the first highway 1 series before the 70's headstyling and badass bridge etc, so I guess the pick ups may have been updated as well!

Think I'll have a little look for other pickups, was always tempted by basslines quater pounders but I don't want too much of a blink 182 sound!

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Teddy_Hitch' post='961161' date='Sep 19 2010, 01:34 PM']I have the first highway 1 series before the 70's headstyling and badass bridge etc, so I guess the pick ups may have been updated as well!

Think I'll have a little look for other pickups, was always tempted by basslines quater pounders but I don't want too much of a blink 182 sound![/quote]

I had one of the first gen HW1's when they first came out. This was my first ever jazz and i loved it. I never bothered changing the pups on it. It was only this year that i sold it and now i have one of the newer ones.
To my ears it sounds slightly different, not sure if thats actually the case though.
I was going to get soem Dimarzios but as i had some wizards in my CV Jazz i thought i would give them a try. Im really glad i did. They are slightly darker, but have more punch than the stock pup. And they only cost £70 for the pair. Well worth looking in to IME.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Teddy_Hitch' post='958988' date='Sep 17 2010, 12:05 AM'],,,,Hey guys was just wondering if anyone knew if you can buy the standard pick ups that go into American series precision basses? I have a highway 1 which comes with the mexican pick up and was just wondering if it was possible to switch it for an american one!,,,,[/quote]
I would guess that the American pickup was made in Mexico as well!

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='Lozz196' post='959456' date='Sep 17 2010, 02:07 PM']Fenders website lists the various pickups they make, Clicking on each respective bass details the pickup that is fitted to that model.

You can order most (if not all) of their pickups individually, however the only one that seems to be widely sold is the Vintage/Original, which used to be called the 62. Its a pretty good pickup, great for upgrading say a backup MIM Precision, if yr main bass is a MIA Precision. Its a "fatter" sounding pickup, so makes the MIM more comparable to the MIA (this is what I`ve done, and I`m very pleased with it).[/quote]

Very useful! Thanks to this I've discovered you can buy the Vintage 75 pickups separately...I have a feeling my Classic 70s is gonna get pimped (especially given that it's pickups have been thrown into a CIJ 75RI!)

[orangepeelneil]

[size=3]Hi,

I replaced my stock pickups from my 2006 highway one Pbass with some Schaller pickups.

They are ofter overlooked :-


The Schaller (PB6)240 Alnico( 14K Ohms) have 6mm pole pieces like the SD 1/4lb, bit hotter than stock pick ups but smooth tone.

They also do a (PBX) 236 ceramic (11K Ohms) which is a more traditional type.


I used the (PB6) 240 in mine bass and I'm very happy with the tone, they are harder to find in the U.K-but ofter cheaper than the alternatives.



Cheers Neil [/size]