62 Fender P bass pickups in a Squire P bass?

[lovetheblues]

Hi all, I've done a search and did not find this covered here (although I'm guessing it might have been discussed somewhere at some time). Basically, I want to tinker a bit, and and I want to upgrade my Squire P bass pups from stock. In doing some reading around, I've come across comments that some folks really like putting the "Fender 62 original P Bass pickups" in their Squire P bass and loving the tone. Granted, most of these comments are from buyers comments at the selling site eg. Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, Sweetwater Music etc., so not always sure how much to trust them. Right now I could not convince my wife of the necessity of my purchasing an actual Fender P Bass , but these pups are pretty inexpensive, and I can do that with no fuss.

Any of you had the experience of doing this (these pups in a Squire P bass), or knowing someone who did? How did it turn out - did you/they like it much? Also, I've not attempted this before - it does not seem too hard from reading how - but is this very tough to do? Any opinions and advice on this would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Steve

[Cat Burrito]

A lot of us have changed pickups. It's a fairly easy job and can make a huge difference. Personally I prefer Seymour Duncan traditional pickups like the SPB-1 over Fender but everyone is different.

A pickup replacement won't massively change your resale value on the bass but it will wake up your tone. You should do your homework and make sure you are getting what you want. The 62RI pickup will give you a fairly traditional tone but there are some hotter pups out there if you want a bit more meat (not for me but these are the most common sellers). EBay often has deals on second hand pickups if that sways the arguement at home? The resale value of second hand pickups favours the buyer.

Without hearing your bass the other things that can improve performance are decent strings, a better bridge and a good set up. Your bass may benefit from none, some or all of these things depending on how it plays at the moment.

[Ou7shined]

I agree with all of the above. As the great majority of the tone of a passive bass comes from it's pups it's a very worth while mod to do if you want to reap noticeable benefits. Swapping out your originals for USA pups is as you say an inexpensive mod so I say go for it. If you don't like the change you will get your money back on the pups and you will be able to use the experience to maybe go on to try other more boutique pups. I recommend Lindy Fralin or Delano pups if you want to try upscale a bit... Christmas is coming, start hinting to the wife.

[neepheid]

In order to buy the right pickup (there are so many possibilities!) it would help to know what you don't like about your current sound and how it differs from the sound in your head that you want.

To answer your questions - yes I have changed the pickup in a Squier P - I put in a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound and it certainly beefed up the sound, more output, more everything really (bigger pole pieces, more winds). I'm not suggesting that it is the best P pickup out there as I haven't tried enough to make such a judgement, but it's a decent improvement for the price. It's not tough to do. Assuming you're keeping the rest of the electrics it's a case of remove strings, remove pickguard, de-solder 2 wires, remove old pickup, fit new pickup, solder 2 wires, replace pickguard, restring, DONE.

Oh yeah, keep the original pickup. If you sell on this bass, you may not get any more money for it just because it has brand X fancy pants pickup in it. Put the original pickup back in, sell it as stock, and you'll get some money back on selling the replacement pickup separately (or put it in your next bass if it fits )

[dave_bass5]

Agree with all the above.

One thing i will point out is to check the size of the PG cut out first. I say this as ive just changed the pup in my Squier CV P and the replacement pup wouldn't fit the cut out. The replacement is a Wizard (well worth going for over a Fender IMO, and cheaper) and is a standard Fender size.

I had to file the cut out which although wasn't hard to do, it did involve a lot more work.

[Bobby K]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1029415' date='Nov 19 2010, 02:49 PM']Agree with all the above.

One thing i will point out is to check the size of the PG cut out first. I say this as ive just changed the pup in my Squier CV P and the replacement pup wouldn't fit the cut out. The replacement is a Wizard (well worth going for over a Fender IMO, and cheaper) and is a standard Fender size.

I had to file the cut out which although wasn't hard to do, it did involve a lot more work.[/quote]

I had the same problem as Dave. I replaced the pickups in my Squier Classic Vibe P bass with Seymour Duncan SPB-1's and had to file away a little of the pickguard pickup cutout, to get the new pickup to sit right (to align the pole pieces properly with the strings) - it was only about 1mm to the right mind you, pretty easy to do.

The bass now sounds a lot more [i]lively[/i], for want of a better word. Also changed the capacitor for an orange drop. More tone variation available now as a result.

Definitely worth doing mate

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1029415' date='Nov 19 2010, 02:49 PM']Agree with all the above.

One thing i will point out is to check the size of the PG cut out first. I say this as ive just changed the pup in my Squier CV P and the replacement pup wouldn't fit the cut out. The replacement is a Wizard (well worth going for over a Fender IMO, and cheaper) and is a standard Fender size.

I had to file the cut out which although wasn't hard to do, it did involve a lot more work.[/quote]
I also had to do this for a MIJ pickguard. Not a huge job or problem although initially a bit annoying. I too have a couple of Wizard pups & I like them a lot. I think it's only original USA pickguards where you don't have to file the pickguard.

And I'm with Bobby K on the tone capacitor being a cheap mod. You can get them on EBay for a fiver

[dave_bass5]

I've also just changed the cap in my CVP. I wasnt going to but on a whim I ordered a drop cap and put it in last night. I must admit it was a bit of a shock how quickly the tone knob works now.

I love this bass and it's my main gigging bass now. I've also learnt a lot about wiring and pots etc. Just as well it's a cheap bass. I don't think I would have done this with a MIA.

[Lozz196]

I`ve got the 62 P-Bass pickup in my MIM Precision. Previously I`ve had a Seymour Duncan Quarterpounder (which I didn`t like, didn`t sound Fender-y enough), and a Fender 59 (from a Mike Dirnt P-Bass, was a good pickup) in there. To me, the 62 gives a very traditional sounding P-Bass thump. In comparison with the stock pickup it seems that everything is now more defined - cd as oppose to vinyl quality - and less harsh. It has brought my MIM P-Bass more in line with my MIA P-Bass, which is what I wanted from it. The MIA still has my preference, but the MIM is now not too far away.

[Bobby K]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1030176' date='Nov 20 2010, 09:51 AM']I love this bass and it's my main gigging bass now. I've also learnt a lot about wiring and pots etc. Just as well it's a cheap bass. I don't think I would have done this with a MIA.[/quote]

I couldn't agree more dave and like yourself, I've learned loads too with regard to wiring/soldering etc over the recent months.

It can only be a good thing, bud

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Bobby K' post='1032298' date='Nov 22 2010, 10:08 AM']It can only be a good thing, bud [/quote]

Indeed. Although ive changed pups on a few other basses before this was the first time ive changed pots and cap etc.

Funny enough im now looking to get rid of my Thumper for something a bit more traditional. Its a great pup but after three gigs im now finding its not quite what i was hoping for.

Im hoping that someone has a Wizard Trad they want to swap, or even a 62RI.

[lovetheblues]

Hey all - thank you SO much for your input! Excellent Yes - the hints have been given out to the wife Now I'm going to be debating a little more on which pups to get, but I'm still leaning towards the Fenders as I am looking for that traditional Motown P bass kinda sound. The mod sounds pretty easy - thanks for the encouragement on that. Now I am wondering about the cap change..... sounds inexpensive - is this a difficult mod to do? I'm guessing not too much, but I'd like to know what I'm in for. I've also seen a fair number of people saying good things about the Orange Drop caps - would this be the preferred one for a Squire P bass?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

Steve

[dave_bass5]

I changed the cap in my Squier and it's very easy to do.
The orange caps seem to be the cap of choice at the moment. I wasn't going to bother but as i had the bass open i thought i would give it a go. Its easily reversible.

They cost less than £1 so it's a very cheap mod.

Here's the thread i started a while ago about upgrading my Squier CV P.
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=107211"]Upgrading a Squier[/url]

And one about Soldering
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110170"]Dull Solder Joints[/url]

some great advice in both threads.

Edited November 24, 2010 by dave_bass5

[lovetheblues]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1034708' date='Nov 24 2010, 02:36 AM']I changed the cap in my Squier and it's very easy to do.
The orange caps seem to be the cap of choice at the moment. I wasn't going to bother but as i had the bass open i thought i would give it a go. Its easily reversible.

They cost less than £1 so it's a very cheap mod.

Here's the thread i started a while ago about upgrading my Squier CV P.
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=107211"]Upgrading a Squier[/url]

And one about Soldering
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110170"]Dull Solder Joints[/url]

some great advice in both threads.[/quote]

Thanks Dave! I appreciate your input and the threads :-)

[kirk]

[quote name='lovetheblues' post='1035850' date='Nov 25 2010, 06:27 AM']Thanks Dave! I appreciate your input and the threads :-)[/quote]

+1


I'm in the same situation as the OP in that I have a Squier P bass that I intend to tinker with. I paid naff all for it so I figure I'll do some relatively low cost upgrades while I seek out a worthy replacement for it. I was originally thinking new pup, a wiring kit, maybe even a new bridge (Gotoh seem to be held in fairly high regard and are relatively cheap).

However, I don't want to spend to much money polishing a turd. So rather than getting carried away and spending a chunk of cash that could go a fair way towards buying a better bass I think I might just go for a pup upgrade and a new capacitor for the tone pot. I've heard good things about the Kent Armstrong hot vintage for an improved, but still recognizably 'precision' tone.

And last but not least is the fact that apart from a couple of speaker replacements I haven't done much soldering since I was at school (looong time ago) so I'm going to have to read up plenty on that subject!

Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent soldering iron? I noticed 40w was recommended in one of the threads Dave posted links to.

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='kirk' post='1039436' date='Nov 27 2010, 11:57 PM']Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent soldering iron? I noticed 40w was recommended in one of the threads Dave posted links to.[/quote]

I ended up getting a 30watt iron from Maplins for £9.99.

[url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=32909&C=Froogle&U=32909&T=Module"]Soldering Iron[/url]

It seems to work well enough. Although i have a old 25watt and the 40watt draper that i mentioned in my thread the 30watt seems to be a doing a good job.
Its not the best but i didnt want to spend a lot of money on something i wouldn't use a lot.

After getting all that good advice i found i got much nicer looking joins, and changing from the lead free solder to the 60/40 made it a bit easier as well.