Precision bass with J-J pickup configuration

[Davo-London]

Be nice - I've been looking for a real 60/61 Jazz for many years and have yet to find one that is light (8 lbs target weight), cheap (highly modified doesn't bother me) and with a neck with perfect feel.  

I have a '64 P, which is to-die-for in terms of relic looks and playability.  Also the oval "C" neck is the slimmest I've ever played on a Precision and is an absolute fave.

I confess I prefer Precisions over Jazzes, looks, lighter body and so on.

I also love Brazilian rosewood necks.  There, I've said it. 

So, I've been looking for a 60's modified Precision, which I could turn into a J-J configuration.  This would tick all the boxes.  And Jeff Andrews' J-J Precision sounds exactly like  vintage Jazz to me, which of course is the sound I'm going for.

I also have a luthier who would make this from scratch and exactly match my Precision neck and even include Brazilian rosewood slab board.  He could do a heavy relic and include the 60/61 dual-concentric configuration.  The down side is that the bass would be new and I'm not really a fan of new basses.  I love the played in feel of the '64 P.

 

Madness aside, have I missed anything?  Is there another way?  Anyone done something similar?

Jeff's sound:   

 

Regards

Davo

 

[Paul S]

I recently bought a Fender MB-5 on here.  Its a slim-necked 5 string, J/J pups, passive and weighs around 7lbs, narrow string spacing at the bridge.  MIJ.  That is the fiver, so a 4 string would be lighter still.  Sounds like a slightly darker version of a Jazz, especially the blend of front and back which really has that burpy quality.  It has satisfied my light-weight 5 string Jazz bass GAS for not much outlay and I am very pleased with it.  Might be worth taking a look at an MB-4, if one comes along, as I am not sure they come into many folk's radar.

[Skybone]

You could keep an eye out for the "Blacktop" Precision from a few years back. That came with the "double J" humbucker pickups, but the body & neck of a P bass.

It might be worth looking at the wiring to see if you can coil split the "double J" pickups, to give you a bit more "range" from them (I had a Vintage Modified Jazz, with the same pickups, wasn't that impressed).

[Cato]

If memory serves @mcnach has or had a couple of precision type basses that were fitted with Jazz pickups.

[mcnach]

7 minutes ago, Cato said:

If memory serves @mcnach has or had a couple of precision type basses that were fitted with Jazz pickups.

 

did someone call?

 

Indeed... I love the Jazz sound but I much prefer a Precision: the size/weight, the way it balances, the wider neck... so your idea sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Not surprising that I say that, as I tried it myself

So I've had two attempts at this.

The first one was my Matt Freeman Squier Precision. I already had enough Precisions so this was a bit redundant but felt great, so it seemed like the perfect bass to modify. I added a J at the bridge and replaced the P for another J (I had to get a new pickguard). The wiring is Volume/Blend/Tone and it was certainly Jazzy. I was using a pair of Nordstrand NJ4SE pickups I already had, and later a pair of DiMarzio Area J. With the Area J it was a more "Jazz"... but these pickups are humbuckers and they never sound like a traditional Jazz.

Then, I got a Maruszczyk Jake (their Precision model) made for me with a pair of Heussel Jazz 60 pickups. That sounded just like a Jazz should. 

I actually further modified the Matt Freeman: I got another pickguard made with a routing for a J pickup much closer to the bridge: it gives me a very different sound and it's pretty interesting how it blends with the bridge pickup. That bass can now be transformed into a PJ or a Jazz in 10 minutes by using one of the other pickguards. Unnecessary, but there you go.

Here's what the Maruszczyk looked like:

 

[Cato]

I  can see why i remembered that Maruscyck.

Stunning finish.

[Davo-London]

Wow, I'm not alone.  Thanks for the responses.

Davo