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Tell me about Jazz Bass pickup positioning


BrunoBass
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I only recently found that out that Fender have, over time, changed the position of the bridge pickup on the Jazz Bass. Other than the obvious difference this would make to the tone, what was the point or benefit of doing this? What’s preferable? Which is considered the definitive pickup position? 

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70's Jazzes had the bridge pickup marginally closer to the bridge, which is apparently very appealing to the Slapping fraternity due to the extra snap and zing this gives.

As I'm very much a Missionary Position with the lights off type of guy, I don't really notice much difference personally.

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BrunoBass   

If you are thinking of buying a Jazz bass with 70's spacing and trawling through photos on Ebay etc.

An easy way to check is the bridge pickup lines up exactly with the tone control on a Jazz with Vol/Vol/Tone configuration

I think Fender and/or Squier have released 70's reissues which have 60's spacing, causing even more confusion.

Fender confusion           (sorry ..... apologies)

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14 minutes ago, miles'tone said:

The new Squier Classic Vibe 70s jazz has the bridge pickup in the right place. The old VM 70s didn't. 

Didn't realise this, all the previous Squiers I've seen have had 60s positioning.

When I hear a 60s vs 70s Jazz on YouTube, etc, I always prefer the 60s. Although I would like to get to a shop one day and compare a Geddy Lee or other 70s style to the rest!

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Interesting information. Thanks chaps. I enjoyed the short history film. My '72 has the bridge pickup in line with the tone pot as blisters points out above. I've always liked the edge it gives to the instrument, although I tend to use both, with the bridge at a slightly lower level, so I get a round tone with some cut/growl but not the full Jaco. As the film points out, it does blend wonderfully with a kick drum.

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To my experience (pro over 40 years) it really doesn’t matter much at all. Some basses are ”snappier”, some ”punchier”, some ”warmer” etc, regardless if the pickups are positioned half an inch south or north. You might hear the difference between 60`s and 70`s bridge PU placement when listening Your Instrument carefully alone at home.
When playing in a noisy club or stadium You are often lucky to hear it at all. Even when You hear it recorded in a studio, sometimes it is so heavily eq`d , compressed and destroyed in the mix to lack all the detail and dynamics so it really doesn’t matter if there is a bridge pickup at all.

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10 hours ago, Johannes said:

To my experience (pro over 40 years) it really doesn’t matter much at all. Some basses are ”snappier”, some ”punchier”, some ”warmer” etc, regardless if the pickups are positioned half an inch south or north. You might hear the difference between 60`s and 70`s bridge PU placement when listening Your Instrument carefully alone at home.
When playing in a noisy club or stadium You are often lucky to hear it at all. Even when You hear it recorded in a studio, sometimes it is so heavily eq`d , compressed and destroyed in the mix to lack all the detail and dynamics so it really doesn’t matter if there is a bridge pickup at all.

Unless you happen to be a full on bass geek like most people on basschat, at which point minor differences become interesting. Otherwise we’d all be playing keyboards or something. 

We hear the ‘audience won’t notice’ argument a lot but I don’t think many of us are catering exclusively for the audience. 

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Feel free to ignore this as I've never owned a fender bass (I do have a fender g**tar though, weird), but isn't a reasonable answer to worries about minor differences in pickup positioning on a JJ bass just to have them nice and wide apart and have a blend control? My not-a-P-bass and my not-a-J-bass (Maru..yk Jake and Elwood) both have blend and when the two pups are similar enough it feels a lot like being able to slide the pickup from the bridge to the neck.

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On 30/10/2019 at 09:51, Geek99 said:

I’ve had a jap 75 reissue where it was wrong ....

 

I had three japanese reissues... two had 70s spacing and one 60s spacing (shrug). Nice basses but you can't assume what spacing they have until you check, indeed.

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3 hours ago, adamg67 said:

Feel free to ignore this as I've never owned a fender bass (I do have a fender g**tar though, weird), but isn't a reasonable answer to worries about minor differences in pickup positioning on a JJ bass just to have them nice and wide apart and have a blend control? My not-a-P-bass and my not-a-J-bass (Maru..yk Jake and Elwood) both have blend and when the two pups are similar enough it feels a lot like being able to slide the pickup from the bridge to the neck.

 

Not really. 

Two pickups when blended together seem to enhance/cancel some harmonics, which gives them their characteristic sound. You can give one pickup priority over the other with the blend control, but how they interact seems to depend on the distance between them. The wider apart they are, the more pronounced the mid-scoop, for example.

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Easy way to check is that on a 70s spacing bass the rear pickup is in line with the tone control. On a 60s spacer the pickup is in line with the gap between the tone and rear pickup volume knob. 

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