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Post subject: new pickup for 78 fretless
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:31 am
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Location: Kaneohe, HI
so it has been a while since I picked up my bass. I let my brother in law, who took care of it and played it it "church gigs", use it for many years. Now that my sons are playing (one on drums and one on guitar - you know those six string things), I want to jam with them (they are Ok with it). One of the pickups on this bass appears to need replacing. What questions and concerns should I have if I have a local music shop replace it for me?

1978 Fretless Jazz bass (Sunburst).


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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:46 am
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Welcome to the forum.

Ok first thing is make sure it is the pickup and not some connection issue or other component like a pot. Second thing is to try and find a shop that does their own pickup rewinding. Rewinding a bum pickup can save you over having to buy a new pickup and they can get a better match up to the good pickup than blindly ordering a replacement that may either overpower the existing pickup resulting in the dreaded badly balanced pickups malady. Since you have a nice Fullerton era instrument (albeit CBS) I'd still give the following advice.

On a Fullerton era instrument you really should NOT replace anything on it that you absolutely don't have to replace. You want to keep it all original for collector value, and yes it has collector value. If it was post 1985 nobody would care and you could put any pickups in it you want. So I would encourage rewinding it. Many major custom pickup shops do rewinding like Lindy Fralin, Seymour Duncan, Jason Lollar and others...but charge about the same as a new pickup to do it. Many smaller shops do their own pickup rewinding for less than the cost of a new pickup.

If you opt to go the new pickup route (you can do that since it is your bass) I would advise replacing both with the same brand (one bridge and one neck pickup from the same brand/series should match fine but will cost twice as much as one pickup and more than rewinding the existing pickup.)

Again, I would look to rewinding the bad pickup if it is proven to be bad and NOT replacing it.


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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:25 am
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Thanks for the advice... now I feel better. Practically everything you mentioned the shop I took it to repeated along with giving me the advice of replacing the strings that are flat rather than round wound. My brother in law had in recent years put strings on, but were round wound. He did not play it much after that time so did not look as though it had a detrimental effect on "finger board".

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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:18 pm
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drerio wrote:
....the shop I took it to repeated along with giving me the advice of replacing the strings that are flat rather than round wound....


Nylon wrapped strings instead of metal wrapped flatwounds are also ok. They have a mellow and more upright bass tone. I even like them on a fretted bass for some things because they have such a unique tone. The nylon wrapped strings would be even gentler on the fretboard than metal wrapped flatwounds. However they don't sound as bright and for some types of music you'd really need to use metal flats. Nylon wrapped strings on a fretless bass are a great choice for any traditional jazz, traditional country, folk, big band and bluegrass. They are no more expensive and lots of fun to play.


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