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Post subject: swapping out pots and jack? Worth the trouble?
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:12 am
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Hello Fender friends,
I recently posted asking for imput on which P-bass pickup to replace my MIM pickup with. I am going to put the '62 in it. I was wondering is it worth the time and money to invest into American pots and jack? I did find one on ebay that came right out of a '99 American Vintage 62 RI that I am thinking about getting. What would you guys do? Keep the Mexican pots or replace them with my '62 pickup?

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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 8:11 am
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I think it is worth changing pots and cap. Jacks are pretty equal.

Pots and caps are cheap. I like CTS Pots, and Sprague Caps.

I buy my pots and jacks at Guitar Parts Resources.


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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 10:16 am
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Excellent advice on all counts. If you're going to have it apart, do it right.


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Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 2:54 pm
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I had the knobs, wiring and pickup replaced on my '54 japanese reissue flower bass (but not the jack, didn't think of it). Even had the face routed to fit the '62 pickup, as mine was a single coil '51 typ pup stock. Sounds like a '62 pbass now. I would change everything if you are going to keep the bass. Well worth it to me.


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Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:48 pm
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well its best to replace em all... CTS pots, capacitor and pickups..

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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 6:44 am
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eyecandy wrote:
well its best to replace em all... CTS pots, capacitor and pickups..


+1 to that. While you have the pickguard off you may as well, other than the p-up the parts are pretty inexpensive. I have a tort guard on mine with a 62RI p-up and CTS pots, orange caps, etc. Sounds like a Precision should!!!


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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:55 pm
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Pretty sure those are the same pots and jack used in Fender USA basses made by CTS. If they ain't broke, don't fix 'em. Just a waste of money and time. A capacitor upgrade might be a good idea though. You have the following capacitor options and what kind of music you play and what kind of tone you want should be considered in capacitor selection. Fender almost always used the cheapest capacitors they could.

Ceramic disc- Currently used in Fender USA passive basses. Has an edgy tone with a hint of distortion that is reminiscent of the 60's and 70's before Fender switched to poly chicklet caps. A somewhat aggressive tone and they fit perfectly onto the back of a pot. Costs about 50 cents for a generic to $3.00 or more for genuine Fender.

Poly- Slightly smoother tone than the ceramics, but still a hint of an edge. The green chicklet caps Fender used for so many years and still uses on the CIJ stuff is a poly cap. So are MOST of the popular Orange Drops. All the rounded Orange Drops are Poly. $1 to $4 depending on brand.

Mylar- Much smoother sounding than Poly and approaching the buttery smoothness of Paper-In-Oil caps. The Orange Drop Mylar caps are boxy looking compared to the rounder poly caps. They are also much harder to find. They cost about the same as Poly. They are sensitive to heat so be sure to clip a heat sink onto the lead when soldering.

Paper In Oil - Smoothest most distortion free sound available and very similar performance characteristics to the far longer obsolete paper in wax caps used on the earliest P-basses. They are also far more stable than the paper in wax due to the design. Sprague's Vitamin-Q glass sealed encased in metal with clear insulating cover is the best example of Paper in Oil caps. PIO caps are long out of production in the USA due environmental considerations but recently were still being manufactured in Russia. The 200 Volt variety works great in passive instruments and are quite small so they fit well. The Russian caps run $2 to $4. A genuine Sprague Vitamin-Q will set you back $15 or more in 200 Volt 0.047 value. If you find a never used Vitamin-Q for less consider that a bargain. I have a stash of these and use Vitamin-Q's in all three of my passive instruments.

Paper in Wax - Equally smooth compared to the Paper In Oil caps but much more expensive, prohibitively so for upgrading a MIM bass. Very difficult to find an unused one or even a used one still in tolerance. Bumble Bee caps are one example. These are not as stable as the Vitamin-Q paper in oil cap design.

A good honest reliable source for all types of tone caps is axegrinderz.com . I link to them and write more about tone caps on the RESOURCES page linked to in my signature below.


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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 10:27 am
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Pretty sure those are the same pots and jack used in Fender USA basses made by CTS. If they ain't broke, don't fix 'em. Just a waste of money and time.


I'm inclined to agree with brotherdave.

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