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Post subject: Re: Classic Series 50s Precision
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:06 pm
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I have just received a Classic 50's pickup. It measures 5,56 K'ohm and 5,62 k-ohm. For each part of the precision pickup. I'm not sure if it is a normal fender Precision pickup. I read when they just brought out the Classic 50's Precision that they took a very good Precision of that era and then meticuliously copied it's specs.

So I do believe this pickup is wound to the specifications of that bass...


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Post subject: Re: Classic Series 50s Precision
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:27 pm
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I have a Blonde 50's Classic. The MIM pickups that come in the classic and the Roadworn I think are the same regular MIM P bass PU. They don't sound all that great to me SO- I replaced the PU's in both my RW and C50's with aftermarket pickups. In my case it was Dimarzio circa 1979. It made a big difference in the sound of both basses. I think they are great basses once you dump the pickups - the sound opens up. I have never been a fan of MIM pickups. I'm always reading on here about an AVRI or Avr or whatever . I guess that's a USA Vintage. Everyone writes about those when someone posts about a Classic 50's. They must be very similar- one US and one MIM though. I have no problem saving the bucks and getting a light weight MIM Classic or RW. I think they are very comperable to a USA bass. Very good guitars is my experience.


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Post subject: Re: Classic Series 50s Precision
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:59 pm
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Location: Albemarle, NC
Haven't checked the pickup on a meter from the Classic Series 50's P-Bass but I have checked a real 1957 which reads 11,554 Ohms precisely as a pair in the circuit. There is some loading from the pots in that total due it having original solder joints and I'm not breaking them. You can compare the Classic 50's pickup in circuit to that reading and see how it stacks up.

In contrast a real 62 P-Bass pickup will read closer to 10,500 Ohms in circuit which is why it sounds brighter than the '57. Funny that 1000 Ohms can make so much difference! Also it could be that the winders themselves were getting better at the hand scattering winding pattern.

The term "Hand Wound" pickups was brought up. The more correct description would be "Hand Scatter Wound." 1965 back Fender pickups were all hand scatter wound. CBS went to machine winding all pickups about 1965 almost immediately after buying Leo Fender out. In both machine wound pickups and hand scatter wound pickups the pickup bobbin is rotated mechanically at high speed in a similar fashion. FMIC revived hand scatter wound pickups on their USA made instruments after buying out CBS.

The difference lies in varying the tension of the winding and how the winding is layered. Hand scattering is a seemingly random layering using two fingers (usually the index and thumb) to manually manipulate the winding pattern and also to vary the tension of the wind during certain stages of the wind. But the reality is that the seemingly random pattern and the tension variation it isn't random at all. Hand scatter winding Fender pickups is an art roughly comparable to basket-weaving where two weavers of different skill level sitting side by side can use the same materials and the same basic techniques, yet get very different results. This is why Abigail Ybarra pickups are so prized. Yet hand scatter veterans have tonal variations pickup to pickup just like no two baskets made by the same basket-weaver will be exactly identical.

There is no substitute for experience in some things and hand scatter winding pickups is a perfect example of that. So when someone touts a pickup as "Hand Wound" my first question is, "By whom?" Hand scattering the wind produces subtle differences from pickup to pickup even in two pickups hand scatter wound by the same person! Hand scatter winding imparts a different "character" (for lack of a better word) between any two pickups with exactly the same impedance reading even when wound by the same person on the same day. In contrast when fully machine wound all 11.5K Ohm pickups sound almost identical with no character variations.

With hand scatter winding some pickups will suit some people better than others. Hand scatter winding as the sole consideration does not guarantee you'll get a gem of a pickup, but merely gives you a shot at one.

A good comparison would be moonshine whiskey versus Jack Daniels whiskey. Some moonshine runs are better than others made by the same moonshiner, but even a bad run of moonshine will get you intoxicated. Some moonshiners are noted for making better moonshine than others and develop a "following" or a regular clientele. Machine wound pickups are uniform if nothing else, sort of like Jack Daniels commercial whiskey is uniform.

We are not talking glaring vast tonal differences here and many players wouldn't hear any difference. However if in reality there was no difference at all between fully machine wound pickups and hand scattered pickups and also no difference between the hand scatter winders themselves then hand scattering would never have made the comeback it made and Ms. Ybarra would be just another Fender factory worker who came and went with nobody ever knowing her name.


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Post subject: Re: Classic Series 50s Precision
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 10:10 am
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concerning the type of pick-up on your 50's p bass, it is a vintage style pick-up. this type is used on the classic series and the roadworn series and other series of basses,
some from mexico and some from the united states.


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