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Post subject: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:09 pm
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If anyone needs more lows than what the stock Fender P-Bass pickups can deliver along with clean mids and bright highs, I can definitely suggest the DiMarzio DP127 Split P series pickups.

I just did a mod on my 2008 P-Bass and the results are amazing. Frequency response to 14 hz and a 250 milivolt output really makes my bass 'talk' like it never has.

< Personal for BrotherDave... Have you ever tried these yourself? >

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PaducahLuke

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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 3:22 pm
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I want to try the rails (127) soon. Dimarzios are great pickups. I've always said that.


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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 4:10 pm
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stroker vance wrote:
I want to try the rails (127) soon. Dimarzios are great pickups. I've always said that.



S-V... You'll really like 'em. I know that you are a DiMarzio fan and this will be a great upgrade for one of your P-Basses.

I ordered mine through Amazon.com and my set was shipped by Music 1,2,3 in Kansas on March 31 and arrived today, April 02.

Let me know how yours work out and just a hint - these are EACH humbucker wound and are absolutely quiet. But, twist the red and green leads together, one wrap every 2 inches or so, to keep stray RF or 60 hz. interference from stage equipment from getting into the amp through the tone and volume controls on your bass. I mentioned this hint to Dave last week and he agreed that it is a good way to keep any stray noise sources at bay. Also, since you have to take the bridge off anyway, check the grounding wire and underside of the bridge for proper contact and lightly sand away any corrosion. Cheap insurance while you have it apart.


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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:41 pm
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PaducahLuke wrote:
stroker vance wrote:
I want to try the rails (127) soon. Dimarzios are great pickups. I've always said that.



S-V... You'll really like 'em. I know that you are a DiMarzio fan and this will be a great upgrade for one of your P-Basses.

I ordered mine through Amazon.com and my set was shipped by Music 1,2,3 in Kansas on March 31 and arrived today, April 02.

Let me know how yours work out and just a hint - these are EACH humbucker wound and are absolutely quiet. But, twist the red and green leads together, one wrap every 2 inches or so, to keep stray RF or 60 hz. interference from stage equipment from getting into the amp through the tone and volume controls on your bass. I mentioned this hint to Dave last week and he agreed that it is a good way to keep any stray noise sources at bay. Also, since you have to take the bridge off anyway, check the grounding wire and underside of the bridge for proper contact and lightly sand away any corrosion. Cheap insurance while you have it apart.


Okay thanks for the wrap tip. The guy at the music store showed me the 127's and I commented that it was a good idea so the pick up won't be so uni - directional because of one pole piece per string - the poles don't always line up with each string. Usually the G so the rails seem like a good way to make all strings even in volume once adjusted. Am I right on that?


Last edited by stroker vance on Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:49 am
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stroker vance wrote:
PaducahLuke wrote:
stroker vance wrote:
I want to try the rails (127) soon. Dimarzios are great pickups. I've always said that.



S-V... You'll really like 'em. I know that you are a DiMarzio fan and this will be a great upgrade for one of your P-Basses.

I ordered mine through Amazon.com and my set was shipped by Music 1,2,3 in Kansas on March 31 and arrived today, April 02.

Let me know how yours work out and just a hint - these are EACH humbucker wound and are absolutely quiet. But, twist the red and green leads together, one wrap every 2 inches or so, to keep stray RF or 60 hz. interference from stage equipment from getting into the amp through the tone and volume controls on your bass. I mentioned this hint to Dave last week and he agreed that it is a good way to keep any stray noise sources at bay. Also, since you have to take the bridge off anyway, check the grounding wire and underside of the bridge for proper contact and lightly sand away any corrosion. Cheap insurance while you have it apart.


Okay thanks for the wrap tip. The guy at the music store showed me the 127's and I commented that it was a good idea so the pick up won't be so omni- directional because of one pole piece per string - the poles don't always line up with each string. Usually the G so the rails seem like a good way to make all strings even in volume once adjusted. Am I right on that?



S-V... you are right on that to a point. Alignment of the poles on pickups without rails can be off a little. However, since each string has two pole tops in close proximity to the strings, there really isn't any loss in magnetic/inductance transfer from the vibrating string to the poles that is worth mentioning. However, the rail type that DiMarzio produces eliminates even the smallest misalignment and allows the pickup to respond to the string vibration without any losses at all.

My recommendation would be to carefully measure the distance from the top of the pick guard to the underside of each string just in front of the respective original pickups BEFORE you do the swap. Make certain that the string height at the original pickups as well as along the entire length of the neck is within factory specifications. If it is off, carefully adjust the truss rod and bridge saddle heights to conform to Fender spec's. If the spacings ARE in spec, then measure the distance from the top of the BODY of the original pickups to the underside of each string. Mark those spaces down on paper. Loosen the strings and remove the bridge, wrapping it in a soft cloth so it does not scratch the guitar body and set it off to the side. Replace the pickups following the DiMarzio instructions and use one piece of packing sponge rubber in the DiMarzio box, cut in half, as a cushion spacer under each new pickup. The pickup with the RED wire goes in the neck side pocket and the pickup with the GREEN wire goes in the bridge side pocket. Splice and solder the WHITE and BLACK leads together and insulate the wires in that splice with high quality electrical tape or heat shrink tubing. Attach the new RED lead to the hot tab on the volume control and the GREEN lead to the grounded metal body of the volume control. Set the pickup height to a mid point with the new screws included in the kit. Put the pick guard back on with just a couple screws for now. Check the underside of the bridge and the ground wire pigtail for any surface corrosion and LIGHTLY sand them if necessary using 400 grit paper. Re-mount the bridge and re-tension the strings close to being in-tune. Then, measure the distance from the top of the new pickup bodies to the underside of each string and using the pickup mounting screws, adjust the spacing from the new pickups to the underside of each string as closely to the original measurement as possible. Test the new pickups and if everything is OK, put the rest of the pick guard screws back in, tune the bass properly and have at it.

You will have much more low response than with the originals. You will also have a bit more tone range than with the originals and of course, absolutely no internal noise. The capacitor in the bass should probably be a .047 or a .050 to start with. That is what DiMarzio recommends as a starting point and will probably be right-on for most bassists.

"P-L"

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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:56 pm
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The DP127 is often called "Split P"


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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:09 pm
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Thanks- I changed my post to "uni" instead of "omni"- it was late etc etc.

On my 70's Dimarzio 123's with the very slight mis- alignment -- when I bend the string up and it goes directly over the pole piece the volume increases. That's where the thought came from when I saw the rails on the 127's. I'm so used to round poles the look of the two rails didn't quite compute but I like the idea for the performance of the pickup. I bet they do sound great. I think the P bass Dimarzios perform better that the J models overall from the ones I've owned since the 70's.

I wonder if the rails would be too noisy for use in a Jazz in a single coil setup-- or would they have to be humbucking to work right?


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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:48 pm
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I've never owned a bass with DiMarzio pups at all. Might be worth checking out. Once I put a vintage chrome pickup cover on, nobody would see them anyway. hehehehe

However I sure do like Alnico.


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Post subject: Re: DiMarzio DP127 pickup mod for P-Bass
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:42 am
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stroker vance wrote:

I wonder if the rails would be too noisy for use in a Jazz in a single coil setup -- or would they have to be humbucking to work right?


If you are speaking of the style of J-Bass that has a split P neck pickup and a long style single bridge pickup ( like the Jazz Bass Specials from the 1980's), EACH of the rail split P type DiMarzios is it's own humbucker, you would probably have to invest in a DiMarzio DP248 bridge pickup as well for the bridge location... which is also a humbucker. Now THAT would be quite a J-Bass setup !!!! Best of both worlds without any single coil hum from bridge OR neck pickups.

If you ever do that swap out, please let us know how it turns out. Sounds like a winner to me.

CLICK >>> http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/bass/standard-bass/area-j-bridge

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