I got in a set of Fender Jazz Bass pickups this week to work on. They were microphonic and had all sorts of copper shielding tape stuck all over them. The owner said he was disappointed in the 1972 Jazz Bass because it just didn't have the punch that a good jazzer should. He wanted me to look the pickups over and see if I thought there was something we could do with them to get them sounding right.
After giving them the once over I figured out that the non original neck pickup and the original bridge pickup both had south facing poles! The magnets were improperly phased and that's what was causing some of his issue. The neck pickup also had some of the magnets shoved down too far in the bobbin. I corrected the magnet on the neck pickup, got rid of the shielding tape and potted the pickups. They will be heading back home in a few days.
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Hi Clint. Just discovered you today. I'm so inspired! Speaking of pickups out of phase... Over the weekend the pickups on my Squier Precision bass (Alnico V's) came into contact with a stack of small rare earth magnets. I have curious and experimental kids, and I'll leave it at that as to keep my blood pressure down. The pickups were left almost completely sonically dead. Anyway, I did my research, discovered how I could use some of the same magnets in my vice to recharge/realign the pole pieces. I went through those motions and finally got volume back (though I swear the tone is rougher). However, when the volume pot is turned below the halfway point, there is no sound. When cranked to full I think volume is at the expected level. I didn't desolder any leads but instead did the work while still wired to the pickguard, and all the solder points still look solid. Any thoughts on how the magnetic action might have affected the pickups in such a way? Thanks for your time and the great material you publish!
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