J an P Bass spacing

[mick]

Anyone know the flatwork spacing ( for the wire )for J and also P Bass ?

Thanks

Mick

[David King]

Mick,

Not sure what you mean here? There are several eras of P and J pickups and the magnets never matched up with the string spacing anyway. What are you trying to recreate? I take the measurements right off the bass in question and drill my flatwork accordingly. If I have to use the old covers then there is no point in trying to rectify the string spacing issues. Otherwise I get blank covers and drill them myself for the corrected spacing.

[Sam Lee Guy]

Oliginal P. Bass measure 9.55mm between each magnet, centre to centre. 1960- 72 J. Bass neck pickup measure 62.9mm centre to centre for outside magnets. Blidge pickup 66.2mm. All pairs 7.2 centre to centre. After mid 1972, back pickup reduce to 65.7 for outside magnets for rest of 70's. Hope this help. Good luck finding covers to fit!

[mick]

Sorry guys I meant the distance between the top and bottom flatwork..where the wire sits ,

Mick

[GlennW]

If you're talking about the coil height, the distance from the top of the bottom bobbin to the bottom of the top bobbin, a rare out of print book states:
P-bass .343"
J-bass .531"

[Sam Lee Guy]

Actually, anybody know where to get good fitting J. Bass covers for vintage pickups? Mexican covers fit perfect, Duncans not bad, but all others don't. Any ideas?

[David King]

I've never seen two J pickup covers that had the same exact dimensions. Every manufacturer is different. None of the after-market cast pickups ever seem to fit correctly either.

Where does one get the Mexican covers other than from Fender?

[GlennW]

I think I've read where the MIM JB pickups changed. They were either both the same size and changed to two different widths, or the other way around. And they probably don't match anything else.

Here's a link for covers. I've never used them.
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bpickup_covers.htm

[David King]

To get back to the topic, I just measured the height on a Jackson P pickup which was handy and the numbers went from .266 to .277.

Other than that I only have Squire P bass which looks like steel and ceramic so I won't bother with it.

[mkat]

Oliginal P. Bass measure 9.55mm between each magnet, centre to centre. 1960- 72 J. Bass neck pickup measure 62.9mm centre to centre for outside magnets. Blidge pickup 66.2mm. All pairs 7.2 centre to centre. After mid 1972, back pickup reduce to 65.7 for outside magnets for rest of 70's. Hope this help. Good luck finding covers to fit!

Coil height for those years is ...

[mick]

Got them....sorted thanks

[Phil m]

Coil height for those years is ...

Is that a question?

If it is, I'm bumping this thread cuz I would love to know that too

[mkat]

Is that a question?

If it is, I'm bumping this thread cuz I would love to know that too

Yep.

Sam, are there differences in the coil height of Jazz Bass pickups for the years you mentioned?

[Sam Lee Guy]

All old J. Bass pickups average 19.9mm long magnets with 2.4mm thick top and bottom and 12.7 - 12.9mm coil height. Early 60's ones have a bit less magnet poking out of the top, but overall this is very inconsistant and average would be 1.5mm for early one. P.Bass have average 13.5mm long (15.9-16.0 for A poles on 1957- early 58) magnet, 2.4mm thick top and bottom and coil height of 6.4 - 6.6mm. Same thing with magnet poking out of top. Many Fender pickups bent when wound and coil height measures more at ends because of this.

[mkat]

Good stuff and interesting to note the changes over the years.