Putting two Jazz Bass pickups together

[GlennW]

I think it will work, but I know there's a lot I don't know.

I'm thinking about cutting off two mounting screw bosses from two Jazz Bass bridge pickup covers and gluing the covers together. It would resemble a HB, but each coil would have its own set of eight magnets (one coil north, the other south). Nothing fancy, just two pickups under what looks like one cover, with a series/parallel switch.

Anything wrong with this idea? I'm mainly concerned if there'll be a problem with having the magnets that close to each other.

[Spence]

That will work just fine. Give it a try.

[GlennW]

Thanks, Spence.

[Stan H]

In the 80's Schaller had basically the same thing called a "Double J" pickup except that it was two split coil J's (4 coils). Kramer used them on some of their basses. I have a Kramer Duke with one and it sounds pretty good.

[GlennW]

Thanks, Stan. I just Googled "Schaller double J" and found this.
http://www.vintageguitar.com/brands/details.asp?ID=210

Instead of gluing the covers I'll use some Permatex silicone for now, seems like the MIJ and MIA covers are different sizes. The MIJ has 5mm magnets, and the MIA has 3/16". This is just an experiment anyway.

[David Schwab]

Instead of gluing the covers I'll use some Permatex silicone for now, seems like the MIJ and MIA covers are different sizes. The MIJ has 5mm magnets, and the MIA has 3/16". This is just an experiment anyway.

And don't forget that on the MIA bass the two pickups are different sizes. I'm not sure about he MIJ. The MIM bass has two same size pickups.

And of course if you are making a humbucker you want the two pickups with opposite polarity magnets.

[GlennW]

Hi Dave. I have a MIJ set (different sizes) and a MIA bridge which is a little different than the MIJ bridge. I'd rather have covers the same size before gluing anything - will try them without covers at first. I think it'll sound pretty good. The MIA bridge alone can be just about as bassy as I'd like. Here's something on ebay which looks exactly like what I had in mind.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dual-fender-jazz...QQcmdZViewItem

I think something like that with another JB pickup in the neck spot will be all I need from a bass, or maybe just a regular JB arrangement - depends on how it sounds.

[black_labb]

as for the magnets, the magnets in a single coil are alot closer than ones in different coils, and the ones in the same coil will also be the same polarity, making them degauss eachother if they are too close,where using different coils you wont have that problem, as i assume you will make it so they are hum cancelling.

[GlennW]

Here's a wiring diagram I might use. It'll have a tone pot with a push/pull switch for series parallel and a 5-way rotary switch. The pickup marked "B North CCW" will be the main one, and the others are there to compliment it - that's the plan.