Musicmaster Bass Pickups

[John_H]

I had a vintage Musicmaster bass come in today. The original pickguard, and pickup are gone, and have been replaced with a guitar pickup that looks like a melody maker with adjustable poles, and a rough amateurish pickguard. The owner wants me to restore it to as close to original as possible. Does anyone please have specifications for a cir. 1973 Musicmaster pickup?

[Jim Darr]

John,

My notes show 42 gauge Heavy Formvar (Although I've seen some Plain Enamel as well), machine wound with about 7600-7800ish turns wound CCW with Alinico 5 magnets south up for that era pickup. Not sure of the TPL. The winding formula seems pretty consistent with the other style pickups in this CBS era.

My notes don't show it, but as I recall I think these had 6 magnet rods and were pretty much the same pickup that Fender used for Mustangs, Duo-Sonics and Musicmaster guitars during that time period. Maybe somebody else can chime in on that. I do know that they used the same hole-less cover mostly in a black color.

Hope that helps

[Lollar Jason]

yes flat pole pickup with 6 poles.

[John_H]

Thanks for the info guys. A mustang pickup sounds easy enough.

[Jim Shine]

Yeah, as said before, it is a standard Musicmaster, Bronco, Champ steel of the same period, or neck position Mustang/Duo Sonic pickup. The only added strange thing they did was on basses they would stack another bobbin top on after winding the pickup. Not sure what the idea was with that.

[Jim Darr]

Jim,

Yes, I've seen the "Extra Bobbin Flatwork Top" added on this style from this era as well. From what I can tell, in this time-frame, they used a standard Strat bobbin with protruding magnets (non staggered) and added the extra flawtork top to make the magnets flush with the top of the bobbin. The first one I saw I thought they used an extra thick bobbin top. But on careful inspection of another one that came into the shop I realized it was really two pieces.

I have Mustang pup from this era somewhere in the shop with the "double top" and will post a pic when I can.

Jim

[TimmyP1955]

There are several on eBay ($$). If I were him, I'd put a Jazz or P-Bass pickup on it. (There's a body with a Jazz pickup on eBay for only a little more than what folks are asking for the Musicmaster pickups.)

[Jim Darr]

Here is the pic of a "Double Top" pickup that came from a Mustang of this era. Look closely and you will see that they are indeed two flatwork tops.

[John_H]

Thanks again. I've got some work to get done before I get back to this one. I have a vintage cover to use for it. I'd like to find a template for the pickguard before I proceed. I ordered some light gauge short scale strings. There's no rush, but I'll get to it in the next couple of weeks.

[David King]

You might try Pick Guard PDF Outlines for the pick guard.