Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass V pickup question

stonevibe

I picked up a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass V for recording and was just cleaning the crud off and giving it a quick setup. Under the pickguard, I found it has been shielded with copper tape and I figure previous owner may have done this, but what I wanted to know from anyone that owns one is this, should the pickups have push back cloth hookup wire? As the ones in this bass do.

Really, haven't got the inclination for a full break down of the bass, as it is in really good condition and I just want to play the thing. So figured one of you may know if this was a standard thing on these?

As I was expecting some cheap pickups, with regular plastic coated wiring. The quick look I had at the control plate soldering looks neat though and so they might well be the originals.

Do they shield these from the factory with copper tape?

Couple of pics here

https://imgur.com/a/HbMT1p0

ICBM

That's definitely not factory shielding, and although I can't be certain I doubt the pickups are either.

stonevibe

I'd agree on the shielding, as it looks far too neat and not the usual 'slap on some shielding paint in the cavity and apply a thin bit of silver foil on the pickguard' job.

Again, I'm not sure about pickups either and to be fair I'm not a bass expert by any means. They sound fine to me, the Alpha pots are also smooth and tapers are good too. If anyone does know if the originals were like this, I'd still like to know, as I'm geeky like that.

PhilKing

I'd just unscrew the pickup and see if there's anything on the bottom of it.  Given that all the rest of the wiring is plastic, I think they are replacement pickups.

Funkfingers

The budget push-back insulation is correct for the "in-house" Fender-designed pickups that were used on Squier VM series bass guitars after they stopped using OEM Duncan Designed ones. 

IIRC, DuncDes never offered a five string Jazz Bass pickup pair. 

stonevibe

Cheers fella, that is very useful to know and saves me unscrewing everything again! Nice one.