*SORTED* (that was quick!) WTB cheap p-bass pickup

DartmoorHedgehog

My daughter rescued a bass that was going to be binned at school. It's all in pretty good nick (although needs a good clean) apart from one coil of the pickup has had the wire yanked and snapped off inside the coil. Any chance somebody may have a p-bass pickup left over from an upgrade, or even one with a dead coil i could use the good one from? 

Funkfingers

I probably have something in a drawer. 

TBH, 4.5k is a bit weedy. 2 x 5.5k is the classic formula.

Would the stock MIJ pickup from a Silver Series Squier suffice?

DartmoorHedgehog

Thanks @Funkfingers ;
TBH I don't really care what spec it is as long as it's cheap!  You never know, if the bass turns out to play really well she may want to put a better pickup in it in the future but for now it's just a "get it working" project.
I've not really fiddled with bass pickups much before - am I naive in assuming they're all the same size and will fit the hole in the guard?

Funkfingers

Just tested Squier pickup with a DCR meter. 9.0k coils, steel slug polepieces, underslung ceramic bar magnets, 230mm white conductor, 220mm black conductor.

How is the Sue Sue Ryder bass routed under the pickguard? Two cavities linked by a drilled "tunnel" or one continuous excavation? The latter would place less strain on the pickup conductors whilst the pickguard is removed.

The pickup is yours for £12.50 PP F&F shipped. Round that up to £15 and I can probably throw in a few extra little goodies.

DartmoorHedgehog

That sounds good - I'll PM you my details.
Routing is "tunnel" style, but I was thinking of cutting a channel in the surface to make it easier to take apart without unsoldering stuff (or yanking it and breaking things like somebody had already done)

ICBM

Funkfingers beat me to it . If the wires are as long as 220/230mm you shouldn’t need to open out the wiring tunnel, that’s plenty to feed it through and still get the pickguard on and off.

A small bit of extra advice - twist the wires together fairly tightly before feeding them through the tunnel. This reduces the likelihood of breaking a joint since the wires support each other, and reduces noise since it acts as a ‘twisted pair’.

DartmoorHedgehog

Thanks @ICBM, I'd forgotten that the pickup is screwed to the body (for some reason I just assumed all these fender designs had everything mounted on the guard) so not such a big advantage in doing away with the tunnel as I thought if the wires are longish. I'll see how it feels when we get the pickup in. I gave her a scraper, wire wool and oil last night and she's done a really good job of cleaning up the fretboard. Some of the frets are a bit worn but not that bad that they need sorting out immediately. I think it'll be a half decent bass when it's back together - well worth investing £15 and some time, and definitely not skip-worthy. No wonder schools are always moaning they've got no budget! 

Funkfingers

DartmoorHedgehog said:

I'd forgotten that the pickup is screwed to the body.

On that note, the pickup I have mailed to you has no screws, foam padding or any brass screening plate. You will have to re-use the Ryder parts. 

If the original Ryder bass pickup has white plastic covers, they might fit over the Squier bobbins. TBH, the black covers look more conventional.

Regarding parts fit, it is possible that you may need to modify the edges of the pickguard pickup cut-out to accommodate the Squier covers. Usually, the trouble spot is the semi-circular extensions for the height adjustment screws.

DartmoorHedgehog

No worries @Funkfingers all the parts are there so all we really need is the actual pickup. A bit of filing of the guard if necessary isn't a problem. The pickup covers are white, but not sure if we'll bother trying to swap them or not.