70s musicmaster bass pickups- wtf?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:37 am

finally got round to opening up the '78 musicmaster bass i bought about 6 months ago. my suspicions are confirmed- it is just a mustang/musicmaster guitar pickup that's in it. no wonder it sounds rubbish plugged in! i know it was designed as their budget bass, but come on, that's just LAME.

on the upside though, when i replace it i'll have a spare mustang pickup, so not the end of the world.

BobArsecake · Post by **BobArsecake** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:38 am

Haha, Fender are wankers.

Ninja Mike 808 · Post by **Ninja Mike 808** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:45 am

Sell that shit on ebay and buy a dope one...

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:57 pm

boner town

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/b ... quarterpo/

teh vintagedtz

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/b ... vintage_f/

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:58 pm

the screw holding the pickup in on the left side looks completely nackered

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:59 pm

yeah, been lookng at the vintage one, they're quite cheap. that's next on my list.

Post by **Mike** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:59 pm

[quote="Ninja Mike 808"]dope[quote]

Stop saying dope. Seriously. It's getting ridiculous.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:00 pm

it doesn't bother me mike

eat shit you cunting cunt

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:02 pm

robroe wrote:the screw holding the pickup in on the left side looks completely nackered

aye, it's not an original screw. some big brass fucker with a bolt on the end, it was there when i bought it. i've got spares.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:06 pm

well if the screw was there already....check all the solder joints.

the pickup could be a replacement itself

can you take a close up photo of the pots for me?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:10 pm

robroe wrote:well if the screw was there already....check all the solder joints.

the pickup could be a replacement itself

can you take a close up photo of the pots for me?

i can do it tomorrow, it lives at my parents' house, hence the camera phone shot. i'll take some better pics and you can have a look.

ElCapitan · Post by **ElCapitan** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:29 pm

Fender lolz, they did the same thing with the Bronco Bass as well.

Sublimedo · Post by **Sublimedo** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:55 pm

the 70's were an odd period for Fender, but I don't know if this is the case for all the models. My 90's pink squier one has a real bass pup on it.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:42 pm

I haven't check on mine, but I'm pretty sure that they all were just single coil guitar pickups. Mine sounds pretty good though actually... not very punchy, and different than any other bass but it still sounds pretty good. I have thought about the quarter pound SD pup that rob posted, but I think I wanna keep mine original.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:02 pm

Billy3000 wrote:I haven't check on mine, but I'm pretty sure that they all were just single coil guitar pickups. Mine sounds pretty good though actually... not very punchy, and different than any other bass but it still sounds pretty good. I have thought about the quarter pound SD pup that rob posted, but I think I wanna keep mine original.

have a look and see if your pickup is the same. i suspect they're all like that.

astro · Post by **astro** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:01 pm

All of the American made music master basses have 6-pole mustang type pickups. It was designed to be a cheap bass, so using the readily available mustang pickup meant a cheaper production cost. I think Squier does the same thing with their Bronco bass that they currently sell.

superfuzz · Post by **superfuzz** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:04 pm

I would think that would be a really bright bass. is this tr00?

luke · Post by **luke** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:05 pm

robroe wrote:completely nackered

I swear knackered is English, do you actually say that word in America? I can't imagine that in the accent.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:25 pm

superfuzz wrote:I would think that would be a really bright bass. is this tr00?

Yea, they are pretty bright sounding. Mine came strung up with flatwounds so the brightness doesn't really come through, and the strings sound really shitty... but they're really comfortable to play on, so I haven't changed them.

And yes, the squier broncos have a strat pickup under the cover. I repaired one for one of the kids I teach bass to. That would be a fun bass to mod.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:47 am

This will be our own little secret. Buy them cheap as bass pups and use them in geetarz0s.