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Problems with my Precision


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Posted

Hola. Proud owner of a largely stock early 70s Fender Precision. Not sure what's happened, but the instrument's volume has nearly dried up. Output is very bad and very low although still present, compared to my other instruments. She's got new volume and tone pots from about two years ago, professionally installed, but the pickup is original. Any thoughts about what's going on here? Gracias.

Posted

She's well treated and rarely leaves the apartment. I don't really see anything on the pole pieces, but when I think back, this bass has seen a steady roll off in volume over the last few years, and I've had her since '93. Should I just replace the pick up? I don't really care about any vintage issues, I care about functionality and I will never sell this bass.

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Posted

You can have the pickup re-worked. Send it to Lindy Fralin - if it needs a rewind, he's the man; if it needs re-magnetizing, he's still the man. Cost should be reasonable.

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Posted

Hola. Proud owner of a largely stock early 70s Fender Precision. Not sure what's happened, but the instrument's volume has nearly dried up. Output is very bad and very low although still present, compared to my other instruments. She's got new volume and tone pots from about two years ago, professionally installed, but the pickup is original. Any thoughts about what's going on here? Gracias.

 

Since the pickup is original, it could be the pickup has seen better days and is worn out.

 

Try a replacement. You can get the Fender replacements or you can try these bad boys. :cool:

 

SPB-3.jpg

Posted

Yeah, I've been thinking about quarter pounders for a while, to tell the truth. My other gear has pretty high output pups, and I'd like a similar grind out of the P.

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Posted

I have the Fender '62 re-issue pup in both of my P basses. It's hotter than the stock pups, but not as hot (nasally to my ear) as the QP. Nice vintage vibe and sound.

 

0.02

 

:thu:

Posted

Does the volume pot still have smooth sounding travel from 0 to whatever the volume is ? I've heard of a lot more pots going bad than pickups.
:idk:

 

Yeah, not apparent problem with the volume pot, although the weird thing about the replacement tone pot is that as high end gets rolled off, the volume does subside.

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Posted

 

I'd send the originals to Lindy for repair or buy a new set from him to use so you can keep the old ones in "stock" condition.

 

 

+1. The bass is worth more with rewound original pups than with replacements.

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Posted

+1. The bass is worth more with rewound original pups than with replacements.

 

 

Yeah, but if you keep the original pups...:idea:

 

My question, is it worth more to a potential collector with the pups in 'stock' condition or in 're-wound' and working condition? I'd probably err on the side of not messing with anything that can't be exactly undone.

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Posted

 

Yeah, not apparent problem with the volume pot, although the weird thing about the replacement tone pot is that as high end gets rolled off, the volume does subside.

 

 

To help determine if it's the pots or the pickup, try wiring the pickup directly to the output jack, bypassing the volume and tone controls altogether - if output is still bad, probably something in the pickup. If output is good that way, there's something in the vol/tone controls that's not right.

Posted

Hammer, interesting idea. May give that a whirl. As for the other gents, collector value means nothing to me. I got this bass when I was 22, hair metal ruled Baltimore, and she was on sale at a pawn shop for $450. Never thinking it would a collector's item, I sanded it down and painted it green. She feels great, but this is a player's bass. If I do put in replacement Pups, I'd be sure to keep the orginal.

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Posted

I have the Fender '62 re-issue pup in both of my P basses. It's hotter than the stock pups, but not as hot (nasally to my ear) as the QP. Nice vintage vibe and sound.


0.02


:thu:

+1

 

A great alternative to the 1/4 pounder. :thu:

 

However, if you want to keep the bass vintage you can get the replacements or have them re-wound as mentioned up there.

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Posted

Magnets can lose a small amount of magnetism over time but not enough to cause this. Perhaps the pickups were installed improperly when the the controls were changed. It's a common mistake to get the polarity mixed up on the two pickups.

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Posted

 

Magnets can lose a small amount of magnetism over time but not enough to cause this. Perhaps the pickups were installed improperly when the the controls were changed. It's a common mistake to get the polarity mixed up on the two pickups.

 

 

But there is only two wires on a P Pup, one white the other black.

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