Early 50's P-Bass Pickup Durability??

[Olgabowl]

Hi all...

OK, I built a couple '53 P-Bass copies, and used an Allparts anatomically-correct pickup from the era on each....

If my friend and I are any indication, these pickups are very prone to damage from the string getting caught under the pickup top-cover, and lifting the whole shebang up, rendering the pickup dead-as-a-doornail...

Are there more durable pups out there I should be looking at?

Or maybe filing the top cover so that there is less overhang past the cloth covering the windings?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated...
Man, I would have been bummed if this was an original '53....

[Olgabowl]

Duh....

[gitlvr]

Originally Posted by Olgabowl

Duh....

Wouldn't do a thing to help you, as that covers not just the pickup, but the strings as well. The only difference is that you wouldn't be able to see the potential damage until it was too late.
Have you tried lowering the pickup away from the strings? I doubt they need to be so close to it anyway.

[Immo]

I'd cover the PU with a transparent lacquer, the less shining the better. You may use flatwound or tapewound strings as well to reduce the damage.

And as for the PU cover - with the cover on, you'll be pulling the strings in other place than above the PU, thus reducing the amplitude of string vibration above the PU. So I think the cover WILL in fact reduce the damage done by strings to the PU.

[fenderslaper]

Same thing happened to me with a SD antquity. Had to have it rewound. I think a pickup cover would have helped, as I always play directly over the pickup and with a cover, it would have moved my hand from that position.

[fezz parka]

Rewind, and a butcher cord wrap will help.

[Anchoret]

Considering the way the originals and reissues are made (with no bobbin as such), I don't understand how they stay together even as well as they do.

Lots of the Dyna-Gakki Fender '51RIs and Stings experience this failure as well with the '55 RI pickup they use.

There's not much holding them together, so it doesn't take much to pull them apart.