Product recommendations- Fender Yosemite PJ Pick-up set

From Zero to Hero!

Ever since I’d purchased my second bass guitar (and third, and fourth……), my first ever bass guitar has never made it back on stage. I had included it into the “guitar rotation”, but each time it was its turn I’d always swap it out with another, because everything else sounded better than it. Awwww. The knocks on the Fender Player Mustang PJ were:

• The toggle switch to engage between P or J pick-up was faulty, so when flicking it over to J, it would completely cut out 9 out of 10 times, so it was as good as having a cut/mute switch.
• The D on the A-string used to hit a weird frequency which was actually quite ear piercing, not loud but it just gets right into your ear like a dog whistle would, so much so that I’d turn my head away from the amp each time I play that note.
• The A on the E-string always sounded out of tune when the string was in tune and all other notes on that string seemed fine.
• When the J-pickup was engaged, it would just sound substantially softer in sound when compared to the P-pickup.  
• The volume out of the D and G-strings were noticeably softer in sound than the A and E strings.
• And when compared head to head against any other bass that I had, this thing would always lose out because it just sounded all round shit, hence it would never make it back on stage.

So, my wife suggested, “Why don’t you just sell it?” But it was my first, and it has sentimental value to me, although it did not have any practical value for me either. In the end, I bought it when I knew nothing about guitars, and I went for a known brand name (Fender), not knowing that the Player series (made in Mexico) was such a step down from what the iconic brand could actually produce.

BTW. The actual build quality and finish of the bass is perfect! I’d say it actually has the most premium feel to it (compared to all the other basses that I have), but it was just the inferior electronics which brought it down.

So, after watching a bunch of Youtube videos, I decided to upgrade my pickups, as others had advised to swap them out as a first or second act if you were looking to mod a budget bass.

Then, what to get? What to get?

I first toyed with the idea of getting Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders (around $450 AUD), these were the same pickups used in Fender Custom Shop guitars (if you don’t specify a particular pickup). But surprisingly on my Fender JMJ Signature Mustang, they also had Seymour Duncans (perhaps not the Quarter Pounders), but I also didn’t want to end up with 2 guitars sounding too similar. So, I ended up purchasing the Fender Yosemite PJ Pick-up set, as these were guaranteed to fit seamlessly into my bass without any risk of needing to drill new screw holes, or the need to enlarge the pickup recess, or having unsightly gaps if the old pickup space was too large for the new. And from what I could gather, these Fender Yosemite pickups were the same pickups used in the American Made Fenders, so I was essentially upgrading my Mexican bass to an American made for only $229 Aussie dollars!

They arrived and looking at them they’re pretty underwhelming. I don’t know what I was expecting (perhaps the sound of a choir and a bright shining light onto the face like when opening a treasure chest?). But they were just 3 chunks of rough feeling metal pieces, and 3 plastic caps. So, the little box in which it came in, sat on my shelf for weeks, as I attempted to locate a guitar workshop to help me install these things (I don’t own a soldering iron- and I’m completely blind, so I knew I’d screw-up if I attempted a DIY job).

The first guitar workshop which I had set my mind on, wouldn’t pick up their phone after several weeks of trying them and they also didn’t respond to their own enquiry form. I then tried workshops who operated slightly further to us and on the first attempt (perhaps even after the first ring) Adam from Deep Tone Music answered my call! And in minutes I was locked in for a drop-off time in a couple of weeks, with a turnaround time of 2-3 days, or pickup when it was convenient for us to do so.

So, after 6 months from first deciding to do this, the modification was done! So how does it sound now?

Freakin’ AWESOME!

Oh yeah, I should also mention, Adam from Deep Tone also took a look at my dodgy toggle switch and after adjusting it a little, he fixed the connectivity issue. And I had also been reading up about how to set-up a guitar, so I had also tinkered around with adjusting the intonation of the A and E-strings (although I had no real clue in what I was doing, I was pretty much just making adjustments for the sake of changing something).

So, all of these changes resulted in a guitar now which has no flaws or weak points! When Adam first plugged my Mustang bass into his amp, it sounded so fat! Maybe also due to the fact that his bass amp was the size of a small fridge. Haaha. But when I plugged it into my home practice amp, the difference at first was marginal. But after spending a month playing it exclusively, I noticed all the improvements. They were:

• Gone- Toggle switch issue (thanks to Adam)
• Gone- Ear piercing D on the A-string (maybe thanks to my set-up adjustments?)
• Gone- A note sounding out-of-tune on the E-string (also perhaps due to my intonation adjustments)
• Gone- Softer D and G-strings (probably due to raising the height of the pickups on that side)
• Gone- softer sounding J-pickup (that’s definitely due to the new pickups)

And in the end, it just sounded really nice, a tone which I was really satisfied with.

And the most telling result was this. I felt confident enough to take my Mustang bass back on stage at church, and after the service at least 5 people came up to me to tell me that I sounded good. Haaha. That type of encouragement hasn’t happened since the very first time I played on stage at church like 20 months ago! And a fellow bass player wanted to check-out my rig, as she was wondering how could she also sound like that (as usually the bass guitar doesn’t cut through the mix when the full band is playing). And oh yeah, this was also the first time I was playing in front of others since changing my fret hand technique from using flat fingers to playing on my finger-tips- so perhaps that also contributed to my better sound.

So yeah, if you too had once gone and purchased a budget bass and you now want to improve it’s sound? If finances permit, change out your pickups, it actually does make a heck of a difference! Now I’d say, this guy (the Fender Player Mustang PJ) is probably my best all round bass! Literally from Zero to Hero! Funny that.