Fender has unveiled a new line of Tim Shaw-designed Chrome Cobalt bass guitar pickups for Precision, Jazz and P/J configured bass guitars.
Just look at them. That chrome covering around the pickup looks cool, but this, says Fender, serves a purpose, helping put the squeeze on 60-cycle hum and offering players a noise-free platform for classic P and J-type tones.
We say classic, but these are not necessarily vintage-voiced. They are simply designed to give you the archetypical tone that the Precision and Jazz Basses are known for, albeit with “added punch, hi-fi clarity and dynamic range” – all tonal qualities that are quintessentially associated with Fender.
As Shaw explains in the demo video – which does a good job in not just selling the pickup but the bass, too – this was the goal from the outset.
To achieve this, Fender developed its own FeCrCo alloy for the magnet, the Chrome Cobalt that gives it its name. Shaw is a bona fide pickup guru. Listening to him speak about the design of the Chrome Cobalt sets is an education in both the history and evolution of bass and electric guitar pickups, and in how the choice of magnets affects tone.
“The one we are tending to use here is one that sounds a lot like Alnico V but again it can be adjusted,” explains Shaw. “The bass pickups end up using Cobalt Chrome rather than Cunife because there is an attack we get with this Cobalt Chrome that we really need for a bass pickup.”
In particular, they have what Fender basses need to sound their best, and that’s a clarity and solidity.
“Fender basses, historically, are basses that have a very, very solid attack, a really solid midrange feel, and contrasting them with pickups that were made, say, in Kalamazoo – by Seth [Lover] in fact – those had a things had a big spongey boof! attack, which ended up not suiting modern music particularly well,” continues Shaw. “So, knowing that, when I designed these bass pickups, I went with this Cobalt Chrome rather than Cunife, because it has got a lot of the same interesting timbre but it doesn’t have the woof that would have had with the Cunife.”
Once you have installed these in your bass, you can fine tune the balance by simply adjusting the pole pieces. The pickups are wax-potted and have formvar wire wrapped around those FeCrCo magnets. The Precision set comprises a single split-coil and is priced £239/$249.
The Jazz Bass set has a pair of single-coils, and is priced £289/$299, while the P/J Bass pickup set is priced £/$349. All the installation hardware you need is included in the box.
Given that the Jazz and Precision are two of the most copied bass designs ever, these should fit a wide variety of models – they'd definitely make an excellent modding option for your Squier beginner bass. For more details, see Fender.
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