I recently had the pleasure of attending a clinic run by the awesome team at Stapleton Guitars and we got to talking about an old bass I had laying around not being used due to the quality of the pickups that were installed.
So, after hearing the quality of bass pickups on offer and consulting Roman who hand makes these pickups I went for the PJ configuration with a push pull pot which adds a 20 percent boost to the bridge pickups.
Now I’m a gigging and touring bass player and my main workhorses have been of the active variety, a Musicman Stingray 4HH and Sterling Sub5 which I had modified.
I have always wanted a passive bass so here was my chance and I’m so glad I took it. I am an old school bass player who loves a very clean tone but can handle any tonal changes to suit any genre I’m playing.
With these new pickups I was completely blown away by not only by the tonal variety but clarity of tone at all stages of adjustment.
To say I’m happy with the changes is an understatement not only are these pickups simply superb and brought new life to an old bass but I also have to plug the craftsmanship of the work at Stapleton Guitars is second to none because not only did Roman build the pickups, he installed them for me with all new pot and knobs, installed all new saddles, gave it a fret shave and adjust the action and one last thing Roman did was to handcraft a nut for me out of brass and all of this work was done in nine days from drop off to pick up including the shipping of parts required from overseas.
The changes to an old cheap bass that wasn’t being used because of its inferior quality pickups and set up to now being my main workhorse and retiring my active basses is not something I thought possible but it was achieved by Roman and Stapleton Guitars to whom I’m forever grateful.
Aaron Nicol, Rolleston NZ