Well, last night I was playing at church, and the pickups on my fender squier 20th anniversary P-bass went out. I am sure they are 100% shot and that it was not my cords or other equipment. I do not want another set of fender p/u's because mine never sounded great, but I only kept them because until about 3 months ago, the fender was my backup bass, so it didn't really matter. now the fender is my main bass (because my guild has parts ordered which haven't come in yet)
Does anyone have any suggestions for new aftermarket pickups that fill fit the stock holes?
Cost is an issue here, as I don't have a fortune to spend on new pickups.
Kevin

No suggestions for you.

What do you mean when you say the PUs went out? How did you identify or diagnose the problem? I'm only asking because every problem I have ever had turned out to be a jack or cable problem and the symptom was "no sound". I'm guessing you have something different.

This is what I meant when I said the pickups "went out"
While playing at church, the bass would cut out for a few seconds, come in for a second or 2, then cut out for several more seconds, come back in for a second or 2, and kept doing this.
Also, sometimes only one pickup would cut out while the other one worked fine. It had been doing this for a few months, but I always thought it was my hearing or something.
Sometimes, only the pickup for the D and G string will go out, while the pickup for the E and A string would work fine.
I have also had issues where when you pluck very softly, it sounds like the guitar is being plucked extremely hard.
As for it possibly being a cable, I have had this issue with sound cutting in and out and only 1 of the 2 pickups working for a couple months using many cords and many amps at several different locations, but I thought it was my hearing because no one else noticed it.
As for it possibly being a faulty jack, I don't think that could account for only 1 pickup working while the other one was dead.
As for diagnosing the problem, I asked 2 of my church music group buddies and they both said it was my pickups when I asked them what was causing the problems I was experiencing. They have both had issues with the sound cutting in and out

The Seymour Duncan Bassline Antiquities are really nice bass pickups. I know a few guys that use them and they sound terrific.

Thanks. That makes sense and does suggest the PU is the problem. Working or failing with various cables, plus having one PU work and the other not plus having string differences seems pretty clear. Too bad you can't get the parts for your Guild faster

Kevin,

On advice of friends, I installed an EMG pickup in my P-Bass many moons ago and have been happy with it. It's like this one http://www.emginc.com/products/index/192/23/2 but probably an earlier incarnation. I saved the original pickup in case I ever sold the bass (which I don't think I'll ever do), but it got lost in our most recent move. Hope it turns up.

Sounds odd for one half of the pup to go down. These are wired in series. Usually if there is a problem with one the whole thing goes down. If there is a short in one half then it may let the other half work but I think before you start spending cash I would like to know if there is some simple answer. Was this bass new to you? You say it never sounded good from the get-go. Maybe it had a problem from the factory. It will have to be opened up to replace the pups if they need it so I say OPEN HER UP!!
Any well known pup company's P-bass replacement will fit your bass. I like DiMarzio and Duncan. Search for the best deal if cash is a consideration.
P-bass is a very simple wiring job. Probably the simplest.
Good luck,
Steve.

Yes, this bass was new when I got it. I have had it for 5 years (although it is a 2002 20th anniversary model)
As for it never sounding good....its never sounded good compared to higher end basses but it was all I could afford 5 years ago because I was just learning to play bass.
The pickups started acting up about 3 or 4 months ago.

It also seems kinda funny that both my bass and my fender 15 watt amp (bought it with bass as a set) went out within a month of each other.
I was practicing with the amp a little over a month ago. I tripped over the amp and it fell forward- when I stood it back up, none of the knobs works...except for the mid range eq adjustment, which now either turns the volume on and off (the low, mid, and high eq settings are what I set them at before it fell over, and I can turn the volume up all the way on my bass (since the volume on the amp is either stuck at 0 or 10 depending on the position of the mid range eq knob)
I don't use the amp anymore because I either borrow an amp from one of my friends or I use my 200 watt Peavey P.A. system