Set up/pick ups

[David Newcomb]

Take it to a bass tech and find out how low the pickup can really safely go, is what i would do. Sounds like you did the right thing stopping where it "feels" stopped, but a pro might be able to tweak it a little more.

I would think that if you bought the bass from a reputable retailer with a decent guy behind the workbench, you could get them to do a fair amount of tweaking for little or no cash outgo- seems the purchase of a high end bass guitar should have this kind of service attached to it... for a few weeks anyways.

Pickups are a very individual thing- I've always fought with jazz pickups mostly because i tend to use the top of the neck pickup as a thumbrest- and since I can relate to your pizz style of "really digging in", this hurts my thumb a lot on the jazz pickup! Henceforth I avoid instruments with jazz pickups...