WRHB Jazzmaster question

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gnoleb
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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by gnoleb » Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:16 pm

Just to provide some sample context for you/someone to judge themselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPdAjR_fDvs

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Rob
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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Rob » Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:28 am

I've been considering this as well. The first electric guitar I ever played was a bandmate's vintage Telecaster Custom. To my ear, those old 70s Fender WRHBs just sound "right." They occasionally pop up on eBay, but for $500 to $1,000 each... I don't like them that much. I also don't want to gut my Starcaster for pickups (or mutilate a Jazzmaster to install them), so I've had my eye on the Novak JM-WR. I'm just not sure which guitar I want to put it in, or in which position(s).

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by timtam » Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:59 am

Rob wrote:
Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:28 am
I've been considering this as well. The first electric guitar I ever played was a bandmate's vintage Telecaster Custom. To my ear, those old 70s Fender WRHBs just sound "right." They occasionally pop up on eBay, but for $500 to $1,000 each... I don't like them that much.
I would say the average going rate for original WRHBs on ebay over the last few years has been more like around $300-$350. And the higher priced ones often don't sell.

Here's a few of the recent ones ...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1979-Fender-Te ... 2053611600
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Vinta ... 3343376495
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1975-F ... 2767957526
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Fender ... 2174384951
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-Fender-St ... 2127891509
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Ice Tre » Sat Dec 30, 2017 1:42 am

I might be able to help you.

I bought a Lee Ranaldo Jazzmaster. I liked the bridge WRHB but I thought the neck pu was dull and muddy. I saw on Curtis Novak's website that Lee was replacing-- or rather having Curtis rework his. So I bought a Curtis Novak WRHB for the neck position, and I thought it had a little more brightness and definition. But it was much higher output, so the middle position didn't sound good; the Novak WRHB were almost double the output of the stock Fender LR WRHB pickups-- about 10.5kohms. Lee said that's the way the original WRHB's were. So I then bought the Novak bridge WRHB. Lesson learned: if you use the middle position, the neck and bridge pickups need to be close in output.

I also bought a Fender Mexico '72 Thinline Tele with WRHB's. In contrast to the Fender LR WRHB's, these sounded really good. They had higher output-- about 8 kohms vs. about 5.5 or 6 kohms on the LR. The neck was still a little muddy, but much better than the Fender LR neck. In fact, I got some really cool distorted neck pu sounds from it. The middle position is great on this guitar-- very chimey. I really like this guitar.

But as others have said: with the WRHB's, the Jazzmaster no longer sounds like a Jazzmaster. It's a different guitar. That might be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you want. But it won't sound like a Jazzmaster. It won't sound like a Les Paul either. Kinda in between a Tele and a Les Paul.

Hope that helps.

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Sid Nitzerglobin » Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:54 pm

Both the Curtis Novaks and the MojoTone full size WRHBs sound amazing bridge or neck in any JM I've tried them in. The LRJB reissues do seem to be slightly different than the other RI WRHBs I've run into (slightly higher resistance/output on the one's out of my Lee Ranaldo than the Pawn Shop '72 or CP Tele Deluxe, around 8.7K vs. ~7 on the others) and while either can sound pretty good IMO once you get the pole pieces adjusted, the Novaks (and MojoTones) are just about the perfect JM pickup for me. I've tried both 500K and 1M volume pots w/ them and I like the extra bite the 1M seems to provide but I wouldn't exactly call them dark or muddy w/ the 500K.

I've only ever used a legit CuNiFe magnet '70s WRHB in the neck of my Tele Custom build and I could see the it not being as good in the bridge, it's something special in the neck spot on that Tele though. I want to say I got mine for around $350 IIRC but it's been a couple of years...

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by mcbrandt » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:55 pm

Bumping this to ask a question. If I install just a novak wrhb pup in the neck, and i'm only using the neck only, will that cure my buzz woes?

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by alexpigment » Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:35 pm

mcbrandt wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:55 pm
Bumping this to ask a question. If I install just a novak wrhb pup in the neck, and i'm only using the neck only, will that cure my buzz woes?
In my experience, *somewhat*. Novak's WRHB designs are probably more vintage accurate, but for whatever reason, they picked up more EMF/hum than my other humbuckers, and certainly more than my noiseless pickups. They sounded pretty decent, but for the noise issues I have in my place, they just didn't cut it. YMMV.

For what it's worth, my main JM has a Fender Vintage Noiseless strat neck pickup hiding under the neck pickup cover. That thing is great and completely noise-free.

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Danley » Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:43 pm

Ceylon wrote:
Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:05 am
So I could never get along with the sound of the bridge pickup in my Jazzmaster. It was too thin, too nasal, too clunky (though it was a stock CIJ, mind you).

I got a Rose Picasso, which is basically a WRHB with magnet slugs in a Jazzmaster cover, and it solved all that for me. I still think it sounds Jazzmastery, but now with a bit more girth, a bit more aggression, a bit more chunk. I really love it myself. It's not much hotter than a traditional Jazzmaster pickup, and I still have one of those in the neck, so I feel like this setup just makes the guitar a teeny bit more versatile without really sacrificing anything of its original character.
I own a Picasso; damn is that a confusing pickup. Very low output (I asked for as similar to stock WRHB-winding & magnet strength as possible,) and it is *much* lower output than a Jazzmaster pickup; does not blend well with the neck pickup (split or un-split.) It's very, very bright (more bright than a Jazzmaster pickup,) and using it in 'full' mode sounds a lot like a PAF with the response/attack of a single. It's a very strange experience. Not bad, but sometimes a bit much considering I have already bright amps. Adding gain helps, for whatever reason distortion/boost really seem to warm it up. Have to say I prefer the stock Jazzmaster pickups I've tried (for any purpose,) but it's interesting.
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Danley » Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:47 pm

alexpigment wrote:
Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:35 pm
mcbrandt wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:55 pm
Bumping this to ask a question. If I install just a novak wrhb pup in the neck, and i'm only using the neck only, will that cure my buzz woes?
For what it's worth, my main JM has a Fender Vintage Noiseless strat neck pickup hiding under the neck pickup cover. That thing is great and completely noise-free.
500k pots and Lace Hot Gold Sensors work really well for me for the above purpose; Hot Golds themselves are less blunt sounding than other Laces, and I'd imagine if you kept Jazzmaster 1 megs in there you'd have a pretty 'accurate' single tone.

I have an American Special stock stacked pickup, but I've never used it; suppose that would be an option, but not if you wanted to avoid routing (it's huge.)
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by alexpigment » Fri Sep 13, 2019 9:52 pm

Danley wrote:
Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:47 pm
500k pots and Lace Hot Gold Sensors work really well for me for the above purpose; Hot Golds themselves are less blunt sounding than other Laces, and I'd imagine if you kept Jazzmaster 1 megs in there you'd have a pretty 'accurate' single tone.

I have an American Special stock stacked pickup, but I've never used it; suppose that would be an option, but not if you wanted to avoid routing (it's huge.)
I've always been interested in those Gold Lace Sensors (as well as the blues and reds, to a lesser degree). I had an experiment with the Lace Alumitones not too long ago, and while it's a very crisp hi-fi sound, it's hard to deal with the complete lack of Fender sparkle. I would maybe use them if I were doing Marshall crunch rhythm tracks for recording, but not much else. Anyway, I know the Golds are a very different style of construction.

Re: the height of those American Special stacks, that's ultimately what kept me from using the Fender N3 Noiseless Tele pickups. Impossible to fit them under the JM covers without a really high bridge and sharp neck angle. Very happy that I ended up with the Vintage Noiseless Strat neck pickup anyway - I probably would have never tried them otherwise with how much shit talk there is about them online.

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by mcbrandt » Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:12 am

alexpigment wrote:
Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:35 pm
mcbrandt wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:55 pm
Bumping this to ask a question. If I install just a novak wrhb pup in the neck, and i'm only using the neck only, will that cure my buzz woes?
In my experience, *somewhat*. Novak's WRHB designs are probably more vintage accurate, but for whatever reason, they picked up more EMF/hum than my other humbuckers, and certainly more than my noiseless pickups. They sounded pretty decent, but for the noise issues I have in my place, they just didn't cut it. YMMV.

For what it's worth, my main JM has a Fender Vintage Noiseless strat neck pickup hiding under the neck pickup cover. That thing is great and completely noise-free.
What kind of sound does that strat pickup give you? Strats definitely have their own twang, but not one I'm a super big fan of overall. I'm mainly looking for little/no buzz with a good clean, jazz tone. I don't use fuzz/distortion, but toy with delay/trem effects.

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by alexpigment » Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:32 am

mcbrandt wrote:
Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:12 am
What kind of sound does that strat pickup give you? Strats definitely have their own twang, but not one I'm a super big fan of overall. I'm mainly looking for little/no buzz with a good clean, jazz tone. I don't use fuzz/distortion, but toy with delay/trem effects.
A strat *neck* pickup is one of the best guitar tones out there, in my opinion. Not something I'd refer to as "twang" at all. What's great about them is they sound beautiful clean, and they're not too boomy to use overdrive and distortion on them. I don't have to change my amp or pedal settings when I switch from bridge to neck. You can do first position chords without getting muddy or less-defined like you would with a humbucker or overwound single coil. It's just a really balanced pickup for the position.

The problem that most people have with strats is the bridge pickup being too ice-picky or the middle being too boring - never really hear any complaints about the neck pickup.

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Danley » Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:55 am

I have a Jaguar pickup in the neck of one of my Jazzmasters (under the cover) - basically the same as a Strat pickup with a difference of a few mm here and there on the bobbin. Definitely different- less round, more open sound. Come to think of it, I have a Duncan Classic Stack Plus (STK-4n) that I probably should try in there; great pickup in a Strat.
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:20 pm

mcbrandt wrote:
Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:12 am
alexpigment wrote:
Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:35 pm
mcbrandt wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:55 pm
Bumping this to ask a question. If I install just a novak wrhb pup in the neck, and i'm only using the neck only, will that cure my buzz woes?
In my experience, *somewhat*. Novak's WRHB designs are probably more vintage accurate, but for whatever reason, they picked up more EMF/hum than my other humbuckers, and certainly more than my noiseless pickups. They sounded pretty decent, but for the noise issues I have in my place, they just didn't cut it. YMMV.

For what it's worth, my main JM has a Fender Vintage Noiseless strat neck pickup hiding under the neck pickup cover. That thing is great and completely noise-free.
What kind of sound does that strat pickup give you? Strats definitely have their own twang, but not one I'm a super big fan of overall. I'm mainly looking for little/no buzz with a good clean, jazz tone. I don't use fuzz/distortion, but toy with delay/trem effects.

I have two Novak WRHBs...they definitely do well with the tone your describing imo...However, they’re a bit noisy. I feel like mine is worse than it used to be though and I may have a grounding issue. Anyway, probably my favorite pickups I’ve ever put in a guitar despite the noise. Here’s a pic:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1zWha1A6TZ/


However, for your needs I think Novak makes some PAFs that i’d probably recommend for what you’re wanting. They drop right in like the WRHBs and shouldn’t have noise

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Re: WRHB Jazzmaster question

Post by mcbrandt » Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:58 am

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 8:20 pm
mcbrandt wrote:
Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:12 am
alexpigment wrote:
Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:35 pm


In my experience, *somewhat*. Novak's WRHB designs are probably more vintage accurate, but for whatever reason, they picked up more EMF/hum than my other humbuckers, and certainly more than my noiseless pickups. They sounded pretty decent, but for the noise issues I have in my place, they just didn't cut it. YMMV.

For what it's worth, my main JM has a Fender Vintage Noiseless strat neck pickup hiding under the neck pickup cover. That thing is great and completely noise-free.
What kind of sound does that strat pickup give you? Strats definitely have their own twang, but not one I'm a super big fan of overall. I'm mainly looking for little/no buzz with a good clean, jazz tone. I don't use fuzz/distortion, but toy with delay/trem effects.

I have two Novak WRHBs...they definitely do well with the tone your describing imo...However, they’re a bit noisy. I feel like mine is worse than it used to be though and I may have a grounding issue. Anyway, probably my favorite pickups I’ve ever put in a guitar despite the noise. Here’s a pic:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1zWha1A6TZ/


However, for your needs I think Novak makes some PAFs that i’d probably recommend for what you’re wanting. They drop right in like the WRHBs and shouldn’t have noise
You mean https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jm-hc-stealth/ ?

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