Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

For help with setups and other technical issues.
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Jazzmaster_76
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Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by Jazzmaster_76 » Thu Jul 17, 2014 5:51 am

Jazzmaster owners, do any of you actually use only the bridge pickup? If so, what bridge pickup are you using? Myself, I use either the neck only and the middle position. Can't seem to dial in the bridge to my liking.

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DaveC
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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by DaveC » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:32 am

I use both, I must admit I use the bridge a lot more on my jm that has a slightly overwound bridge pickup, really does beef it up nicely.
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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by øøøøøøø » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:32 am

same with me.

I replaced the bridge p/u in my Oct '62 JM with a Novak "stealth" WRHB hidden under the original cover. It's quite a bit more useful, but I did lose a touch of the magic (and hum-canceling) of the middle position. I still have the original pickup but no intention of going back there.

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by slavemaster » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:50 am

I use all three combinations (neck, bridge, both). In the beginning, while the JM had its original CIJ pickups, it was mostly the middle position, to eliminate some of the hum. Once I'd replaced those with SD Antiquity II pickups and reworked the shielding, I started using the neck and the bridge a lot more. Now I prefer the neck for clean stuff and fuzziness, and the bridge for OD/distortion.
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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by dinosaurkale-> » Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:51 am

i generally only the the neck and middle posittion but rarely use the bridge alone

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by autodoner » Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:58 pm

I usually use neck and middle for clean sounds, bridge for dirt. If you don't like the sound of your bridge, why not replace it with something more to your liking?

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by Fearnot » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:55 am

On my own, at living room volume, I tend to use the neck and middle positions as the bridge sounds a little nasally alone. But once I've turned up and playing with the band, I'm all bridge pickup. It cuts through the mix really well.

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by Straight6DOHC » Mon Jul 21, 2014 12:27 pm

Live I use neck for thick, beefy fuzzy rhythm and bridge to cut through on lead. Playing at home I'll play any position because they all inspire me in one way or another. Pickups and wiring harness are by Mojo Pickups (UK). Guitar is my JM partsmaster (Larzmaster).

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by david phantomatic » Mon Jul 21, 2014 11:29 pm

I stay in the middle position a 60% of the time I'm playing, but I'll throw the bridge pickup into the mix occasionally if I've got some overdrive kicking.

I've got my AVRI loaded with Lollars.

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by echose7en » Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:13 am

I use the bridge (only) quite often on my '62 AVRI (stock PUP) when I'm layering chords played above the 7th fret. With the volume rolled off a bit, I find this to be a very useful setting for coloring more bass-heavy riffs. I also use .13 flatwounds, so it may help with the brittle/shrilly sound some folks may be thinking about re: just the bridge PUP. I find myself soloing the neck PUP when I want to play a melody line that has some body and soul to it; the middle switch is my foundation, but I don't stay there often.

I just ordered new PUPs for my '65 AVRI. Maybe I'm just so used to the sound of the '62 AVRI, but I'm not elated with the '65 out-of-the-box; at least not as much as I immediately loved the sound of the '62. But, sound and hearing are subjective things.
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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by niemand » Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:14 am

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Last edited by niemand on Wed Feb 01, 2017 10:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by toez10 » Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:18 am

Jazzmaster is one of the few guitars where I actually find myself using all three pickup positions. I like the bridge pickup for chording, and then I switch to the neck pickup for a fuller sound for solos. A lot of the stuff I play rhythm guitar on, is pretty jangly though, so it might not be great for everyone.

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by V_____ » Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:01 pm

I use all positions on my JMs but they have custom pickups. One uses humbucker shaped alnico 5 pole piece split coils (similar to a G+L Z-Coil kind of concept but in a humbucker package for ease of retrofitting). These are wound to around 8.5k and have metal backplates.

The other uses 12-pole Alnico II pickups in a JM package, similar to Novak JMHCs but they use some concepts from the previously mentioned split coils in that you have two little 6-pole humbuckers in each package and each set goes over 3 strings.

So, on both guitars, one thing I really like to do, is use the neck pickup's bass side strings running through in series with the treble side's 3 treble strings (or vice versa also is interesting).

Sounds huge for shoegaze because I get a thick low end and a clear high end.
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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by PJazzmaster » Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:18 pm

Below how I estimate the usage of the different pickups when I play live. I'm obviously on the bright side (soundwise :) ), but mind that I do use the tone and also the volume knob a LOT, in order to dial out some of the treble if necessary.
Oh, and I'm referring to standard Singlecoil PU's (P90, Humbucker, ...? No, thanks, not for me :P ).

Roughly:

Jazzmaster
Bridge: 70%
Both: 25%
Neck: 4%
Upper circuit: 1% (=neck)

Jaguar
Bridge: 55%
Middle: 30%
Neck: 14%
Upper circuit: 1% (=neck)
Last edited by PJazzmaster on Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Jazzmaster pickups, neck, bridge, or both?

Post by cbm » Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:41 pm

I use all the positions on the Jazzmaster. I use the rhythm circuit (totally rolled off) for getting a round tone out of fuzztones, I use the other three positions freely. I'm usually on neck or both, but use the bridge fairly often too. I use Antiquity IIs. The key to the Jazzmaster, I think, is to roll off the tone and volume. I'm hardly ever all the way up on the tone, and rarely all the way up on the volume.

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