American Vintage 62 Jaguar LOUD neck pickup

[mickcivic]

Got an American Vintage 62 Jag (2005) second hand. Person I got it from didn't personally change anything on it, but he did get it used himself.

The difference in output between the neck and bridge is HUGE. That is to say, the neck pickup is WAY louder. To give you an idea, the difference between the neck and bridge is like having the guitar volume on 10, and then turning it down to 6 or 7.

This is the case even after adjustment. I have the neck pickup as low as it will go, and the bridge as high up as I'm comfortable having it, maybe even a little too high for my liking.

Also somewhat strange (seems strange, but it's my first Jag, so I don't know) is that the neck pickup has a bulge--like the pickup is pushing up through the cover, and even looks like it has a radius. The bridge pickup doesn't look like this.

Wondering if any of this is normal? Maybe the neck pickup was switched out at some point?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Is should note: the neck pickup is currently FAR lower than what is pictured here. The pictures are just to illustrate the bulge/radius

Some photos sorry I can't embed:

https://mikepadua.photoshelter.com/gall ... bmJGthyLUw

https://mikepadua.photoshelter.com/gall ... 4GbLkpBdG4

[adamrobertt]

Are these the stock pickups? A lot of non-stock sets have overwound bridge pickups. Maybe the previous owner swapped them out and put the pickups in the wrong positions?

The "bulge" I've seen on Jazzmaster covers, usually (again) with non stock sets. Hum canceling pickups, for example, are about twice as thick as normal JM pickups, so you have to remove foam or use a different method to support them. Otherwise when you tighten them down, the pickup ends up pushing up at the cover with enough force to warp the cover. I actually just had to put new covers on a second hand JM with noiseless pickups in it for this very reason. It could be because you have it tightened down so much.

[mickcivic]

Are these the stock pickups?

Excellent question! Unfortunately one I do not have the answer to just yet.

The person I bought it from got it 2nd hand at a guitar fair--and to his knowledge it was all stock, but you never know, I guess!

Thank you for you input!

[gjn]

If they're a matched pair then perhaps they have been installed in the wrong position? Higher output bridge has been placed at neck and so on...

[Telliot]

Do you have a multimeter handy you can use to measure the pickup outputs? Usually the neck pickup is the lower output of the two, and this might help you suss out whether your pickups are installed incorrectly.

[simonhpieman]

My old AVRI had a bulge on the neck pickup. I assumed it was from where the thing was screwed down so hard.

I do love the sound of the neck pickup on those...

Can't remember there being a major discrepancy on the volumes, though...

[Embenny]

Very good advice higher up in the thread to check the two pickups with a multimeter (even just at the output jack, with pots at 10 and bass cut switch disengaged).

Two reasons to do this: 1) The neck pickup might be an overwound aftermarket one like a Duncan Hot for Jag, and 2) The bridge pickup might be broken. Handking pickups can break the windings, resulting in a very weak tone and totally whacky resistance reading.

There's another scenario where I've experienced this kind of mismatch, and it's when I was playing through a really bassy amp. I had a half stack that just put out way more bass than a guitar rig is supposed to, and the neck pickup on my Jag would seem to be twice as loud as the bridge, because the bridge lacked the low end that my rig was over-amplifying. That setup put out Kyuss-level amounts of bass, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the resonance of the cabinet was a subharmonic of the actual guitar, it was that bassy.

[PJazzmaster]

AVRI '62 Jag and JM Pickups are quite easy to identify. The polepieces of the AVRI '62 line are not flat, the edges of the polepiece have a (1/4 inch?) bevel. I checked the pictures ofyours, the neck PU is definitely the original one. Try to lower it even further, if that is doable (but you already said it's not). On the other hand, I never was happy with the stock PU's of my AVRI '62 Jag so I changed PU's at some point, the original ones were OK'ish but never great. Side note: I really love the stock AVRI '62 Jazzmaster Pickups

random example:



vs. other polepieces (basically completely flat):

[timtam]

Fender publishes DCR specs on the 65 pickups but not the 62 AFAIK. But DCR measurements on the 62 will be somewhere here at OSG. IIRC they are in a similar ballpark, ie around 6-7 kOhms. So Fender bridge and neck jag pickups usually have similar DCR and inductance - they just differ in magnetic polarity and wind direction, so when both ON there is hum cancelling. On the guitar, the bridge usually has less output because of its location, where it 'sees' much less string movement. So the usual approach is to set up the bridge pickup's height first and then set the neck's height to achieve similar output. That usually results in the neck much lower than the bridge.

[SummerLeftMe]

Those pickups look just like AVRI 62 thin skin Jag pickups. There is a slight bulge on both pickups as well. Even on my AV65 Jag the pickups are not flat, like strat pickups, and have that slight convex surface.

My neck pup tends to be louder but I am able to adjust it to compensate for that. I end up raising the bridge as well, but I don't have to push the neck pup down all the way like you have
.

[zenarcade]

There's another scenario where I've experienced this kind of mismatch, and it's when I was playing through a really bassy amp. I had a half stack that just put out way more bass than a guitar rig is supposed to, and the neck pickup on my Jag would seem to be twice as loud as the bridge, because the bridge lacked the low end that my rig was over-amplifying. That setup put out Kyuss-level amounts of bass, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the resonance of the cabinet was a subharmonic of the actual guitar, it was that bassy.

Exactly this. On vintage (and most reissues) Fenders both neck and bridge PU will have almost the same values. So If you lower the neck and raise the bridge it still may sound that the neck pickup is much louder if you play by yourself -especially when the bass on the amp is way up. But try playing in a band setting or to music and the bridge pickup will cut through just fine.

[mickcivic]

AVRI '62 Jag and JM Pickups are quite easy to identify. The polepieces of the AVRI '62 line are not flat, the edges of the polepiece have a (1/4 inch?) bevel. I checked the pictures ofyours, the neck PU is definitely the original one. Try to lower it even further, if that is doable (but you already said it's not). On the other hand, I never was happy with the stock PU's of my AVRI '62 Jag so I changed PU's at some point, the original ones were OK'ish but never great. Side note: I really love the stock AVRI '62 Jazzmaster Pickups

I was able to get it a tad lower, I had to remove the foam completely. Balance is a bit better, for sure, just not quite where I like it yet, but I'm going to keep playing with it.

I definitely did notice that bevel, I appreciate your input on that!

[mickcivic]

There's another scenario where I've experienced this kind of mismatch, and it's when I was playing through a really bassy amp. I had a half stack that just put out way more bass than a guitar rig is supposed to, and the neck pickup on my Jag would seem to be twice as loud as the bridge, because the bridge lacked the low end that my rig was over-amplifying. That setup put out Kyuss-level amounts of bass, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the resonance of the cabinet was a subharmonic of the actual guitar, it was that bassy.

This is a GREAT insight, thank you! I am noticing how very differently these pickups react to different amps, and I think part of what I'm hearing is that big bass bump and it might be a combination of adjustment and the loudness I'm perceiving because of the bass bump.

This is my first Jag and I've never quite seen a guitar that reacts so differently in different situations (in a good way) and I feel like I have lot of playing and learning to do.

I appreciate your input!

Also: love that you referenced Kyuss!!!

[Embenny]

This is a GREAT insight, thank you! I am noticing how very differently these pickups react to different amps, and I think part of what I'm hearing is that big bass bump and it might be a combination of adjustment and the loudness I'm perceiving because of the bass bump.

This is my first Jag and I've never quite seen a guitar that reacts so differently in different situations (in a good way) and I feel like I have lot of playing and learning to do.

I appreciate your input!

Also: love that you referenced Kyuss!!!

I was 9 years old when my brother brought home Welcome to Sky Valley, it was given to him as a gift by his high school of all places, and he didn't really bond with it, but I was captivated by the crazy guitar tones. I don't think any album of my youth struck me as hard from the first notes as "Gardenia" did.

Regarding the imbalance of tones, I got rid of that amp relatively quickly because I bought a second guitar whose neck pickup did the same thing but even worse and I got sick of being unable to switch pickups without major issues. These days, I use an AxeFX and use a high-pass filter to eliminate some of the low frequencies that get pulled out by any competent engineer anyway, and it's no longer an issue. 1990's Josh Homme would be disappointed in me, though in fairness, he only ever used the neck pickup, so he didn't have to deal with any imbalances between pickups while running through those bass cabs

It wasn't until I played my guitar through a friend's amp that I realized the issue. Also, the Jaguar has a handy high-pass filter built in, so I started using that with my neck pickup and disengaging it when I switched to the bridge. It didn't totally fix things, but it helped.