-=Jazzmaster and Jaguar Pickups and Electronics FAQ=-

[mark66saints]

I'm planning to put '65 AVRI pickups in my MIJ JM. According to the service diagram for the 65 AVRI, it has a 0.1uF cap.

Is that the best option for the capacitor, or is there a value that's more "vintage correct"?
Are orange drop caps the best choice for JMS, or am I better off with a PIO?

[therobotHUM]

Good basic overview man thanks posting.

[indigo_nico]

way late to the party but i thought i'd chime in.

i have an early nash jm (2006, from the first batch of JMs he complained about or whatever) and it has the sjm1 pups in it.

i also have a new classic player that i put lollars in.

while the lollars sound great and are very boutique-y, they kind of have their own thing going on. the rods (or whatever you call them) are staggered in height as opposed to the sjm1s which are all even in height. i don't know much about pick up construction, but the lollars sound more hi-fi and modern to my ears where as the sjm1s sound more like old JM pups.

my roommate has a 64 JM with the original pups and they sound nothing like the lollars. not necessarily better or worse, but not at all alike. the much cheaper sjm1s i have in the nash sound pretty close to the 64. i still totally dig the lollars, but they are kind of their own take on the JM sound. less vintage sounding.

somewhat off subject, i went though a phase of GAS that was very boutique-centric. spent a lot of money on expensive things. not to take anything away from the boutique market, but in my experience a higher price tag isn't necessarily indicative of a better product. sometimes its just about what you do with it. i went through a couple dr z amps and countless boutique pedals (all sounded killer) and wound up going back to my cheap ampeg gvt amps and a pedal board filled halfway up with boss pedals. i've never been happier with my rig, just spent a lot of money only to go back to where i started.

[Tidepoolbay]

Nice work! Thank you!

[steve barnabas]

hello friends,
any suggest jazzmaster pups, pots and caps for lead circuit?
for me, my squier JMJM sound muddy and dark, lots of bottom end and mid, so i want ot change it, with another pickups... brighter pups, more lower output than stock, more treble but still got bottem end and mid

thanks

[tdbajus]

hello friends,
any suggest jazzmaster pups, pots and caps for lead circuit?

IMHO, the place place to start is with the Duncan Antiquity II jazzmaster pickups. Again in my opinion, they are nicely middle-of-the-road, and once you live with them for a year or two, you'll have a good idea of what you'll want to change- more output, more treble, etc etc. Use the duncan schematic, and wire everything up completely standard, replacing the low quality pots and cap, so you know what the norm is. Once you know how it sounds functioning correctly, it will then be easy to figure out where to go from there.

Remember, the sound is mostly in your hands. While shitty electronics can ruin a good guitar, amazing electronics will just make a shitty sounding guitar sounds shitty in a different way. So the Duncans give you a chance to hear what is really there, re:toanz.

If you don't like your guitar after that, all the fancy pickups and mastery bridges in the world won't make you like it.

[steve barnabas]

hello friends,
any suggest jazzmaster pups, pots and caps for lead circuit?

IMHO, the place place to start is with the Duncan Antiquity II jazzmaster pickups. Again in my opinion, they are nicely middle-of-the-road, and once you live with them for a year or two, you'll have a good idea of what you'll want to change- more output, more treble, etc etc. Use the duncan schematic, and wire everything up completely standard, replacing the low quality pots and cap, so you know what the norm is. Once you know how it sounds functioning correctly, it will then be easy to figure out where to go from there.

Remember, the sound is mostly in your hands. While shitty electronics can ruin a good guitar, amazing electronics will just make a shitty sounding guitar sounds shitty in a different way. So the Duncans give you a chance to hear what is really there, re:toanz.

If you don't like your guitar after that, all the fancy pickups and mastery bridges in the world won't make you like it.

thanks ... how about fender pups avri 62?

[tdbajus]

thanks ... how about fender pups avri 62?

Personally, I like the Duncans better. I also think they are cheaper than the AVRI.

I prefered the sound of my Antiquity II factory equipped Thurston Moore Jazzmaster to the '62 AVRIs I played- though certainly the pickups were not the only factor. If you prefer the AVRI, that also seems like a good start.

[Dan_Q]

Just wanted to thank everyone for this thread- i've found the information very useful.

I'm trying to decide which pickups to use myself for a project- still can't decide!

Cheers

[Ro_S]

I looked through this thread but I couldn't find the following info:

what are the DC resistance readings typically found on the stock 'Duncan Designed' pickups used in the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitar models?

ta

--------------------------------------------------------------

these are the model no.'s:

Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster

Neck Pickup: Duncan Designed™ JM-101N Single-Coil Jazzmaster® with Alnico 5 Magnets
Bridge Pickup: Duncan Designed™ JM-101B Single-Coil Jazzmaster with Alnico 5 Magnets

Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar

Neck Pickup: Duncan Designed™ JG-101N Single-Coil
Bridge Pickup: Duncan Designed™ JG-101B Single-Coil Jaguar

[tremolo3]

My CIJ JM has the stock pickups, and I was thinking that it sounds more like a Jaguar than a JM because of the similarities with the pickups with the Strat, but with the scale and the look of a JM, I fucking love my guitar.
I do miss the sound of the VM and CP pickups though...

[niandra3]

This might have been pointed out already (didn't read all 12 pages), but the schematic links in the OP are dead (both Fender and SD).

These should work..

Jaguar:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content ... andard.jpg

Jazz:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content ... andard.jpg

[l9gaj]

I'm planning to put '65 AVRI pickups in my MIJ JM. According to the service diagram for the 65 AVRI, it has a 0.1uF cap.

Is that the best option for the capacitor, or is there a value that's more "vintage correct"?
Are orange drop caps the best choice for JMS, or am I better off with a PIO?

Afraid I can't answer the value question but as regards Orange Drop or PIO it will make no difference. The value matters, the type doesn't. Some caps might have a pretty large tolerance meaning they are not the value they claim to be so beware of that.

I suspect Fender would have used ceramic discs rather than PIO in early JM.

[bacongrease]

Right about the capacitors. People selling vintage caps will tell you that a pre-war Cold War, Russian, paper in oil with Czech text, smuggled through Vietnam in Capt Koons' ass are worth $1,000. You can find them for a few dollars.

[bacongrease]

I really like the Mascis stock pickups. I've read they aren't proper JM pickups but I'm ok with that. Maybe because I'm pleasantly surprised by the budget brands like Squier and can't afford boutique pickups, I favor these. I also love jaguar pickups--after years of not knowing about them & being a strat & tele guy.

Playing devils advocate here--do you think you can make up for subtle differences in pickup tones with an eq pedal? Secondly can you really hear or notice those differences after washing it in stacked pedals?