Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

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vpich
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Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by vpich » Mon May 16, 2022 3:22 pm

I’m putting together a new jm. Love my tvl so want to do something different on this one.
The pups sound so great on this tvl, only thing I don’t love is the noise but not swapping them. Thought for a minute that i should put noiseless jm pups in this one but I don’t want to start hating regular noisy jm pups more or not liking that tge new ones have less sizzle, etc

Anyways i’m mostly into single coils but have pretty much decided on some jm shaped whrb’s. Either lollar or novak., just because it’s such a common thing. Tried and tested right? Have also been thinking about alt pups: strat, tv jones, goldfoils,

Post similar experiences/results.

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by andy_tchp » Mon May 16, 2022 4:50 pm

vpich wrote:
Mon May 16, 2022 3:22 pm
jm shaped whrb’s. Either lollar or novak.
[...]

Post similar experiences/results.
Really didn't like the way they sounded or the compressed feel into an amp. Sold them after a few months.

WRHBs, not just tried and tested, but greatly overhyped. YMMV.
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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by vpich » Mon May 16, 2022 5:04 pm

andy_tchp wrote:
Mon May 16, 2022 4:50 pm
Really didn't like the way they sounded or the compressed feel into an amp. Sold them after a few months.

WRHBs, not just tried and tested, but greatly overhyped. YMMV.
[/quote]

That’s what I’m afraid of

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by Lost In Autumn » Tue May 17, 2022 4:57 pm

At some point, I’ll make a Jazzmaster with Filtertrons. They might be my favorite pickup at the moment.

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by seenoevil II » Tue May 17, 2022 5:22 pm

Firebird pickups. I have been converted and now I'm proselytizing. Notice how I didn't call them minihumbuckers, because they aren't (I mean, they are, technically I guess. being two single coils wired in series and all). But, no other pickup I've met gets the breezy, easy going jangle of the JM pup. It's a different character, but if what you dig in the JM is that chalky airy chime, these are a great way to go.

Staple P90. These are an oddball to be sure. If what you like about the JM pickup is the direct and firm thud of the note. That insistent authority with which it declares a tone in utter clarity, then this is the way to go. When you look at their construction you see exactly why this is. The coil bobbin is a bit more narrow and a bit taller than a JM. The rod magnets are utterly enormous. Think SD quarter pounder, but...IDK, maybe 5 pounder. "Pounder" being the operative word. There are some boutique winders and also Fralin who do the staple 90 in a soap bar configuration. No adjustability, but that's par for the course with the JM. Caveat being that they require a bit of depth in the pickup rout. You may need to Dremel it out.

Finally in the "not-jm pickups that remind me of jm pickups" contest.

Dearmonds 2000's Alias "Dynasonics". This one is tough because there's some cork sniffery about where exactly their tone comes from. The important question is the degree to which their big steel mounting rings interfere with the magnetic field of the rod magnets. T-armonds by TV Jones kinda settle the debate as they sound excellent. They're a lot like the staple P90's, but the magnets are much smaller and the wire coils are more narrow, but also more distant from the magnets. That and the metal casings (even on T-armonds) are thought to augment the scope of the field to give a similarly wide window as a JM pup. These are the perfect pickup IMHO. They straddle clean and powerful so perfectly. The bell like, gumdrop chalky clean of the JM with the wagnerian power of the Staple p90. If the Staples are Timothy Dalton, these are Peirce Brosnan. Little prettier, little less rough.

These are my stupid two cents.
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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by vpich » Wed May 18, 2022 8:58 am

seenoevil II wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 5:22 pm
Firebird pickups. I have been converted and now I'm proselytizing. Notice how I didn't call them minihumbuckers, because they aren't (I mean, they are, technically I guess. being two single coils wired in series and all). But, no other pickup I've met gets the breezy, easy going jangle of the JM pup. It's a different character, but if what you dig in the JM is that chalky airy chime, these are a great way to go.

Staple P90. These are an oddball to be sure. If what you like about the JM pickup is the direct and firm thud of the note. That insistent authority with which it declares a tone in utter clarity, then this is the way to go. When you look at their construction you see exactly why this is. The coil bobbin is a bit more narrow and a bit taller than a JM. The rod magnets are utterly enormous. Think SD quarter pounder, but...IDK, maybe 5 pounder. "Pounder" being the operative word. There are some boutique winders and also Fralin who do the staple 90 in a soap bar configuration. No adjustability, but that's par for the course with the JM. Caveat being that they require a bit of depth in the pickup rout. You may need to Dremel it out.

Finally in the "not-jm pickups that remind me of jm pickups" contest.

Dearmonds 2000's Alias "Dynasonics". This one is tough because there's some cork sniffery about where exactly their tone comes from. The important question is the degree to which their big steel mounting rings interfere with the magnetic field of the rod magnets. T-armonds by TV Jones kinda settle the debate as they sound excellent. They're a lot like the staple P90's, but the magnets are much smaller and the wire coils are more narrow, but also more distant from the magnets. That and the metal casings (even on T-armonds) are thought to augment the scope of the field to give a similarly wide window as a JM pup. These are the perfect pickup IMHO. They straddle clean and powerful so perfectly. The bell like, gumdrop chalky clean of the JM with the wagnerian power of the Staple p90. If the Staples are Timothy Dalton, these are Peirce Brosnan. Little prettier, little less rough.

These are my stupid two cents.
Thanks man! I have actually been leaning towards the firebird, always impressed with firebird sounds. And this one dude on youtube (living room demos) has a set of lollar firebirds in an offset and he says it’s the best pups ever a d they do sound great in his demo. He has rings on his pickguard. How did you mount yours? Pics? Wish i could find something in a jm cover as i do love the white covers on jm’s. Especially a ocean turquoise like i am building. All parchment plastics on Ot is beautiful. But that’s ok.

Dynasonics sound good too.

Love p90’s but i have a tele with a jaguar bridge and bigsby with p90’s and a 339 with p90’s so looking for something different.

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by vpich » Wed May 18, 2022 8:59 am

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:57 pm
At some point, I’ll make a Jazzmaster with Filtertrons. They might be my favorite pickup at the moment.
Yeah maybe 3rd place at the moment for me. Have read that they work best on other guitars though

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by Lost In Autumn » Wed May 18, 2022 9:44 am

vpich wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 8:59 am
Lost In Autumn wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:57 pm
At some point, I’ll make a Jazzmaster with Filtertrons. They might be my favorite pickup at the moment.
Yeah maybe 3rd place at the moment for me. Have read that they work best on other guitars though
This summer, I’m making a 25-1/2“ scale double bound, thinline Jaguar with Fralin Big Single minis, which is a Firebird variant. I’m excited to see how that one turns out.

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by seenoevil II » Wed May 18, 2022 11:44 am

vpich wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 8:58 am
seenoevil II wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 5:22 pm
Firebird pickups. I have been converted and now I'm proselytizing. Notice how I didn't call them minihumbuckers, because they aren't (I mean, they are, technically I guess. being two single coils wired in series and all). But, no other pickup I've met gets the breezy, easy going jangle of the JM pup. It's a different character, but if what you dig in the JM is that chalky airy chime, these are a great way to go.

Staple P90. These are an oddball to be sure. If what you like about the JM pickup is the direct and firm thud of the note. That insistent authority with which it declares a tone in utter clarity, then this is the way to go. When you look at their construction you see exactly why this is. The coil bobbin is a bit more narrow and a bit taller than a JM. The rod magnets are utterly enormous. Think SD quarter pounder, but...IDK, maybe 5 pounder. "Pounder" being the operative word. There are some boutique winders and also Fralin who do the staple 90 in a soap bar configuration. No adjustability, but that's par for the course with the JM. Caveat being that they require a bit of depth in the pickup rout. You may need to Dremel it out.

Finally in the "not-jm pickups that remind me of jm pickups" contest.

Dearmonds 2000's Alias "Dynasonics". This one is tough because there's some cork sniffery about where exactly their tone comes from. The important question is the degree to which their big steel mounting rings interfere with the magnetic field of the rod magnets. T-armonds by TV Jones kinda settle the debate as they sound excellent. They're a lot like the staple P90's, but the magnets are much smaller and the wire coils are more narrow, but also more distant from the magnets. That and the metal casings (even on T-armonds) are thought to augment the scope of the field to give a similarly wide window as a JM pup. These are the perfect pickup IMHO. They straddle clean and powerful so perfectly. The bell like, gumdrop chalky clean of the JM with the wagnerian power of the Staple p90. If the Staples are Timothy Dalton, these are Peirce Brosnan. Little prettier, little less rough.

These are my stupid two cents.
Thanks man! I have actually been leaning towards the firebird, always impressed with firebird sounds. And this one dude on youtube (living room demos) has a set of lollar firebirds in an offset and he says it’s the best pups ever a d they do sound great in his demo. He has rings on his pickguard. How did you mount yours? Pics? Wish i could find something in a jm cover as i do love the white covers on jm’s. Especially a ocean turquoise like i am building. All parchment plastics on Ot is beautiful. But that’s ok.

Dynasonics sound good too.

Love p90’s but i have a tele with a jaguar bridge and bigsby with p90’s and a 339 with p90’s so looking for something different.
Well my firebird pickups are mounted in my firebird. So, the standard way I suppose. Healey guitars are great for inspiration on FB pickups in offset shapes. I believe he mounted them through he pickguard like a non-reverse FB. Now that you mention it, I think the entire FB footprint fits in a JM covers area. You could have a double pickup mount.

And a small point with staple p90s. They actually predate regular p90s and the form factor is basically all they have in common. You couldn't really go wrong with any of these though. Hell, even strat pups spaced like JMs will sound 90% of he way there.
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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by Gordon » Fri May 20, 2022 4:13 pm

Lost In Autumn wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:57 pm
At some point, I’ll make a Jazzmaster with Filtertrons. They might be my favorite pickup at the moment.
I can confirm that those are equally as renowned as they are (oddly) seriously underrated. :derp:

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by vpich » Sat May 21, 2022 4:59 pm

Gordon wrote:
Fri May 20, 2022 4:13 pm
Lost In Autumn wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:57 pm
At some point, I’ll make a Jazzmaster with Filtertrons. They might be my favorite pickup at the moment.
I can confirm that those are equally as renowned as they are (oddly) seriously underrated. :derp:

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Oh that’s nice

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Re: Help me work through alternative pups for my jm build

Post by jvin248 » Sun May 22, 2022 6:09 am

.

When I'm in your particular predicament my mind drifts to these options:

Neck: Dynasonic, Goldfoil, Strat(!), or Classic JM (alnico pole magnets and thin bobbin)

Bridge: Classic LP Junior P90, Classic Telecaster with a steel base plate, or a regular chrome covered wax-potted humbucker rotated so the screw poles are on the North bobbin and raised 3/16th inch (for more of a lovely P90 tone that remains noiseless and shielded).

Then make sure I have a really good Faraday Cage of foil lining the cavities (which doesn't mean copper, I actually use HVAC aluminum tape and make sure of continuity with a meter as it's put down).

Then I spend time sorting Pots 'n Caps as they control the tone as much as the pickups.

.

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