OffsetGuitars.com

Now that I have multiple traditional JMs with traditional pups (pure vintage ‘65s in one. Antiquities in the other), I’m thinking of buying a conversion neck and doing a baritone JM to provide some diversity and give me a reason to explore some heavier styles of music.

I pulled p90s out of one of my other JMs but I think I’m looking for something even hotter.

What high output JM pickups should I be looking at? Humbuckers, p90s etc. all fine. I’m just trying to build a djent god.

Djent god? Get a noiseless set that's a bit underwound, it'll be bright and punchy and stay super tight in low tunings with buckets of gain. It'll work well with the baritone too, trimming off some of the low end so it doesn't get muddy.

Balls out high-output? Duncan Hot Jazzmaster for something still in the JM camp, QP for all-mids-nothing-else, or get a humbucker pickguard and stick whatever you want in there.

Depends on what you want...

Humbuckers or single coils...

For Singles, I think the SD QP is quiet a good option. Pretty beefy sounding pick ups with rather high output (15-ish K)
They still remain to keep the JM sound just beefed up BIG...
I'm not too keen on the Hot for Jazzmaster (like them for the Jag) But for JM they just sound like they can't decide what to be... Traditional or not so.
Probably a personal thing. To me they just sound like a Jm boosted (pedal can do the same for less hassle or money imho)

I know the Creamery does Alt 88 Jag pu's, I haven't looked if they are also availble for Jm, but if they are, they might be a option too...
I guess Lollar and the other well known botique makers will also have some options...

As far as Humbuckers go, most high ouput are ceramics, not a bad thing per sé, just different then what we are used too....
Not sure a lot of these are availble in the Jazzmaster pu format, but they sure are out there.
Bare Knucle makes what I believe are caled "nail bomb" humbuckers... high output and quiet popular in the louder/harder genres of music.
I don't think they are plug and play fit for jazzmasters. But I've seen great things here in the build and mod section here...

Not sure if WRHB format could be wound to high output specs and produce the high output you seek.

No specific suggestions to offer, but thought I'd mention that you can use wiring tricks to deal with too much bass if needed, such as the PTB (passive treble/bass) wiring or adding similar resistors and caps to specific positions in the wiring. Using the variable Bass would imply losing the full rhythm circuit unless you're ok with stacked pots, assuming that we're working with a standard pickguard.

I put a Lindy Fralin Hum Canceling AlNiCo pole P90 in the neck and a Hum Cancelling P90 in the bridge of my Jazzmaster Baritone, a Warmoth body, with an Allparts 28-5/8" scale neck. While I wouldn't call them high output, they sound fantastic

carter wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 03, 2021 8:37 pm

What high output JM pickups should I be looking at? Humbuckers, p90s etc. all fine. I’m just trying to build a djent god.

The Joe Barden two/tone JM pickups are silent in both modes and do a spanky, single-coil-ish thing as well as a very thick but articular humbucker tone. I don't think I've ever heard a JM pickup that would be better for djent.

mbene085 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 04, 2021 3:49 pm

The Joe Barden two/tone JM pickups are silent in both modes and do a spanky, single-coil-ish thing as well as a very thick but articular humbucker tone. I don't think I've ever heard a JM pickup that would be better for djent.

Honestly the AV65's into a 6505 is pretty godly for heavy stuff, but impractically noisy. The general voicing of most JM pickups is pretty spot-on for the style, with the only real issues being noise and output balance between neck and bridge.

My only concern with the Bardens is that the ones I've played (the full-sized humbuckers and the Modern Tele set) have been pretty big and pretty even, EQ-wise, so you'd definitely wanna run something like a TS9 in the front to cut bass and boost mids.

I'm not really into Djent stuff, but I guess Seymour Duncan Alpha/Omega would be the default choice, but I'd look into Black Winters if you want humbuckers that are a bit more interesting than that.

But if *I* would be doing heavy music 24/7 I'd go for those Quarter Pounders, they seem to have a really good Mike Ness Social Distortion type of sound.

Thanks, all. These are really good suggestions.

I think I will focus my search on noiseless pups or perhaps humbuckers. My other jazzies are somewhat noisy, unless in mid position, with high gain so noiseless is a really good suggestion.

Lost In Autumn wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 04, 2021 12:25 pm

Lindy Fralin Hum Canceling AlNiCo pole P90 in the neck and a Hum Cancelling P90 in the bridge

This would be my recommendation as well (or the same pickups in Jazzmaster form factor). I have a Fralin hum cancelling P90 in my Les Paul Jr, and it sounds great both clean and with high gain. It's a bit thicker sounding than a normal P90, but it still has the attack and dynamics of a single coil, so it works really well for a detailed and focused high gain sound.

ohm-men wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:21 pm

I know the Creamery does Alt 88 Jag pu's, I haven't looked if they are also availble for Jm, but if they are, they might be a option too...

Yes Creamery Alt-88 are also available for Jazzmaster! I have one in the bridge position my MIJ, and love it.

Bit of a left-field suggestion but the Novak Thunderbird pickups sound huge. I'd happily build a guitar around them for heavier styles.

Veitchy wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:00 pm

Bit of a left-field suggestion but the Novak Thunderbird pickups sound huge. I'd happily build a guitar around them for heavier styles.

I put one in the neck of my Starmaster. It’s a little boomy, but sounds nice with the height set a little low. The Novak WRHB JM that I put in the bridge just snarls, it handles distortion better than any guitar I own.

Lost In Autumn wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:52 am

https://i.imgur.com/SfSbcv3.jpg

interesting vibrato tailpiece. it's a supro/national/valco unit stuck to a custom JM plate, yeah? who fashioned that together?

noisepunk wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:46 am

Lost In Autumn wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:52 am

https://i.imgur.com/SfSbcv3.jpg

interesting vibrato tailpiece. it's a supro/national/valco unit stuck to a custom JM plate, yeah? who fashioned that together?

It’s a Göldo/Deusenberg TDG1 JM tremolo that I bought from forum member Whatisdust. It’s basically an upside down version of the Fender Floating Tremolo. It works pretty well, but it’s not revolutionary like a Descendant or Panorama. The guitar itself is my own construction