Telecaster bridge pickup mounted in Jazzmaster

[Guppy]

I've decided to install a Texas Special bridge pickup in my Jazzmaster. Mostly to just try how it works and see if I like it better than my current (standard JM) bridge pickup.
So I did it like this:


I just modded a JM cover with a Stanley knife and a Dremel. It worked out fairly neat. I just mounted the pickup inside the cover like a normal tele pickup.



To make everything hight adjustable and stable the JM pickup cover had to be mounted with a fixed height. Putting foam underneath the pickup won't work anymore
So I've cut some (11mm) spacers for a small brass tube like so:

It worked out great. The jm cover now functions as a fixed base for the telecaster pickup.
Result:

[alexpigment]

Some really creative work here! I've got my tele pickups just sitting underneath the JM covers at an angle with foam underneath, so the pickup cover height adjusts the height of the tele pickup. Certainly less adjustable/flexible than your solution, but looks more like a stock JM. I also had a custom JM pickup made with tele specs from Sunday Handwound a few years back. In other words, I support your decision here. The Tele bridge pickup is the king of bridge pickups in my book.

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

Cool!

Do you like the way it sounds?

[Guppy]

Cool!

Do you like the way it sounds?

It's definitely better than the traditional 8kohm A2 bridge pickup I had in there originally. It's less nasally and more open. Especially with some dirt on it. I just hoped that the 10kohm Texas Special pickup would deliver more output wise. It's a better sound but about equally as loud as the JM pickup that was in there before. So it still feels a bit underpowered compared to the neck pickup. But more usable. Still very jangly middle position. Might even be a bit more scooped but I forgot to do a recording of the original setup.

[F15hface]

Image inserted for ease of viewing.

That’s a really good looking Jazzmaster. Definitely something I’d consider if I was going to build one, I love JM neck pickups but the bridge is often a little brittle for me.

[Guppy]

Image inserted for ease of viewing.

That’s a really good looking Jazzmaster. Definitely something I’d consider if I was going to build one, I love JM neck pickups but the bridge is often a little brittle for me.

Thanks! I really liked how it turned out.
You can just stick a Tele pickup under the bridge cover like you would a normal jm pickup to try it out.
I just did this as an experiment.

(Btw: how do you post a pic like that so its visible in the post and not just the link?)

[CorporateDisguise]

Image inserted for ease of viewing.

That’s a really good looking Jazzmaster. Definitely something I’d consider if I was going to build one, I love JM neck pickups but the bridge is often a little brittle for me.

Thanks! I really liked how it turned out.
You can just stick a Tele pickup under the bridge cover like you would a normal jm pickup to try it out.
I just did this as an experiment.

(Btw: how do you post a pic like that so its visible in the post and not just the link?)

On what ever photo sharing site your using, you just need to copy and paste the BBC link in your post.

I also put a tele style bridge pickup in my main JM. But I had Sunday Handwound make me one under a JM cover. Easily my favorite sounding pickup combos!

[Guppy]

Image inserted for ease of viewing.

That’s a really good looking Jazzmaster. Definitely something I’d consider if I was going to build one, I love JM neck pickups but the bridge is often a little brittle for me.

Thanks! I really liked how it turned out.
You can just stick a Tele pickup under the bridge cover like you would a normal jm pickup to try it out.
I just did this as an experiment.

(Btw: how do you post a pic like that so its visible in the post and not just the link?)

On what ever photo sharing site your using, you just need to copy and paste the BBC link in your post.

I also put a tele style bridge pickup in my main JM. But I had Sunday Handwound make me one under a JM cover. Easily my favorite sounding pickup combos!

Thanks, I've figured out the foto sharing.
What are the specs on your bridge pickup? And is it mounted at an angle or just straight like mine?

[bodhi]

That's a neat body color, alongside the pickup setup being cool Did you finish it yourself?

[CorporateDisguise]

Thanks! I really liked how it turned out.
You can just stick a Tele pickup under the bridge cover like you would a normal jm pickup to try it out.
I just did this as an experiment.

(Btw: how do you post a pic like that so its visible in the post and not just the link?)

On what ever photo sharing site your using, you just need to copy and paste the BBC link in your post.

I also put a tele style bridge pickup in my main JM. But I had Sunday Handwound make me one under a JM cover. Easily my favorite sounding pickup combos!

Thanks, I've figured out the foto sharing.
What are the specs on your bridge pickup? And is it mounted at an angle or just straight like mine?

Its A5 on the the wound strings and A2 on the plain strings. In the 9-10k range and its mounted straight like yours. Its wound on a JM bobbin, but is taller than a JM pickup and has the tele base plate.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Cool mounting method.

Just seeing the title of the thread-title I was thinking of something like this…angled.
Novak JM-T


Has anyone tried one of these?

I must say I enjoy the Bridge Pickup of my Telemaster way more than the WRHB… and this could be a way to complete/upgrade my Liquid Thunder-JM.

[Guppy]

That's a neat body color, alongside the pickup setup being cool Did you finish it yourself?

Thanks. Yeah, I finished it myself. It's an alder body from Guitar and Bass build UK (very nice body). First darkened with Clou dark nut (168) water stain and finished it of with some light amber tinted nitro. Didn't bother to polish it up to a high sheen because I like the natural look and feel.
I incorporated some lighter and darker areas in the finish to mimic some aging. It's subtle but I think it worked out great. It has a baseball bat neck which was the reason for this build. No of the shelf (affordable) Jazzmaster available with a really fat neck.

[Guppy]

On what ever photo sharing site your using, you just need to copy and paste the BBC link in your post.

I also put a tele style bridge pickup in my main JM. But I had Sunday Handwound make me one under a JM cover. Easily my favorite sounding pickup combos!

Thanks, I've figured out the foto sharing.
What are the specs on your bridge pickup? And is it mounted at an angle or just straight like mine?

Its A5 on the the wound strings and A2 on the plain strings. In the 9-10k range and its mounted straight like yours. Its wound on a JM bobbin, but is taller than a JM pickup and has the tele base plate.

Cool guitar!
I did a comparison with my JV 60's modified telecaster. The telecaster had slightly more bass and sounded a little less mid-rangy. I think it's because of the slanted mount. It picks up a bit more bass from the wound strings.

[Guppy]

Cool mounting method.

Just seeing the title of the thread-title I was thinking of something like this…angled.
Novak JM-T


Has anyone tried one of these?

I must say I enjoy the Bridge Pickup of my Telemaster way more than the WRHB… and this could be a way to complete/upgrade my Liquid Thunder-JM.

I thought about buying these but they where way over my budget.
This way I can mount any Tele bridge pickup I want.

[alexpigment]

I thought about buying these but they where way over my budget.
This way I can mount any Tele bridge pickup I want.

At least you had a logical reason not to buy one of those Novaks - I didn't buy it because at the time he didn't make a pickup cover that matched my existing plastics, so that was the reason I went with the "hide it under the JM cover method". There are also a few ways to make faux polepieces, but that's for another thread I guess.