Jazzmasters with non-Jazzmaster pickups - Whatcha got?

[GilmourD]

What wild and wacky pickup configurations have you dropped into your Jazzmasters? I've got an extra body routed for whatever I want to do and I'm looking for inspiration. Throw sexy pics and sound clips at me, please!

[marqueemoon]

lipstick JM

[marqueemoon]

Here is some more inspiration for ya.

[mynameisjonas]

Not very wacky, but here’s one of mine with Firebird pickups:


FB pickups work really well in Jazzmasters, the guitar keeps most of its character, just beefed up and hum free. Great sounds both clean and dirty. I don’t have any clips though unfortunately.

[Daitong II]

Ok, some are jazzmaster pickups, but the turquoise and sparkle green have Funked Up Guitar aluminum covers. The Sherwood Green Jaguar has Mojo Dynasonics, the desert sand has Curtis Novak JM-HCs and the sunburst has Lambertones Crema humbuckers. I’m changing the sunburst to WRHBs soon as I don’t care for the Lambertones. They are too bright for me. It’s already running 500k pots, but the pickups just have no body to them. I’m also not keen on their religious/worship music vibes, but that’s not the big reason.

[GilmourD]

Anybody got anything like Filtertrons or HiLoTrons or anything? I want something that's not currently in my offset pallet of tones but still useable for my rock shenanigans, so throw it all at me!

[crazyzeke]

lipstick JM

I love how tastefully done this entire guitar is. It's hard to get silver/gold working but somewhere between the pickguard and natural wood finish it all ties together. Other than the strap which looks like a combination between a shell suit and TV title card, both from the 1980s.

[John]

Anybody got anything like Filtertrons or HiLoTrons or anything? I want something that's not currently in my offset pallet of tones but still useable for my rock shenanigans, so throw it all at me!

I had a Filtertron in the neck of my JM for awhile. It sounded great!

[GilmourD]

Anybody got anything like Filtertrons or HiLoTrons or anything? I want something that's not currently in my offset pallet of tones but still useable for my rock shenanigans, so throw it all at me!

I had a Filtertron in the neck of my JM for awhile. It sounded great!

How would you compare it to the classic Jazzmaster pickup sound? And which Filtertron was it, because there seems to be many choices these days!

[marqueemoon]

lipstick JM

I love how tastefully done this entire guitar is. It's hard to get silver/gold working but somewhere between the pickguard and natural wood finish it all ties together. Other than the strap which looks like a combination between a shell suit and TV title card, both from the 1980s.

Thanks. I found the brass case Neo-Tone pickups first and really liked the look, but knew I didn’t want to do gold hardware. Then I found the Westone repro brass knobs from Armadillo Guitar and the rest is history.

The strap might seem like an odd choice, but the guitar just looks a little too serious to me.

[JSett]

I've wedged a few into mine over the years, JMs, WRHBs, Rails, etc. It did have a Tele bridge wedged under a JM cover for a while which was a weird experiment, now it has a 60's style P90 under there (sacrilege, I know). It sounds great.

[crazyzeke]

now it has a 60's style P90 under there (sacrilege, I know). It sounds great.

No such thing, if it's making the tones you want. I find pickup changes in Jags and JMs can seriously improve their versatility, fatten them up and make them more like what you're going for, "sound in your head" wise. If the only choice was vintage style pickups I don't think I could play them as a main guitar.

[Daitong II]

I am definitely no traditionalist. I say do what makes you happy with your tone.

[crazyzeke]

I am definitely no traditionalist. I say do what makes you happy with your tone.

Amen, the right answer is the one that works for you. If you need to play your guitar with drumsticks or a violin bow to get the tone you like, go for it!

[GilmourD]

No such thing, if it's making the tones you want. I find pickup changes in Jags and JMs can seriously improve their versatility, fatten them up and make them more like what you're going for, "sound in your head" wise. If the only choice was vintage style pickups I don't think I could play them as a main guitar.

I am definitely no traditionalist. I say do what makes you happy with your tone.

Amen, the right answer is the one that works for you. If you need to play your guitar with drumsticks or a violin bow to get the tone you like, go for it!

Absolutely! That's the whole point of this thread! I have multiple variants of the traditional Jazzmaster sound already, so I want to swing it in a different way (while also working on a Jaguar with WRHB already, especially now that I FINALLY got a router!).

I've wedged a few into mine over the years, JMs, WRHBs, Rails, etc. It did have a Tele bridge wedged under a JM cover for a while which was a weird experiment, now it has a 60's style P90 under there (sacrilege, I know). It sounds great.

Now, the question is... How would you compare them to each other tonally?
I guess I'm looking for inspiration. I'm kinda looking at getting the GFS GF'Trons and modding them to be in parallel like a proper Filtertron (because proper Filtertrons are $$$) but I'm also still easily swayed in other fun directions. I have Strats, Teles, Wolfgangs, an Explorer, a proper Mustang, Jaguars, and just trying to expand the choices.