which Fender pickup (or other) for Jap Jaguar?

Trotter

usual thing I guess:

I have a cracking little Jap Jaguar here which is great, apart from the super ice picky pickups. 

I am after something warmer, more rounded that can still cut but without getting ice picky. Happy to replace all wiring etc as well if needs be.

I'm after peoples thoughts as to replacements. Out of Fenders current replacement pickups, which would you go for? then also from any other manufacture you have experience of or can think of. 

I'm no purist, happy to hear all suggestions but I am well catered for humbucker wise and also have p90 equipped guitars, other than that open to ideas!

cheers all 

Mark 

Moss

I say this in pretty much every pickup thread, but http://www.mojopickups.co.uk/ will custom wind anything from a warmer jag pickup to a jag-sized gold foil etc.

lustycourtier

The BK Marr ones are good but very low (vintage) output, but mojo are a good call too....

impmann

Mojos - go for Alnico 2 for a softer attack if you so wish, then change the pots for 500 or even 250k jobs.

Trotter

I shall have a look at mojos, thanks gents.

Also wondering what people could recommend from the Fender stable? @MattFGBI any thoughts on this?

Thanks guys

MattFGBI

There's not a massive selection of Fender pickups for Jag's. Your best option is probably to find a dealer with a few in stock. Maybe try the American Vintage and the classic player if you can. Will give you a better frame of reference compared to yours.

Trotter

Cheers for the response. Any of the custom shop pickups that might be suitable do you think? Doesn't have to be jag specific really.

gusman2x

Honestly, you won't really do much better than mojos. And to reduce the ice pickyness, you should consider 500 meg pots.

gusman2x

Although, people also speak very highly of sd quarter punders for jag.

Rocker

What made you choose the Jag @Trotter?  Buying a guitar then changing the pickups seems a strange philosophy.  Did you not realize that the pickups sounded as they do when you first tried out the instrument? 

Sassafras

The never ending quest for the elusive holy grail of tone drives a lot of people on this forum and a never ending source of money, seemingly.

Trotter

The guitar was a gift (yes I'm a lucky boy) but to say buying a guitar to change the pickups is a strange philosophy doesn't ring true for many many people. To be fair I have only changed pickups on one guitar thus far but put simply, you can get far greater sounding pickups than those that come with a lot of guitars as standard. The way I see it you can make a £500 ish guitar like this jaguar, sound every bit as good as a guitar costing twice as much for about £100.

As for a never ending source of money... Um no. You really, REALLY couldn't be further from the truth. Again as per above I can make this splendid little guitar onto something that I will be able to tour for a small outlay in comparison to buying a more expensive model.

Doesn't really take much thinking about gents..

Trotter

Cheers for the tips @gusman2x

impmann

gusman2x;693555" said:

Honestly, you won't really do much better than mojos. And to reduce the ice pickyness, you should consider 500 meg pots.

He means 500k, not meg...

Trotter

Figured, cheers @impmann

gusman2x

Nah, I meant make it SUPERBRIGHTBRIGHTERTHANTHEMOON

XWulfhere

I have a Johnny Marr Jag and I changed my pots to 250k ones, and changed the resistor to a 30k. Also got a capacitor from Mojo pickups. Seems to have got it how I want it for now.

It was far too harsh for my tastes when I first got it.

Trotter

Cheers for that @Wulfhere good to know

XWulfhere

No worries @Trotter

I think one of the things I find the most fun about the Jaguar is that it needs a bit of work to get it the way you like it. I like the Johnny Marr version because it comes with several mods that improve it over a standard Jag, and as you look into it you will find there's many things you can get. New bridges by mastery and staytrem, electronics swaps. The primary motivation for me buying the jag was that it looked cool and felt good - Iknew that everything else (pickups and electronics) could be tweaked the way I wanted it to and that was half the fun.

Defintely check out some of the custom pickup winders like Oil City and Mojo. I found these articles useful too:

http://mmguitarbar.com/2013/01/14/demystifying-the-fender-jazzmaster-and-jaguar-pt-1/

Most of all, enjoy your Jag - they're a lot of fun and very rewarding when you start to figure the cat out!

Trotter

Cheers for the above.

I'm not new to the world of Jaguars but I've certainly had more experience with jazzmasters over the years; I've had three of my own as well as 1965 on loan for a few months. I also had a 1972(iirc) mustang for a few years.

I've already replaced the bridge for a mustang one I had to hand.

It's funny what you say about fettling them to get them right as honestly this has always been my biggest bug bear with fender offsets generally. I've played custom shop jazzmasters and jags which sounded fantastic but would still struggle with the standard bridge & the useless saddles. (cue people telling me this will be down to set up.) I know it's a preference thing but the standard bridge just doesn't suit my playing style and it feels like an oversight of vintage vanity to me to keep selling these guitars with an inferior, not fit for purpose bridge.

Can't help but love offsets though, nothing looks cooler than a well worn and beaten jazzmaster or jag IMO.

Jaded

I've got a set of SD Quarter Pounders with 250k pots in one of my Jags at the moment, really nice if you're after a fatter sounding Jaguar. I would probably suggest the Hot for Jag in the neck though, the QP can get a little bit muddy with some things. 

With the bass cut turned on it sounds quite close to a vintage spec'd Jag, albeit with more volume. At some point I'll probably mess about with some other caps on the bass cut just to see how it effects everything but for now the stock one works just fine. Gives me all a good bit of power when I need it along with a more traditional sound at the flick of a switch. 

Also if you're looking for a better bridge than the Mustang then Staytrem all the way! (along with the trem arm upgrade!)

 

I used the same Mustang bridge since I bought my first Jaguar about 7 years ago and never had any issues with it, tried the Staytrem on a whim and it's fantastic. Strings are a little further in from the edge of the fretboard, no more electrical tape around the posts to keep it from rocking, no more periodically raising the bridge back up and it's the correct radius (which apparently the mij/cij Mustang bridges are not). All in all a much nicer playing guitar since the upgrade.