Jazzmaster Replacement PU's

[Wizard]

Okay Kids.

So i recently played the '64 Jazzmaster that got me into the damn instrument, and while my MIJ has the same feel (or atleast you know, a comparably awesome one) as the '64 the pickups sound WILDLY different.

The MIJ's are very mid heavy, the low end is too overwhelming on neck position and the highs are brittle on the bridge.

The '64 was still mid heavy, however has a MUCH more balanced sound overall. THE CLARITY of the '64 was dreamy.

My research tells me Fralins, Novaks or Lollars. My friend Jesse has Antiquity II's, and it sounds great as well, however they seem to lack "hotness" or mids, or something. It wasn't quite there, however it's looking better than what i've got.

What have you guys replaced yours with?

[Zounds Perspex]

I have Lollars in one of mine. Killer pickups, I would definitely recommed them.

I'm super curious about lots of the Novak pickups, though - keep thinking I may hook a JM up one day with a Tele bridge pickups and a WRHB neck pickup. Lots of cool options under those JM covers!

other ones people say good things about are the Pickup Wizard pickups.

check this out, though - http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =7&t=33614

[cheesecats]

I have a thurston moore with the antiquity II s and I love them. I can dial back the highs with the single volume knob but I like the way they cut through the band in a live setting.

[symbolique]

I replaced my pickups in my MIJ with Novaks: Vintage Jazz at neck and P90 at bridge

V Jazz is creamy thickness, the notes chime and I never ever used my rhythm circuit with the stock pups, but now I use it for chord comping jazz (local luthier wired it a little darker). The P90 in bridge cuts great, but I only tend to use it with a Fetto for Big Black type sounds. Blending the 2 I haven't had much use for. Curtis is a real standup guy.

The only problem is his options make you want all.

Then there's this;

http://www.guitar-mod.com/Merchant2/mer ... y_Code=PJM

[dubkitty]

i know someone who replaced the PUs in his Squier J Mascis JM with the vintage Novaks, and they sound terrific. very authentic, very Sixties, very surfy/jazzy. i personally like the stock PUs better for what i do--we had two of them at a post-Christmas party, one with the Novaks and one stock to A/B--but the Novaks definitely would be an upgrade for the typical JM user, and i liked them better than the Lollars i've heard.

[univalve]

I'm very happy with my Lollars in my both Jazzmasters. Was a huge improvement. And because i have two, i did an A/B test with stock and Lollars. The Lollars are awesome

[Ancient Astronaught]

This thread is relevant to my interests.

I've got a Classic player coming in next week (i really wanted the updated bridge and 9.5" fretboard radius) and depending on how it sounds I might be looking to upgrade the pickups. Seems though there's only a few JM pickup makers, Novak, Lollar, SD, and GFS. Once i get a chance to put it through the ringer and see what i would like improved upon with the tone i will start searching out pickups. I was thinking of going with a custom builder, other then the ones mentioned, to get a different take on the JM sound. I know Motor City Pickups will do completely custom stuff, he mainly does higher gain style pickups but with a great vintage flavor, which is right up my alley. If I don't go custom, i will probably go for the p90 JM style pickups, anyone have any recommendations between the lollars and novaks for those?

[Zounds Perspex]

well, Novak has the most options. they definitely make a P-90 pickup in a Jazzmaster cover. I'm not sure how difficult it is to get Lollar to do special winds these days.
but yeah...Novak JM-90 in the bridge and JM-V in the neck would be killer! I'm wanting to hook my AVRI up with a JMT(ele) bridge and JMV neck pickups.

[Ancient Astronaught]

Gotcha, I'm looking for something with good midrange, not huge lows (for once ) and real smooth high end. In the new band i'm playing in if i'm playing guitar (i'm doing guitar and bass depending on the song) i'm the third guitar player, the lead guitarist has a naturally dark but cutting tone, and the other guitarist has a very upper midrange heavy tone, so i'm trying to seat in the low and mid mids and fill out the glassy highs so were not clashing very much. I figured a JM would be perfect for that.

[Zounds Perspex]

Totally. P-90 would be good, but again, I highly recommend keeping a normal JM pickup in the next - it's just a great, great sound.

[terminalvertigo]

I have Lollars in one of mine. Killer pickups, I would definitely recommed them.

I'm super curious about lots of the Novak pickups, though - keep thinking I may hook a JM up one day with a Tele bridge pickups and a WRHB neck pickup. Lots of cool options under those JM covers!

other ones people say good things about are the Pickup Wizard pickups.

check this out, though - http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =7&t=33614

Came here to mention pickupwizard (pete)

great pickups.

[Ancient Astronaught]

I will most likely keep the stock pickups, i've been researching the difference between the CP and the squier j mascis. and from what people have said it seems the stock CP pickups will be most likely exactly what i'm looking for. I will probably pick up a j mascis down the road as a back up and for the p90 style pickups it has, but the gold pickguard would have to go..... I would immediately change the pickguard and all plastics to black.

It's funny i was anti-fender since the last one i bought like 13 years ago, and got obsessed with gibson. Now its exactly the opposite, fender finally started listening to what people wanted and how to improve their products and gibson went down the shit'r, and my tastes followed suit. I'm blown away with the Fender Modern Player Jaguar bass that i picked up a few weeks ago, for a CIC its an amazing bass and sturdy as hell, sounds great too!

[amorphous]

i had Curtis wind me the JMWR for my build - could not be happier. I also have the antiquity II's in my TMJM and those sing too. I had Lollars in a firebird i used to own - also incredible - can't really go WRONG with any builder. Are you looking for authentic JM sound or ?

[CBA]

I was wondering about this too in relation to this:

viewtopic.php?f=188&t=24078



I have the J Mascis Squier and the pickups are surprisingly dope.

I was going to just go straight-up Lollar, but I'll have to peruse some other jawn/jank.


C

[bohdan]

The Pickup Wizard out of Ontario, Canada makes fucking killer p-90 style Jazzmaster pickups.