3 questions for you...

Sweetchuck

Hello,

I own a Fender Jaguar Special MIJ. I have three questions so Ill number them...

1. What would be considered the Best pickups I could get for my guitar?

2. What are considered to be the Best tuners I could get?

3. Where can I get some decals for the headstock to replace the original ones if I refinish?

StevieK

1. I have a fender jaguar special too. As far as pickups go, that's really very very subjective and depends on the music you're playing. If you want some really nice pickups though, nicer than seymour duncan and dimarzio in my opinion, check out some rio grande pickups, they've got all types.

I personally put Van Zandt trubuckers in my jaguar special which are pretty exact replicas of old PAF humbuckers they put in vintage Les Pauls. They split well too and sound like strat pickups.

2. As far as tuners go, I don't think jaguar specials really need new tuners, once you get a good setup with proper intonation there's no need for new tuners, and plus I think the tuners they come with are already pretty cool.

3. Don't know where you can find the decals.

Sweetchuck

I guess I play mostly Beatles, Rolling Stones, or oldies rock mostly. But I also like to be able to do some Nirvana type stuff too. So considering all that, what pickups should I get. I really want THE BEST I can get for these styles.

2. The tuners on the MIJ Jag special SUCK. Its really hard to get the High E and B strings to get on and stay on. They pop off unless you get them exactly right THE FIRST TIME. What about those GOTOH tuners I hear about? I think they have locking one too.

3. I may have to start a thread asking about these just by themselves so people can see what Im asking right from the forum page, it might be getting lost on this thread...

nij

Yeah, Rio Grande are pretty spot on for any sort of sound your after.

and +1 to Stevie's comment about the tuners, a good setup works wonders!

StevieK

Sweetchuck said:

The tuners on the MIJ Jag special SUCK. Its really hard to get the High E and B strings to get on and stay on. They pop off unless you get them exactly right THE FIRST TIME. What about those GOTOH tuners I hear about? I think they have locking one too.

Oh I see, it's not that it won't stay in tune, its the tuning posts right? yeah those are weird but I've owned several guitars with similar tuners and am used to it. It's hard to get them started is all, but as long as you put at least 3 or 4 wraps for those strings they'll be fine once you get them in tune.

Sweetchuck

Anyone else have any recomendations for pickups? or Tuners? Remember price is NOT an issue...I want THE BEST

Libtoem

Well try some Seymour Duncan humbuckers,they do sound really great if you want that Nirvana sound.

sttawke

Wasn't the "Nirvana sound" a pretty generic rock crunch?

As for tuners, don't get some stupid expensive locking tuners with mechanisms that stick out about an inch from the back of the headstock. Get some Wilkinson E-Z-Lok tuners. Two holes, just thread the string through one, then the other, and make a few wraps and you're done.

As for the sound, some overwound single coils would do. You don't need humbuckers in a Jaguar, you'd be destroying both the sound and the look, not to mention cutting down the versatility of a guitar that wasn't really even that versatile to begin with.

Libtoem

His Jaguar is a Special MIJ so it already comes stock with humbuckers.

Sweetchuck

Well,

I want to keep the same look for the pickups. I dont want to have to route out the body to make them fit. I guess the stock PU's just are a little thin sounding. I would like to get PU's that sound great clean or with a little bit O' vintage distortion, kinda bluesy. I dont care if they are humbuckers or not. As a matter of fact I dont even know what kind are in there to begin with. I just want TOP of the LINE PU's for classic rock and occasionally some modern rock.

Fran

If the guitar has humbuckers i'd go for PAF's (vintage/classic rock sound), every company makes their version of the good ole PAF.

Or Seymour Duncan 'Custom', 'JB' or 'Seth Lover'. Or DiMarzio 'Virtual PAF'.

If it has singles i'd get Seymour Duncan JB Jr's.

I dont want to appear condecending but it may be worth you reading some FAQ on re-stringing your guitar. I can't imagine the tuners could possibly be that bad. Are you allowing enough slack before you start winding the machine head? Three wraps around the peg and even crappy tuners should be reasonably okay.

sttawke

Don't go for PAF's, it's no Les Paul and it isn't really going to compete with one. JB's all round. Go for any decent pickup from a decent pickup manufacturer, and just steer clear of any overly heavy metal style pickups and you can't go wrong.

StevieK

I realize now that a lot of you all have never even heard of Van Zandt pickups and what they're all about.

They're a family owned and operated boutique pickup company located in the Dallas, Texas area who make some of the highest quality pickups there are. They mainly gear their pickups towards fender guitars, but their humbuckers work great in Gibsons. They're also pretty pricey.

Anyways Sweetchuck, I have the same guitar as you and the Van Zandt Trubuckers work great in them. I have both of mine coil tapped so they can be split into single coils or humbuckers. They sound great overdriven and can handle pretty large amounts of gain without sounding too flabby or shrill, they're just not really eq'd for heavy metal, which I don't think you plan to play anyways.

I think they may be exactly what you're looking for from what you described, here's the Van Zandt websites description of them:

TruBuckers

True Bucker Vintage:

Built to capture the vintage Les Paul, 335 and other guitars that used the PAF pickups. Vintage sound with just a little more output than the originals.

Lots of top end and bottom. Very attack sensitive.

Good for Rock, Rhtyhtm and BLues, Country, and Rock-a-billy

Trubucker Coil Tap:

Built to allow front and back coil of pickups to be split and used as single coils with switching.This switching allows a variation of sounds from this pickup which goes from a full blown humbucking sound to a split sound single coil sound of a strat or tele. The output and attack is the same as the Trubucker Vintage.

Good for Rock, Rhythym and BLues, Country, and Rock-a-billy.

http://www.vanzandtpu.com/pickup.htm

Sweetchuck keep in mind that your tone is also largely shaped by the amp you play through, in my opinion in many ways it affects your tone even more than the guitar your playing does.

Also keep in mind that good tone is only as good as the person wielding it.

Sweetchuck

StevieK

Thanks for that info. I will definitely check them out. I guess the only reference I have to go with is my old guitar (rickenbacker) and my old mans Stevie Ray Vauhn (sp?) Strat. And since I dont have my Rick I can only A B it with my old mans Strat. Also he bought it from a guy who changed the pickups in it before selling it to him. So we dont know what are in it. But my Jag is definitely thinner sounding compared to his fatter sounding Strat. So I know I want something different.

I know sound is subjective but in my experience the Jag is more thin sounding than it should be. But on the other hand my old man likes my guitar more than his. Aside from the thin sound.