Seymour Duncan SJAG-3 ... should I?!

tubovas

Hi All,

Has anyone (probably a stupid question!) got these in their Jaguar? I am looking to get one and would love to hear from any one who has them, what style of music you play and what you think of them.... also if you use any effects pedals.. how they sound with them.

Also any other pick up mods to beef up the Jaguar that you have used.. could a pretty interesting discussion....

look forward to hearing from you all.....

Libtoem

I have these pickups in my Jag and I really love the sound it gets,I for the most play alternative/punk rock and it gets the sound I need.Also I installed some 250k pots and wired my Jag just like my Bronco.As for effects I use a OS-2,SD-1 and a CH-1 and it sounds awesome.

GeorgeF

I think it's a bit of a misconception that changing the pups will give you a massively different sound and get rid of the shrillness(I thought so too). Replacing the 1meg pots has A LOT more to do with beefing up the sound in my experience and my 2 cents to anyone with a Jag they want to beef is to look into pot changes BEFORE spending lots of money on new Duncan pups.

I've just installed a 500k tone and 250k volume pot and have never been happier with my Jag - a lot more woody and warm, I'd liken it to a strat as an example but still has a lot of that Jag brightness and jangle. It's now much better for playing in a band with whereas before it would nearly always stay at home. It's had more of an effect than my SJAG2 bridge, I also have a stock CIJ neck pup which is actually a really good pup once you wax pot it.

So in my opinion, spending a fiver on a new tone + vol pots goes a lot further in beefing up tone than new pups. In fact I only had to buy the one 250k pot cos I swapped my 1megs for Les Paul Studio's tone pots! Now I have my dream Les Paul too, chunky and bright with a little jangle!

nirvana23freak

why a 250k volume and 500k tone, why not both 500 or 250?

GeorgeF

I only had one 250k pot as well so maybe I should try another I guess. I found two 500k's to have a weak bottom end and 500k vol and 250 tone sounded weak. There is a noticeable change in how they respond aswell. the overall tone stays brighter as you turn down the volume better than before, and the tone knob is less responsive but has a larger sweet spot in the mids which is what I'm after. As far as the technical side of things go I can't explain it in better terms except that it's the one I like best.

tragictravisty

lots of misconceptions there. rolling down the tone pot will do the same thing to treble as changing pots. as far as the volume pot staying brighter longer, this is false too. The tone has less treble to begin with, so it loses less. Also, you problably wired the volume only using two lugs, and the same with the tone. this would change the wiring significantly, id try doing the same on 1M pots and then comprare.

GeorgeF

tragictravisty said: lots of misconceptions there. rolling down the tone pot will do the same thing to treble as changing pots. as far as the volume pot staying brighter longer, this is false too. The tone has less treble to begin with, so it loses less. Also, you problably wired the volume only using two lugs, and the same with the tone. this would change the wiring significantly, id try doing the same on 1M pots and then comprare.

I've never been able to get the tone I have now with stock wiring and 1meg pots when rolling down the tone. Not ever. If this three lug wiring would change that I'd love to give it a try. Do you have a copy of this wiring diagram I might be able to look at?

In the same way, my Les Paul now has 500k volume and 1meg tone which has made a difference... It is noticeably brighter and has a slightly higher output so I'm not ready to believe that having a higher tone than volume pot is as pointless as you're making it out to be. I now have two guitars with bigger tone pots than volume that sound different as a result. Maybe you guys should try it yourselves and see what I'm talking about?

funtoosh

mhm, the rick basses use 250 vol & 500 tone, too. i always thought they

GeorgeF

So having a larger tone than volume raises the whole value somewhere in the middle of the two? I remember reading on a forum somewhere that having 250V/500T makes it ~350K but thought there would be different wiring going on or something.

tragictravisty

two 250k in parallel - 125, 2 x 500k - 250k, so on and so forth. And if you wire 1M pots on your jag the same way you wired the current pots, when you roll them down, they would get the exact same tones as the current ones. potentiometer - variable resistor, a 1M pot can be rolled down to match the value of any lower value resistor. You used a different wiring most likely, which accounts for why this is not the case.

GeorgeF

I think that's a bone of contention between us now lol. I'm pretty sure that I couldn't get the tone I have now when I was using the 1megs - it always weakened out or dulled (dodgy pots?). I have no doubt this is due to my own subjectivity but it keeps me happy and I think that's all that counts. Plus the 1megs are now the tones in my Epi Les Paul Studio which sounds awesome!

Here's the diagram I worked from. It was like that stock, and I rewired it the same. Cap is the stock 0.01 and resistor is stock 56k I think.

http://www.fenderjaguar.net/images/manu ... iagram.jpg

ChristianS

I have both the bridge & neck SJAG-3s and I love 'em. I didn't want to mess with POTs as I liked the tone as it was. I did have a bit of spare cash at the time which is why I went for the pick-up option.

One thing you have be aware of is that because the SJAG-3's pick-up poles are flush to the pick-up surface, you cannot put back the pick-up covers. (Technically, you can but it will defeat the object of the design...) Bare this in-mind for the asthetics of your guitar as you will now have black pick-ups! - I have a surf-green Jag (CIJ) that came with a white pick-guard, I have replaced this with a red-turtle shell one & it looks really good. SJAG-3s also do not required the metal claw, so there will be a gap around the pick-up and the pick-guard, although the pick-up sits flush to the internal routing. Some of the pick-up wiring is also exposed.

Wiring, with my basic soldering skills took about 40 minutes with preperation.

I also recommend that before you fit them, buy some metal pick-up springs as SJAGs are shipped with rubbish bits of rubber tubing.

I am not going to comment as to what I play because I play various styles through an Korg AX3000G (I highly recommend, if on a budget!!!)

That's my opinion for what it's worth. At the end of the day, it's your choice...

fishfingers

I've just fitted two SJAG-3s to my Jaguar, and am very happy with the resulting change in tone! It felt good getting to 'know' my guitar a bit better... 😀

However, I have fitted them with the claw and the pickup covers - as regards ChristianS' comment "Technically, you can but it will defeat the object of the design...", does this have any negative effect on the pickups' activity, or does it defeat the object of design purely because refitting them is unnecessary?

ChristianS

The claws are not needed due to the wiring of the SJAG pick-ups... If you have both the neck & bridge pick-ups they should be reversed phased therefore counter-acting the hum, which the claws are designed to do... As far as the pick-up covers go, SJAG-3s are designed with a large pole surface (1/4inch) to give the guitar more gain, they are also flat to the surface, unlike the stock pick-ups, which push up through the cover holes. I have mine setup so that they are just off the strings when I hold down the 22nd fret. Putting the covers back on diminishes the gain and proximity. At the end of the day, it is YOUR guitar & YOUR sound, my preference is for bare pick-ups, if you are happy with your set-up, leave it!!

tragictravisty

so, the covers dont do much, but definitely leave the claws on. theres no reason not to, and theyll reduce noise when using single pickups

ChristianS

SJAG-3's if correctly wired, are designed to be used bare (No claws or Covers), as the phasing counter-acts any hum. Most people don't like the gap it leaves, so some choose to put the claws and covers back on. If you use one without the other, it looks very messy. It's down to asthetics. If you choose to put the covers back on, it will reduce some of the response (due to cover thickness) but will look stupid without the (redundant) claws.

I can't emphasise this enough but you are customising YOUR guitar. I am sure that there is nobody on here who bought a Jag (M/CIJ's) purely because it a Jazz/Surf instrument. We bought them because they look sh*t hot. Yes we are shallow...

They have p*ss poor stock pick-ups/components. We want to replace them for our own use.

There is no hard/fast rules on customising, if there was, we would all end up customising to the same standard which would very much defeat the object!!!

tragictravisty

so if he wants it to be quiet hes got to have both pickups on? whats the point. I am aware that they cancel hum when used together. but they dont cancel hum when used alone. so why not put the claws on? aesthetics? you just said the gap looks poor...

ChristianS

That was my point... If you have both the neck & bridge pick-ups then clawing is not required... but if you want to put them back on, along with the pick-up covers, then that's your progative... I personally didn't because I was OK with the gap and wanted the benefit of the pick-ups as close to the strings as possible... A lot of people who have upgraded to SJAG-3s, don't like the gap & want their guitar to look as original as possible so they replace all the pick-up hardware... It's not wrong, just I personally prefer having bare-pick-ups!!!

Libtoem

I have strat covers on my jag pickups and I think they look great.And my Jag sounds just as good as a humbucker,the distortion I get is very impressive.