swapping pickups to get new sound

tragictravisty

go on harmony-central.com, they have some reviews. and i can say from personal experience that gfs are good quality. i just ordered another pickup off them yesterday. their parts are just as high quality as sd or dimarzio, and they are quiet, well potted pickups. so unless you get handwound pups, theyre as good as any. and the descriptions are vague, youll have to go on youtube, or elsewhere on the web to find out what they really sound like.

if your going to get another solid state amp, i strongly recommend the roland cube series. acceptable high gain sounds, ok semi-dirty sounds, and excellent cleans. the cleans are better than low end tube amps, or even 2000 dollar marshalls (some marshalls anyway). valvetronix arent bad either. somewhat better bluesy overdrive, similar high gain, and not a sgood clean sounds. id take the jagmaster in to a shop and try out low end amps to see if you can get your tone out of the stock pups.

Robbmonster

People do rave about GFS, especially the value for money. Everyone says tay are worth way more than what you pay, so that could be a winner.

I probably would be getting another solid state combo, not because of space, but mainly becuse of budget. I've been intrigues with the Roland Microcube, and the music store near my home has one in stock, so I just might take the Jagmaster in and take it for a spin.

The thing is, through my MG-10, I like the sound of my 51 and my Tele, but not the Jagmaster. But as you said, the contour control is a mid control, so maybe peeling back the bass and upping the treble a little might help.

I still have options to explore here...

funtoosh

so i finally looked up the talking heads song.

ahm, just to check, you are sure its not the 335 sound you are after?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gewyHjQ3bNc

funtoosh

Robbmonster said:
edit: by the way, funtoosh, where did you score the Mustang pickups? I'm not having much luck finding any for a good price.

at darren riley

Robbmonster

Nice posts, very useful...

The Talking Heads vid isn't great (but you knew that), but still sounds reasonably close to what I am after. In the other two vids, the 335's sounded a bit gruntier and punchier than what I am looking for. I know I will be able to achieve the sound I want with a combination of guitar and amp settings, so it may not be too bad.

Had a quick look at the Darren site, and I might send an email to him just asking what he thinks. But for sure, the price is right on mustang pickups. All up, I'd be looking at about AUD$150, or a bit under, so that sure isn't too bad.

As far as the rings go, I think I just Googled "humbucker single coil ring", and found this site...

http://www.allparts.com/store/pickup-co ... roduct.asp

US$12 for the parts, and US $18.50 for shipping. In Oz dollars, that's a shade under $50

I can't decide of I should go for black rings/white pickups or white rings, black pickups. At the moment I am leaning toward the former...

Robbmonster

OK, I'm inspired...

http://www.instituteofnoise.com/squier5 ... chpage=121

About 3/4 of the way down the page rests the Jagocaster. It gave me some great ideas about my own Jagmaster.

First, 3 strat pickups. I don't want to get another pickguard made, so I will still use humbucker-to-single-coil converter rings. Slant/vertical/slant configuration. Maybe slant/vertical/vertical if I decide it looks silly. Bidding for Squier strat pickups on ebay for 99c. Better pickups will come when money is better.

The next step will be to replace the pickup selector switch (which I never liked any way, it's jumpy, and I hit it while playing) to a 5-way rotary switch, probably with a funky (white, if I can get it) chicken head knob.

Also will be looking to drop in a second tone pot, to make the thing strat-style. I've never been sure of the config of the tone pots on a strat, but I THINK the bridge pikup is usually left wide open. Is this the case?

Well, this is the plan. Is there anything I need to know about the pots/cap/etc that could cause this whole thing to screw up?

Also, I'd do a mockup of this thing, but I ain't a photoshopper...

Mustang-Pete

Sounds awesome, mate! That Jagmaster looks pretty cool with the singles.

Also 😲 at the pink '51 there!! 😲😲

Robbmonster

Mustang-Pete said: Sounds awesome, mate! That Jagmaster looks pretty cool with the singles.
Also 😲 at the pink '51 there!! 😲😲

There are some STUNNING 51's in there. My favourite is a lime green one.

But this looks like the direction I will go in. It was inspiring 😁

ZZZ

You need two CIJ/MIJ Jaguar bridge pups...they even squeal on higher volumes 😀

Robbmonster

She's getting turned into a Jagocaster. I bought a set of Squier strat pickups (from a Classic Vibe 60's, I hope) and they are going in there for the time being.

Eventually I will drop some Fender pickups in there if the sound I get isn't up to snuff.

harrison

Robbmonster said: She's getting turned into a Jagocaster. I bought a set of Squier strat pickups (from a Classic Vibe 60's, I hope) and they are going in there for the time being.
Eventually I will drop some Fender pickups in there if the sound I get isn't up to snuff.

nice, im on the fence about buying a jagmaster and modding it into a more jazzy type, or using my bullet neck on a jazzy body and building from there. glad to see your project coming together

Robbmonster

Robbmonster said: She's getting turned into a Jagocaster. I bought a set of Squier strat pickups (from a Classic Vibe 60's, I hope) and they are going in there for the time being.
Eventually I will drop some Fender pickups in there if the sound I get isn't up to snuff.

Finally, right 😀 I've been doing alot of talking and asking questions without much action. Now, parts are in the mail on the way to me, and it's going to come together over the next few months. I decided to get the pickups while they were cheap. AUD$16 all up, and that includes postage 😁

As far as putting the Bullet neck on a Jagmaster... You might find - as I did - that you fall in love with the neck in a big way and decide to keep it. The Jagmaster neck really is wonderful to play, and the big headstock has really grown on me.

harrison

im not sure how the USD>AUD works but 16$ sounds like a steal anyhow 😆

i have played some jagmasters and really do like the neck on it, if i bought it i would play it for a while and see how i like it. The debate is between buying it for about 250$ USD or parting together a jazz body and all the fixings for about the same. im really just not a fan of the strat trem and know i would be swapping the pups and tuners, so that might set me back more than building the jazzy i really want

Robbmonster

harrison said: im not sure how the USD>AUD works but 16$ sounds like a steal anyhow 😆
i have played some jagmasters and really do like the neck on it, if i bought it i would play it for a while and see how i like it. The debate is between buying it for about 250$ USD or parting together a jazz body and all the fixings for about the same. im really just not a fan of the strat trem and know i would be swapping the pups and tuners, so that might set me back more than building the jazzy i really want

AUD$16 is about USD$9 at the moment, so yeah the were super-duper cheap, even for Squier pickups.

I'm not a huge fan of the strat vibrato either. I added 2 more springs to it, and it very rarely gets used, although I do like to experiment with it from time to time. You might be better off starting from scratch and making the guitar YOU want, rather than ending up unhappy and possibly spending more than you need to...

harrison

wow 9usd! including shipping? thats almost free haha,

the strat trem and saddles to be more specific always feel so weak and cheap even on the american strats ive played, i would much rather build the guitar i want and not have to deal with another one of those trems. i will most likely be selling the loaded bullet body to get a little funding for the jazzy,

Robbmonster

Yeah, I feel I got a pretty good deal. If they work out, great, if not they are still cheap substitutes until I can afford a classier set.

Just got an email from allparts.com, saying they wont allow my order because 'the price of shipping ia more than double the cost of the parts'. As if I didn't already know this. Grrr.

The recommended me to their New Zealand distributor, and of course, they dont have the parts I want. Grrr.

If worse comes to worst, instead of aging my own knobs in coffee, I will but an aged knob set from them to hopefully get my order to the point where they will do it.

Last thing I want is to have the pickups sitting around with no guitar to use them in. Grrr.

JaguarOW

Robbmonster said: aging my own knobs in coffee

teehee

harrison

what were you buying from allparts? the pickup rings? it may look a little DIY but you could always just mount the SCs in the larger holes if you could live with the looks. or put some tape over the gaps 😉

Robbmonster

harrison said: what were you buying from allparts? the pickup rings? it may look a little DIY but you could always just mount the SCs in the larger holes if you could live with the looks. or put some tape over the gaps 😉

I am definitely someone who likes to keep things looking as neat as I can. Even the concept of pickup rings is a bit off-putting for me, but it sure beats getting a new pickguard made.

I don't really want it looking too DIY, as I would quickly be looking for ways to resolve it anyway.

And yeah, I was buying just the pickup rings (USD $6 each). It's all cool now, I am buying them through thier New Zealand affiliate.

Cymastar

suggestion, to reduce the "look" of the pickup rings, mount them UNDER the pickguard, so there is simply black surrounding the SC...

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