Hello,
I recently managed to snag a Fender Blacktop Jaguar 90 on a very sweet deal! I love the feel of offset guitars and was previously considering a custom Tele-Master/Jazz-Caster build (with a P90 in the neck), but I couldn't turn down this Jaguar.
Anyhow, my Jaguar has an alder body, a stopbar tailpiece, and two soapbar P90s. I've given the stock Fender pickups a chance, and I've put on new strings and adjusted the height of the pickups, but I find them to be very lackluster and uninspiring.
Therefore, I'm on the hunt for two new soapbar P90s to replace the stock Fender ones with. Here is a list of the pickups that I've begun researching:
- Lollars
- Fralin
- Wolfetone
- Wilde
- Kent Armstrong
- Vineham
- Gibson
- Seymour Duncan
- GFS
Based on what I've read and heard, I'm currently leaning towards the Lollars (a standard in the neck and a 5% overwound in the bridge).
I'm looking for something that can handle classic rock as well as some modern rock sounds (although nothing too heavy). I suppose I'm mainly after some good classic rock crunch/grind.
My basis of comparison is my early 2000's MiK Epiphone Casino. I originally intended to upgrade the stock Epi pickups on my Casino, but the longer I've played the guitar, the more I've come to appreciate its sound. Believe it or not, I think the stock P90s are fantastic and I've now gotten to a place where I won't risk changing a thing on the Casino because I don't want to alter the sound and I don't believe that it could get any better.
With that being said, I know that a solidbody alder Jaguar will never sound like a full hollowbody Casino (and I wouldn't want it to). As I said though, I love the sound of the P90s in my Casino - perhaps I should consider the Gibson soapbars?
Any opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated!
Ryan
