The bridge makes a huge impact on the sustain, tone and feel of an offset, IMHO upgrading and/or tweaking the bridge is THE most important step to making an offset sound and feel good. I'd recommend spending money on the bridge before considering upgrading the pickups.
Provided that you keep the original bridge some ways to tweak it for the better are
- using reasonably thick strings, at least 10s for JMs and 11s for Jags
- shimming the neck and raising the bridge to increase pressure on the bridge
- Loctite on the height adjusttment screws to keep the saddles from rattling and sinking
Bridge upgrades also make a big difference
- Cheapest: Mustang bridge or just the saddles since the bottom plate and posts are identical. You should make sure that they match the radius of your neck though since they aren't adustable
- Buzz stop increases the downward pressure over the bridge. I have tried it but didn't find the results that worthwhile. YMMV though.
- Staytrem if you live in the UK (or can find a forwarding service) and if you want to keep the rocking bridge
- Halon or Mastery if you want to have a fixed bridge. IMHO this gives the best results but they cost quite a lot. Totally worth it though (if you have or can get the funds). BUT quite a few players think they change the characteristics of the guitars too much. I personally agree that they change the characteristics a lot but find it to be for the better. I have a Mastery in a JM and a Halon in a Classic Player Jaguar. Both are really good but currently I think I like the Halon better.
