Hey Ttxus2, finding one's tone is VERY subjective. Many things should be taken in account when trying to achieve your own sound/tone. Many musicians will swear by 'Industry Standards' for full tonal control but then there are select musicians that 'Mod' their equipment over and over through- out until they are happy with the outcome.
With Industry Standard type things for instance, like using a stomp box 'Tube Screamer,' or switching out the P/U's to Seymour Duncan JB Humbuckers, or changing out your POTs, or even your CAPs can do wonders for a fuller thicker sound. Even up grading your amp is also a viable option. Just remember, (unfortunately) to use terminology like Industry Standard when talking to Luthiers and guitar shops. Right, using any one of these techniques will get you a pretty decent tone plus it's a great starting point and it's fun. 👍😎
Don't worry some of these things can be achieved without wasting a lot of money and time.
Now, with non-standard type things (from my experience) opens a world of possibility for you. If you end up going this direction I recommend that you find yourself a reliable guitar Luthier or someone that can help you if you get stuck. Again, you can still make decent upgrades using Non-Industry Standard type stuff like with a good stomp pedal. I use a Seymour Duncan 808 and I love it. In the past I have Mid-Scooped my Jag-Stang and I found that it had an amazing tone when recording but was quite soft and didn't cut through a mix in a live venue. For another example I switched the Taper and Linear controls (volume/tonal control) so I could roll off without losing my frequency. Kinda like a poor man's
attenuator. Switching your Jag-Stang to a one P/U git is also an option. This will give you another tone worth investigating. Guardian Pickups make a single P/U guard for Jag-Stang's. Throughout this forum there is also a wiring diagram floating around that could help to give your Jag-Stang a different vibe. If I recall it's the Kurt Cobain/Earnie Bailey set up but not exactly sure. I will still say that you should play around with your POTs and your CAPs. You can purchase these at any music shop really. Just remember the lower the number of the Potentiometers 250 (POT) the warmer the tone, higher number 500-1 Meg brighter sound (roughly rule of thumb). Now with Capacitors or CAPs I'm not an expert by any means so I suggest you talk to a Pro at a reputable company but in layman's terms CAPs are filters for certain frequencies. The number or value of the CAP determines what frequencies will pass.
"Using the filtering properties of a cap, we can affect the tone of the guitar." (stewmac, I-4000_5,
online).
I prefer using Orange Drop CAPs. The numbers are easy to understand and it's fun switching the different CAPs around because of the tonal difference.
As you can read there is not an obvious right or wrong answer but overall in my opinion getting a ton of insight from different people will always put you on a path of finding your own tone.
Good hunting
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