Tell me about Mustang Pickups

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:48 pm

I've got a Jagmaster mod project in mind, and I'm considering installing 2 Fender Mustang pickups in place of the stock Duncan Designed HB's. I'm looking for some clean tones with a bit of sparkle. For OD, I'll use pedals.

Are Mustang pups with the 3-position switches worth considering? I don't want to use Jaguar pickups or Telecaster pickups. I'd like to stick with either Mustang or maybe Strat pups paired up with a single 250K volume pot and a single 250K tone pot.

I know that some Mustang pups have a reputation for being whimpy for OD tones, but I've liked some of the phase in / phase out tones I've heard using the 3-position switches.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:20 pm

Personally i have'nt liked any i've tried, well to be fair some are okay but nothing outstanding. I could live with some but i think its an odd choice to replace Duncan designed 'buckers with them. There are much better options available.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:23 pm

what sort of mustang pickups do you mean? vintage? CIJ '69RI? CIJ '65RI? seymour duncan antiquities?

there are various different types.

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:26 pm

Fran wrote:Personally i have'nt liked any i've tried, well to be fair some are okay but nothing outstanding. I could live with some but i think its an odd choice to replace Duncan designed 'buckers with them. There are much better options available.

The stock Duncan Designed HB's aren't real good. Kinda muddy and not very good clean. I have some blendable HB's on my Classic Player Jag Special HH and I've got P90's on my SG Classic, so I'm looking for a decent single coils to round out my options.

Should I look at some Strat single coils?

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:27 pm

stewart wrote:what sort of mustang pickups do you mean? vintage? CIJ '69RI? CIJ '65RI? seymour duncan antiquities?

there are various different types.

Dunno. I don't know anything about Mustang pups. I'm looking for some more sparkle and clean tones to use with pedals (DMM, Small Clone, RAT, and so on).

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:35 pm

the CIJ '69RIs are supposed to be pretty duff, so maybe steer clear of them if you can find other ones. depends what your budget is. you can usually find '70s ones for the roughly the same price as duncan antiquities (in the UK certainly). i've got two '70s mustangs and the pickups certainly aren't wimpy. maybe slightly brighter than the ones on my '64 duo-sonic, but just by a smidgeon. i wouldn't pay the extra just to get '60s pickups if you decide to go down the vintage route.

that's pretty much where my expertise ends... i've heard good things about the '65RIs, but they're probably much harder to track down at the moment.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:37 pm

Armchair Bronco wrote:Should I look at some Strat single coils?

It would give you a lot more options, with more availability.

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:53 pm

If I go in the Strat direction, which 2 of the 3 pups (neck, middle, bridge) should I consider for my two-HB Jagmaster?

Also, to save on the cost of having a new pickguard cut to size, I'm planning to re-use the current pickguard and try to angle in the new single coils in the HB cutouts. So there will be a big gap in the pickguard, but I don't think that should cause any problems. I definitely want to use two 3-position switches for phase in / phase out options, and I'll have to cut these out myself with an X-Acto knife.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:53 pm

If you like the switching options just get some good single coil pickups and use those switches.

I know what you mean about the duncan designed HB's in the jagmaster. I had one and I hated the way those pickups sounded, but I bought it for the purpose of modding... but I never got around to it and sold it a couple months later to help fund my bass rig when I started playing in the band I'm in now.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:55 pm

Armchair Bronco wrote:If I go in the Strat direction, which 2 of the 3 pups (neck, middle, bridge) should I consider for my two-HB Jagmaster?

er... neck and bridge? unless i'm missing something.

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:56 pm

Billy3000 wrote:If you like the switching options just get some good single coil pickups and use those switches.

I know what you mean about the duncan designed HB's in the jagmaster. I had one and I hated the way those pickups sounded, but I bought it for the purpose of modding... but I never got around to it and sold it a couple months later to help fund my bass rig when I started playing in the band I'm in now.

This is probably what I'll end up doing. I'll get the regular Mustang switches and 250K pots, then start researching single-coil options.

astro · Post by **astro** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:50 pm

stewart wrote:
Armchair Bronco wrote:If I go in the Strat direction, which 2 of the 3 pups (neck, middle, bridge) should I consider for my two-HB Jagmaster?
er... neck and bridge? unless i'm missing something.

Maybe bridge + middle (or neck + middle), in order to have hum canceling when both are on?

mcconnachiea · Post by **mcconnachiea** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:44 am

stewart wrote:
Armchair Bronco wrote:If I go in the Strat direction, which 2 of the 3 pups (neck, middle, bridge) should I consider for my two-HB Jagmaster?
er... neck and bridge? unless i'm missing something.

He means which should he take out because they all have slightly different impedanceses

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:16 am

yes, i know what he means.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:03 am

buy 2 duckbuckers.

i have one in my bronco. its an amazing pickup.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/e ... ckers_sdb/

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:38 am

I was always under the impression that Mustang pivkups were just Strat pickups but much lighter. Now that I come to think about it, I don't know what lighter means. Less powerful, maybe. Who knows...

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:31 am

BacchusPaul wrote:I was always under the impression that Mustang pivkups were just Strat pickups but much lighter. Now that I come to think about it, I don't know what lighter means. Less powerful, maybe. Who knows...

"Fender's new Mustang pickups: more powerful than nothing!"

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:41 am

how about a vista jagmaster bridge pup? i'll have one after i swap mines fo' a dim super distortion.

interested?

Post by **dots** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:02 am

Armchair Bronco wrote:I've got a Jagmaster mod project in mind, and I'm considering installing 2 Fender Mustang pickups in place of the stock Duncan Designed HB's. I'm looking for some clean tones with a bit of sparkle. For OD, I'll use pedals.

Are Mustang pups with the 3-position switches worth considering? I don't want to use Jaguar pickups or Telecaster pickups. I'd like to stick with either Mustang or maybe Strat pups paired up with a single 250K volume pot and a single 250K tone pot.

I know that some Mustang pups have a reputation for being whimpy for OD tones, but I've liked some of the phase in / phase out tones I've heard using the 3-position switches.

humbucker spaced p90's from gfs. hit it.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:18 am

Y'all are stupid.

Just get better pots for you scumbag Duncans and they'll sound better.

Tell me about Mustang Pickups

Tell me about Mustang Pickups

Re: Tell me about Mustang Pickups