I just bought a used olympic white CIJ Jazzmaster - it's an absolute belter of a guitar, plays lovely, great condition etc etc - and the only things I'd fault it on are the pickups, especially the bridge.
I know the general opinion is that the stock pups are far nearer to Strat pups, and with this I agree. Most of the threads about replacing Jazzy pups veer towards SD Hots or Antiquity IIs as replacements.
I want to get my Jazzy close to real Jazzy tones if possible, not hotter or brighter or anything like that - so I'm thinking SD Vintage. Anyone have experience of these?
SD jazzmaster vintage pickups
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millagurnzie
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Re: SD jazzmaster vintage pickups
I had both a j mascis and cij fitted with SD antiquity II's and the J mascis pickups sound much warmer and fuller. But i now own a cij with Lollar vintage jazzy pickups in it and they are the best sounding things i have ever heard.....sonicboom wrote:I just bought a used olympic white CIJ Jazzmaster - it's an absolute belter of a guitar, plays lovely, great condition etc etc - and the only things I'd fault it on are the pickups, especially the bridge.
I know the general opinion is that the stock pups are far nearer to Strat pups, and with this I agree. Most of the threads about replacing Jazzy pups veer towards SD Hots or Antiquity IIs as replacements.
I want to get my Jazzy close to real Jazzy tones if possible, not hotter or brighter or anything like that - so I'm thinking SD Vintage. Anyone have experience of these?
Go with Lollars!
I wanted the same 2 years ago and decided for "pickup wizard" pickups. That's a small canadian manufacture that sells through ebay. They are every bit as good as Lollar or SD (haven't tried the Novak dude), but the whole set shipped from Canada did cost me as much as a single SD Antiquity pickup. Much warmer and richer than the stock pickups.
Generally Seymour Duncan is the Mc Donalds of replacements pickups in my opinion. And, like with Mc Donalds, in most cases a really good hamburger from a smaller producer doesn't even cost more - at least at my local retails prices. Definitely check out the boutique makers, Lollar, Novak, David Barfuss, pickup wizard, sure there are also some british guys, unless you get SD pickups much cheaper than I would in Germany. (they are 70-90 € one piece here). AVRI pickups are a good option too, they offer more claritiy and brightness than most vintage specs pickups though.
Generally Seymour Duncan is the Mc Donalds of replacements pickups in my opinion. And, like with Mc Donalds, in most cases a really good hamburger from a smaller producer doesn't even cost more - at least at my local retails prices. Definitely check out the boutique makers, Lollar, Novak, David Barfuss, pickup wizard, sure there are also some british guys, unless you get SD pickups much cheaper than I would in Germany. (they are 70-90 € one piece here). AVRI pickups are a good option too, they offer more claritiy and brightness than most vintage specs pickups though.
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robert(original)
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fredo informed me that the stock jap pups for jazzys and jags are the exact same imp for the bridge and the neck.
wit that being said anything is an improvemtn EXCEPT the SD "hot for" pups.
they suck, i spent 70 bucks on one for my old jaguar and it actually sounded worse than the og pup, no joke, you can ask sloan, robroe,james,hannan, i think aen even tried it and all of them were disgusted.
imagine the bass cut switch on all the time, with another bass cut switch activated with no dynamics and feeding back on a low clean channel amp.
wit that being said anything is an improvemtn EXCEPT the SD "hot for" pups.
they suck, i spent 70 bucks on one for my old jaguar and it actually sounded worse than the og pup, no joke, you can ask sloan, robroe,james,hannan, i think aen even tried it and all of them were disgusted.
imagine the bass cut switch on all the time, with another bass cut switch activated with no dynamics and feeding back on a low clean channel amp.
wow. I thought the one I had was broken 
@scandoslav: It's a tough job to pick up a used set for Jazzmaster in Europe, other than thrown out MIJ ones. Tele and Strat no problem, but Jazzmaster pickups are not that common. Needs to be a quick decision when they show up, and you nearly pay the same as in a new direct import from USA or Canada. At the time I sent 115 $ to Canada, that was like 85 € back then. A single Duncan would have cost me 79 €. So, perfect deal - but that's 2 years ago.
@scandoslav: It's a tough job to pick up a used set for Jazzmaster in Europe, other than thrown out MIJ ones. Tele and Strat no problem, but Jazzmaster pickups are not that common. Needs to be a quick decision when they show up, and you nearly pay the same as in a new direct import from USA or Canada. At the time I sent 115 $ to Canada, that was like 85 € back then. A single Duncan would have cost me 79 €. So, perfect deal - but that's 2 years ago.