Jaguar vs Jazzmaster Tonality

[honeyiscool]

Yeah, to me, Mustang and Jags are perfect for that extreme pickiness. The Jag was specifically designed to be a surf guitar after all, and I think the Mustang takes the Jaguar's brightness to another sphere, thanks to the double slanted pickups. In terms of sound, I think Strats with a cool bridge pickup actually sound far twangier, but I don't know, it's just hard to describe why it just isn't as fun on a Strat.

If you like that kind of funky thing, when you get on a Jag or a Mustang, you just get this huge grin on your face and can play muted sixteenth notes for half an hour. It's definitely a source of inspiration and I do think that having these guitars becomes part of your playing style. You initially get them for whatever reason, but over time, you start playing in the way that the guitar wants you to play, and the guitar wants to be a surf guitar.

Anyway, the strangle switch on the Jaguar is a wonderful thing. And so is the out-of-phase option on a Mustang.

[taylornutt]

The strangle (hi-pass filter) and the out-of-phase options are very cool. One of the reasons I built my Baja Tele was for the out-of-phase options. I wish the Mustang had out-of-phase in both series and parallel like my Baja does. Both of the Phase options on the Mustang are parallel I believe. Series on a Mustang would be epic. I am not as high on the Blacktop and Squier Jags because the removed the strangle switch.

[Mike]

Jazzmasters don't really sound much like Jaguars to me.

[benecol]

Nope, me neither, and I have ears of tin as a rule.

[Mike]

I think the Jazzmaster sounds like a bigger Stratocaster in the bridge position. The extra heft of the body and pickup difference/distance from the bridge give it a thicker bass response but the general snap and attack just sounds Strattish to me. However the neck pickup is generally a thing of beauty, Stratocaster neck sounds are lush, but Jazzmasters are again deeper. Plus you'll always have the harmonics behind the bridge deal going on if you're not using a buzzstop.

Doog's opinion would be really interesting on this size he's done a lot of experimentation with Jazzmaster pickups.

The Jaguar just sounds much different to me. Brighter, with a more percussive attack in all positions. It's just an edgier beast all over.

[lorez]

I think the Jazzmaster sounds like a bigger Stratocaster in the bridge position. The extra heft of the body and pickup difference/distance from the bridge give it a thicker bass response but the general snap and attack just sounds Strattish to me. However the neck pickup is generally a thing of beauty, Stratocaster neck sounds are lush, but Jazzmasters are again deeper. Plus you'll always have the harmonics behind the bridge deal going on if you're not using a buzzstop.

The Jaguar just sounds much different to me. Brighter, with a more percussive attack in all positions. It's just an edgier beast all over.

^this, definitely warmer than a jag

[George]

I think a lot of that is down to the pickup positioning and pickup type, to be honest.

[honeyiscool]

The strangle (hi-pass filter) and the out-of-phase options are very cool. One of the reasons I built my Baja Tele was for the out-of-phase options. I wish the Mustang had out-of-phase in both series and parallel like my Baja does. Both of the Phase options on the Mustang are parallel I believe. Series on a Mustang would be epic. I am not as high on the Blacktop and Squier Jags because the removed the strangle switch.

You can do all that with the Mustang switches. It's just like impossible to remember how to do all the stuff because the switches become rather involved. I like the stock settings. They're easy to remember and I like low output so series is not something I normally want.

[honeyiscool]

I think a lot of that is down to the pickup positioning and pickup type, to be honest.

Word. I'm really curious as to what Jaguar pickups would sound like on a Jazz, for instance.

I have a feeling they'd sound very similar.

Then again, I can't even tell the difference between alder and ash.

[taylornutt]

The strangle (hi-pass filter) and the out-of-phase options are very cool. One of the reasons I built my Baja Tele was for the out-of-phase options. I wish the Mustang had out-of-phase in both series and parallel like my Baja does. Both of the Phase options on the Mustang are parallel I believe. Series on a Mustang would be epic. I am not as high on the Blacktop and Squier Jags because the removed the strangle switch.

You can do all that with the Mustang switches. It's just like impossible to remember how to do all the stuff because the switches become rather involved. I like the stock settings. They're easy to remember and I like low output so series is not something I normally want.

I wish it was possible to just make one of the two out-of-phase parallels into series and leave everything else the same, but the more research I do on it, the more I realize it way over complicates the options as you stated earlier. If I can every figure a way to make it happen, i might wire my future project that way. Though the out-of-phase on the Mustangs I have played sounded almost as good as the Series out-of-phase on my Baja tele.

[Fran]

I've owned 5 Jags and 2 Jazzys, tried a shitload of pickups as well. They are completely different but perhaps more similar to each other than any other two Fenders in my opinion except Duo's and Mustangs.
They have their distinct sound but less so than a Strat and Tele.
In an A/B test i think most people would struggle to pick out which was which.