Jagstang pickups!

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:51 pm

Anyone know how many ohms the stock pickups are in the jag-stang?
Didnt Kurt use a Seymour Duncan in his jag-stang? Anyway not what comes with the guitar!

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:07 pm

kurt used DiMarzio's for humbuckers and duncans for single coils (IIRC)
so yes the stock pickups are not the same as his personal guitar...
as for the readings on them.. i'm really uncertain.

h8mtv · Post by **h8mtv** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:25 am

http://www.shortscale.org/wiki/index.ph ... _Jag-Stang

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:43 pm

Kurt had a Texas Special (SRV) neck pickup and a JB in his Jagstang. The shortscale wiki says kurt requested Texas Special and DiMarzios: this is false, both pickups were chosen by Fender as substitutes for what he really asked them for (a mustang single coil and a hotrail).

He only used his Jaguar with DiMarzios, because he wasn't the one who modified it (though for the In Utero tour they put a black JB in the bridge of that Jag, visible at the Cow Palace show and in Hole's Doll Parts video).

Fender put a DiMarzio H-3 humbucker in the Jag-Stang because they thought it would sound nice and aggressive and Nirvana-y. They used the Texas Special single coil to match it's output/dynamics better, as an MIJ Stang singley wasn't going to cut it against a metalbucker.
But Kurt had requested a hotrail like in his Mustang, and Earnie Bailey (longtime Nirvana/Foos guitar tech) immediately switched the DiMarzio for a JB and locked the trem when they got the guitar, essentially just making his JagStang a heavier/bulkier version of his live Mustangs at the time rather than the hybrid guitar it was meant to be... it later got a tune-o-matic and neck shim, making the transformation complete.

Fender had no idea Kurt wasn't happy with the Jag-Stang... I remember an interview (the now out-of-print Maximum Guitar Magazine in 1998 or so) where one of the guys who worked on it at Fender argued with some kid writing in that Kurt had ever modified it at all, saying "it was built to his exact specifications, funky whammy bar and all." In the following issue there was a correction after Earnie wrote in and told them exactly what he did to the Jag-Stang after Kurt got it.

The production Jag-Stangs did not have DiMarzios or Texas Specials in them, but rather a bog-standard Fender Japan bucker and the '57/'62 Strat reissue neck pickup. They're actually really nice pickups, but the Jag-Stang tends to ruin most people's impression of them.

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:04 pm

That's what i thought to. A Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in bridge and a single coil (texas special) in neck. He played them in all of his mustangs except the compstang and the red mustang with red pickguard.

Im not a fan of the stock pickups in the jag-stang. Have to change them all. Even the neck pickup!

And why is the humbucker placed obliquely over the strings?

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:37 pm

Because it looks totally awesome. DUUUUUUUUDE.

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:41 pm

ekwatts wrote:Because it looks totally awesome. DUUUUUUUUDE.

it maybe looks totally awesome but it doesnÂ´t sound awesome.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:14 pm

YOU TAKE THAT NECK PICKUP OUT OF THAT GUITAR AND DROP IT IN A MUSTANG AND IT SINGS. NO JOKE I DUN IT

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:00 pm

+1 to robroe

The pickups sound great, it's the Jag-Stang that sounds shitty. Even the humbucker is alright.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:12 pm

The thing about the Jag-Stang is that it has great pickups but sounds like shit because it's a shit guitar.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:09 pm

I thought we were all on the page that tone woods don't mean shit?

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:52 pm

robroe wrote:YOU TAKE THAT NECK PICKUP OUT OF THAT GUITAR AND DROP IT IN A MUSTANG AND IT SINGS. NO JOKE I DUN IT

you might be right. ill have to try.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:19 pm

Pens wrote:I thought we were all on the page that tone woods don't mean shit?

Body wood means nothing, body shape/dimension does. Comparing a strat/tele neck on 2 different wood bodies yields no difference to me, but there's definitely a difference in sound/feel between a CIJ Mustang (basswood body) and a Jag-Stang (basswood body and Mustang neck).
That body is just so ungainly south of the bridge, how it goes off in one direction like that... it's nowhere near as sleek and streamlined as the Jazzmaster/Jaguar curve, it's more like a bee sting allergy. And the whole body is smaller WHILE thicker... the fact that the pickups sound more lively and bright in a Mustang, which is only different from a JS in terms of the body shape/thickness more or less seals it for me.

Mike, Doog and Robroe have all put their JS pickups in other Fender-style guitars with great results, as have I. Doog even re-angled his replacement bucker in the JS to be straight and "properly" positioned with all the polepieces under the strings, and said it didn't help.

I don't think the Jag-Stang is an outright shit guitar by all means, but given that it's
a) roughly 80% vintage-spec Fender shortscale
b) a Nirvana sig guitar
it tends to fall short of expectations on the tonal front for many, because I wouldn't say it imparts either of those general vibes to any great extent. A fucking Les Paul sounds more like Nirvana than the Jag-Stang.