$750. The Jazzmaster's floating, lockable vibrato system is often spoken of in nightmarish terms—and it does have its share of difficulties—but this is the part of the guitar that many of its most adoring adherents find they simply can't live without. Finally, to finish up our list of best pickups for the Fender Jazzmaster, we’ve opted for another official Fender pickup set that this time has been made to emulate the classic and world-renowned ’65 Jazzmaster sound. And there’s the other factor: the bridge. Learn everything you need to know to choose the right Jazzmaster for you. of Frets 21 Medium Jumbo Frets Pickups 2 Special Design Hot Jazzmaster Single-Coil Pickups (Neck & … 99. The material used for the body affects how the string vibrates or can affect if the high frequency vibration, lows or mids could be dampened or reflected back into the string motion. “But wait,” you say. A useful mod for the slide switch is series/parallel switching. Once upon a time in the past they used to make guitars that sounded and looked amazing. I like to think of it as a “sharpen” control. (You can also find Mastery-equipped used and vintage Jazzmasters on Reverb.). Note that with the treble cut control, the capacitor is directed to ground, whereas with the bass cut control the capacitor is in line with the signal. Welcome to the Lollar Pickups Blog, where we discuss in detail the finer points of Lollar Pickups and share the latest news from the Workbench. Real Deal Style. When we set up two guitars to compare pickups in we match the pots in both with an ohm meter and we match the caps with a capacitance meter—even the lead wire length can make a tonal change. They also produce an excellent range of tones for blues and rock n' roll as evidenced by legendary Jazzmaster® guitar players including Mickey Baker, Don Wilson, Nels Cline, J. Mascis and Thurston Moore. Learn more about Fender electric basses. Nathaniel is gunning for Shelby’s job, so we wanted to see if the Manchester jazz master could out-Jazzmaster the Jazzmaster master. Insulate the tone capacitor with heat shrink tubing to prevent ground-outs. A low-pass filter allows frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency to pass, and higher frequencies are rolled off. The bottom end was almost in the ballpark but not close enough. A completed Lead Circuit is depicted below. And a few key changes can transform it into a great instrument with vintage-spec parts. There are some people who insist the instrument itself makes no difference in its tone. Some modern-day players dislike this setting, but by rolling down the volume thumbwheel, the Rhythm/Lead Switch becomes a quick kill switch, if you prefer to craft all your tones within the (still-versatile) Lead Circuit. The Squier comes with a pair of Seymour Duncan–designed single-coil pickups and budget electronic components. Why not buy a low- or medium-priced model and upgrade it with new pickups and wiring? The smaller the capacitor value, the more pronounced the bass cut. We needed to darken this up and get more bass but it needed to be tighter. Additional Jazzmaster Mods for Adventurous DIYers. If you have more tips and techniques for getting the most out of your Jazzmaster, let us know in the comments. Lots of players have a hankering for a Jazzmaster—and a limited budget shouldn't stand in the way. Observe the liberal use of heat-shrink tubing, which is optional but can prevent the inadvertent "ground-outs" that may occur when installing the wiring harness into the guitar. Twist the ends of the three wires together and solder them to the casing of the volume pot, as displayed in the photograph. Well, on the Classic Player, the bridge is direct-mounted like a Les Paul rather than the original that slides down into steel ferrules that are pressed into the body. The 1 meg adds brilliance in the last little bit from “7” to “10.”. Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Special, RN, Black - Den Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster särskilda uppdaterar den berömda Jazzmaster modellen med flera moderna förbättringar, kombinerar allt från 60-talet med spelare efterfrågade inslag. It's caused by single-coil pickups and exacerbated by the long wire runs required to cover the large surface area of the instrument. As it was designed for jazz guitarists, the Jazzmaster was originally intended to be strung with heavy-gauge flatwound strings. After shaky starts they became Fender's true renaissance models, finding new fans with every generation. So nobody is surprised that the manufacturers are picking up the old design blueprints and updating them, re-releasing […] It’s an inspiring instrument with a flexible, authentic Fender tone—a voice that works with any kind of music. Two humbucker pickups push this model into the future by offering new high-output tonal possibilities. It’s an unusual effect that emphasizes the lower mid-range. It can prevent the loss of highs experienced with a lower volume pot. You can find a traditional Jazzmaster wiring diagram on Rothstein's site here. Any comparison/contrast probably should start with the pickups and there is a lot of confusion surrounding Jazzmaster pickups, even from those very people who set out to reissue them. For the latter group, here’s an easy fix. A high-pass filter allows frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency to pass, and lower frequencies are rolled off. Another option is the very popular aftermarket Mastery Bridge, a brilliantly engineered piece of hardware endorsed by many of today's masters of jazz. Certain string overtones can be enhanced or diminished. A Guide to Jazzmaster Upgrades, Mods, Unique Features, and More, "Fender Goes High-End: The Origins of the Jazzmaster,", Mastery-equipped used and vintage Jazzmasters, Seymour Duncan Antiquity II for Jazzmasters, Lead Circuit volume pot: 1 meg linear taper, Rhythm Circuit volume pot: 1 meg linear taper, Rhythm Circuit tone pot: 50k linear taper, For the switches and jack, Switchcraft products are the de facto standard. There are a lot of good options available, particularly Curtis Novak's. Contributors to this article include Jamie Wolfert and Rothstein Guitar's Andy Rothstein. Classic Player Series Colors (300)* 3-Color Sunburst, *add $50.00, (306) Black, (Polyester Finish) Body Alder Neck Maple, “C” Shape, (Polyurethane Finish) Fingerboard Rosewood, 9.5” Radius (241mm) No. Just a good Setup & Rock n Roll! The weight of the body wood is certainly heavier, and it has a plastic pickguard. Leo Fender’s design calls for a 1 meg reverse taper pot with a .002 MFD capacitor. Even wood of the same species can have widely different properties as a result of different growth rates between different trees or different climate, temperature, amount of rainfall, amount of exposure to sunlight or high winds, mineral or nutrient content of the soil, etc. Normally, we are trying to make a pickup that sounds like the original and we try to eliminate the variable of different guitars. Sweet sounding Players. The initial attack can be affected: quick and punchy or slower and smoother, the sustain of the string will be affected too. Depicted below is the final wiring harness, ready to be mounted into your guitar. Lucky We have spent countless hours listening to different pickups and guitars listening to almost indistinguishable differences and over the years a number of us have developed our ears to the point we can hear trivial details. In general, the Duncan pickups are hotter and brighter than vintage Jazzmaster pickups, and the bridge pickup likely will sound too harsh for those with vintage tastes. But in this case, we found it was even brighter than poly. ... Squier FSR Classic Vibe '70s Telecaster Deluxe in Purple Sparkle Customer Experience Mr Mark White. When browsing used Jazzmaster listings on Reverb, you'll often find models with the Mustang bridge already installed. It lets you wobble notes both sharp and flat and the arm is designed to let you manipulate the bar constantly while playing. So… after all of that, it wasn’t different wire, or magnets, or any other changes to the pickup design; installing 250K pots in the Classic Player Jazzmaster with our stock Jazzmaster pickups made the Classic Player sound like my ‘59 Jazzmaster – just with the pots! The lower controls are now bypassed completely, and a darker, bassier tone is in play. Buy With Confidence. Typical pot values used for passive guitar volume and tone controls range from 250K to 1Meg. Fender Jazzmasters, as well as ‘70s Teles -like the Deluxe and Thinline- all use 1 meg pots, which give the guitar a lot of presence. What does it sound like? Then we started thinking about other variables. This wide “pancake winding” is what gave t… To this day, Jazzmasters remain a popular model, available not just with best-of-class electronics, but in all manner of budget configurations as well. Thus, he took great pains to give the Jazzmaster a body shape that was naturally conforming to the body of a seated guitarist. With its 22-fret neck and a 9.25"-radius, this guitar feels comfortable and natural to play. That can happen when a "hot" connection inadvertently makes contact with a ground point. The photo includes a closeup of the bass and treble tone controls. They sound very similar to one another but neither set hit the vintage mark to be honest. The diagram below shows how to incorporate the PTB tone stack into the initial diagram. His secret lies in the artistry of his hand-winding technique, coupled with his vast knowledge of pickup designs, which he has developed over more than 25 years in the business. One mod reconfigures the Lead Circuit to make the guitar more like a Les Paul by employing two independent volume controls, one for each pickup. So convention should be questioned and pot values can be another tool to achieve your tonal objective. When the top Rhythm/Lead Switch is down, you're in the Lead position. It’s a high-pass filter, which is the opposite of a low-pass filter. Series will sound more humbucker-like, with louder, darker, and more-pronounced mids. The original Jazzmaster’s pickup bobbin was very shallow, meaning the coil radiated outward. Changes from 500K to 450K are noticeable. However, a really cool and useful alternative borrows the passive treble bass tone stack (PTB) Leo Fender developed for G&L Guitars. I’ve found enamel wire, in many applications, will give slightly more of the fundamental tone of the string with fewer high overtones; a subtle change, but it will often do the trick. Learn more about Fender electric basses. That said, Seymour Duncan makes its own vintage-spec replacement pickups, the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II for Jazzmasters, and browsing through Reverb's aftermarket Jazzmaster pickups will yield more options. As you can read in Tony Bacon's "Fender Goes High-End: The Origins of the Jazzmaster," Leo wasn't about to start making arched-top jazz boxes, but he did think the Jazzmaster's pristine electronics and tonal possibilities would create some converts. After all chasing our tails over pickup design, trying to somehow make something that sounded different than what we’d already been making for years – to no avail – we discovered that our standard Jazzmaster pickup was already a winner. The color and look of this particular Jazzmaster is 100% correct. Fender literally wrote the book on electric basses, laying the foundation for musical innovation and evolution. I have been using Seymour Duncan pickups forever, so I was confident they would deliver the goods. Others dislike having a dead toggle switch position when in series mode. In the second sample, the bass cut pot has been rolled down to the 2–3 range, so you hear a somewhat sharper sound provided by the bass cut. Other affordable versions include Fender's Classic Series '60s Jazzmaster and Classic Player Jazzmaster. Reverb Protection has you covered. For instance, the Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster might look stock, but it actually does have P-90 pickups hidden beneath Jazzmaster covers. 1 meg often sounds unnaturally trebly, depending on the pickup and amp, but the bass tends to sound more grand piano-like. £569.00 (1) ... Jazzmaster pickups are often called 'Soapbar' pickups due to their wide apprance. Take a look at the stock Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster. That has nothing to do with how the pickup works, but the change in saddle material changes the content of the string vibrations: steel saddles maintain more treble in the string vibration, titanium even more—brass saddles will reduce some of the treble and give a warmer tone. What’s different between the two guitars? Comes with upgraded Fender American Vintage Jazzmaster pickups and Fender American professional 9.5 inch radius bridge. There are a number of fixes for this, though. 2018 Fender Classic player Jazzmaster special. It’s not too hard to extrapolate that the sustain of the string would be almost non-existent because the foam would absorb the energy of the strings’ vibration. 10 or 15 years ago we bought a ‘59 Jazzmaster custom color burgundy mist with anodized aluminum pickguard from Larry Pogreba. We went back to where we started with the same stock Lollar Jazzmaster pickups but swapped in 250K pots in the new Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster instead. In traditional Jazzmaster wiring, when the two pickups are combined via the toggle switch, they are in parallel. By clicking Subscribe, I agree to the processing of my data in order to receive emails. So, we started winding pickups using different materials based on our previous experience. Putting it all together, this wiring diagram combines all three mods: dual volume controls, a PTB tone stack, and series/parallel switching. Component selection is important for the bass-cut control. Oh! Sonically, these physical differences make Jazzmaster pickups smoother and less mid-rangey than a P-90, while also being fatter, louder, and warmer than a typical Stratocaster pickup. The vibrato system—while not to everyone's liking—was itself a new system that lent guitarists an easy way to introduce pitch-up and pitch-down vibrato. Support independent music stores & gear makers. Fender's Teles and Strats were already wildly successful with country pickers and rock 'n' rollers, but the company wanted to snipe some serious business from Gibson and its jazz clientele. For about $200 more you can get a Fender Road Worn or a Classic 60's Jazzmaster. Original pickups and original Tune-o-matic bridge will be included with the sell. The last step connects the guitar's bridge ground and shield wires to the wiring harness ground. This option also has the benefit of retaining all of the Jazzmaster's sonic idiosyncrasies, which are often muted by some of the more popular modern day modifications. Watch. Also comes with original gig bag. Jazzmaster Lead Circuit with Dual Volume Controls and G&L Style PTB Tone Stack. Fender has blended that classic and now contemporary shape with a simplified pickup and control layout that any player would love to investigate. As a result, the treble got warmer, but transparency was reduced and the bass strings became way to wooly sounding. For the pot value, stick with 1 meg, and the reverse taper is critical for the pot to provide a gradual bass roll-off. I would recommend sticking with the stock value of 1 meg pots. It's already an excellent bargain at $300. Predicted to Sell Soon. Call us today and let us help you find the best guitar pickups for you. The pickups in Japanese-built Jazzmaster reissues may look the part, but that’s where the similarities end. (You can also find deals on Fender's higher-end but discontinued Vintage Reissue Jazzmasters, both US- and Japan-made, which are already historically spec'd.). Fortunately for those that didn't like it, you could easily lock it in place. One thing a lot of people don’t realize is that typically there is, at best, a 10% tolerance on these parts so a 500K pot could actually be 450K, some pots even vary more up to 30%. Flick the top switch up, however, and you have accessed the Rhythm Circuit, in which only the neck pickup is activated. Next, we switched over to alnico 5 rods to tighten up the attack on the lower strings, and going back to poly wire, but with more turns. There are a lot of reasons one tree can vary from another harvested in a different location. To reuse the original Squier pickguard, you'll need to enlarge the Lead Circuit's pot holes with a hand reamer for the slightly larger CTS pots. These guitars had amazing qualities that people loved them for and made them the best selling instruments of the time. The results of alnico 2 with poly coil wire and a typical turn count: too bright. Use the black thumbwheels to adjust the Rhythm's volume and tone. Check out the following three sound samples. In stock and shipping now. Here’s a simple example: put brass saddles on your Tele, play it, and then put steel saddles on it and compare. Plug it in and enjoy the dramatic improvement in tone. To some, it’s a “happy accident” that provides a kill switch effect as an added bonus. The bass-cut control is another animal entirely. Add to Cart. The treble-cut control, which is a low-pass filter, functions like a standard tone control. Only 6 left in stock - order soon. Note the liberal use of heat shrink tubing to prevent ground-outs during installation. Your purchases also help protect forests, including trees traditionally used to make instruments. All Rights Reserved. Many players remain confused by the Jazzmaster's extra switching options, but all told, the extra controls are simple—and useful. I didn’t use pedals or audio plugins. Adding to the din of confusing specifications are Fender themselves, with more varied offset models than ever. In this case, we were doing the opposite: trying to make the pickup sound like it was installed in an old guitar. Combine that with the anodized pickguard, which has an effect of warming the sound, and you get a really sweet tone you don’t get with the heavier, denser, harder alder typically used nowadays. Lower value pots have less resistance that lets treble frequencies bleed through the pot to ground so you loose treble with lower value pots. Many players' problems with this design start with the bridge, which has a tendency to buzz, rattle, and allow strings to pop out of its shallow saddle grooves during hard playing. Points A and B connect to the cavity shielding, and point C is the bridge ground. But some rockers and surf guitarists found plenty to love in the Jazzmaster's unique pickups, the selector switches that allowed players to dial in two tones at once—and, of course, the wild offset shape. The 60's AVRI pickups are notoriously bright and often considered a bit harsh. 250K rolls off quite a bit of treble, 500K rolls off less and improves bass punch and clarity to some extent. Many players will swap the stock bridge for a Fender Mustang bridge, which is similar in design but has deeper grooves and is less prone to rattling (though not immune). When the series connection is engaged, the toggle switch in the bridge position yields no sound at all. The Fender shield fits only the Fender American Vintage Reissue (AVRI) pickguards. Some continue the Les Paul wiring approach by assigning an independent tone control to each of the two independent volume knobs. Thus, the stock bridge can often work quite well after a switch to a set of 11s, 12s, or 13s (not necessarily flatwound), and a good, professional setup. We'll outline the standard features first, teaching how each component should work and offering suggestions for upgrades if necessary. In the first sample, both controls are rotated fully clockwise on 10, and therefore disengaged. Having played around with pot values, we knew that using a 500K pot sounds like using a 1 meg volume pot rolled down to about “7” or “8”. As such, they are tremendously versatile, capable of delivering dulcet, jazzy cleans, Tele-like twang, and articulate, effects-friendly distorted raunch in equal measure. Also, to be fair, the Classic Player pickups sound no closer to P90's than the 60's sound like classic JM pickups. Fender Player Jazzmaster with Pau Ferro Fretboard in 3-Colour Sunburst. Your purchases help youth music programs get the gear they need to make music. We started with alnico 2 rods, which will typically give you a smoother attack with more bottom and poly nylon wire for a neutral effect, wound to the typical Jazzmaster turn count—which isn’t much different from a Strat, but because the coil is so low and wide they read much higher when you measure the ohms. Contemporary Active Jazzmaster® HH ST. All it we needed to do was disregard convention and pair them with 250K pots to accommodate for the differences in the two different guitars! Fender Jazzmaster with V-Mod Pickups Sample Marc Luippold. I still see discussions on internet forums about whether the wood in an electric guitar has any effect on its tone or if it’s all in the pickup. In this guide, you can learn how to get the most out of any Jazzmaster model. To shield the pickguard, use either a Fender aluminum shield or Rothstein Guitars copper shield. Just select the bridge pickup, neck pickup, or both pickups and adjust your volume and tone to taste. This is exemplified in the playing of Kevin Shields, Nels Cline, among other devotees. You need a three-pole double-throw switch (3PDT), which is available from mouser electronics (Swithcraft brand, part #50209LX). (You can also find deals on Fender's higher-end but discontinued Vintage Reissue Jazzmasters , both US- and Japan-made, which are already historically spec'd.) Leo's goal with this design was that, by flipping that top switch up and down, the player can access both a preset rhythm tone and a preset lead tone, instead of futzing with pots and a three-way toggle while you're playing. Fender Pure Vintage ’65 Jazzmaster Pickup Set. Excellent. Many variables are combined that result in overall tone of the guitar assembly; string gauge and composition, scale length, pickup placement, woods used, fret wire type and size, potentiometer value, the particular way the guitar is wired and of course the amp used and individual player. I performed all of them with a Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster with electronics upgraded using the mods described here and Curtis Novak pickups (JM-FAT bridge and JM-V neck). When you couple the strings to the body in a more direct way, it’s going to transfer energy from the strings more efficiently. Fender Player Jazzmaster Ice Blue Metallic w/Pure Vintage '65 Pickups & Series/Parallel 4-Way (CME Exclusive) $749.99 $ 749. For those looking to grab a clean, classic Fender Jazzmaster at an accessible price, this is as good as it gets. Fender's legendary offset electric guitar models have attracted some maverick players since their inceptions in 1958 (Jazzmaster) and 1962 (Jaguar). Optional features include a treble-bleed mod, also known as a "volume kit." Jazzmasters have a loud 60-cycle hum. Even in brand new condition without a scratch or mark on it, it totally captures that \"looks like a pawn shop guitar\" look. Enter the Fender Classic Player we purchased to make a pickup set that will transform it into a ‘59 per Arne’s request. After installing exact copies of the pickups in my ‘59 into the Classic Player model, the result was a brighter brassier tone. Oops, looks like you forgot something. That means the lower controls—the Volume and Tone pots and three-way toggle—function as you would expect. The actual voltage generated is similar between the two but the frequency response on the Jazzmaster has more bass so the extra bass can make it seem like the Jazzmaster is a hotter pickup. When Leo Fender introduced the Jazzmaster in 1958, his aspirations for the new guitar were right there in its name. For more than three decades, Jason Lollar has designed and built some of the most sought-after pickups for electric guitar, bass, and steel guitar. Conventional application is 250K are used for single coils and 500K are used for humbuckers but that’s just convention! The guitar itself shapes the content and envelope of the string, which is then picked up by the magnetic pickup. Squiers and some other budget Jazzmaster models may not have any shielding on the pickguard, which will be a very noticeable issue when you're plugged into an amp. Both have Nitro Finish & Fender USA 65 JM Pickups. The traditional Jazzmaster slide switch is a double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switch, and therefore has two poles. The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster.First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s. For example, a .001 MFD capacitor provides a more dramatic bass cut, and a .003 MFD is more subtle. ... Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster®, Left-Handed. No Mods necessary IMO. 250K and 500K are most common. Squier by Fender Classic Vibe 60's Jazzmaster Electric Guitar - Laurel ... Seymour Duncan SJM-2 Bridge Hot For Jazzmaster Pickup SJM-2B. This seller is open to offers. Here we'll lay out some wiring mods that can give your offset more versatility and put the Rhythm Circuit to good use. Jazzmasters are typically 8.2K +/– whereas a Strat would be about 6.2K wound to the same turn count. Jazzmaster Lead Circuit with dual volume controls. You can find a detailed diagram depicting the extra third pole on the slide switch here. The body is alder, and our test guitar came in a beautiful off-white “buttercream” finish. Typical guitar pickups do not have anything near to a flat frequency response and neither do typical guitar amps so rolling off treble is sometimes appropriate. To complete your electronics upgrade, you'll ideally include vintage-style 22 AWG cloth wire and higher-quality CTS pots, as opposed to the lesser-quality pots and wiring used in budget models. Get it as soon as Thu, Nov 19. The Rothstein copper shield was patterned after an original 1962 Jazzmaster pickguard, but it's universal and can be trimmed to fit any available pickguard, including the Squier. The pot values and taper, as per vintage specifications, should be: For the capacitors, use the value .033 MFD in the Lead Circuit and .022 MFD in the Rhythm Circuit. The cutoff frequency is controlled by the capacitor and resistor values. Here’s a closeup of the completed rhythm circuit, followed by the final wiring harness, ready for mounting on a guitar: This wiring scheme produces an unexpected byproduct. Wiring will be straightforward for anyone with basic soldering tools and skills. There was a good series of articles a few years ago in the Guild of American Luthiers quarterly magazine about how just the body shape of a solid body electric guitar affects nodal patterns of vibration at different frequencies—just the shape of the body! Above, we discussed ways to upgrade a stock Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster. One variation that works well is a .001 MFD capacitor in parallel with a 150K resistor, wired across the wiper and outer lug of the volume pot, as depicted below. In the third sample, both pots have been rotated almost fully counterclockwise. The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pickups (crafted by "MJ") were the perfect fit for my guitar, a 2017 Fender Jazzmaster Classic Player. Loading ... Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster vs Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster Comparison - Duration: 9:17. The ability to dial out some of the low frequencies is useful, particularly to help overdriven sounds “pop” and cut through a mix. © Copyright 2020 Lollar Pickups. Other affordable versions include Fender's Classic Series '60s Jazzmaster and Classic Player Jazzmaster. For a complete rundown on this guitar and Jazzmasters in general, look at this old blog post in three parts: According to the folks at Fender, this Jazzmaster was one of three pre-productions guitars made for the 1959 NAMM Show. Make an Offer. 449.00 € Confronta. That way, players can blend a percentage of neck pickup with the bridge pickup—or vice versa. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). Sound travels at different rates through harder and softer materials. The first thing to know about this guitar is that pictures on the internet do it no justice, as it looks way better in person. We tried a few more combinations but were just not getting close enough. The Fender Classic Player Series is a perfect sweet spot of vintage reissue-level attention to detail, hot rod components and affordability. Re: fender classic player jazzmaster pickups Post by Mdufresne » Sat May 23, 2015 2:33 pm yeah i was really surprised when i played the mim classic jazzmaster i thought it would sound so so and then all of a sudden this big warm round sound came out of it In the following sound sample, you can hear the same pattern, first in parallel and then in series. They did that and then some. Anyone that has played this guitar comments on how full and rich it sounds. Your choice of pickups will have an enormous effect on your tone. We work with some manufacturers that will measure each individual pot, thereby tweaking the tone by selecting pots to get either a slightly brighter or darker tone. We went back to where we started with the same stock Lollar Jazzmaster pickups but swapped in 250K pots in the new Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster instead. Only 1 available and 1 other person has this in their cart. The tremolo tailpiece on this particular Jazzmaster is made of a little bit thicker stock than most of its time or since. Magnetic pickups only work when certain metals vibrate within the magnetic field.” That’s mostly true; but you can talk into a pickup with a loose coil and hear your voice – but there is something else going on that some people miss… Imagine if it were possible to use a piece of foam rubber for the guitar body. The curious shape of the Jazzmaster initially came about because of Leo Fender's desire to attract top-shelf East Coast jazzers, who typically preferred to play sitting down. It’s one thing to make a pickup that sounds like an original ‘59 Jazzmaster pickup—which can be a feat in itself—but it’s another to make two different instruments sound the same. Far better crafted Guitars than the Classic Player if you really do a hands on comparison. You can experiment with the capacitor value in the range of .001 MFD to .003 MFD. With a fat, thick sound all its own and sleek, elegant style, the Player Jazzmaster stands out under the spotlight. Well, the jazz players didn't really bite. The wires are labeled A, B, and C in the photograph below. Below is a diagram showing how to wire the Lead Circuit with dual volume controls. As luck would have it, the offset shape also made it look really cool, and even kind of wild and dangerous. Surprisingly, the Squier's control cavity (pictured right) is shielded with conductive paint, which is a nice bonus, but you'll still want to properly shield the pickguard. “What does wood have to do with magnetic pickups? Now, hopefully at this point you've absolutely mastered your Jazzmaster. Tools needed to install the copper shield include an awl, Exacto blade, and spray adhesive. Fender literally wrote the book on electric basses, ... Pickup Type Vintage-Style (3) Humbucker / Humbucker (3) Price 150 € - 250 € (3) 250 € - 400 € (4) Apply Cancel. One thing that really makes this guitar special is the alder body, which is noticeably lighter weight than what is typically available now. Each set of solder lugs is referred to as a pole. In contrast, the parallel will sound brighter, with scooped mids and exhibiting more “quack” and twang. His pickups not only sound amazing but offer a great deal of variety to boot. Please check the fields highlighted in red. Though often confused with Gibson-style P-90s or "soapbar" pickups, Jazzmaster pickups are completely unique in function and tone. When our distributor Arne at Vintage Guitar Norway asked us recently to make a Jazzmaster pickup set that would make a new Jazzmaster sound like his ‘59 Jazzmaster guitar, we took a stab at it. Fender literally wrote the book on electric basses, laying the foundation for musical innovation and evolution. https://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/2009/02/jazzmaster-pickups-and-the-fender-jazzmaster-guitar-part-1/, https://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/2009/02/jazzmaster-pickups-and-the-fender-jazzmaster-guitar-part-2, https://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/2009/02/jazzmaster-pickups-and-the-fender-jazzmaster-guitar-part-3/. Both are configured as “master” controls, meaning they affect all pickup switch positions. I suppose if you’ve only built a few similar electric guitars, you might conclude that the wood doesn’t really matter all that much; but if you’ve built a few guitars of the same design – each with different woods- it quickly becomes apparent that different species of woods do sound different from one another. It’s going to be subtle, but it’s just one of a number of factors affecting the outcome. Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster. If you're on a quest for tone, we can help. That said, it's absolutely worth getting professionally set up if you plan to use the original system. Local Pickup Only. Fender Jazzmaster® pickups are often assumed to be only useful for surf music. There’s plenty of flexibility with component selection for the treble-cut control, but I prefer to stick with the standard values used on the primary tone pot in vintage Jazzmaster wiring, namely a 1 meg audio taper pot with a .033 MFD capacitor. We personally build more than fifty different models of pickups for a variety of instruments. Jazzmaster pickups are constructed similarly to a Strat pickup in many ways, but are much wider and flatter, in what's called a "pancake" wind. One control cuts treble and the other cuts bass. Then, we'll show you how you can get an inexpensive alternative—like Squier's Vintage Modified Jazzmaster—and modify it into a top-grade machine. Player Series Jazzmaster® The Player Jazzmaster® is for the player looking for legendary design, all the classic features and most-of-all versatility. Rewiring the slide switch can engage a series connection, which yields a significantly different sound. Same goes for the Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster, a fantastic guitar in its own right. Decades later, the guitar's second life began as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine, and other indie rockers made Jazzmasters more popular than they'd ever been before. You’ll need an extra pole on the slide switch. It also has the thicker rosewood slab fingerboard used in the ’50s; and the tremolo tailpiece, if I recall correctly, is made of a thicker material than what was used later.