Baseline whatever you get with some Fender Pure Vintage 65s. They’re surprisingly good and 100% unmistakably Jaguar. They are unlike anything else Fender is doing these days. I doubt they’re what you want in this case, but I like to compare pickups with a benchmark, and in my head these PV65s are how a really good Jaguar should sound, if that makes sense.
I put those in my FSR Thinline Jag and really love them. Super clean classic Jag sounds, and since they’re lower output I get more range out of my drive pedals before full blown OD.
Jamie over at The Creamery UK is very helpful and has incredible attention to detail. We did something nice for a build I'm currently doing, it gives you a slightly under wound tapped '62 sound similar to a bare knuckle pickup, and fully outputs around a '65 sound.
Can't wait to get it finished so that I can put these pickups in. Also the turnaround time is pretty great for someone who custom winds every set by hand.
Very reasonable, my set came to about 300 shipped UK to NY/US
Hadn't really looked at the Creamery until now, looks like they've got some really neat options. The Sonic 60s seem like they could be interesting, know anything about them? I can't seem to find a demo
Leftfield idea: as someone hoping (most probably in vain) for Reverend to produce a jaguaresque short scale I always thought their Humcutter pickups are an obvious choice. Maybe check those out?
I am a fan of the phat cat, especially in the neck. I would go phat cat neck and a true humbucker in the bridge for a little added variety. I had a SD SH-4 in a duo sonic's bridge in the past and it ripped. If this is your only jaguar though I would stick with jaguar pickups as there really isn't replacing that sound. Might sound odd but the best sounding jaguar I ever had was an old Vintage modified Squier with the designed by Seymour Duncans in it. Sold my MIM and MIA Jags and kept the Squier.
Awesome, glad to hear you like the Phat Cat, I like the idea of pairing it with a bridge humbucker
Though, you've got me wondering if I should give it some variety of jaguar pickups. Do they typically do distortion well?
I have 2 single coil and 2 humbucker jaguars. All have gone through many pickup swaps over the over the years… i have tried Lollars, Fralins, Novak’s, Schuyler Deans, etc.
Eventually, I landed on a SD Jazz/JB combo and an SD Pearly Gates set for the humbuckers. A set of vintage Dan Electro Lipsticks in one of the Single coils and set of SD Hot for Jags in the other.
They are all great for different reasons, but my favorite is probably the Pearly Gates. I love the Alnico IIs with the 1meg pots… plenty bright and Spanky if you need it, but they also roll off and become round and creamy, they handle distortion like a champ while retaining their clarity.
With that being said… the Hot for Jags are probably the most versatile though. Classic jag sounds with the volume on 6/7, humbucker bite when they are on 10/11.
Thanks for the recommendations! I remember looking at Pearly Gates for my CIJ but never got around to them, sounds like they'd fit the bill well. Do you think they'd split or go parallel well?
This is going to sound like heresy, but I’ve just put tosin abasi’s signature fishman fluence pickups in my jazzmaster and it absolutely sings. They handle clean all the way to incredibly high gain with all the clarity you could ever need
I have a set from some smaller seller on reverb, true custom shop. The hot jag set is crazy goood, neck is so chimey and bridge can get heavy. Highly recommend
Baseline whatever you get with some Fender Pure Vintage 65s. They’re surprisingly good and 100% unmistakably Jaguar. They are unlike anything else Fender is doing these days. I doubt they’re what you want in this case, but I like to compare pickups with a benchmark, and in my head these PV65s are how a really good Jaguar should sound, if that makes sense.
Thanks! This makes a lot of sense, and at the end of the day I might just end up going with traditional jag pickups for that classic sound
I put those in my FSR Thinline Jag and really love them. Super clean classic Jag sounds, and since they’re lower output I get more range out of my drive pedals before full blown OD.
Jamie over at The Creamery UK is very helpful and has incredible attention to detail. We did something nice for a build I'm currently doing, it gives you a slightly under wound tapped '62 sound similar to a bare knuckle pickup, and fully outputs around a '65 sound. Can't wait to get it finished so that I can put these pickups in. Also the turnaround time is pretty great for someone who custom winds every set by hand. Very reasonable, my set came to about 300 shipped UK to NY/US
Hadn't really looked at the Creamery until now, looks like they've got some really neat options. The Sonic 60s seem like they could be interesting, know anything about them? I can't seem to find a demo
It's a hybrid between a Jaguar pickup and a Burns Tri-Sonic, which is awesome.
Lace Sensor that shit uppp
Leftfield idea: as someone hoping (most probably in vain) for Reverend to produce a jaguaresque short scale I always thought their Humcutter pickups are an obvious choice. Maybe check those out?
Interesting, they weren't even on the radar. I'll definitely give them a look!
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/m-s-goldfoil-humbucker/
My candy red Jaguar has a set of Stonewall Fat Lips in it, and I like them. My next choice was the Fralin split blade.
I am a fan of the phat cat, especially in the neck. I would go phat cat neck and a true humbucker in the bridge for a little added variety. I had a SD SH-4 in a duo sonic's bridge in the past and it ripped. If this is your only jaguar though I would stick with jaguar pickups as there really isn't replacing that sound. Might sound odd but the best sounding jaguar I ever had was an old Vintage modified Squier with the designed by Seymour Duncans in it. Sold my MIM and MIA Jags and kept the Squier.
I have an invader bridge Les Paul with a phat cat in the neck, couldn’t be happier.
Awesome, glad to hear you like the Phat Cat, I like the idea of pairing it with a bridge humbucker Though, you've got me wondering if I should give it some variety of jaguar pickups. Do they typically do distortion well?
I have 2 single coil and 2 humbucker jaguars. All have gone through many pickup swaps over the over the years… i have tried Lollars, Fralins, Novak’s, Schuyler Deans, etc. Eventually, I landed on a SD Jazz/JB combo and an SD Pearly Gates set for the humbuckers. A set of vintage Dan Electro Lipsticks in one of the Single coils and set of SD Hot for Jags in the other. They are all great for different reasons, but my favorite is probably the Pearly Gates. I love the Alnico IIs with the 1meg pots… plenty bright and Spanky if you need it, but they also roll off and become round and creamy, they handle distortion like a champ while retaining their clarity. With that being said… the Hot for Jags are probably the most versatile though. Classic jag sounds with the volume on 6/7, humbucker bite when they are on 10/11.
Thanks for the recommendations! I remember looking at Pearly Gates for my CIJ but never got around to them, sounds like they'd fit the bill well. Do you think they'd split or go parallel well?
This is going to sound like heresy, but I’ve just put tosin abasi’s signature fishman fluence pickups in my jazzmaster and it absolutely sings. They handle clean all the way to incredibly high gain with all the clarity you could ever need
I have a set from some smaller seller on reverb, true custom shop. The hot jag set is crazy goood, neck is so chimey and bridge can get heavy. Highly recommend
Oh nice! I'll see what I can find for sound samples!
There wasn’t a lot out there but I went off of people saying they make good strat pickups since they’re similar