Fender Blacktop Jaguar B90

nashsnazzy · Post by **nashsnazzy** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:41 am

Hello all, first post here. I picked up a Fender Blacktop Jaguar B90 during the President's Day sale at Musicians Friend. Its a pretty sweet guitar but I have some questions. I've never played a guitar with P90 pickups and the neck pickup sounds sweet and balanced with bass emphasis. I would expect that. However, the bridge pickup is REALLY bright. Its ice picky bright. If I turn the tone way down on the guitar it sounds pretty good with a little country type spank. Is this typical for a fender P90 in the bridge position in one of these guitars? Are there any bridge pickups that have pronounced mids with more mellow highs for a classic rock sound?

Rox · Post by **Rox** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:54 am

It's supposed to be bright . It's a P-90 and it's in a Jaguar.

I really like that guitar . It's one of the more boring breeds of the Jaguars ( lack of cool switches to mess with ) but it's a fine player .

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:32 am

I really like the stock pickups as well. Dropping the pot values from 1meg to 500k might cut the treble down for you though.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:32 am

HNB wrote:I really like the stock pickups as well. Dropping the pot values from 1meg to 500k might cut the treble down for you though.

Whoa they're 1meg for p90's? Not unheard of, but certainly not within the usual scope for those pups. Vintage wise you looking at 500's, sometimes 500 and a 250 for tone and volume, Or even 2 250's on the old 'Fretless Wonder' black beauty Les pauls.

Yeah deinitly drop em down to 500 as a first port of call. Unless that ice pick has a use there's no point retaining it.

meltedbuzzbox · Post by **meltedbuzzbox** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:02 am

I would like to unleash that ice pick bridge on my co guitarist in my band.

The amount of pinched harmonics and feedback I have to put up with drives me bat shit mental.

I have been using a jackhammer and an envelope filter for revenge but I might have to up the ante.

Back on topic

Yeah I think Rox summed it up well enough. Jags are naturally bright, add in a hotter pickup and I imagine it gets shrill.

Im not sure the 500k pots would do the job enough personally I would entertain 350k

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:57 am

meltedbuzzbox wrote: bat shit metal.

[youtube][/youtube]

nashsnazzy · Post by **nashsnazzy** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:36 pm

Rox wrote:It's supposed to be bright . It's a P-90 and it's in a Jaguar.

I really like that guitar . It's one of the more boring breeds of the Jaguars ( lack of cool switches to mess with ) but it's a fine player .

Yea but its REALLY bright with my amp, literally ear piercing. I guess I can roll off the tone on the amp when I use the guitar or put in an EQ pedal to use so I can switch back and forth with my Strat.

I don't consider it boring. Sure it doesn't have the switches and flexibility of the more traditional jags but I look at it like a roadster or traditional spots car. The guitar is metallic red and it excels at only a few things just like cars that I've loved. Its a very zen thing to me.

If I drop the pot value down does that change the tone of the bridge pickup when I'm not rolling the tone down? Will it affect both pickups? If so, I don't know that I'm crazy about that idea as I really like the way the neck pickup sounds.

meltedbuzzbox wrote:I would like to unleash that ice pick bridge on my co guitarist in my band

This would definitely be a force to be reckoned with. The high end is intense. Your definitely not getting lost in a mix with this guitar and I'm running a little Marshall combo. Using a brighter amp , wow, I can't imagine that.

George · Post by **George** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 3:38 pm

you could try 500k pots. yes, it will affect both pickups because it is master tone and volume on that guitar, and the tone pot taper will be different to what it is now. but there will still be an imbalance between of brightness between the neck and bridge. if you really like the neck pickup as it is you could look for a darker overwound bridge p90, or even a p90 sized humbucker to try and create a more balanced pairing. there is of course, just the possibility of using the tone knob a little when switching between each pickup

i would have thought modern wound p90s and a stop tail tune-o-matic would have a nice amount of heft and bass in the bridge position, even with 1 meg pots.

spirograph · Post by **spirograph** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 3:51 pm

so they put 1meg pots in the p90 version, n 250k pots in the HB version? thats gotta be a cockup right?

George · Post by **George** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:00 pm

they put 250k pots in their modern wrhb tele deluxe models, so who knows

i have underwound alnico 3 p90s in my gold top. it has 500k pots and is plenty dark (probably because of the mahogany body and set neck), even to the point where i may consider 1 meg pots. perhaps not after this

spirograph · Post by **spirograph** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:47 pm

think i read on ere the blacktop hb jags hav 250k... n my mates is pretty dark soundin (i havent lookd inside it). almost overly so i think.
anyway, while im flexing my curiosity muscle, wtf does blacktop even mean? it dont refer to the scratchplate does it?

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:54 pm

No idea. I don't think it refers to the pickguards as some of the Strats have mint ones.

It's just ROCK because black is sort of rock and that.

meltedbuzzbox · Post by **meltedbuzzbox** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:51 pm

BearBoy wrote:No idea. I don't think it refers to the pickguards as some of the Strats have mint ones.

It's just ROCK because black is sort of rock and that.

thats deep man

George · Post by **George** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:52 pm

The innovative Blacktop series expands the sonic horizons of classic Fender instruments with high-gain humbucking pickups and other supercharged features for a wide array of aggressively thick and heavy sounds. Distinctively hot-rodded Blacktop Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitar models were introduced in 2010, followed by powerful Blacktop Precision and Jazz Bass models.

i think bearboy is right lol

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:03 pm

Wikipedia wrote:Blacktop may refer to:

*asphalt concrete, a composite material commonly used for construction of pavement, highways and parking lots
*bituminous macadams
*tarmac
*a slang term, predominantly used in inner city areas, referring to any area of hard standing that is used for recreational basketball (regardless of the material from which it is formed)[citation needed]
*a band led by Mick Collins
*a song by Helmet from their 1990 album Strap It On
*the 2nd track of the album Aerocalexico by Calexico
*Blacktop (film), a 2000 movie starring Meat Loaf

I'm hoping they're named after the Meat Loaf film.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:53 pm

Most of them come with black scratchplates, but you can get the Strat and Jazzmaster with mint instead, and some come in a black finish.

But they all have at least one humbucker or two P90s.

They're probably called "Blacktop" because Gibson headstocks are usually black.

nashsnazzy · Post by **nashsnazzy** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:29 pm

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll contact a builder of custom P90s and let them have a go at over winding me one for the bridge. I'll futz around with the tone pots too. Now if I can just find a decent bridge for this thing. Mine has a rattle in it at times.

George · Post by **George** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:30 pm

what kind of bridge is it? i thought it was a tune o matic?

nashsnazzy · Post by **nashsnazzy** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:49 pm

George wrote:what kind of bridge is it? i thought it was a tune o matic?

I guess that is the same thing as what fender calls Adjusto-Maticâ„¢ bridge with stop tailpiece? Please keep in mind that I'm a noob to all this. In addition to the rattle the section between the bridge and the stop tailpiece produce a ringing when you play the guitar. My other two guitars string through the body so I've never noticed such a thing. Is this ringing typical of such a design?

spirograph · Post by **spirograph** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 2:42 pm

theres nowt wrong with the bridge. when you next restring you guitar, thread the strings the other way through the tailpiece, and wrap them UNDER the tailpiece, and over the bridge, and string as normal. this increase in down-pressure on your bridge saddles should stop any rattle, and the ringing sound coming from the bit between bridge n tailpiece should be reduced. give that a try.