New VM Jag want new pups.

The_505 · Post by **The_505** » Sat Dec 24, 2016 6:16 pm

Hello, I just picked up a Squier VM Jag. This guitar is ready for some tweaking!

First off I want to get rid of the SDD pups. They're not potted and the bridge is a little thing for my taste.

My goal is:

1. Noiseless
2. Maintain a Jag-ish sound.
3. Get a fatter/warmer/bluesier tone out of the bridge pup but maintain the single coil chime.

I'm looking forward to the project. I love my MiM Fender Pawn Shop Special Mustang.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sun Dec 25, 2016 2:10 am

SJAG-3 pickups seymour duncan

LewA · Post by **LewA** » Sun Dec 25, 2016 12:16 pm

I'm well interested in this thread.

I have a VM Jag that I bought for customising with the same aim of getting a bluesier more general purpose sound (I have arthritis and am changing to short scales). The project is on hold until after Xmas (funds!).

I've had a look at pickups and I'm interested in the Creamery pickups range for Jags. These are made by a boutique company in the UK and are reasonably priced - just google Creamery Pickups. I have their vintage replacements in a CIJ Jag and they are great. They do a few variations for Jags including a P90 style pup that might well be the biz for bluesy sounds so I hope to try them in the New Year. They also have 'wide range' hotter pups for Jags which may suit what you want.

I've also been experimenting with an EQ pedal which allows me to roll off the high treble without losing the option to go 'surf' when I want too. Interestingly I have noticed that the volume pot seems to be very much more sensitive than the tone pot in rolling off high frequencies. The tone pot has little effect until about 80% of travel while the volume pot takes off the treble with a small say 10-15% travel. I know the circuits interact but this seems excessive. Anyway I'll be changing the cap to a 0.022mf and then probably the pots to 500k.

I also recommend the pup series mod and will probable go one step further and change the strangle switch to an out of phase switch

I have fitted a Staytrem - strongly recommend it. I'll be fitting a Staytrem bridge as well.

I know this post is a little bit wider than pups but I hope it's useful
Lew

The_505 · Post by **The_505** » Sun Dec 25, 2016 5:11 pm

LewA wrote:I'm well interested in this thread.

I have a VM Jag that I bought for customising with the same aim of getting a bluesier more general purpose sound (I have arthritis and am changing to short scales). The project is on hold until after Xmas (funds!).

I've had a look at pickups and I'm interested in the Creamery pickups range for Jags. These are made by a boutique company in the UK and are reasonably priced - just google Creamery Pickups. I have their vintage replacements in a CIJ Jag and they are great. They do a few variations for Jags including a P90 style pup that might well be the biz for bluesy sounds so I hope to try them in the New Year. They also have 'wide range' hotter pups for Jags which may suit what you want.

I've also been experimenting with an EQ pedal which allows me to roll off the high treble without losing the option to go 'surf' when I want too. Interestingly I have noticed that the volume pot seems to be very much more sensitive than the tone pot in rolling off high frequencies. The tone pot has little effect until about 80% of travel while the volume pot takes off the treble with a small say 10-15% travel. I know the circuits interact but this seems excessive. Anyway I'll be changing the cap to a 0.022mf and then probably the pots to 500k.

I also recommend the pup series mod and will probable go one step further and change the strangle switch to an out of phase switch

I have fitted a Staytrem - strongly recommend it. I'll be fitting a Staytrem bridge as well.

I know this post is a little bit wider than pups but I hope it's useful
Lew

Thanks for the reply Lew. I already did the parallel/series/phase mod. Once I realized the three switches were DPDT's I couldn't leave it alone (I'm an EE). The strangle switch, at least on my guitar is, was pointless. I also shielded the pickguard and better grounded the different cavities. Then I put on some Hipshot locking tuners I never used from another project.

I few years back I bought a Fended MiM pawn shop special Mustang. That became my main player. I just found the shorter scale suited me best. I recently found an Ibanez RC365H - a fender thinline type style wiht an offset body - with a messed up neck and put a Warmoth 24.75"neck on it as well as some other mods. It's an amazing player. I may eventually put a Warmoth neck on this Jag. My jag feels more like a roundback neck instead of the classic C. I like the compound radius neck too.

I already ordered a Wilkenson roller neck off ebay. I'm also considering a hardtail conversion plate I saw there too. It moves the strings closer to the bridge.

Unfortunately even at TV level volumes and just a TS9 the jag start getting feedback. It's worse than my 335, which tends to only be bad, even at volume, when you're not playing. I use my tuner pedal as an on/off in this case.

The jag sounds so good clean. I kind of want to keep it that way. I want to keep the neck with a stock sound sans the microphonic effects and make the bridge fuller and fatter. But just a little! I don't need another rocker! I'm considering something like the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Blues, which is not a high output pup. I am a little concerned that a non jag pup might change the sound too much.

If at all possible I want noiseless. People argue all day about the virtues, or not, of these. IMO, they're different, but no different than if you go to any pup maker and get a pup they say are 19xx year vintage correct pups, which inevitably will sound different.

The only noiseless I found were the Kinmans and the JBE (Joe Bardens). Both are quiet pricey. The Kinman say theirs are repackaged strat pup, which Dimarzio has a bigger selection of for a lot less.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:42 am

when you say noiseless are you talking with one turned on by it self or getting a matched set with one reverse wound so when they are both turned on they cancel each other out?

The_505 · Post by **The_505** » Mon Dec 26, 2016 2:19 am

robroe wrote:when you say noiseless are you talking with one turned on by it self or getting a matched set with one reverse wound so when they are both turned on they cancel each other out?

I mean noiseless like the Kinman, Joe Bardens, or even an DMZ Area 67. There's no hum when played alone. Thanks.

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » Mon Dec 26, 2016 5:48 am

Unfortunately I don't think many (or any) of us here will have experience with noiseless Jaguar pickups. As you said, they are incredibly expensive. The Kinmans might be "repackaged", but more likely, they mean they're the same pickup in the shape of a Jaguar pickup. Strat pickups won't fit under a Jaguar cover. Personally, I've never been bothered with noise, as long as the wiring is done right and all pickup cavities are shielded. If you're concerned about microphonics you could always wax pot a Jaguar pickup.

Mad-Mike · Post by **Mad-Mike** » Wed Dec 28, 2016 9:15 pm

The only noiseless solution I've seen that did not cost an arm and a leg from a specialist pickup manufacturer are the older (pre-sealed bobbin) Seymour Duncan SCR-1 Cool Rails I have in my Jaguar. I bought it with those installed in it, and dressed em' up with cut-off covers and claws to look more like regular Jaguar pickups. They sound pretty close to a regular Jaguar to my ears. I think a big part of the Jaguar sound is the bridge and tailpiece, in a way moreso than the pickups. I'm a tad surprised though because I like the VM's stock because they get pretty close to this thing tone-wise (maybe just a tad more trebly, but not by much - the bridge pickup in the VM series is 11.5K from what I've seen/heard first and second hand)

November 2005 (Shop Photo Pre-Cosmetic/Bridge Upgrades)

June 2006 (Right after modding)

December 2016 (How it looks now after 10 years of heavy gigging)

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 12:24 am

single coil humbuckers are always the way to go. That Jag looks fantastic