pair of Seymour Duncans for Squire Jazzmaster or new guitar?

[xobocuze]

Hello. I was planning on upgrading my guitar rig a bit and was wondering if I should buy new pickups for my Squire Jazzmaster or if I should buy a whole new guitar.

Thanks in advance.

[beaubrummels]

Welcome to the forum.

Hard to answer just off that one-liner. What is it you need that is causing the upgrade? What music are you playing? What amp? What sound do you need to make that you can't make now?

[Birdman642]

As beau said, it’s all really dependent on what kind of sounds you want to make. It would most likely be more cost effective to just get some new pickups though.

[Synapsys]

I have a Squier VMJM on which I did several mods, inckuding swapping the stock Duncan Designed pickups for a sD SJM-1 set. Stock pickups were toomhot, so it now sounds like a,vintage JM for sure. Do it.

[esandes]

Install new pickups if you like the guitar. I have antiquity pickups in my jazzmaster and they are great.

[superpete]

new pickups should make it sound like a better jazzmaster, it'll allow it reach it's full tone potential!

but if you don't like the inherent jazzmasteryness of it all, get a new guitar.

[alex1fly]

+1 on all these

If you like the guitar - how it feels when you hold it, how the neck sits in your hand, etc - but you don't like the sounds it makes, new pickups are an option. Also on the table since you're upgrading several things are different amps, cabinets, speakers, pedals, etc. In my experience I've gotten more drastic tonal changes by switching amps or cabinets than I have by changing pickups. So I'd suggest dial in your amp situation before changing pickups.

If you're newish to guitar and want to explore a bunch of different tones, modeling amps can be a very good solution. You can play with a huge variety of tones and find out what you like, rather than commit to a Fender sound, a Marshall sound, etc. I can make my cruddiest guitar sound awesome with a modeling amp because there are 100 presets and one of them is bound to sound good.