Best single coil for jazz tone

[Fusion1]

Basically wanting opinions of people that play jazz for the best jazz tone for a strat. I think a set of flatwounds make a strat sound jazzy, but any ideas of the ideal pickup set s-s-s?

[tone4days]

Re: Best single coil for jazz tone

i bet a lil '59 for the neck might get some very sweet warm jazz tones with the volume and tone controls rolled appropriately

hopefully, some of the other folks can weigh in with hands on experience

cheers,
t4d

[Young Angus]

Re: Best single coil for jazz tone

I too want something jazzy when i get my strat someday, and ive thought about this before and here is what i think.

First of all i currently have a jackson ps2 (H-S-S) and just talking about the neck pickup ive got a JBJr. in the neck. Now at first you might think that this pickup isnt for jazz, but i tell you what i get some of the warmest jazzy cleans with this little baby through my mesa 50cal. If youre looking for a fat jazz sound then a single sized humbucker like this, or the 59, would do nicely. Especially in the neck.

If you want to stick strictly to singles though, then there are a few options. Firstly you want to go for things with a little more sustain and fatness about them, and less of that stratty twang that so many strat players love for reasons other than jazz. First things that come to mind are the custom staggered or flat and the quarter pound staggered or flat, both for strat. These are fatter sounding single coils, and i think the custom would be a good strat pickup for jazz and while having no experience with the quarter pounder, and it is actually high output, but its description also says that its similar to p90 in tone and i think p90's are fantastic for jazz. But the custom would be a good bet. ie. the ssl5 or ssl6, custom staggered and flat resepectively.

You could also check out the alnico 2 pro singles as some people say they are a darker single coil, and the alnico magnets are always very musical and sound great, but they might be a little thin and spanky for jazz, i however have no experience with them.

I think though if you dont want strictly single coils but you do want the strat body and shape, then you could go a full set of lil59's, or even better JBJr's, and it would give you most of the feel of some humbuckers while still retaining something about single coils that sounds great. The JBJr's are a higher output pickup than the lil59's and as such will send your amp into overdrive quicker, but i dont seem to have that problem with the neck one ive got installed when i play clean. It really sounds great for jazz! Although it might be a better idea to go with lil59's as they will still be nice and warm but not as hot a pickup as the JBJr's.

So after all that crap id go with a set of lil59's. They will sound deliciously warm and fat while still keeping something about single coils which i think will sound fantastic for jazz.

But if you want strictly single coils, which i dont think will sound as good for jazz, i would go with the custom staggered or flats as they will be a fatter sounding single coil. But it wont sound as fat as the lil59's, but will be single coils so will quack a bit still.

Go the lil59's

[Fusion1]

Re: Best single coil for jazz tone

Thanks Angus that was a long response but worth the read. I have an HS-3 in the neck of my strat and it is ok and actually the stock middle single coil gets a better jazz tone which surprised me. I have had a JB jr and a lil 59 in the bridge of a strat before but never tried it in the neck. They sounded good for rock stuff, but they seem like they'd be way to dark/muddy in the neck for a jazz sound.

[Young Angus]

Re: Best single coil for jazz tone

You're not going to get a decent jazz tone from the bridge whatever you use, so i rekon you should have something with a little more kick to it in the bridge anyway which would add more versatility to the instrument.

As for the neck and middle, i seriously recommend you try the lil59 set in your strat especially for the neck position. The neck/middle version of the pickup is different to the bridge pickup, and so long as the guitar isnt too dark in itself i think you would get fantastic jazz cleans from a neck lil59. And the thing is you can always adjust the pickups height if you think the tone could do with an adjustment.

Something else to think about would be a combination like this:

Bridge - lil59
Middle - custom staggered/flat for strat
Neck - lil59

A combination like this would give you some hot tones from the bridge for things other than jazz, because i wouldnt think youd use the bridge for jazz anyway. The neck would then give you those nice thick warm jazz cleans. And the custom strat pickup in the middle would not only give you a thicker stratty sound when used by itself, but the combination sounds from position 2 and 4 would be a mix of a humbucker and a single, and would probably sound fantastic. I know my JBJr neck mixed with the crappy jackson single coil in the middle sounds great clean, and with a decent single coil like a custom mixed with a lil59 i think you could even get another great jazzy clean tone out of that.

Now that i rethink i would go with that combo of lil59 - custom flat/staggered - lil59. This would be a great combination!

Let me know what you decide on and how it goes.