Hi all,
This is my first post on this forum. I’ve been viewing for a few weeks now for research on my current purchase of
a JB and Jazz pickups for my guitar.
To cut a long one short, I bought my last guitar because of the action, feel and acoustic qualities. It’s a Hamer XT SAQT.
It also looks fantastic imo. I’ve read lots of reviews on the guitar and a lot of people have commented on how good
it is but swapped out the ‘Duncan Designed’ pups for better quality ones so I also took this route.
Not really knowing what I would get from this, I was a bit in the dark and although the ‘Duncan Designed’ pups sounded
OK to me, the seed was already planted and I had it in my head that it could be better.
I soon discovered that the JB/Jazz combi was going to be the best option for me as it is for many so I ordered a set with
nickel covers from ebay for £159 new which seemed to be an average price. The ebay shop had lots and lots of good feedback
so I had no doubt they would be genuine.
The guitar configuration is simple. No coil taps or phasing. Just neck and bridge individual volumes, one overall tone knob and
a three way switch.
Now, the first thing I noticed when installing my new pups was that the green and black wires on the old ones were wired
the other way round to the diagram for the new ones. I followed the wiring diagram to play it safe but now I can’t help
thinking “would there be dramatic differences if I swapped the green and black wires or would it not make an change at
all.” Also the Duncan designed pups didn’t have a bare wire. So the green is paired with the Bare wire on top of the volume
pot, the black wire is on the lug of the pot and the red and white wires are soldered together and taped up.
Another thing I noticed is that when I turn down the volume for, say ,the bridge pup, if I then switch to the neck pup, the
volume for that is also down. Also if I turn the neck pup all the way down then switch to the bridge, the bridge is also
volumed down.
They are in and working but I’m a bit disappointed with the result. It’s probably my untrained ear but I haven’t really noticed
much difference. I play through an Orange Tiny Terror with two 2X12 Orange cabs. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounds good
but just not much difference to speak of between my new pups and the Cheaper Duncan designed.
Could it be that the Duncan designed pups are actually quite good
Is it my choice of guitar
Is it the amp
could it be the wiring
is it me.
I’ve done lots of soldering in the past and I’ve checked all my joints and all looks OK so I’m kind of ruling that out. I thought maybe
that the new pups were fake but they turned up in the correct boxes with the sticky protective cover still on the Nickel covers.
The bottoms have the words ‘Seymour Duncan’ with a little white sticker on one saying JB and the other saying Jazz. They would
have gone to a lot of trouble if they were fakes. There is also the guys feedback which was flawless. They also own an actual
shop called “Cottam Guitars” so I’m sure they’re genuine.
I’m leaning towards my wiring. The fact that one volume knob turns both pickups down can’t be right.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
GaryM
This is my first post on this forum. I’ve been viewing for a few weeks now for research on my current purchase of
a JB and Jazz pickups for my guitar.
To cut a long one short, I bought my last guitar because of the action, feel and acoustic qualities. It’s a Hamer XT SAQT.
It also looks fantastic imo. I’ve read lots of reviews on the guitar and a lot of people have commented on how good
it is but swapped out the ‘Duncan Designed’ pups for better quality ones so I also took this route.
Not really knowing what I would get from this, I was a bit in the dark and although the ‘Duncan Designed’ pups sounded
OK to me, the seed was already planted and I had it in my head that it could be better.
I soon discovered that the JB/Jazz combi was going to be the best option for me as it is for many so I ordered a set with
nickel covers from ebay for £159 new which seemed to be an average price. The ebay shop had lots and lots of good feedback
so I had no doubt they would be genuine.
The guitar configuration is simple. No coil taps or phasing. Just neck and bridge individual volumes, one overall tone knob and
a three way switch.
Now, the first thing I noticed when installing my new pups was that the green and black wires on the old ones were wired
the other way round to the diagram for the new ones. I followed the wiring diagram to play it safe but now I can’t help
thinking “would there be dramatic differences if I swapped the green and black wires or would it not make an change at
all.” Also the Duncan designed pups didn’t have a bare wire. So the green is paired with the Bare wire on top of the volume
pot, the black wire is on the lug of the pot and the red and white wires are soldered together and taped up.
Another thing I noticed is that when I turn down the volume for, say ,the bridge pup, if I then switch to the neck pup, the
volume for that is also down. Also if I turn the neck pup all the way down then switch to the bridge, the bridge is also
volumed down.
They are in and working but I’m a bit disappointed with the result. It’s probably my untrained ear but I haven’t really noticed
much difference. I play through an Orange Tiny Terror with two 2X12 Orange cabs. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounds good
but just not much difference to speak of between my new pups and the Cheaper Duncan designed.
Could it be that the Duncan designed pups are actually quite good
Is it my choice of guitar
Is it the amp
could it be the wiring
is it me.
I’ve done lots of soldering in the past and I’ve checked all my joints and all looks OK so I’m kind of ruling that out. I thought maybe
that the new pups were fake but they turned up in the correct boxes with the sticky protective cover still on the Nickel covers.
The bottoms have the words ‘Seymour Duncan’ with a little white sticker on one saying JB and the other saying Jazz. They would
have gone to a lot of trouble if they were fakes. There is also the guys feedback which was flawless. They also own an actual
shop called “Cottam Guitars” so I’m sure they’re genuine.
I’m leaning towards my wiring. The fact that one volume knob turns both pickups down can’t be right.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
GaryM
