Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

IMENATOR

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So during the holiday vacation time I will reconfigure my strat to make it more of a rock/blues/jazz guitar if possible while keeping the Charvel Socal for metal/shredding. This strat currently has HSS configuration with JB / SSL-1 / STK-S10n so I am planning on putting back the stock DiMarzio H8 for a more traditional PAF like sound, keeping the SSL-1 in the middle but the neck one I am not really sure, I mean I like the fury neck for almost everything I try (it excells on high gain for sure but for my taste I can use for overdive blues and clean is good enough for me) except that when I roll the tone trying to get a jazz tone it really does not get there imho, maybe I was spoiled on how good the SH-2n was for that in this guitar and roling back the tone took me to jazz territory for sure.

I have access to either another SSL-1, an SSL-5 (or the noiseless version).

I want to play blues and some classic rock with this guitar but getting some jazz tone out of it would be great if possible so please let me know what you think. Can strats even do jazz with single coil in your opinion? What pickup you use for that?
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

What pot and capacitor values are you using for your neck position pickup?
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

What pot and capacitor values are you using for your neck position pickup?
250k as sold by fender, the cap I dont remember now but it came with the pot. Anyway, what would you recomend for jazz in a strat? I can change it.
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

250 is good. Something that i have found that works well with strats for jazz is this: Use a clean booster like an RC boost and then roll the volume back on the guitar. For some reason, strats have a much more drastic drop in volume (and roll off in tone at the same time) when you roll back than what you find with humbucker equipped axes. When I'm using a gibson for jazz, rolling the volume down is great and quite often i avoid the "full out" volume setting. The inherent drop in tone and presence is a good thing in this case and once you are used to it, the full volume sound can seem a little hard on the ear. With strats and their single coils they don't seem to be as well behaved when you roll back on the volume. They do get quieter, and they do lose some presence, but the sound just seems to become really wimpy. By using a nice booster (perhaps due to its input impedance?) I find that rolling back the volume allows a much fatter, fuller sound than would otherwise be possible, it also maintains a more even taper with the clarity too. Anyways...yeah single coils can sound beautiful for jazz, but my personal recommendation is to do it by using a really nice clean booster (rc,fatboost,SHO,Bad bob etc) and then use your guitar volume to blend with the band. With ssl-1s you can get some really clear piano like tones.
 
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Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

Jazz? Strat neck?

Example please….of someone else doing this.
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

I've been playing jazz through an HSS configuration (Floyd trem) with a Lil '59 in the neck and the tone is pure and sublime.

I can wholeheartedly recommend a Lil '59n for jazz in a single coil slot.
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

Jazz? Strat neck?

Example please….of someone else doing this.

Seriously?

 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

Jazz? Strat neck?

Example please….of someone else doing this.

My thoughts exactly...but Jazz is not high on the music I play and listen to often

Seriously?


I have been corrected lol
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

You can play jazz on anything... it's just that none of those clips has the body, depth or smokiness of a neck PAF. Most iconic jazz was recorded with a neck PAF.

The Lil '59 does a neck PAF very well.

And why does Trey Haislip stand corrected for something Aceman posted?
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

You can play jazz on anything... it's just that none of those clips has the body, depth or smokiness of a neck PAF. Most iconic jazz was recorded with a neck PAF.

The Lil '59 does a neck PAF very well.

And why does Trey Haislip stand corrected for something Aceman posted?

Ha! I said "My thoughts exactly...but Jazz is not high on the music I play and listen to often" in response to Aceman's post ;)
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

Most iconic jazz was recorded with a neck PAF.
I dunno. I reckon the p90 would probably edge it out.
Jazz has been around a lot longer than the humbucking pickup.
Heck, people were playing some pretty iconic jazz guitar sounds (ie charlie christian) even before the P90 was invented.
There are of course some pretty iconic jazz tones that are not played on an electric at all. Obviously Django and others. Joe pass recorded his amazing album "virtuoso" completely unplugged because his amp was broken on the day of recording.

I don't know why so many people are so quick to pigeonhole the "jazz" guitar sound to be humbuckers into a dead clean amp. Jazz is one of the great american musical styles that has been around for over 100 years now and has been played by artists with as much diversity as those who play rock, blues or country.
Now for you listening pleasure, here are three of the greatest ripping up a blues. None of whom are using pafs.
 
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Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

Jazz? Strat neck?

Example please….of someone else doing this.

jeff-beckjpg-f85de50d49e0bc98_large.jpg


To be fair, I had to look closely at about fifty images of Beck playing his signature Strat to find a live performance shot where he wasn't obviously on the bridge pickup.
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

sorry to derail the thread....just gotta add this cos it is so beautiful:
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

I dunno. I reckon the p90 would probably edge it out.
Jazz has been around a lot longer than the humbucking pickup.
Heck, people were playing some pretty iconic jazz guitar sounds (ie charlie christian) even before the P90 was invented.
There are of course some pretty iconic jazz tones that are not played on an electric at all. Obviously Django and others. Joe pass recorded his amazing album "virtuoso" completely unplugged because his amp was broken on the day of recording.

I don't know why so many people are so quick to pigeonhole the "jazz" guitar sound to be humbuckers into a dead clean amp. Jazz is one of the great american musical styles that has been around for over 100 years now and has been played by artists with as much diversity as those who play rock, blues or country.
Now for you listening pleasure, here are three of the greatest ripping up a blues. None of whom are using pafs.

Yeah dude, I took jazz appreciation in college, you're not telling me anything I don't know.

Joe Pass did the majority of his recordings with a neck humbucker and the most iconic of all jazz tones is Wes Montgomery's neck PAF tone... I stand by what I said. You can post links to people playing jazz on a digeridoo for all I care, it doesn't make me wrong.
 
Re: Please tell me of a strat neck single coil that can do jazz

The answer to your question is the Texas Hot Antiquity. Fat, warm, complex...it's great for jazz.

Bill
 
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