The SH-2 Jazz sounds great with dead strings

[Tone-Analyst]

In my tone quest I'm always looking for a clearer neck pickup with more definition for fluid high-gain lead. One thing I like about the Duncan Jazz (neck) is that, unlike many other pickups who sound good with fresh strings, then just lose all definition. The SH-2 with fresh strings sounds a bit too edgy, but as the strings mellow out, it becomes just perfect. Having a great time shredding with it now wow !

 

[Mincer]

The feel of dead strings doesn't make you crazy? I can't stand it, but we are all different.

 

[amdkj]

I used to love a Full Shred set (neck is basically the Jazz, right?) specifically because I prefer the feel of worn-in, dulled strings, and I like tone that is halfway between totally new and totally dead. The Full Shreds would always be too snappy at first, but since I didn't like the feel of the new strings anyway, I'd just shelve that guitar for a few weeks until the strings lost their zing. Then it'd be good to go for a year+. I regret selling the guitar with those pickups now; I think at the time I sold it, it had had the same strings on it for about four and a half years.

 

[Mincer]

The Full Shred neck is a little brighter than the Jazz.

 

[ToneFiddler]

I don’t know.
to me the plain strings sound always the same, no matter how old they are, but they get rough pretty quickly so the feel especially for bends is of.

wound strings get dull pretty quickly, so you are left with bright high strings and muddy low strings. Pretty bad combination since this is sometimes an issue even with fresh strings.

 

[Mincer]

You could always get flat wound strings and have that sound with brand new strings.

 

[marcello252]

The SH-2 with fresh strings sounds a bit too edgy, but as the strings mellow out, it becomes just perfect

...are you sure you don't want a UOA5 or even an A2 as a magnet?

 

[Seashore]

I think my ears are more easily annoyed by treble than they used to be. I used to like really fresh strings and would change them every couple of weeks. Now I find I can leave them on for 2-3 months before they sound dead, even when I'm playing the same guitar daily, and I prefer the sound after a couple weeks. Not at all the same as flatwounds, they still have snap and crunch, they're just not super zingy. I also wind up giving the high end a lot more of a haircut at the amp. I like the Jazz neck in my LP. No complaints. I don't hear it as particularly bright, it's nicely balanced and pretty mellow against the hot ceramic I have in the bridge.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I personally don't like the Jazz under any condition, LOL. But that's JMO.

 

[Mincer]

I personally don't like the Jazz under any condition, LOL. But that's JMO.

It isn't my thing, unless it is an extremely mid-heavy guitar, like my Music Man. In there, it is perfect.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

It isn't my thing, unless it is an extremely mid-heavy guitar, like my Music Man. In there, it is perfect.

Interesting.

I don't think I've ever gotten a guitar so mid-heavy to make scooped pickups not sound scooped, LOL. Or a guitar so bright to make a dark sounding pickup sound balanced. Or the opposite way around.

I always thought the pickup has the final saying in the sound coming out of the cable. The wood, scale lenght, bridge type and material, etc. do make a different in the overall flavor, but my Esquire is so thin and wiry acoustically, yet not even that made the Hot Rails sound aggressive, for example.