This PUP isn' what I imagined- What do you guys know about Jazzmaster Classic Player?

[zionstrat]

Very surprised to find that I like this hybrid Jazzmaster pup quite a bit, and I can't figure out why I like it-

I am very much a tele+strat+and firebird pup guy and I was really surprised that I liked a Jazzmaster Classic Player that I recently tried. I had ignored this model because I had heard these were low end overwound p90s instead of classic JM pups. But I was rather impressed-- it seemed to have the best characteristics of a classic JM and P90 and now I'm trying to figure out why it sounds the way it does

1. Bridge and Center- Very snappy fenderish, with a clean twin -thicker than tele, strat or classic JM, but tons of high end and sparkle not

2. Neck was more muddy than a strat on the clean sounds (but still very usable)

3. But the neck was surprisingly focused with crunch with classic rock settings- as thick as a p90, but less 'sloppy'

The little I could find about the pup is that it is a p90 style (pole pieces with magnet underneath) as opposed to classic JM magnetic pole pieces. Also appeared to be about the thickness of a p90 (instead of the very thin classic JM)- Considering it has a bigger footprint than a classic p90, I assumed it would be dark and muddy with none of the fender snap and spank and boy was I wrong.

These characteristic seemed to hold up with practically any amp in the store- High headroom fender amps were clear and snappy, add some gain it became very bluesy, and move to the crunch circuit for an excellent classic rock sound- not brittle or thin

• Anyone else had a similar experience?
• Any idea how this thing is designed to get sparkle and thickness?
• I considered that the bridge could be underwound and the neck overwound, but I haven't seen this kind of versatility with most over/underwound sets
• Assuming you know why this design does what it does, can you recommend aftermarket pickups with similar characteristics? (I usually stick to p90 routs, but may be willing to change willing to try other sizes if I can get this sound)
  

Very interested in your input and thanks in advance-
m

 

[stratguy23]

Re: This PUP isn' what I imagined- What do you guys know about Jazzmaster Classic Pla

I don't know anything technically about the Jazzmaster Classic Player pickups but agree that they sound very good. My only gripe about them is that they, as with most Jazzmaster pickups, have single coil hum.

To my ears, they lean more towards P90/humbucker in terms of grind and crunch. They are surprisingly and pleasingly aggressive.

EDIT TO ADD: The Fralin steel pole Jazzmaster pickups are evidently P90ish and thus may have similar properties. Also, the pickups on the J Mascis Jazzmaster are either P90ish or actual P90s.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: This PUP isn' what I imagined- What do you guys know about Jazzmaster Classic Pla

Thanks Stratguy

agree that they sound very good. My only gripe about them is that they, as with most Jazzmaster pickups, have single coil hum.

.

And totally agreed about hum- I use a lot of complicated wiring to avoid noise and get my sound and imagine this pup wouldn't really work for me in the long run due to noise-

I've been leaning on a relatively new discovery- Vox Coxe pickups are noiseless and provide a similar range of sounds- But these strange Jazzmasters have them beat on the 'I will take as much Fender as you can give me' end of the spectrum.

Anyone else have thoughts on how Jazzmaster Classic Player pups work?