Humbucker in a Jazzmaster

[Loomer]

I have a Novak humbucker in the bridge of my Jazzmaster and an Ant II in the neck. I love the tone. It has a very distinctive in-between tone. My experience is that there is some hum in the middle, but about half what the neck puts out (so djetz' experience matches mine).


I LOVEx3 the sound. And I highly recommend Novak's hb for Jazzmaster; it has a unique cutting sound to it in the bridge, but it's every bit the humbucker. Can't say enough. 


Good luck!

[garyptaszek]

heres mine

[paescu]

ok so how can i gat the hum cancelling in the middle position when using bridge hb and neck singlecoil at the same time? mine doesn't do that, just a tiniy wee less noise in the middle position (but it's also quiter, so duh).
anybody know how?

[Professor Plum]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWZoqoe1zrs 

brody=

[crazypaws]

they look horrible as well as sound bad, clearly depends on what type or what sound you are going for. but i think it doesnt compliment a jazzmaster. go figure sonic youth does, alot of stuff is really distorted and noise, which is cool but just mainly looks cool to me. but also, depends if your guitar is vintage, if it is, dont, just build one and do it. but if you are going for a sound a jazzmaster can do but you like how the jazzmaster feels and looks, then of course go for it, you need it. but if your unsure, and or want to look cool like sonic you, or have a vintage jazzmaster. dont do it. save yourself the trouble.

[CurtisNovak]

You dont get full humcanceling in the middle position if you combine a single coil and an humcanceling.  The reason being is the single coil can only cancel with half the humbucker the other half has the same wind and polarity. 

As for using humbuckers in a JM I sell many of them, but I really only recommend them for people where their playing conditions require it.  Such as recording, or a very noise venue.  Believe it or not is still sounds  like a Jazzmaster, and NOT a Les Paul secondly my JM-HC uses Jazzmaster rod magnets so it sounds very much like a JM should.

curtis

[jimboyogi]

You dont get full humcanceling in the middle position if you combine a single coil and an humcanceling.   The reason being is the single coil can only cancel with half the humbucker the other half has the same wind and polarity. 

As for using humbuckers in a JM I sell many of them, but I really only recommend them for people where their playing conditions require it.  Such as recording, or a very noise venue.  Believe it or not is still sounds  like a Jazzmaster, and NOT a Les Paul secondly my JM-HC uses Jazzmaster rod magnets so it sounds very much like a JM should.

curtis

Curtis, why do you not widely recommend your JM-HC for regular use, esp. if they still sound like a JM  should?
I'm just curious because I was contemplating getting one or two of these in the future!
Cheers
James

[CurtisNovak]

Why mess with perfection?
In my opinion there is no better sounding pickup in a JM than a vintage wound neck pickup.  The stock vintage does not work as well in the bridge, simply b/c it does not match the output and tone of the neck as well.  For the bridge I think the JM-90 is the best.  It still sounds much like a vintage JM should it just can handle being wound a little hotter, and the bar magnets give it a nice growl when you really push it.
That is such an amazing combo, and I am one the believes that a single coils sound better that a humbuckers in general.
I really only recommend the JM-HC and JM-PAF when you want that same combo, but silent.  There is really nothing worng with them, just as I said I personally thing single coil pickups sound better.

curtis

You dont get full humcanceling in the middle position if you combine a single coil and an humcanceling.   The reason being is the single coil can only cancel with half the humbucker the other half has the same wind and polarity. 

As for using humbuckers in a JM I sell many of them, but I really only recommend them for people where their playing conditions require it.  Such as recording, or a very noise venue.  Believe it or not is still sounds  like a Jazzmaster, and NOT a Les Paul secondly my JM-HC uses Jazzmaster rod magnets so it sounds very much like a JM should.

curtis

Curtis, why do you not widely recommend your JM-HC for regular use, esp. if they still sound like a JM  should?
I'm just curious because I was contemplating getting one or two of these in the future!
Cheers
James

[paescu]

i totally agree with curtis that their is nothing better (at least i haven't heard anything better) than a vintage jm pickup in the neck of a jazzmaster. now i have the jmv in the neck and the paf from curtis in the bridge position. killer combination. the reason i went for this is because:
- the normal pickup is to thin in the bridge position compared to the neck
- and so that i can use the bridge in live situations with lots of gain without all the possible noise
- and because (and this is where i disgress from curtis' statement) i think humbuckers sound better with higher gain sounds then singlecoils. granted not as good as singlecoils clean and with break-up/ overdriven sounds, but distorted deffinetly better (at least in the bridge position)

now even though i have the paf i think it retains alot of the jazzmaster characteristiv, after all it's not just the pickups that make your guitar sound the way it does, but also the guitar itself. i previously had a quarter pounder in there which also sounded great distorted but the noise problem was even worse. just recently i rewired my jm so that i can use the rythm circuit in all positions (à la koyl, thnaks btw!) and using the bridge humbucker that way with the treble rolled off a bit it sounds even more like your typical jazzy.

@ curtis: first of all, your explanation why there's no hum cancelling in the middle absolutely makes sense, i was just really wondering why the others had that. now to my idea: how bout making a splittable humbucker for the bridge position and then wiring it up so that in the middle position it splits it to the one coil that is reverse wound to the neck pickup so that it's hum cancelling in the middle position? would that be possible to wire it up that way? might sound really good too.
and thanks for your great products!

oh and here's me rocking out on the far right with the jazzmaster and novak pickups (never took it to gigs before): 

[CurtisNovak]

I just had this coil splitting conversation with J.  he asked me the same thing.  The problem is to get FULL humcanceling  the 2 coils need to be the same resistance.  When you split the humbucker you are dealing with half the coil of the neck pickup.
   
I should have been more clear, I do agree with you the humbucker does work better with serious saturation is used, ans the hum really gets out of control then.

Speaking of JM Humbuckers for serious saturation and metal check out my newest JM pickup.
It is wound to 14.5k and has ceramic magnets.


I know the traditional Jazzmaster players wont get this one, but  I am getting more and more JM players that tell me they absolutely love the feel and the way the JM plays, but it just does not work for their style of music.... and they are wanting more tone options...

curtis
 

[mixtery]

This is awesome!  I saw a Black Metal band recently that was using an HH Jag recently.  You never know where these guitars will take you.
And since indie and punk bands seem to also like JM's I bet there will be more and more requests for humbuckers.

[dnv]

that's what i was looking for for my jazzmaster! if only the rails stuck out a couple of millimeters, they would be perfect.

[jimboyogi]

That is a beast Curtis 

Thanks for giving us JM players so many awesome options!

[peculmile]

You should try superdistortion of dimarzio, great on a jazzmaster, note exellent on a mustang, but on a bridge position on a jazz (conncected to rythm circuit), you have the mot polyvament guitar and a perfect sound!

[CurtisNovak]

I guess I could raise them a bit, but I guess I was not slear I do the like my other humbuckers and put black cloth tape down the center of the pickup and it hides under a stock cover from 1 meter away you cant tell it is not a stock JM unless you really look hard.
Totally stealth and no mods.

curtis