Your suggestion of pickups for a Jagstang?
Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2024 10:25 am
Heya, a few years ago I picked up a Fender Jagstang as part of the Nevermind 30th anniversary reissue. As a leftie, the range of short scale options is limited. I really enjoyed it, but had some things I didn't like (pickups, lack of body contour, intonation etc). I was talking to my local tech and we ended up having fun making a partscaster Mustang with some hot single coils in, giving a nice Syd Barrett spikey quality, with the parts taken from the Jagstang.
This led me somewhat down the rabbit hole of tweaking guitars, I added a mastery, various options in the wiring of the Mustang to give other options (3 way pickup selector, series/parallel switchable modes etc).
I had picked up a Rickenbacker 330 a while ago and didn't really gel with it, ironically due to the size as I'm a big short scale fan now, so had thought of making a Jaguar with the same short scale and more as a rhythm guitar, but I've lately actually been enjoying the Rick more for what it is, so am probably going to keep it, replacing the current high gains with toasters.
So I thought I'd go back to my Jagstang, and basically use this as a template to create something new, and I was wondering what you could suggest would be some fun pickup or wiring combos for me. Currently it's routed for humbuckers in the bridge and a single coil in the neck as per the 2021 reissue.
I'm thinking of stipping the paint and getting my tech to paint it a black sparkle or something ridiculous lol, I've no idea how hard the polyester finish it comes in is to strip but a google suggests it's actually not too bad? I've seen some of the mad ways people have refinished their mustang and jagstangs and I want in lol.
I currently have - Mustang with two hot single coils, a Rickenbacker 330 with high gains, soon to be toasters. This gives a good range of tones. The question is what could be interesting as a 3rd set of options?
Perhaps lipsticks, gold foils, p90s or a humbucker? I used to have a strat so was considering some sort of split option with strat wiring alongside a 5 way switch to give strat style middle positions. I also have an old childhood Epiphone les paul that I'd forgotten about for years that I'm going to give some love to so that'll do that sound.
Basically, what do you think would be an interesting set of options to shove into this unexpected frankenstein of a guitar?
This led me somewhat down the rabbit hole of tweaking guitars, I added a mastery, various options in the wiring of the Mustang to give other options (3 way pickup selector, series/parallel switchable modes etc).
I had picked up a Rickenbacker 330 a while ago and didn't really gel with it, ironically due to the size as I'm a big short scale fan now, so had thought of making a Jaguar with the same short scale and more as a rhythm guitar, but I've lately actually been enjoying the Rick more for what it is, so am probably going to keep it, replacing the current high gains with toasters.
So I thought I'd go back to my Jagstang, and basically use this as a template to create something new, and I was wondering what you could suggest would be some fun pickup or wiring combos for me. Currently it's routed for humbuckers in the bridge and a single coil in the neck as per the 2021 reissue.
I'm thinking of stipping the paint and getting my tech to paint it a black sparkle or something ridiculous lol, I've no idea how hard the polyester finish it comes in is to strip but a google suggests it's actually not too bad? I've seen some of the mad ways people have refinished their mustang and jagstangs and I want in lol.
I currently have - Mustang with two hot single coils, a Rickenbacker 330 with high gains, soon to be toasters. This gives a good range of tones. The question is what could be interesting as a 3rd set of options?
Perhaps lipsticks, gold foils, p90s or a humbucker? I used to have a strat so was considering some sort of split option with strat wiring alongside a 5 way switch to give strat style middle positions. I also have an old childhood Epiphone les paul that I'd forgotten about for years that I'm going to give some love to so that'll do that sound.
Basically, what do you think would be an interesting set of options to shove into this unexpected frankenstein of a guitar?