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I'm curious how Jaguar pickups changed all throughout the 60s and even the 70s. Initially I was curious about when they started doing staggered pole pieces and variations on the stagger, but any and all information is welcome.

Just by doing a few searches on reverb and studying pictures of vintage instruments it looks like they switched from flat pole to stagger pole some time in 63, I'm even seeing some 63 and 64s that appear to have one flat and one staggered pickup, I'm also seeing some variation on how extreme the staggering is on some examples.

Our friend Zhivago's "VIntage Hotties" sub forum is an invaluable resource for studying these variations on vintage instruments.

HTH

Sometime in April/May/June 1964 the pickups went from black fibre bobbin material to a grey coloured material.
Fender's stamp colour went from yellow to a dark (black/blue) ink.
IIRC the wire in the PUP also changed (Fender re-sourced their materials supply).

March 1964 Jag PUPs

Not withstanding that I have only ever heard the single set of black bobbin Jaguar PUPs, when I compare them to the three Jags I have with grey bobbin PUPs (and the different PUP wire) they seem a little darker, a little more woody, a little moe 50s sounding.

Thank you sookwinder.

Thanks Sookwinder! I wonder if the black bobbins had different magnets.

Other observations including output are welcome.

Not exactly vintage but FWIW my pickup wizard early 60s jaguar set rates 6.67k neck and 6.8k bridge. This was measured with the pickups installed - not sure if that makes a difference.

JagWire wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:43 am

Thanks Sookwinder! I wonder if the black bobbins had different magnets.

Other observations including output are welcome.

Not exactly vintage but FWIW my pickup wizard early 60s jaguar set rates 6.67k neck and 6.8k bridge. This was measured with the pickups installed - not sure if that makes a difference.

Always alnico 5 rods to my knowledge. Early black bobbins '62-'63 had straight poles and are thicker/warmer sounding to my ears than the '63 and onward staggered alnico 5 rods. That was the only change to my knowledge until the switch in bobbin colour and wire type in the ramp up toward '65 and the cbs takeover.

my '65 Jag's pups are dated about three weeks apart in handwritten ink, yet one has the early copper-ish color wire (Formvar?) and the other has a darker, browner wire (Enamel?). they are initialed by two different winders as well. wish i could remember the dates!

46346 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:44 pm

my '65 Jag's pups are dated about three weeks apart in handwritten ink, yet one has the early copper-ish color wire (Formvar?) and the other has a darker, browner wire (Enamel?). they are initialed by two different winders as well. wish i could remember the dates!

Now that's interesting!

Does one have staggered poles and one flat? Or are they both staggered?

46346 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 16, 2019 11:44 pm

my '65 Jag's pups are dated about three weeks apart in handwritten ink, yet one has the early copper-ish color wire (Formvar?) and the other has a darker, browner wire (Enamel?). they are initialed by two different winders as well. wish i could remember the dates!

Is there difference in sound of your formwar pickup and the other pickup?