Jazzmaster neck with humbucker bridge ?

The Spoon Man

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Hello everyone !

I'm currently working on a custom HS jazzmaster with a Seymour Duncan SJM-2 (Hot) neck and a DiMarzio Crunch Lab bridge.

I play mostly rock, but I sometime play modern metal.

I like the sound of each pickup individually, but I was wondering if they worked well together...

Has anybody tried a jazzmaster HS configuration ?

Thank you in advance for your help !
 
I haven't tried it, but I expect the Crunchlab is going to be a lot hotter than jazzmaster pickup.

I'd try a PAF PRO in the bridge.  It would be a better match with the output and tonal character of the jazzmaster pickup.

 
JohnnyHardtail said:
I haven't tried it, but I expect the Crunchlab is going to be a lot hotter than jazzmaster pickup.

I'd try a PAF PRO in the bridge.  It would be a better match with the output and tonal character of the jazzmaster pickup.

Thank you for your help !

I never tried the paf pro, but in video this pickup seem to be rocking alright  :headbang:

I'll try to test it in a guitar store to hear it scream in person  :icon_thumright:

 
I have a guitar with a humbucker bridge and p90 neck that I like the sound of. I'd think a JM pickup in the neck would be reasonably close in output to a vintagey/PAF humbucker bridge and should sound fine in the middle position.

The only trouble is I don't have any first hand experience with the Crunchlab or SJM-2. I know the Crunchlab is supposed to be pretty high output, but I don't know how much hotter than vintage the SJM-2 is. My guess is that the SJM-2 output would be closer to that of a medium output humbucker and might be overpowered by a Crunchlab.
 
Yep, you’d want to go with one of the dimarzio vintage output hums, like a paf or a 36th Ann, probable use the 36th neck but move it to the bridge position.
 
Thank you so much for your replies, it helps me a lot !

I'm gonna do a bit of research on the output of the sjm-2.

Do you know where I can find a datasheet with the signal output of seymour duncan pickups ?
In their website, it's just a useless graph with no value on it
 
The Spoon Man said:
Thank you so much for your replies, it helps me a lot !

I'm gonna do a bit of research on the output of the sjm-2.

Do you know where I can find a datasheet with the signal output of seymour duncan pickups ?
In their website, it's just a useless graph with no value on it

I'm not sure that exists, unfortunately.

Maybe try emailing SD customer support and ask which SD humbucker they would pair with the sjm2? And then you could look at Dimarzio HBs with similar specs if you're set on Dimarazio
 
I'm definitely gonna do that, thank you !

Considering the output issue, I'm starting to think that I should tend more to a "classical" approach by simply doing a H-H jazzmaster
 
Please post again if you get any opinions from Seymour Duncan.    I am almost guessing a Pearly gates would be an reasonable match with a hot Jazzmaster neck p/u.    However you mentioned you also play modern metal, so its hard to identify a low-output humbucker that is also suitable for modern metal.    I'm not a metal player, but I believe the PAF PRO is modern enough to get into the right territory with a metal sounding amp and/or some EQ.  A great all-rounder IMO.  Other low output vintage humbuckers tend to sound more grainy / fizzy with high gain.  If you go for something really vintage-like, you may find its too thin or low output.    Overall this pickup combination seems really interesting and could work.  However its risky unless you are prepared to buy a second pickguard as an alternative way to mount a 2x humbucker pickup complement if you change your mind.
 
Hello again !

According to SD, the best match for the SJM-2 would be a humbucker with high mid-range.

They believe it would pair up well with a Saturday Night Special or with a 59.

Do you know which are the "DiMarzio equivalent" to these pickups in term of output and EQ ?
 
rick2 said:
The dimarzio website lists output levels.  Easy peasy.

Absolutely ! The problem is that Seymour Duncan doesn't.

From what I saw in the forums, SD has a different way of mesuring the output than DiMarzio. That's why finding a DiMarzio pickup with the same output as the SD SNS is quite challenging.

However, from its characteristics and description, the SNS looks a lot like the DiMarzio PAF Pro. Am I wrong ?
 
The Spoon Man said:
Hello again !

According to SD, the best match for the SJM-2 would be a humbucker with high mid-range.

They believe it would pair up well with a Saturday Night Special or with a 59.

Do you know which are the "DiMarzio equivalent" to these pickups in term of output and EQ ?

I have not tried the Saturday Night special.  I expect it it will be brighter than the PAF PRO, but lower output.  The '59 is likely to sound a bit thinner and brighter in the top end.    Some metal players think the PAF PRO in the bridge position is bright, but vintage style pickups such as those will be brighter.  My view is the PAF PRO can be used for a wide range of applications if you adjust the pickup mounting height to be lower for a more quasi-vintage-inspired brighter tone, or higher for a full-on rock tone.  For a Metal tone, you may want to back off away from the strings just a bit.

You can look at PAF Master DP261, and 36th Anniversary DP223 from Dimarzio.  I have first hand experience with the neck versions of the PAF Master and 36th Anniversary, but not the bridge versions.  I'm not sure they will be any more suitable for playing metal than the PAF PRO.




 
Thank you so much for your help ! My initial project has really come a long way since I joined this forum (and it still has a long way to go haha)

I will try to keep this topic updated while doing my research.
 
One thing you could look at on Seymour Duncans is DCR (Direct Current Resistance) measurement and on the DiMarzio site instead of the measurement called output look at the Specs section for a pickup and you will see an entry for Resistance which is the same type of measurement. It won't tell you everything but its a starting point.
 
And ... what's the worst that can happen ... you get some extra pups for your next build.  :headbang1:
 
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