J Mascis Jazzmaster Pickup Upgrade

[chongmagic]

So I upgraded the pickups on my JM Jazzy, I got the Fender J Mascis pickup set. The neck pickup sounds killer, but the bridge is noticeably weaker in output and is kind of meh. Could it be a bad ground causing the bridge to be so much softer? I didn't notice this on the original pickups. I have raised the bridge up pretty high and still notice the volume drop. There is no body ground in this guitar like a Strat or Tele has, it does have a metal anodized pick guard so I thought maybe that is why there was no physical ground. Has anyone ran across anything like this?

 

[Coda]

Which version of the JM is it? I'm more curious than anything, but I've noticed that, on my Squier CV, the bridge pickup is a bit more tame than the neck pickup. Of course, most JM players (Jazzmastermasters?) use the middle position...

 

[chongmagic]

This is the J Mascis JM version. The original pickups were more like P90s, I think these are closer to original JM pickups.

 

[Coda]

This is the J Mascis JM version. The original pickups were more like P90s, I think these are closer to original JM pickups.

I've been eyeing the J. Mascis set, which I believe are truer to the OG "'58" JM pickups, compared to the "'65s", which were designed for Surf players. Can you measure the pickup resistance? That should at least tell you if its hooked up right, or maybe is a dud pickup...

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

So I upgraded the pickups on my JM Jazzy, I got the Fender J Mascis pickup set. The neck pickup sounds killer, but the bridge is noticeably weaker in output and is kind of meh. Could it be a bad ground causing the bridge to be so much softer? I didn't notice this on the original pickups. I have raised the bridge up pretty high and still notice the volume drop. There is no body ground in this guitar like a Strat or Tele has, it does have a metal anodized pick guard so I thought maybe that is why there was no physical ground. Has anyone ran across anything like this?

Sounds like it could be a grounding issue. Just for grins, check the DC resistance - plug a patch cable into the the guitar, and measure resistance - should be around 7.3K for the bridge pup. If not, might be a bad pickup.

Interested to hear how these sound once you've got it sorted out. I have a set of Seymour Duncan Jazzmaster Antiquity 1's in my JM, and along with a couple of other hardware mods, make this an absolute killer guitar. The Antiquity's are just that - pretty vintage sounding - but nothing a Muff can't take care of.

 

[lcipher3]

Had not seen that these new JM pickus are out - interesting. Quite a bit lower 7.3k than the old J Mascis Squier 8k versions.

 

[chongmagic]

I am going to measure these as soon as I can. I do suspect the ground on the bridge is causing the issue.

 

[chongmagic]

I am getting 7.0k for the neck and 6.8k for the bridge pickup.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I am getting 7.0k for the neck and 6.8k for the bridge pickup.

Fender specs for these pups:
DC Resistance
Neck Pickup: 7.27K, Bridge Pickup: 7.31K

Your bridge does seem a bit low

 

[Coda]

I have heard that Fender’s QC has been questionable as of late…

 

[chongmagic]

Just getting back to looking at this and decided to contact Fender support. They want me to take the pickups to an authorized Fender electronics repair shop, which the closest one to me is about 2 hours away. They want them to take pictures and send those to Fender. The pickups have a year warranty, so why not just let me send them back. This has put quite a bad taste in my mouth regarding buying from Fender directly. This type of support is atrocious. I emailed them back and asked if I could just send them back, no response yet.

 

[MichaelW]

Just getting back to looking at this and decided to contact Fender support. They want me to take the pickups to an authorized Fender electronics repair shop, which the closest one to me is about 2 hours away. They want them to take pictures and send those to Fender. The pickups have a year warranty, so why not just let me send them back. This has put quite a bad taste in my mouth regarding buying from Fender directly. This type of support is atrocious. I emailed them back and asked if I could just send them back, no response yet.

If you bought them direct, you most certainly can return them. But they'll deduct the shipping if you got free shipping when you ordered them. I returned a set of Eric Johnson pickups that had a short in the bridge pickup.

Kinda turned me off of Fender pickups in general. They weren't the most expensive pickup set but they weren't cheap either.....

Edit: They'll email you a shipping label