That is going to be personal preference for you. Imagine the same quality pickup except one has been 'aged' to sound like a pickup that has been used for 50 years and the other is the same pickup but without the aging.

Personally, I'd go for the SJM-1. Ultimately I'd go for Lollars or the new Fender AVRI '65 Pickups(like $100 for the PAIR).

Any and all modding is encourage, please do on such inexpensive guitars. Treble bleeds are very cool, Series and Parallel, why no. If you don't use the ryhthm circuit then absolutely do it.

I'd switch out the wiring, just get it done better. It's the cheapest thing you can do on a guitar short of putting on new strings.

What is in the guitar right now? 1M, I believe? Do you find the guitar excessively trebly? If so, you can even just put a nice .047 cap in there as an alternative to getting new pots. I like 1M in a Jazzmaster.

Treble bleed mods are cool, definitely worth it.

And remember, error on the side of caution with pots. If you get/stay with 1Ms you can just turn the tone down more. If you get 500K you can't turn the treble up anymore if you don't think you have enough treble. Personally, I always lay off the treble on my jazzmasters.

JakeDobner wrote:

And this wouldn't be a bad idea: http://www.ebay.com/itm/FENDER-Jazzmaster-Wiring-Harness-VINTAGE-CORRECT-22GA-COLOR-CLOTH-WIRE-PIO-Caps-/111292572305?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item19e98de291

Go with the Black Bee and the amber tip if you get it!

Top components, well put together, it will save you a ton of time in labor.

I saw that harness when I was pricing parts,thanks.It would definitely save a lot of time. The guitar does have 1m pots now, but what I don't care for is the tone gets too bright from about 7 to 10 on the volume. I'd like to get it where the tone doesn't change much with volume control. I don't use the rhythm circuit much but would like to keep it. And you think the AVRI pickups would be a better choice than the Duncans?

The '65s don't really come up for sale anywhere. The Duncans are about $115 on fleabay. Btw Jake, I've had this in the back of my mind for awhile. After seeing what you and Matt have done to your Bass VI's I think I got jealous.

JakeDobner wrote:

Match the headstock!

I haven't tried to paint a guitar, but a headstock would be a good place to start. I have the Olympic white, so I may have to ask Matt what paint he used. The tortoise shell pickguard on these is horrible. I'm thinking mint green.

Is that your way of subliminally telling me I'll need a matching Bass VI?

JakeDobner wrote:

Yep!

Actually, it is just something I remember seeing while browsing the internet yesterday! If only that VI had black knobs... doesn't look as good with the white knobs.

Hadn't thought of that. The knobs would match the switch/rollers and break up all the light colors. I might have to steal that idea. My stock knobs may not fit the new pots.

I'd read that putting a resistor and capacitor in parallel across the 2 lugs(3rd goes to ground) keeps the tone consistent across the volume sweep. Most say to use the "Seymour Duncan" treble bleed which I think is a 220k ohm resistor and 1000 pico farad cap. Then I could just roll off the tone if I thought it too bright.

Noel wrote:

This is by Eddie (The King of Offsets) Katcher:

"Don't worry about the numbers on the knobs, just set your tone control on your guitar a bit back from full on to where it sounds smooth and balanced to you. I like to keep my amp's highs a bit bright to allow me to compensate for our drummer's enthusiasm. If I need a bit of bite to override the cymbals, I have it, then I can throttle back a bit to make it smoother

Also I replaced my 1meg pots with 500ks that mellows the tone out a bit. Most Strats are running 250k's that shunt a good bit more of the bite to ground.

Tweak my good man. Swapping out pots in a Jag is almost so easy it ought to be illegal.

Here once again is Eddie K's volume pot ez fix. Take a 1 meg resistor and bridge the two outside terminals on the 1 meg volume pot (outside terminal to the grounded terminal or pot body. Then tie a 1000 pico farad disk cap across the live terminal and the wiper......Bingo Instant Jazzmaster or Jaguar improvement.

The resistor shunts off some of the annoying bite and the cap allows the highs to remain present as you back off the volume control. I wouldn't leave home with out this mod.

ed"

Noel, I saw a couple old threads where Eddie K brought this up. But the values were different from post to post. I think that even after all these years Mr K is still experimenting with his guitars.

Matt22 wrote:

As was stated earlier in this thread, these guitars were made for MODDIN'! It's fun and a great way to learn how electric guitars work.

BTW, I think the '62 AVRI pickups are the best value on the market right now, but I do like the Duncan SJM-1 pickups.

I got the final pickup for my Bass VI upgrade today. All 3 '62 AVRI pups cost me a total of $85 and only one of them was new. I think you can find a good set of used AVRI JM pickups for a good price.

I have seen new 62's for about $85 for the pair. The advantage is that they usually include covers. Matt, what did you use to paint the headstock on your Bass VI? Since I would be looking for the same white for mine.

Surf_Skater wrote:

I have seen new 62's for about $85 for the pair. The advantage is that they usually include covers. Matt, what did you use to paint the headstock on your Bass VI? Since I would be looking for the same white for mine.

Jake said it right. You should be able to find new pickups for about $36 each, which is about what I paid for my new pickup.

I used automotive paint that was easy to match at the paint shop. If you do it yourself, be sure to use primer for the base/maintenance. Don't make the mistake I made and spray a clear coat on top after you put decals on (if you put decals on). I usually wet-sand/steel wool the final product to make it nice and smooth/not too shiny. I've also been thinking about set-sanding/steel wooling (?) the body to dull it up a bit and make it look like nitro paint. Be sure to use the finest grade paper/wool that you can get. And yes, it needs to be plenty wet.

Matt "tha Kat" Lentz
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