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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Fender Jaguar Pickup Settings?

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I am struggling to get that 'sweet Jaguar tone' (you here on a lot of recordings, the classic surf Jaguar sound) and was wondering what everyone's pickup setting was for their Jaguar.

Currently I use
Bridge Pickup ON
then on the 3 switch
Switch 1 = neck pickup OFF
Switch 2 = Bridge Pickup ON
Switch 3 = Circuit Mid tone ON

Any suggestions and how you get ' your sound ' would be helpful

'Surf Music Lasts Forever'

I use:

Bridge On

1 - on
2 - on
3- cut

I use the master circuit ..neck and bridge pickups both on , mid -cut 'strangle ' switch OFF
I can imagine that with just the bridge pickup and strangle switch on you would have a trebley penetrating sound .

I use all switches on. I think the strangle switch really gives it the surf sound. Interesting that the two posters above me leave it off.

Only bridge through an amp, with tone rolled down to around 6-7. If I am going direct I will use the bridge pickup or both pickups at once (either in series or parallel). Going direct I like the hi-pass filter as a useful tool with pickups in series. All of my Jags have the rhythm circuit removed and they are all wired series/parallel. They all have hi-pass filters and one has an Esquire tone circuit that can be engaged(it sounds pretty terrible but sounds amazing with the hi-pass).

A reminder, the hi-pass filter won't do anything(doesn't become truly useful) until you roll your tone down.

Anybody who leaves the hi-pass on, please note where you keep your tone knob at. They work together.

Rip Trilby played mostly on his Jaguar's neck pickup......

ed

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

Pretty subjective. IMO you have two pu's, two circuits with a bunch of options...trial and error I'd say. I will say at this early point in my Jag experience I'm not loving the rhythm circuit but finding all the lead settings to be quite tonefull and the "thin and plinky" thing to be greatly overstated at least with regards to the Duncan Designed stock pu's on my Squier VM Jag. The thing to always take into consideration is that your amp is half your tone....so it can also depend what your playing through.

I gotta say that I dont like that diagram in the first post , I think it's misleading .
The rhythm /lead circuit slider is just that , not a neck or bridge pick up selector switch . And the strangle switch CUTS mids out when its UP in the ON position ..down ,it does nothing ...at least on my guitar thats how it is .

When i think of that surfy "sweet jaguar tone" i relate it to having both PUs on and hi pass filter off, as a few others have said.

Any setting on a Jaguar sounds great, but having both PUs on in the traditional parallel configuration is a magical sound, and my favorite guitar sound. Neck PU is also extremely versatile.

On a side note, I recently took out my stock Squier Duncan Designed PUs and replaced them with 65 Jaguar Reissues. I'll start by saying i really liked the DD stock PUs, and i only did the switch because i had an extra set of 65 reissues available to me and i'd already put some 65s in a friend's Squier VM Jag so knew first hand how truly great they sounded. I still have a Squier VM Jag with it's stock PUs too, because i really love how these sound originally, plus retaining a mostly stock one is helpful for tone comparisons. The 65s sounded clearer and more well behaved then the DDs, difficult for me to put into words, made the strings sound clean and spanky. The bridge PU really sparkles now, i'd say that's the biggest difference i'm noticing between the two sets.

I added a parallel/series mod when i swapped them that allows for all previous functions of the switches to stay the same, except for one difference... now the "in series" configuration is invoked in the both down position instead of normally having both PU's go off. Every other position and function stays the same. I really like this mod because it keeps the rhythm circuit intact and only adds to the combinational options. Love the sound of the PUs in series with the hi pass filter engaged, it's yet another incredibly sweet voice to be brought out from the Jaguar.

Last edited: Oct 20, 2017 10:21:28

I wonder what the differences between the DD stock pu's and the 65's are?
I have read that the DD's are wound a bit hotter (my ears tell me that also) but are there differences in the magnates, etc?

The Duncan Designed pickups are not the crappy pickups I grew up with as a beginning guitarist. With that said, the '65 blows them away. The '65 is the finest Jag pickup made. The clarity across the entirety of its vast frequency response is a thing of beauty. They jangle, they shimmer, they thud, snap.

The actual 1965 Jaguar I play sounds so damn good in any of its many pickup configurations, ideal for vintage sounds to fit many idioms. For splashy reverb and twangy rockabilly-type sounds, the combined parallel output can't be beat. The rhythm circuit is very handy for playing soft chords the way they used to half a century ago. For fuzz pedal usage one or the other pickup, with or without the mid-cut engaged, yields a whole range of sharp or smooth tones. Master treble and volume controls come into play with distorted or fuzzed tones, and the cut switch.

Squink Out!

The 65's are really reasonably priced....most vendors selling them for under $75.00 a pair. I'm liking the stock DD's but maybe a few months from now......

That 3-on position (both pu's and hi-pass active) seems preferable to mimic a general Strat tone. Second best in that regard would be the bridge, no hi-pass, some cut though. Am I right gang? Hmmm

If I had a clue to what I was doing (I don't even know how to solder) or had the bucks right now to pay a tech, I would have the rhythm circuit modified that the switch turned on both pickups (instead of just the neck)and in series. That IMO, would really give me a "two guitars in one option".

3 positions without high pass at first and after with high p
ass for muted
part

Last edited: Oct 20, 2017 03:45:34

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