I sincerely apologize if this topic has been covered here—I’ve had some difficulty searching the forum. At any rate, I’ve had one of the MIJ traditional jazzmasters since 2020 paired with a surfy bear and I simply cannot tame the ice pick on the bridge pickup at any sort of volume. Has anyone here swapped pickups in one of these guitars or perhaps have some suggestions on upgrading these pickups. I’m comparing Antiquity IIs and Fender pure vintage 65s. I need it to do the job primarily for drippy surf music but also some overdriven stuff. I may be willing to consider more boutique-y options so long as a set isn’t more than about $250. Thanks!

FYI the resistor mod (with a 1meg) won’t give you the same sweep / taper as a 500k but with the volume/tone all the way up it will be the same . I use it quite successfully and still roll off the treble a bit more sometimes

I can’t speak to the 65’s vs something else, but in my experience it’s been the amp that can produce the ice pick (despite dialing in the guitar). Pickups and pot values can absolutely help with the issue, though the amp needs investigating too (unless you already have )

Kitten and The Tonics

https://kittenandthetonics.com/

I really do think wiring and pickup change is a bare minimum with most japanese fenders. In saying that I havent played any fairly new ones.
Next things to address are the trem spring, trem plate and work out what bridge you want to run with. This will all help with the feel of the guitar but moving out flimsy hardware may give a more solid sound too.

Check out Sunday Handmade. Good pickups at a decent price for a pair.

All things being equal, with a Jazzmaster, if it was too ice-picky, the first thing I'd swap out is the 1 meg pots.

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Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

Jerome wrote:

Can't agree more with Pihabeach82
Upgraded mine with the Halon bridge and Staytrem vibrato arm and collet.

oooh yeh ive been eyeing up the halon bridge. Whats your take? have you used a mastery and able to comment either way ?
What material did you opt for?

Man… I guess my hang up is that I’m obviously no expert on Jazzmasters, and the little I’ve heard about their history is that the pick ups used from the late 50s to 1964 or so were a little beefier/darker than the later ones that the 65s replicate. It sounds like the Duncans will do exactly what I’d like them to do, but when I hear that there’s a more “authentic” surf tone elsewhere it gives me pause. Gotta believe the 65s would be a solid upgrade from the stock pups, which are basically similar to strat ones. I think that I might try the 65s first, see how well the new pots manage the spike, and see how I like them. If it’s too bright and still spikey, I’ll look elsewhere… oh boy… here we go.

Newcomer wrote:

Man… I guess my hang up is that I’m obviously no expert on Jazzmasters, and the little I’ve heard about their history is that the pick ups used from the late 50s to 1964 or so were a little beefier/darker than the later ones that the 65s replicate. It sounds like the Duncans will do exactly what I’d like them to do, but when I hear that there’s a more “authentic” surf tone elsewhere it gives me pause. Gotta believe the 65s would be a solid upgrade from the stock pups, which are basically similar to strat ones. I think that I might try the 65s first, see how well the new pots manage the spike, and see how I like them. If it’s too bright and still spikey, I’ll look elsewhere… oh boy… here we go.

If you email a maker like the Q pickups guy and describe what you are after if may help.
there is a wonderful pickup maker in NZ called Glynn Evans aka MR Glynn.
Google him. He will ship em and as its nz dollar it will probably not be too pricey for you.
I use one or two of his models and vouch for his work

Jerome wrote:

Pihabeach82 wrote:

oooh yeh ive been eyeing up the halon bridge. Whats your take? have you used a mastery and able to comment either way ?
What material did you opt for?

Coming from a Schäller roller bridge, the Halon improved resonance, sustain and reliability. Intonation and tuning stability not that much since it was very good with the older bridge. I got the basic one, Stainless steel, a beautiful piece of enginery. Never tried a Mastery however. I don't like how they look very much ... And Halon is way cheaper when you're EU located.

I like the mastery alot. But habent tried halon. I know what you mean about the look tho. I have taken it off my vintage JM and gone back to a period correct mustang bridge. I will order a halon at some point o compare to the mastery

chiba wrote:

I also want to make an appeal to you to spin the knobs on your amp(s). I think some people plug a Jazzmaster into the same rig they use for any other guitar(s) and expect it to not need any tweaking and immediately sound amazing.

So true. I have completely different settings on my Deluxe Reverb whenever I play the JM or the Gretsch (wich are my two main guitars). Treble rolled off quite a bit when playing on the JM. Same on my pedalboard.