Modifying a Jaguar/Jazzmaster with Mosrite pups?

[oipunkguy]

ahh, that would explain it, the jazzmaster I usually played was the japanese reissues from the 90's. thanks thunder

[Hydra19]

I have a Fender Jaguar MIJ and it's alder. From what I've found out they use alder on the sunburst copies and basswood for the colored. I'm not sure what wood my Mosrites are from, but at least one of them is basswood but they all sound like Mosrites, with the vintage one winning out.

I have also wondered if Mosrite pickups would improve a guitar. I bought an all mahogany Burny Les Paul custom and decided I wanted a P90 flavour to it, and what better flavor than some of the Mosrite spice? I ordered a set of M3 humbucker sized pickups with gold covers.

How did it sound? Magical, but not just like a Mosrite. It had that Mosrite super clear tone, but also some growl with the gain turned up. It had a magical clean sound but with it being a Les Paul and an all mahogany one, it had more sustain and darker, warmer tone. I felt the M3 pickups made it one of a kind.

[Haole Jim]

'Bought a Japanese Fender Jazzmaster in '95 before they were reissued here. VERY nice construction, however...

....as it's Olympic White, wood not known ; basswood is strongly suspected, as above...

...pickguard looked like pizza-vomit RED(!!); had a dark tortise made for it...

...pickups under the white covers were Strat-shaped really narrow, NOT big JM soap bars...

...no, it did not sound like a Jazzmaster, more like an anemic 2-pup Strat...

...replaced them with a set of Fender American Vintage Reissue Jazzmasterpickups...

...what a honey of a guitar, now.

Best of fortune.

[olrocknroller]

There are oodles of videos on Youtube comparing the sounds of guitars with different construction materials, and various electronics, some of them actually quite well done from a scientific perspective. After viewing them, and experimenting with my own guitars, I have concluded that woods make a difference to the frequency ranges at which the guitar responds physically to the vibration of the strings, thus emphasizing certain ranges by feeding that response back into the strings, thus affecting their quality of vibration, and their sustain. Guitars made of laminated woods are difficult to predict, but often have surprising tonal properties.

Guitars with set and "bolt-on" necks will respond differently than "neck-through" designs, so how the guitar is made is also a factor. I built a neck through from maple, with jatoba stripes in the neck, and used Stratocaster electronics. The result? A nice single-coil sound to be sure, but it sure wasn't a Strat!

Electronics can have significant influence on the sound of a guitar, providing highly varied coloration, attack, brightness, and overall strength to the output signal. Simply changing the values of the pots, and caps can produce easily heard differences in the signal. Pickups can wildly change a guitar's sound as well...not always for the better, and not always in keeping with the price tag. Potted pickups are far more predictable than un-potted, so I use them exclusively.

My conclusion? It's a recipe with a multitude of ingredients spanning materials, design, building technique, and electronics, but in my experience, electronics make the most noticeable difference, while woods and design impart the subtleties reserved for the discerning ear.

olrocknroller

[FritzCat]

Remember this pic? It's a BlueRite Mosmaster that someone on this site had for sale a couple years ago.

[dorkrockrecords]

Not actually a "BlueRite" but yes a Mosmaster. That one used to be mine.

[Haole Jim]

Kinda OT but in the park...

...'used to have a Dillion Vietnam-made copy of a Mk I but with a knockoff Bigsby and P-90 copies. It was a really nice guitar once the action and intonation were fixed.

THE MIJ Jazzmaster with Fender AVRI Jazzmaster pups referenced above is a long-time fave, but agreed, the Mo pups are much hotter.

If you do the project, tell us about it; either a (Squier or Mexico) JM or Jaguar would be "most interesting" with real Mo-spec pups.

'Personally believe due to the offset bodies and good distance from top string to one's lap, JMs and Jagusars are exceptionally comfortable guitars to play sitting down, a la jazzers.

[agandr]

Old thread, I know, but I have replaced pickups in Conrad 1245 Bison guitar with japanese Mosrite pickups. The result is dramatic change in sound - now it sounds bolder, snappier and much stronger than before. The Mosrite pickups are much higher output then original singles, so the guitar drives any amp easily now. The sound has more low frequencies and stronger mids now and the highs are more smooth. It's not as jangly as it was before, but it has more bite and surfy twang. It sounds excellent with fuzz. However, it does not sound like Mosrite at all because of different attack character, I would say it's more on ballsy Fender-like territory, somewhere between very hot Jazzmaster and SG with P-90.

So, if you install Mosrite pickups into other guitar, it will still have an attack character of your original instrument, but will probably sound more full, smooth and will have much higher output.

[101Volts]

Old thread, I know, but I have replaced pickups in Conrad 1245 Bison guitar with Japanese Mosrite pickups. The result is dramatic change in sound - now it sounds bolder, snappier and much stronger than before. The Mosrite pickups are much higher output then original singles, so the guitar drives any amp easily now. The sound has more low frequencies and stronger mids now and the highs are more smooth. It's not as jangly as it was before, but it has more bite and surfy twang. It sounds excellent with fuzz. However, it does not sound like Mosrite at all because of different attack character, I would say it's more on ballsy Fender-like territory, somewhere between very hot Jazzmaster and SG with P-90.

So, if you install Mosrite pickups into other guitar, it will still have an attack character of your original instrument, but will probably sound more full, smooth and will have much higher output.

https://scontent-frt3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5C83A27E

Interesting, thanks. I wonder how much a Mosrite bridge and tailpiece would effect the tone? Also, what's the scale length on your Conrad?

- Austin

[agandr]

The scale lenght of Conrad is ~25.5", just like strat.

I think a bridge construction, tremolo system and zero fret must be a bigger factor of Mosrite sound than pickups, because I also have a Morales ZES-300, which is a close Mosrite copy with completely different pickups (these have single bar magnet below a coil and they are weaker then Mosrite pickups), and it sounds much closer to Ventures "Live in Japan" sound than Conrad. In fact I can nail these tones with Morales if I roll off the highs on the guitar tone knob and add some gain to the amp.