Best Jazz Guitar Pickups

[jorgemg1984]

Bare Knuckle Pickups, UK - Hand Wound Guitar and Bass Pickups

You cant beat these pickups - have them on my archtop and my 335 and sound wonderful.

[=DK=]

Originally Posted by spiral

Yes. I tried a Korean one in an Ibanez and it was mud-city. I also used a US-made one in an American Archtop and it is the best floating pickup i've used. You can custom order one by emailing Kent directly. He will build whatever you want for $150.

WHAT?

I can talk to Kent Armstrong? The Kent Armstrong? Moreover, have him build me a pickup, to my specs, for $150 no less? I'm seriously freaking out over here. I love his pickups!

Could, oh God, could I get him to build one to fit in my tele? And I could tell him my tele is alder, and he could compensate for that. Oh God. Is it really true? Can I contact Kent Armstrong, personally.

Calm down, breath.

His pickups sound great on a tele. My teacher plays this http://www.fosterguitars.com/theperformer.html , which he calls a true jazz tele. It's got a single Kent Armstrong in the neck, and sounds great.

[=DK=]

Seriously, what's the email?

[gtr_5155]

armstrong@vermontel.com 802-843-1065

[JensL]

I have these in my guitar:
Bare Knuckle Pickups, UK - Hand Wound Guitar and Bass Pickups

This guy makes nices pickups too (and they are quite cheap).
The Guitar Lounge, Jazz en handgebouwde gitaren

Jens

[zovanou]

Replaced seth lovers with bare knuckles stormy mondays , ( heritage 535)
Well worth the cost and highly recommended

[Musically Mr M]

Originally Posted by Civil Guy

From reading most of the items, I noted that humbuckers are the preferred pickup on jazz guitars. What particular brands, models, etc., do you feel is best? I have a Dot Deluxe Limited Edition (but not the flame maple top). Any idea which pickup Epiphone used on this model? Would changing them out for other pickups be better for jazz? If so, what is recommended? Would it be better to trade guitars and if so what is recommended?

If you like the guitar, and the neck feels nice, and it stays in tune and speaks to you when you play it then keep the guitar. You do not have to spend thousands to get a great sound. Having said that, Dot pickups are a shot in the dark imho and most Epi Dots wind up with an HN6 at the neck and an HBHOTB at the bridge which fairs well in Epi Les Pauls that will serve as metal guitars. Want a clean, articulate sound? These pickups aren't the ticket. A suggestion (and there are many-pickup choices are very subjective and manufacturers like it that way. ) the Seymour Duncan favs set which includes an SH-2 JazzN for the neck and an SH-4 JB at the bridge. This combo goes from syrupy jazz textures to anything in between. The package sells for about $150.00 (but I got mine from GC during the holidays for $99,95) Are pickups easy to put in? Can you unscrew 8 screws? What about soldering to the pots? Epi Dots use full size 500k cans and they are decent. I'm partial to Sprague Orange Tone Caps which really do open up your sound but you don't have to change those to notice a significant tonal change. If you are afraid of soldering wires to pots, you can have great success by simply pulling the originals out of the mounts, cutting the leads and reattaching the wires (check the color code/polarity which is included in the kit) to the remaining length of wires that you clip. Solder the wires together right there, wrap with some electrical tape, bolt everything back up and your done in less than an hour.

Trust me, even for a novice, it's stupid easy and the results are more than worth it. Why heck, you can probably find that pair of pickups on evil bay for about $60.00 bucks.

[jorgemg1984]

Put Bare Knuckles. Best gear purchase you will ever do - much better than SD.

[sparkhall]

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

Put Bare Knuckles. Best gear purchase you will ever do - much better than SD.

+1

Put Bare Knuckle Manhattan (single coil in HB form) in my Epi Joe Pass. Couldn't be more pleased, has transformed the guitar's sound. The sound was so different to the stock pup it actually distracted me when playing it at first!!

[Ceejay]

Lots of love for Bareknuckle Pickups on this forum then. Good stuff

[jorgemg1984]

Yes - and I am not one of those boutique lovers that only handmade ultra rare stuff sounds great and regular amps and pedals are all bad sounding. But BK is really something else and imo not expensive at all... its a really great product, I doubt anyone regrets putting them! (even knowing how subjective tone preferences are...)