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Hi all. First post here.
I'm new to jazz, or at least new to trying to learn it on guitar.
With that as the primary consideration, I have a guitar that I'm not sure what to do with. It's an HSS Ibanez AZ premium, not sure of the exact model number, but there's no pick guard, pickups are direct mounted into the body. So there's no route for a neck humbucker without woodworking skills I don't possess.
My dilemma is, the OEM Seymour Duncan Hyperion single coils are kinda, IDK, moderate output I guess? They quack a bit in 2 and 4 positions, but they're not convincingly stratty. I have another HSS strat that already fills that classic strat void and a traditional single coil Tele, but no humbucker guitars.
Do you think it's worth going the SC-sized humbucker or just looking for a more traditional HSS setup?
I know I either wanna go hotter or less hot, but where we are currently is stuck in the middle which I feel is a bit of a no-man's land for the music I play.
For reference, I have little consideration for how these pickups handle gain, as I play pristine clean 90% of the time and use a J. Rockett The Dude pedal for the 10% of time I like to crank it.
Alternatively, before I spend several hundred on new pickups, I'm also considering a small hollow body like the Ibanez GB10EM, which may be a more appropriate jazz guitar I can pair with thicker flatwounds.
What would you guys and gals do in my situation? Thanks in advance for any recommendations!
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11-09-2025 07:51 PM
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Im not sure but the first thing Id do is put on some heavier strings and raise the action a little if its super low. Then use the neck pickup and dial back the volume and tone a bit. Thats a cheap way to see what you have...if you have not already. Im assuming you have a neck pickup but its not a humbucker...I personally use single coils rather than humbuckers as do many. Originally there were only single coils so it can be done. Now, if you just have to have that humbucker jazz tone...well...its not likely to happen. Id play with what Ive got first. The worst thing that will happen is you will have some fun for the cost of a set of flatwouds. I think Id go with flats on a setup thats leaning towards rock. It might tame things nicely for you.
Also, there are a lot of aftermarket pickups. Something might fit the spot you have (again, assuming it has a spot and wiring.)
Its really important to roll off that volume and tone a bit. Most guys with jazz guitars (so to speak) still do it on their guitars)
That said, Im happy to enable your purchase of another guitar
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Lots of great jazz played on Teles. Ed Bickert had a Gibson humbucker installed in the neck position, but there’s been lots of great jazz played with single coil pickups.
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I went through a similar process with my Eric Johnson Thinline strat. I tried a Duncan single coil sized humbucker but found it too muddy. I also tried some fat p90 style single coils but didn't like the voicing for jazz. What I arrived at and absolutely love is a Charlie Christian style pickup. A lot of people put them in Teles, but it works great in a strat too IMO. The one I have is from Vintage Vibe which closed up shop recently, but a quick Google found this one:
Charlie Christian Stratocaster sized | Dreamsongs Pickups
I'm sure you could find others if you look. Just have to be sure it's strat sized and doesn't require routing or pickgaurd modification.
Also would recommend medium or heavy flatwound strings, which will tame some of the quack.
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Jazz is a style of music, not a type of gear. You can play it on any shape guitar with any pickup.
Better to use what you have (tone knobs) and build up technical foundation. Otherwise you can end up 10 years in, bemoaning how your lines don't sound like jazz even though you have all the right gear.
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It’s fun playing different guitars for different genres of music. And we are all mostly use to hearing Classic Tones from the greats.
Say Wes Montgomery,Joe Pass,George Benson for a hollow body recorded Jazz Tone.
Or maybe Eric Clapton,Jeff Beck, EVH,etc for a Strat type Rock Tone.
Danny Gatton,Brent Mason, Brad Paisley for a Tele Country Tone
Ultimately it’s just a tool to get your voice to be heard. As stated above, find the guitar that you are most comfortable playing.
My problem is I like trying all of them for over 50 years,Lol!
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Yeah, there's nothing wrong with trying different guitars and pickups because you want to.
But you don't NEED to. That's all I'm saying.
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Low cost version? Go up a couple of string gauges on your Tele and pick over the neck pick up.
Originally Posted by dispo5796
But a little Ibanez with flats might get you away from your comfort zone a bit. It'll be harder to bend strings etc. So it might be good for putting you in a different zone musically.
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Yes, you can absolutely improve things with a different pickup if you don't want to get a dedicated jazz guitar at this point.
There are 3 types of single coils:
1. True single coils like strat, tele.
2. Noiseless single coils which have 2 coils to humbuck but they emulate the single coil sound.
3. Single coil size humbucker.
Any are viable for jazz, it's your preference what sound you want.
I have a thing for the single coil size humbuckers because they're fat like humbuckers but still snap like single coils. Some classic sc size hbs that can get a jazz tone are the SD hot rails and cool rails. Hot rails is fatter, cool rails is snappier.
But just choose based on what you want. Like you could stick a tele pup in there and probably get a solid jazz tone.
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If you are going to swap pickups, I strongly recommend Bill Lawrence/Wilde pickups made by his widow and daughter. Great products, very reasonable pricing.
Stratocaster Pickups – Bill and Becky Wilde Pickups
The Noisefree model or the L-45 model would probably work great for what you are seeking. I have the Microcoils in my Strat currently and really like them, although from what you're describing I think you might like the rather beefier sound of the humbucking options here.
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Hi, just like you I had a single coil style guitar about a year ago that I tried to set up as a jazz guitar. The guitar was a 1993 Fender Japan ST-57 Strat that I really loved but the pickup routes were all single coil. I tried 2 strat sized humbuckers both from Seymour Duncan, the Cool Rails and the Lil '59. In all honesty they were both great pickups and if I were to get an HSS strat-style guitar with a single coil in the neck I would probably pick one of those again.
I no longer have guitar and therefore no longer have the pickups, but my findings were as follows:
Cool Rails: I could get an awesome warm tone from this guitar. I had my strat strung up with 10's and could sound like Pat Martino (the tone, not the playing haha). However, I like a darker sounding guitar so take that into consideration. I ended up getting rid of this pickup not because it was bad, but because I don't think the rail design paired well with a 7.25" radius neck. I had issues with string to string volume balance and that kinda stuff can drive me crazy. If you have a flatter fretboard this wouldn't be an issue.
Lil '59: Another awesome pickup that was not as warm as the Cool Rails, but more adjustable. However, by no means a bright pickup. Very PAF-y. I never knew what pots to pair this with so I just went stock. Seymour Duncan does not say what pots go with pickups like these as opposed to the single-coil rails for which they say to use 250k pots. Anyways this pickup sounded good (although the Cool Rails sticks out in my head as being better) and was very adjustable for string to string balance so it did a good job.
Anyways, for what it's worth I ended up going the route of having a dedicated jazz guitar (archtop) instead of trying to get something to be something else. However, if you have the Ibanez and really like it and just want to use what you already have (and maybe want to play around a bit, too, of which I am very guilty) then I'd say one of the two pickups above would be a good place to start.
*PS: Maybe a bit "unethical" but if you really want to simply try this out at the least amount of cost to you, buy both pickups from Amazon and after trying them out just return them if you don't like them. Just don't totally screw them up before returning.
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You should do all you can with what you have now. Primary is lowering the pickups for a more jazz tone.
Then look at bigger strings, higher action, different pick, more mids tone settings...
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Yeah, the free options are the best things to try first.
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Good advice above.
To answer the OP's question, here's what I would do, and did. First, I'd make sure that my current gear can't possibly produce the sound I want. That involves EQ at the guitar and the amp, pickup height, polepiece height, signal processing and whatever else can be adjusted.
Then, if it really seemed like I needed a HB, I'd pick one. When I did that, I picked a Lil 59, but I don't remember why I chose that one. It sounds fine. My general impression is that there's a big difference between HB and SC, but not so much within each of those categories.
I would retain the option to use a SC sound by having a SC middle pu (if the guitar has one) or a coil split option, if possible. Gives more options that might come in handy at some point.
As it happened, I put the Lil 59 in my Strat copy and left my Fender Stratocaster stock. I ended up using the Strat copy regularly and the Fender sits in a closet. The Fender sounds great with the stock pickups, but I couldn't get used to the neck radius. I mention this because, if you like your current guitar's ergonomics, that's a strong argument for modifying it rather than getting a new guitar.
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