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I've been working on tuning a strat for jazz for a couple years. Here are the ones I've finished recently. I started with the traditional pickup set up of only 1 neck pickup then realized I needed more stuff to fiddle with. So I made the one on the right with a middle pickup. Sounds pretty good then realized I could improve further. I didn't need to expand any more on regular humbuckers so I thought I would use other bitey pickups that I like that were too thin for me for jazz on their own and put them in series with each other. That's what the other 3 are. 2 neck pickups and I can select either pickup and then use a spin a split to dial in the other pickup in series.
Here's a recording with 1 chorus on each guitar. Minis, Hums, Single coils, Dmz/Full size hb.
Full write up on the guitars: They're warmoth hard tail strats without a finish on them cuz I like them like that. Left to right:
Maple body, Fralin mini humbuckers in series with each other, 1 meg volume, spin a split, 2 no load tones with different caps that I don't really use. 13 gauge roundwounds.
Basswood body, Seymour Duncan Lipstick and Phat Cat in series with each other, 1 meg volume, spin a split, and pickup selector switch. 12 gauge roundwounds
Swamp ash body, Fralin Pure PAF and Dmz Cruiser in series, 500k volume, spin a split, pickup selector switch. 12 gauge flatwounds.
Alder body, Seymour Duncan 59 set, I use the 4 way switch as a varitone with 22nf, 15nf, 10nf, and 6.8nf pio caps, 300k volume and no load tone. 13 gauge flatwounds.Last edited by Clint 55; 12-26-2020 at 01:30 AM.
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12-26-2020 12:10 AM
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My “jazz Strat” has .012 flatwounds, a .1uF tone cap, 5 springs on the trem and a piece of foam between the springs and the springcover. That took care of the twang and made it sound really fat.
It’s a Partscaster made of Squier parts (Agathis body, laurel wood fretboard) with Fender 57 pickups (or something like that) and it’s the best sounding and most resonant Strat I ever played! (And I have played an all original ‘57
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Cool, so you have a fat cap on there and locked down the bridge. I noticed the hardtail got rid of some of the jangles. I'm sure the way you set up your trem has a good effect.
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A hard tail strat has been on my wish list for quite a while ... Those are some wacky but ultimately very cool guitars
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Yes, I think the tremolo (vibrato) bridge/tail construction does a lot for the strat-tone. A hard tail would instantly make it sound fatter I think. But the advantage of using more springs and a foam piece to stop the springs from ringing is you get fat tone plus you can still use it for vibrato!
Originally Posted by Clint 55
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Nice - I like the 2 minis and 2 singles the best. The 2 minis sound sorta similar to a CC.
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^ Thx, I like the bitey ones too. I'm glad I came up with the idea of putting 2 in series. 1 on its own and turning the tone down wasn't doin it for me.
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Wacky? Why wacky? Jk, thx. Originally Posted by Lobomov
A hard tail strat has been on my wish list for quite a while ... Those are some wacky but ultimately very cool guitars
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My jazz strat is built on a Robert Cray signature hardtail Strat. The neck pickup is a custom wound noiseless Bill Lawrence. The pots and capacitor are upgraded, as are the bridge, nut, neckplate, and locking tuners. With a set of Pyramid Monel 12-48 strings, this is the closest I have ever come to my imagined Bickert-in-Heaven tone. Rock solid with the chunkiest neck I’ve ever felt on a Strat.
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Looks nice and sleek. I see you stayed with the traditional sound of a strat stack.
Last edited by Clint 55; 12-27-2020 at 12:22 AM.
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Love the green tolex and mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard! Originally Posted by BickertRules
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Warmoth offers some interesting options.
1 Are any of the bodies chambered?
2 Do they have swimming pool routs to allow you to swap in pre-wired pickguards with any pickup combinations you want?
3 Have you considered:
-mahogany body;
-mahogany neck w/rosewood or ebony board;
or any of the other warmer-sounding woods offered by Warmoth?
Looks like big fun.
I'm almost finished setting up this one.
Last edited by Hammertone; 02-01-2021 at 03:56 AM.
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None of the bodies are chambered, they're all swimming pool routes. I didn't really like mahog for jazz when I tried it a while ago in a couple Epi LPs because it sounded grainy to me. It was a long time ago tho. I'm really happy with the different woods I have. The humbucker guitar is built the darkest, it has alder with a maple neck, rosewood board and flatwounds. The rest are varying degrees of bright(er). I think the basswood body and maple neck is my favorite combo for bright. It's so zingy but the body is all light and it sounds breathy too. The maple body is insane and feels like I'm playing a stone. The attack is very precise and immediate.
That's a nice looking tele. Are you going to swap magnets, put on jazzy strings, and mod the controls? P90s are great because you can mix magnets and get some really good combinations. My favorite for jazz are making combos of A2, A3, A5, and A6.
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I'll try various strings over time. T-Armond AlNiCo slug set is A5 and are installed for the long haul, like the Dearmond Dynasonic 2000 on which they are based. I may do a "Big Apple" style (double humbuckers) jazz-friendly hardtail strat one of these days. Something along these lines:
Last edited by Hammertone; 02-01-2021 at 03:57 AM.
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All those and none with P90s, this would be great
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My jazz strat.
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Wow...love these Strats. Time to finally get to building my idea of a hardtail jazz Strat. I would like both thank you guys for the kick in the pants to finally get around to building it, and cussing you out for the same reason...lol.
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hey ht, did you intentionally turn the bridge pup around....most 2 pickup dearmonds have the smaller adj screws toward the inside Originally Posted by Hammertone
tv jones is one of the best pickup makers out there today
cheers
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That’s a beauty! Originally Posted by Tal_175
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2nd guitar from the left has a P90. Originally Posted by patshep
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Originally Posted by BickertRules
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Thanks. I French polished it by hand. Originally Posted by BickertRules
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Cool thanks. Hope the project goes well. Are you gonna use 2 neck pickups?! Originally Posted by Headshot
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I ran it that way for no particular reason. I may rotate the pickup, or not. Nothing remotely scientific about any of it. Hooray for Harry Dearmond! Originally Posted by neatomic
Last edited by Hammertone; 02-01-2021 at 03:59 AM.
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what is a Jazz Strat?
What determine about that ?
Best
Kris
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