Jaguar replacement pickups? Duncan Hot Jaguar opinions.

[P. Shedd]

I'm trying to get my Fender Jaguar to sound more Jazzmaster like.
I like the electronics layout & metal control plates on the Jaguar
better than my old Jazzmaster's, but I miss the JM's sound. I was
thinking of getting a set of Jazzmaster pickups & putting them in the
Jag, but I really didn't want to cut up my pickguard (I might want to
change it back someday.)
I was looking through the Seymour Duncan catalog & noticed that
the "Hot Jag" pickups have the same output & similar tone to the
"Vintage Jazzmaster" ones, they're supposed to be a bit bassier. Has
anyone out there tried there? I'd be interested in any tales you'd
have to tell me about them.

Thanks,
POS

[P. Shedd]

Well, to follow up on my own post, here's my review of the Seymour
Duncan Hot Jaguar pickups that I got for myself for Christmas. I had
a few people wanting to know what I found out about them, but, I've
lost their e-mail addresses over the course of the last few months,
hopefully everyone who wanted info will read this.
I'm using the format of Tim Stanley's pickup review archive, check it
out at...
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~tjs/guitar_technical_faqs_digests/pickups.html

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Manufacturer:Seymour Duncan Model:Hot Jaguar
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Your name : Paul Shedd
email : pos...@syr.edu
Date of review : 02-08-96
Your musical style(s) : Punk Rock, Surf, Ska, "Modern Rock",
What ever tickles my brain.
Guitar : 1994 Fender Jaguar
Pickup features : Extra output, fuller tonal response & more
sustain than stock Jag
pickups.
Cost : $39.95 each
Purchased from : Thoroughbred Music (800)800-4654
Pickup being replaced : Fender stock Jaguar re-issue pickups.
Neck/Mid/Bridge position: Neck SJAG-2N & Bridge SJAG-2B

Reason for pickup change:
I originally wanted to get my Jaguar to sound more like a
Jazzmaster without having to cut the body up. The stock
Fender pickups were very trebily and had EXTREMELY low
output, not even high enough to get a good fuzz out of a Big
Muff! I like the electronics better on Jags than Jazzmasters,
but I prefer that Jazzmaster sound. The catalog listed Hot
Jags as having the same output as Vintage Jazzmaster pickups
and similar tone (a bit bassier) so I thought I'd give them a
try.

Perceived output level :
This is now the loudest guitar I own. Louder than my Fender
Squire Strat with what I thought were really loud pickups, my
Telecaster with Texas Specials and my Ibanez Talman with 2
P-100 Soapbars. When I first plugged it in & hit a chord it
almost knocked me over. They originally fed back like crazy
when I played distorted, I e-mailed Seymour (he writes a
pickup questions column for Vintage Guitar magazine) for
suggestions on how to get the screech out. He had me send
them to him (with the cases) for double wax potting (now
that's good customer service, the next time I need pickups the
Duncan catalog will be the first place I look.) I can now
turn my amp up to 12 and only get feedback if I try to.

Tone: Extremely well balanced

Styles and positions for which this pickup is (un)suitable:
When I got them back from the factory the tops of the boxes
had been reversed. The box top said bridge and the box botton
said neck & visa versa. When I first put them back in I had
the neck pickup in the bridge position and the bridge pickup
in the neck position. This combination sounded kind of mucky.
Luckily I noticed the switch when I was putting the old
pickups in the boxes to store them. A quick call to customer
service got that straightened out. If you hate hum these
aren't the pickups for you either, I usually play with both
pickups on which cancels out a lot of the hum, but there is
always some there. I don't mind hum myself.

On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a:
5 out of the box 10 after having them double wax potted.

Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for *that*
sound?:
I am very satisfied with the pickups. They don't have *that*
sound I was looking for (I'll just have to get another
Jazzmaster someday) they are close and they do sound great
for Surfy stuff if you turn down the volume a bit. I've got
whole new box of crayons to play with what more could this
happy boy want?