Post by antigua on May 17, 2018 22:39:13 GMT -5
I had previous analyzed the Duncan Designed Jazzmaster set found in current production Squier VM's guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/8163/duncan-designed-jazzmaster-pickups-analysis , and I bought this set in part to replace that. This set features gray fiber flat board, which is supposedly what was used in the 60's. The wire on the bobbins as a dark red color, which Fender claims is an enamel coat, though modern poly coatings can be had in various colors, so we have to take their word for it. Though there is a "neck" and "bridge" pickup, as indicated by a blue or red dot respectively, the pickups appear to be spec'd identically.
Both of these sets shows a very high resonant peak, a very high inductance and a very low parasitic capacitance, compared to a Strat or Tele pickup with a similar DC resistance. The reason for the high inductance can easily be explained by the wider coil area, though the reason for the low capacitance is not so obvious. The capacitance is very low, and that's usually a good thing, but because of this high inductance, which is about 50% greater than the average Strat pickup, the end result is that, when loaded with the capacitance of a guitar cable (represented by 470pF), the resulting resonant peak, of 3.76kHz, ends up being very similar to that of a Stratocaster pickup, or a Tele neck pickup. A Jazzmaster does have a rather bright sound, but that owes more to the 1 meg ohm stock pots they come standard with, which yields a very high resonant amplitude, in situ. As a matter of opinion, I'd say a Jazzmaster sounds best when the tone dial is rolled back a bit, to dial down that strong resonance.
Even though the Jazzmaster pickup uses AlNiCo 5 pole pieces, the shorty height of the AlNiCo poles yields a lower flux density than comparable Fender pickups with taller pole pieces. The Gauss reading of 750G is about 25% below that of a Strat pickup with AlNiCo 5 pole pieces, and about 15% greater than a Strat pickup with AlNiCo 2 or 3 pole pieces.
Product url: shop.fender.com/en-US/accessories/pickups/pure-vintage-65-jazzmaster-pickup-set/0992239000.html
Fender Pure Vintage 65 Jazzmaster Bridge (red dot)
- DC Resistance: 6.645K ohms
- Measured L: 3.184H
- Calculated C: 29pF (39 - 10)
- Gauss: 750G
Fender Pure Vintage 65 Jazzmaster Neck (blue dot)
- DC Resistance: 6.574K ohms
- Measured L: 3.160H
- Calculated C: 29pF (39 - 10)
- Gauss: 750G
Bridge unloaded: dV: 18.9dB f: 14.3 kHz (black)
Bridge loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 6.5dB f: 3.76kHz (blue)
Neck unloaded: dV: 18.9dB f: 14.3 kHz (red)
Neck loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 6.5dB f: 3.76kHz (green)
