Jazzmaster

Fralin does it again!

This is now the 3rd set of Fralin pick ups I’ve ordered, and I continue to be blown away by not only the top shelf boutique craftsmanship – but the absolutely unrivaled customer service.

I’ve have been doing my own Super Squier Build (similar to the ones Black Bobbin does) where you start with a Squier 60’s Classic Vibe Jazzmaster and start tricking out the parts, so of course my first step was to put in an order w/ Fralin as soon as I got it on the bench.

Put me down as another vote for the 5% overwind, which does an excellent job of centering the jazzmaster tone into something much richer and complex, also went with Fralin’s suggestion to pull the 1 meg pots and move to 500k. The end result was absolutely breathtaking. The middle and neck position provide incredibly focused clarity with a wide, fat bottom end, and the bridge provides a super rich, velvety midrange with a great attack.

Hearing Fralin pickups on your guitar is like that moment when you get the perfect new glasses prescription. All the sonic smearing from before is replaced with crystal clear, full range, tight harmonic focus that pays huge dividends in the studio. All my Fralin power guitars sit very confidently in their spot in the mix and are an absolute joy to record.

Can’t say enough good things. If you wanna take your Jazzmaster to it’s full potential – go ahead and hit the “ADD TO CART” button. These are a small price to turn a good guitar into an heirloom.

Exactly what my Vintera Jazzmaster needed! 5% over in the bridge, stock in the neck. The right amount of brightness and clarity, but still enough girth to get some beef out of it with some overdrive and fuzz. In that sense, they make my Jazzmaster really versatile. Fralin’s are the best!

I bought a Nash jazzmaster 4 years ago. I have loved this guitar the entire time. I recently realized the guitar didn’t really have jazzmaster pickups, but p90s. Again, I love the guitar but given my recent realization I couldn’t help but wonder what I was missing out on. So I turned to these (stock neck/+5% bridge) and I could not be happier. I left the stock wiring in place from Nash. This means a set of 250k pots in the standard position and a set of 500k pots in the rhythm circuit. I know jazzmaster’s typically have 500k-1 Meg pots in the standard position, but I was curious to try the 250k pots. I absolutely love it! The pickups have a wonderful top end and are jangly without being harsh. They are punchy and have a good amount of low end and mids. Given the routes in this guitar, I had to add quite a bit of foam to be able to get the pickups appropriately close to the strings. Trust the other reviews, get these pickups!

Impressed, strong magnets, and great build quality. I swapped out my factory Squire Jazzmaster Classic Vibes 60’sm pickups with a set of these, I opted for the 5% overwind in the bridge. HUGE difference in output, tone is tighter. I was disappointed with the tone when I bought the squire, the magnets were weak and the guitar sounded like it was suffocating. The Fralin Jazzmasters with the 5% on the bridge will change your guitar tone for the better.

First off, the customer service is top notch. That’s half of what you need from a boutique custom pickup winder so you can get your questions answered. As for these jazzmaster pickups, I went stock on the neck and 5% under-wind on the bridge which is not a standard option. The neck is gorgeous and I imagine most people will be happiest with the stock or overwound bridge, but I wanted to make sure it stayed closer to the fender 62 reissue specs, though it will never sound the same. *I’m very happy with that I got.* The 65 pure vintage pickups I had were a little too thin and bright (and also sterile) but I didn’t want to go too fat and dark either. What I got thickened the tone just enough and took enough harshness out of the highs that with my carefully tuned amp/pedal rig I can run the 1 meg pots on 10 and get a pleasing bright jazzmaster sound.
It’s worth mentioning that I notice jazzmaster pickups are even more sensitive to pickup height than other single coils, so you can really dial in the brightness with very slight adjustments. Also, the revelation was huge, learning that the capacitance of the cable you use doesn’t change the amplitude of the treble frequencies so much, but actually shifts the resonant peak of the pickups higher or lower on the frequency spectrum. So I now keep multiple cables with known different capacitances and with this jazzmaster, I can make it more midrangey or more sparkly by changing the cable. You can actually go higher to get out of ice pick territory, which is great for keeping sparkle.

I bought a set of these for my Mod Shop Jazzmaster. 5% overwind on both.

The tone is so nicely focused and balanced. The pickups have that sort of touch sensitivity that the best vintage ones have.

My biggest fear was that the overwound ones would lose that subtlety that JM pickups have. I’m glad to report that this has not been my experience at all.

Definitely grab these. Fralins have never steered me wrong

Love these pups! They sound great – all the guys in my “offset-nerd” group agree! I got the bridge overwound by 5% which suits me well. These are true to JM form – versatile. They sound great bright and clean and can definitely growl and get dirty. Fantastic customer service – this was my first time building my own guitar and wiring a harness and the guys at Fralin were more than helpful, so I appreciate it. Now I just need more Fralin Pickups stickers!

Jazzmaster +5% – Great set – I installed the set with the standard and +5 and they sound great! I had a question during the install and the customer service was outstanding. Get a set!!

Don’t get me wound up…;-)

Playing jazz guitar for over five decades… a loyal Tele guy for the last 20 years (with my Carvin/Kiesel nylon electrics NS1). Recently picked up a Jazzmaster that I modded with JMLF pups. It is becoming my go-to guitar in spite of the fact that it’s the ugliest guitar I’ve ever owned (then again I felt that way about the “chopping block with a neck,” until I fell in love with Telecasters). It’s the tone of the Jazzmaster middle position… both pups through an Acoustic Image head and Raezers Edge cab that inspires me. The Squire pups were fine, (yes Squire), but the Fralin pups have solidified the Jazzmaster as my favorite guitar… for now. I’ll get back to you if I ever mod one of my Tele’s with LF pups. Great product, great service. In His grace, Rick Adair

Jazzmaster Joy
I am the owner of several different sets of Fralin pickups (strat, tele, P-90 and humbuckers), so this reviewer may be biased. Lindy’s descriptions are spot-on. Every one I have purchased sounded as described and they do it very well. The Jazzmaster pickups (vintage output) are installed in a swamp ash Warmoth body with a maple/ebony neck. The guitar is on the bright side. The pickups are clear and crisp (but not harsh), but also have a nice mid-range. Neck and bridge outputs are nicely balanced and the combination of the two yields some really great tones. Overall, I am very pleased. Recently, I played a Fender reissue Jazzmaster with stock pickups. Okay sounding, but changing to Fralin’s would result in significant improvements.

Doesn’t get any better! Absolutely delicious! Built well, sound amazing!

Love these pickups, replaced some steel pole pickups that were more like p 90s.now I’m getting a real jazz master tone .

Incredible! The biggest change I’ve heard in a pickup
I put a set of these with an overwound bridge in my jmastic jazz master and the entire guitar came to life. The right mix of body and glassy top end. I can’t put that guitar down now.

Excellent. Unbelievable tone and quality

I installed a pair of these (Stock) into a new custom hand made Jazzmaster I put together, and combined them with 500K Bourns Pots, Vintage Gavitt wiring throughout as well as an old school paper in oil capacitor to get some real vintage tone. Fantastic clarity on the top end and a really thick and creamy low end.

Killer pickups as always

Installed these JM pickups on a friend’s guitar and they sound incredible as all of Fralin pickups do. True to vintage tone!

Jazzmaster pickup set in my Warmoth: These pickups have made this Warmoth Jazzmaster my favorite guitar. Now both of my sons want one!

Florio Guitars
Sounds great and extremely versatile, excellent customer service.

Better than any JM pickup I’ve tried
Super fantastic, super responsive, great clarity, just beautiful as usual. A+++

I just dropped these in to a custom jazzmaster build ( -5% underwound on both pickups) and the clarity and sparkle is insane. Every position is usable and unique, including the rhythm selector position, which has such a thick and pronounced bass response for heavy driving sections. Very usable in many situations roll off the tone for a warm tone that’s totally rounded out or full tone for unsurpassed sparkle and chime. Total believer in these pickups!