[marcwormjim]

I prefer a neck pup with a low-enough output that it doesn’t crunch when you strum it.

The moon I’ve been shooting for these past few years is a neck humbucker that gets both a serviceable jazz tone ala Joe Pass in series, as well as a facsimile of a strat tone when split or filtered (which has been the kick I’m on most recently).

So far, a cheaply aired Korean Alnico 5 PAF-style wound to 7.1k in the neck position of my Strandberg is putting out my favorite series-tone. I have another guitar with a Satch Track that’s too hot for my tastes, but I want to replace it with something I’m not as familiar with: I’m thinking either a Bluesbucker or EJ, but if there’s a single-sized humbucker someone can recommend, that would also be worth trying.

[marcwormjim]

Bump for no one: Just ordered a Bluesbucker, and will bump with my thoughts.

[greenlion]

Most jazz friendly pickups that do not crunch when you strum them are going to be low-wind lower-output pickups. Those are often not the best pickups to split. You need something with a higher/hotter wind so you still have enough left after splitting to have good output and not be too thin. Maybe an Air Norton would be what you are looking for. I don't think of jazz and non-crunchy tone when I think of the Bluesbucker. I haven't tried the EJ, but it sounds like a better bet.
The Satch Track is a single coil and the Area pickups and Cruiser come to mind given the tones you are describing.

[DarthPhineas]

I prefer a neck pup with a low-enough output that it doesn’t crunch when you strum it.

The moon I’ve been shooting for these past few years is a neck humbucker that gets both a serviceable jazz tone ala Joe Pass in series, as well as a facsimile of a strat tone when split or filtered (which has been the kick I’m on most recently).

So far, a cheaply aired Korean Alnico 5 PAF-style wound to 7.1k in the neck position of my Strandberg is putting out my favorite series-tone. I have another guitar with a Satch Track that’s too hot for my tastes, but I want to replace it with something I’m not as familiar with: I’m thinking either a Bluesbucker or EJ, but if there’s a single-sized humbucker someone can recommend, that would also be worth trying.

Between the Bluesbreaker and the EJ neck, I’d personally go with the BB. I’ve ended up wiring most of my neck hums for series/parallel operation to have an option for a hum-free clean tone.  Other options include tweaking the amp settings.

[marcwormjim]

Thanks. You’re one of my go-to reviewers; and I now have a bluesbucker sitting around to be put through its paces in neck and bridge position.

[DarthPhineas]

Thanks. You’re one of my go-to reviewers; and I now have a bluesbucker sitting around to be put through its paces in neck and bridge position.

A). Thanks
B). Let us know how it works out for your needs

[marcwormjim]

Thanks for indulging me:

I tried it in the neck position of a Steinberger ZT3 in both orientations, compared it to a recording of the Satch Track, and decided I preferred the Satch Track in that guitar. In case anyone’s wondering, it’s a full humbucker route that I use an adapter ring for.

I then put the BB in the bridge position of my Strandberg, where it easily won over the $10 aired Korean ebay PAF it replaced. It sounded great with the screw coil facing the bridge, but I found it so much brighter than the bridge humbuckers of my other guitars that I flipped it - It’s still bright; but with more of an emphasis on “fat.” The “split with minimal drop in output” selling point works as advertised.

I can see myself swapping out the magnet for an alnico. In the meantime, I’ll keep tweaking the height and pole pieces. Now that I’m using it for a bridge pup, the sound I’m shooting for is a facsimile of the Epi Casino model on my Variax. We’ll see where that rabbit hole leads.

[darkbluemurder]

I then put the BB in the bridge position of my Strandberg, where it easily won over the $10 aired Korean ebay PAF it replaced. It sounded great with the screw coil facing the bridge, but I found it so much brighter than the bridge humbuckers of my other guitars that I flipped it - It’s still bright; but with more of an emphasis on “fat.” The “split with minimal drop in output” selling point works as advertised.

What value is your volume pot? If it is a 500k pot you could try a lower value to tame excessive brightness. However, if you want to keep the 500k value (maybe because you have a neck humbucker that needs it) you could add a 1 meg ohms resistor from the bridge pickup connection at the switch (if you only have one volume pot) or at the volume pot of the bridge pickup so that the bridge pickup "sees" a 330k load.

Cheers Stephan

[eggman]

Howdy,

 My 335 sounds wonderful with an Air Classic in the neck. Good luck!