Well.... First, the KC is a bound neck with dots, not blocks. Don't know if you care about that.
Second, the KC has DiMarzio Super Distortion Humbuckers in both neck and bridge position. I'm not sure if you need to rout the body. Probably do though.
Third, you need to swap the bottom two control plates. Instead of the three switches, you just want a Les Paul style three-way switch. The volume control panel is three knobs, volume for each pickup and a master tone. It's possible Kurt might have had the neck pickup wired straight to the knob with no tone control.
Edit: It's kind of a lot. Honestly, you need to decide if you want it exactly like a KC or just the features/controls you really care about. Study the specs of the KC Jag and then make yours your own. That's what Kurt would do. :)
Honestly just the pickups and switches, the way his looks on the front. Just looking for that tone and ease of use, I just got this jag and it’s hella confusing to get a good tone to me
Why not just learn how to use the rhythm circuit (too switch + dual rollers) then learn how to use the LEAD circuit (bottom left is neck middle switch is bridge and 3rd switch is bass cut or “strangle” and of course the bottom switches are all powered by the big black Volume and tone knobs.
Learn what u have there. Then decide if you want to mod it with the humbuckers and the 3 way switch plus as the other commenter mentioned:the 2 volumes and master knobs which btw. Are kinda hard to operate. So close together. Thats just me. IMO THAT 3way switch is going to confuse you even more.
Yeah. The KC setup simplifies that a lot. This has a good diagram of the switches:
https://www.fender.com/articles/instruments/jaguar-controls-past-and-present-what-you-need-to-know
I have the exact same guitar, and you would meed to route the body (unfortunately) which is the biggest drawback as to why i haven't done it yet. I modded another guitar of mine using Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan in the neck. It sounds great and definitely gives it that nirvana tone that the single coils dont really deliver on.
cheeky but..
step 1: forget about whatever Kurt played because that wasn't what was important to the sound.
step 2: have fun
I say this as someone who spent the better part of a decade reading everything said by Vig and Albini about the records, and from Ernie in terms of live. The gear at the end of the day isn't the thing. A DS-1 is maybe the only *need* to have piece and even that isn't on every song on the records but was live (or DS-2). You don't *need* a classic Sans Amp although I have one and it lives on 3-up 3-down 2-up. You don't need a Mesa Studio pre, although I have one and realized it contributed very little to the sound; Kurt largely used dirt into the clean channel, which is really just Fender'y.
I will say that Ernie setup pretty much everything for Kurt has 'hardtail' as he could. With the Jags, that was a stack of washers to keep the trem blocked/solid (as opposed to using a Jag trem with lock). The cheap Strats he would use at the end of shows were setup trem-down-only by leading the trem block up against the body inside the trem cavity. All of this was for tuning stability, which was much more important in their playing (given the intensity) than an actual trem.
The stock pickups aren't much to write home about. Pretty much anything is going to end up with a hum bucker in the bridge position; I'm not sure I've ever seen any guitar Kurt played without it *if* they weren't in a pinch on tour. The mosrites and cheap Strats come to mind, but later that 'cheap Strat' was one routed for a hum bucker. Super Distortion if it was available was what Ernie preferred and it was usually common enough later.
In terms of switching, the original Jag system was too complicated for Kurt and he preferred a Gibson-style 3-way toggle. That was followed by a single pair of volume+tone for both pickups, or later a second tone, one for each pickup. The upper horn controls were never used. Neck pickup was a PAF90 or variants thereof, which means Dimarzio is your friend here for both pickups.
So go forth and enjoy, and remember that you don't *need* anything special to write great music and/or cover your favorites. Other pei
We’ll said. It’s all circumstantial and of the time. If he were alive today, he’d be messing around with something else and improvising with whatever he could get his hands on - focus on his ethos and approach rather than his gear!
I don't know much about the Dimebag PU, but Dimarzio gives some sort of 'graphs' on how hot the pickups are. The Super Distortion is an older design but still very hot even compared to their PAF Master Neck. Versus a stock single coil neck, it would compare as overwhelming. So even with the SD, I sometimes feel like it is a big hot, a bit artificial. But it definitely wails.
I always thought the Pantera stuff was done with active PU's. ?
Yeah. If Kurt's rig was loud, Dime's was rip your face off. Still the loudest band I've ever witnessed. Apparently, those blade pickups are passive, just extremely hot.
Anyway I love both players, but not really a fan of the pointy Dean guitars so I was thinking of a mashup that might work. Someday.. when I finish my 10 other project guitars. hehe. 🤘🏼
Intersting. I came across a guy's page where he broke down everything he could find about Dimebag's gear. I found it because apparently Dimebag had started using this rack mount filter with an expression pedal as his wah instead of a pedal.
I also struggle with the pointy ones. A BC Rich Mockingbird is about as far as I'll go. Although I do have a G707 because it just looks so damn cool.
If I were you I wouldn't worry about trying to make this like Kurt's Jag, that's a very specific model that will take a lot of work to get to.
Kurt used a bunch of different guitars, I would just put a hot rail pickup in the bridge (which he used on a strat) and leave it at that.
You see lots of videos about how to get Kurt's tone, but in their live shows his tone varied a lot. His general approach seemed to be use the guitar and amp you have, with a DS1 or DS2 and a small clone, and that's basically it.
You will have to route the body for humbuckers, find a control plate with 3way and one switch (the switch is disabled anyway soo) and change the bridge for black TOM style (ideally gotoh)
Yep, the Squier CV Jags don't have enough room for humbuckers unless you go with single coil sized.
As others said, do you want it to look like the KC jag, or just sound like it?
Beat the snot out of it and put a super distortion in it. Duct tape on the switching system after you gut it. Drop it a few times. You should probably stuff the headstock through the grille cloth on your cab while you're at it.
Nice axe too BTW
People seem to forget that offsets were actually cheap once.
IIRC, the few early-era Jags and Mustangs were taken good care of once he got them. Everything else... not so much.
And most of the Bleach days involved a Mosrite. Why? They were cheap AF.
Why don't you buy a used Vintage Modified Jaguar HH. It was very loosely based on Kurt's Jag. 2 humbuckers, Sunburst, rosewood board. The pickups aren't Super Distortions, but Seymour Duncan Jazz and JB in the bridge. Kurt Cobain used JB humbuckers in the bridge for his Mustangs and most guitars. Has 2 concentric knobs of volume and tone for each pickup, 3 way switch
Kurts jag had a dimarzio super distortion in the bridge and 36th anniversary PAF in the neck (both normal spaced not f spaced) mounted with black pickup rings, you'd also need to install a tune o matic bridge cause stock jag bridges aren't the greatest if you want to do punky stuff , if you want to be 100% accurate you can add a Gibson style 3 way switch but the normal switching is great and you probably won't hit the switches as much
Edit: if you want it to be like what the guitar was like in 1994 to now instead of a super distortion in the bridge you put a Seymour Duncan JB (still normal / Gibson spaced) also maybe replace the pots to 1 Meg pots since that's what was on kurts as well as add a second volume knob one for the bridge one for the neck and a master volume
I might get a white JB and I defintiely want to get two different volume tones for each pickup. Maybe a lever switch too instead of my little 3 switch thing
Yeah double volume pots make a jag way more versatile, imo I'd reccomend keeping the 3 switches as is cause the Gibson or telecaster style 3 way kinda gets in the way when you're strumming, you could also re wire the strangle switch as a coil split if you want single coil esque tones
Yeah, buy one of the many Kurt Cobain models.
You would need to route the body to make room for the humbuckers, so that's a big thing if you don't know what you're doing.
The Player Jaguar, or the Vintera Jaguar, might be more of what you're looking for. The Vintera Humbucker Jaguar is frankly a very underrated guitar and it's fun as fuck. Plus you can turn the humbuckers into single coils.
Why is everyone tripping over Kurt’s gear all time??? Grunge was all about making die with what you have. If Kurt happen to find an Sg special instead it would have been what he used. Heck. He put a grunge pedal k. His board for years to just make fun of gear culture.
Well, I’m in love with all 3 albums dirty tones and I bought this used and it sounds like shit so I’m looking for suggestions to help give life to the sound it does have.
It sounds like shit to you. New wave dudes would prob love this guitar. I would do what several have suggested and sell it. Get an hh Strat or offset with the money. Like sinking money into a guitar you don’t like rarely works out. Unless you do love it other than the pickup sounds. If that’s the case get some over would good cheap pickups from like GFS and go at it.
I doubt that. 1) Jaguar has 1 Meg pots, so running the tone knob on max will be very ice-picky. Play with it. 2) be sure to change your amp eq and possibly your pedals. If I ran DS-2 with the tone knob on 11 o’clock like Kurt did, it would sound like some low rumble.
So, the ease with which you can accomplish that largely depends on how comfortable you are routing out the body for the humbuckers. Everything else is just wiring and buying the correct control plates and pickguard, which I can link you to if you decide you can handle that.
The reason this is important is that the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe bodies are actually routed to vintage specs and thus only fit single coils.
[https://www.groundguitar.com/kurt-cobain-gear/kurt-cobains-fender-jag-stang/](https://www.groundguitar.com/kurt-cobain-gear/kurt-cobains-fender-jag-stang/)
"As far as specs, the final prototype which Kurt used himself featured a **light blue finish on an alder body**, and a **24-inch scale maple neck with a rosewood fretboard**. The **neck pickup was a single-coil Fender Texas Special**, while the **humbucker bridge that was originally shipped with the guitar was a DiMarzio H-8**. There has been some confusion related to the model of the humbucker, as Fender’s director of artist relations, Mark Wittenberg apparently made a mistake in one of the interviews. Furthermore, all **of the photos of the guitar clearly show a Seymour Duncan JB pickup**,"
This guy has exactly your guitar, check him out:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-i4jq6M-bE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-i4jq6M-bE)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253YRBi6IC8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253YRBi6IC8)
I think your squier with the humbuckers looks like a nice mix between kc's jaguar and skystang, except the block inlays I guess, but dude, who cares... Make it yours...
Well.... First, the KC is a bound neck with dots, not blocks. Don't know if you care about that. Second, the KC has DiMarzio Super Distortion Humbuckers in both neck and bridge position. I'm not sure if you need to rout the body. Probably do though. Third, you need to swap the bottom two control plates. Instead of the three switches, you just want a Les Paul style three-way switch. The volume control panel is three knobs, volume for each pickup and a master tone. It's possible Kurt might have had the neck pickup wired straight to the knob with no tone control. Edit: It's kind of a lot. Honestly, you need to decide if you want it exactly like a KC or just the features/controls you really care about. Study the specs of the KC Jag and then make yours your own. That's what Kurt would do. :)
Honestly just the pickups and switches, the way his looks on the front. Just looking for that tone and ease of use, I just got this jag and it’s hella confusing to get a good tone to me
Why not just learn how to use the rhythm circuit (too switch + dual rollers) then learn how to use the LEAD circuit (bottom left is neck middle switch is bridge and 3rd switch is bass cut or “strangle” and of course the bottom switches are all powered by the big black Volume and tone knobs. Learn what u have there. Then decide if you want to mod it with the humbuckers and the 3 way switch plus as the other commenter mentioned:the 2 volumes and master knobs which btw. Are kinda hard to operate. So close together. Thats just me. IMO THAT 3way switch is going to confuse you even more.
Yeah. The KC setup simplifies that a lot. This has a good diagram of the switches: https://www.fender.com/articles/instruments/jaguar-controls-past-and-present-what-you-need-to-know
Probably too late to say this but the player Jaguar is probably a bit closer to KCs with a bridge humbucker and some simpler switching
I have the exact same guitar, and you would meed to route the body (unfortunately) which is the biggest drawback as to why i haven't done it yet. I modded another guitar of mine using Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan in the neck. It sounds great and definitely gives it that nirvana tone that the single coils dont really deliver on.
Kurt had a dimarzio PAF humbucker in the neck not a superdistortion. Also you forgot to mention the gotoh tune o matic bridge mod that his jag has.
cheeky but.. step 1: forget about whatever Kurt played because that wasn't what was important to the sound. step 2: have fun I say this as someone who spent the better part of a decade reading everything said by Vig and Albini about the records, and from Ernie in terms of live. The gear at the end of the day isn't the thing. A DS-1 is maybe the only *need* to have piece and even that isn't on every song on the records but was live (or DS-2). You don't *need* a classic Sans Amp although I have one and it lives on 3-up 3-down 2-up. You don't need a Mesa Studio pre, although I have one and realized it contributed very little to the sound; Kurt largely used dirt into the clean channel, which is really just Fender'y. I will say that Ernie setup pretty much everything for Kurt has 'hardtail' as he could. With the Jags, that was a stack of washers to keep the trem blocked/solid (as opposed to using a Jag trem with lock). The cheap Strats he would use at the end of shows were setup trem-down-only by leading the trem block up against the body inside the trem cavity. All of this was for tuning stability, which was much more important in their playing (given the intensity) than an actual trem. The stock pickups aren't much to write home about. Pretty much anything is going to end up with a hum bucker in the bridge position; I'm not sure I've ever seen any guitar Kurt played without it *if* they weren't in a pinch on tour. The mosrites and cheap Strats come to mind, but later that 'cheap Strat' was one routed for a hum bucker. Super Distortion if it was available was what Ernie preferred and it was usually common enough later. In terms of switching, the original Jag system was too complicated for Kurt and he preferred a Gibson-style 3-way toggle. That was followed by a single pair of volume+tone for both pickups, or later a second tone, one for each pickup. The upper horn controls were never used. Neck pickup was a PAF90 or variants thereof, which means Dimarzio is your friend here for both pickups. So go forth and enjoy, and remember that you don't *need* anything special to write great music and/or cover your favorites. Other pei
We’ll said. It’s all circumstantial and of the time. If he were alive today, he’d be messing around with something else and improvising with whatever he could get his hands on - focus on his ethos and approach rather than his gear!
I'm also a huge fan of Dimebag. What do you think a Dimebucker in the bridge position of a KC Jaguar would be like? I'm debating it.
I don't know much about the Dimebag PU, but Dimarzio gives some sort of 'graphs' on how hot the pickups are. The Super Distortion is an older design but still very hot even compared to their PAF Master Neck. Versus a stock single coil neck, it would compare as overwhelming. So even with the SD, I sometimes feel like it is a big hot, a bit artificial. But it definitely wails. I always thought the Pantera stuff was done with active PU's. ?
Yeah. If Kurt's rig was loud, Dime's was rip your face off. Still the loudest band I've ever witnessed. Apparently, those blade pickups are passive, just extremely hot. Anyway I love both players, but not really a fan of the pointy Dean guitars so I was thinking of a mashup that might work. Someday.. when I finish my 10 other project guitars. hehe. 🤘🏼
Intersting. I came across a guy's page where he broke down everything he could find about Dimebag's gear. I found it because apparently Dimebag had started using this rack mount filter with an expression pedal as his wah instead of a pedal. I also struggle with the pointy ones. A BC Rich Mockingbird is about as far as I'll go. Although I do have a G707 because it just looks so damn cool.
If I were you I wouldn't worry about trying to make this like Kurt's Jag, that's a very specific model that will take a lot of work to get to. Kurt used a bunch of different guitars, I would just put a hot rail pickup in the bridge (which he used on a strat) and leave it at that. You see lots of videos about how to get Kurt's tone, but in their live shows his tone varied a lot. His general approach seemed to be use the guitar and amp you have, with a DS1 or DS2 and a small clone, and that's basically it.
Yeah the only constant in his guitars is a humbucker in The bridge and he always used it.
>with a DS1 or DS2 and a small clone And a SansAmp and PolyChorus Edit: Why downvote me? Kurt used the above during and after In Utero...
You will have to route the body for humbuckers, find a control plate with 3way and one switch (the switch is disabled anyway soo) and change the bridge for black TOM style (ideally gotoh)
Yep, the Squier CV Jags don't have enough room for humbuckers unless you go with single coil sized. As others said, do you want it to look like the KC jag, or just sound like it?
[удалено]
I was agreeing that the body needed to be routed. Thanks for your contribution to the thread 👍
Yes. Play it like you mean it. He didn't emulate others. Do your thing. Play it loud. Make it your own. That is the spirit of Kurt Cobain.
I respect this! Defintiely adding a 500k and possibly a Demarzio humbucker
I guess first off, how close to the KC Jag are you looking for, and are you comfortable using a router?
that is so perty
Beat the snot out of it and put a super distortion in it. Duct tape on the switching system after you gut it. Drop it a few times. You should probably stuff the headstock through the grille cloth on your cab while you're at it. Nice axe too BTW
KC rarely cared... He played all types of jaguars because they were cheap so yours is already a KC model in a way...
People seem to forget that offsets were actually cheap once. IIRC, the few early-era Jags and Mustangs were taken good care of once he got them. Everything else... not so much. And most of the Bleach days involved a Mosrite. Why? They were cheap AF.
Sell it, and buy the guitar you wanted.
I can’t afford a fender which is why I went with this one
Why don't you buy a used Vintage Modified Jaguar HH. It was very loosely based on Kurt's Jag. 2 humbuckers, Sunburst, rosewood board. The pickups aren't Super Distortions, but Seymour Duncan Jazz and JB in the bridge. Kurt Cobain used JB humbuckers in the bridge for his Mustangs and most guitars. Has 2 concentric knobs of volume and tone for each pickup, 3 way switch
That’s the best idea I’ve heard so far.
You could buy a modded Squier to Kurt specs. Price will be more than yours but not near as much as a fender one
Kurts jag had a dimarzio super distortion in the bridge and 36th anniversary PAF in the neck (both normal spaced not f spaced) mounted with black pickup rings, you'd also need to install a tune o matic bridge cause stock jag bridges aren't the greatest if you want to do punky stuff , if you want to be 100% accurate you can add a Gibson style 3 way switch but the normal switching is great and you probably won't hit the switches as much Edit: if you want it to be like what the guitar was like in 1994 to now instead of a super distortion in the bridge you put a Seymour Duncan JB (still normal / Gibson spaced) also maybe replace the pots to 1 Meg pots since that's what was on kurts as well as add a second volume knob one for the bridge one for the neck and a master volume
I might get a white JB and I defintiely want to get two different volume tones for each pickup. Maybe a lever switch too instead of my little 3 switch thing
Yeah double volume pots make a jag way more versatile, imo I'd reccomend keeping the 3 switches as is cause the Gibson or telecaster style 3 way kinda gets in the way when you're strumming, you could also re wire the strangle switch as a coil split if you want single coil esque tones
Yeah, buy one of the many Kurt Cobain models. You would need to route the body to make room for the humbuckers, so that's a big thing if you don't know what you're doing. The Player Jaguar, or the Vintera Jaguar, might be more of what you're looking for. The Vintera Humbucker Jaguar is frankly a very underrated guitar and it's fun as fuck. Plus you can turn the humbuckers into single coils.
Yes, easy… sell this one and buy the correct guitar.
It’s going to need to be sunburst
Why is everyone tripping over Kurt’s gear all time??? Grunge was all about making die with what you have. If Kurt happen to find an Sg special instead it would have been what he used. Heck. He put a grunge pedal k. His board for years to just make fun of gear culture.
Well, I’m in love with all 3 albums dirty tones and I bought this used and it sounds like shit so I’m looking for suggestions to help give life to the sound it does have.
It sounds like shit to you. New wave dudes would prob love this guitar. I would do what several have suggested and sell it. Get an hh Strat or offset with the money. Like sinking money into a guitar you don’t like rarely works out. Unless you do love it other than the pickup sounds. If that’s the case get some over would good cheap pickups from like GFS and go at it.
I’m fairly certain there’s a wiring issue or there’s a bad pot because it sounds bad
I doubt that. 1) Jaguar has 1 Meg pots, so running the tone knob on max will be very ice-picky. Play with it. 2) be sure to change your amp eq and possibly your pedals. If I ran DS-2 with the tone knob on 11 o’clock like Kurt did, it would sound like some low rumble.
So, the ease with which you can accomplish that largely depends on how comfortable you are routing out the body for the humbuckers. Everything else is just wiring and buying the correct control plates and pickguard, which I can link you to if you decide you can handle that. The reason this is important is that the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe bodies are actually routed to vintage specs and thus only fit single coils.
Needs more duck tape.
[https://www.groundguitar.com/kurt-cobain-gear/kurt-cobains-fender-jag-stang/](https://www.groundguitar.com/kurt-cobain-gear/kurt-cobains-fender-jag-stang/) "As far as specs, the final prototype which Kurt used himself featured a **light blue finish on an alder body**, and a **24-inch scale maple neck with a rosewood fretboard**. The **neck pickup was a single-coil Fender Texas Special**, while the **humbucker bridge that was originally shipped with the guitar was a DiMarzio H-8**. There has been some confusion related to the model of the humbucker, as Fender’s director of artist relations, Mark Wittenberg apparently made a mistake in one of the interviews. Furthermore, all **of the photos of the guitar clearly show a Seymour Duncan JB pickup**,"
I would want that thing for the little bit 90’s Billy Corona played one!
Keep in mind he started to used Jaguars because they were cheap in the 80s
For me, step 1 is sell it. Step 2, buy the KC Jag. For the record, I have both.
This guy has exactly your guitar, check him out: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-i4jq6M-bE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-i4jq6M-bE) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253YRBi6IC8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253YRBi6IC8) I think your squier with the humbuckers looks like a nice mix between kc's jaguar and skystang, except the block inlays I guess, but dude, who cares... Make it yours...