Curtis Novak Pickups for Fender Jaguar

[Surferosad]

Yep, I dropped a bridge and neck set of Curtis Novak replacement jaguar pickups in my CIJ jaguar yesterday. The pickups were made to vintage jaguar pup specs, hand-winded and specifically tailored to fit into the CIJ claws and plastic covers.

I finally was able to crank them today, and it's much, much better. The guitar sounds much tighter and the tone is richer, more detailed. The fist thing I noticed was that the treble was less piercing. Also, the bass is punchier, and the sound is all around smoother and fuller. And no more annoying screechy microphonic feedback! I finally can use it with my fuzz pedal! Also, I think the pups are hotter than the CIJ's I had, the guitar now produces a nice growl when played with my slightly overdriven super reverb. With my old CIJ pups, I would never use the bridge pup (it was too bassy) or the rhythm circuit (too muddy). With Novak pups, the bridge pup came alive, and the rhythm circuit cleaned up considerably! A huge improvement!

The installation was pretty straightforward. Everything fitted together perfectly. I just followed the japanese circuit. I had a bit of trouble connecting the small wires to the metal claws (probably due to my inexperience) but I managed to do it after a couple of tries.

It's an excellent pick-up! I'm a happy costumer!

They're the same price as the SD jaguar replacements, but in my opinion, they sound much closer to a vinatge jaguar pup than the SD vintage models.

http://www.novaks.org/pickups/Jaguar/

[aut0maticzer0]

First of all, I know this is an ANCIENT thread, but I had to resurrect it!

For the longest time, I felt that my CIJ was rather lifeless and boring. I was so skeptical that even after I messaged Surfersorad and spoke to many other people from other forums, I was still considering selling my precious Lake Placid.
Well, I finally sucked it up and dropped down the money for some Novaks and I couldnt be happier! First of all, Curtis is a great guy to communicate and deal with. In fact, I was the slacker with communication due to school. He actually checked up on ME since he didnt hear from me about them.

Ok, now to the tone. Before, it sounded like the whole guitar was covered with a quilt or something.. everything was dull sounding. Now, everything is extremely articulate and full sounding. It's exactly as Surfersorad explained-everything is improved. The Rhythm circuit isnt muddy anymore. The lead has more defined highs and tighter, punchier lows. My favorite sound, however, is using the neck and bridge together. It's extremely versatile now, and can achieve some very distinct jag tones and stratish tones. My love for the jag is back again. Shame on me for thinking about getting rid of her.
Moral of the story: If you're in the market for some killer pickups and arent sure of where to turn, check out curtisnovak.com.