After a few years with Jazzmaster stock pickups (modeled after ’65 pickups), I finally decided to upgrade! This time, I decided I wanted to try the newest Jazzmaster pickups from Lollar, the Blademaster!
It’s a single coil blade pickup designed for wider string spacing, but it also has higher output, fuller and broader tone, fuller bottom end, and increased body supporting the top end while retaining articulation and detail.
As my friend Mike Adams pointed out, they’re also a lot darker than the original ’65 pickups. I forgot to take a look at the pot values, so that might have something to do with it. Regardless, I really dig the darker sound, but that’s something to keep in mind!
Amp is Strymon Iridium.
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Video Transcript
Note: a machine made this, so it’s not perfect, but if you’re hearing impaired and have any questions about what we said, please feel free to ask us in the comments or send us an email with the form below.
Lollar Blademaster Jazzmaster Blade Pickups
Hey, I’m Emily from get off set. And today I’m going to change the stock pickups out of my fender. Jazzmaster. If you watched this channel at all, you’ve probably seen this guitar. I did a demo of it and, uh, I love this guitar. It’s one of my favorite off the shelf, uh, instruments. And part of that is because it has this big speed.
[00:00:22] I love traditional jazz master of the box trems. Don’t get me wrong, but I do just adore a bigsby. Uh, so this guitar is one of the few guitars that have, that still has all of its stock wiring, stock pickups, especially these are Jazzmasters single coils based on the jazz master single coils found in 1960 fives instruments.
[00:00:48] And there’s nothing wrong with them. I really liked them. I think they’re really great. But when I saw that lower had come out with a new brand, a Jazzmaster pickups, I knew I had to have them. So Lollar pickups. They’re a brand based out of Tacoma, Washington, just South of I am. And these are called the blade masters.
[00:01:19] And this is what. They look like I’m just gonna take one out and hold it up. So it’s a blade style pickup. I believe it’s supposed to be higher output. I will discuss that a little bit more. Um, but these, as you can see, this is actually my fault. I ordered the cream covers instead of the white covers and I always do that.
[00:01:46] And, um, You know, thankfully it’s just, isn’t one of those things that matters that much. So I’m going to switch out these stock pickups with these Lollar. But first I am going to play some before and after in the shrine or radium, uh, the round. Be setting, which would be kind of like a blue street near sort of sound to turn up.
[00:02:52] Oh, yeah, I’m cool. Hey, I’m Emily and I’m from the first half of this video. You might remember me remember that? I do. Uh, so I went ahead and swapped out the pickups for, uh, the Lollar blade masters. They’re definitely hotter than the other pickups. So I did have to turn things down, but other than that, all the settings on my Iridium are the same, uh, drive at noon on the fender B I mean, The round B setting, which is basically a fender blues junior sorry, sorry.
[00:03:26] Uh, volume at nine basis, three middle at 10, uh, trouble at two room. I think it’s a medium size at like 10 30. And let’s see how these sound, but first I do want to say these were so easy to put in. Um, plenty of lead on the wire. It took me longer to change the strings and I managed to save most of the strings, but the, the B in the E here, I might have to tune them again.
[00:03:59] They’re brand new strangers. Uh, yeah, I’m a crazy person with a big love of vintage style tuners. So it takes a while to change the strings in these things, but you’re not here to hear me complain about stringing a guitar. You’re here.
[00:04:39] that was the middle position, which is where I live on single coil guitars. Let’s try the bridge.
[00:05:06] Um, and let’s do that.
[00:06:03] Oh,
[00:06:42] Wow. Wow.
[00:06:53] I know, I didn’t show the other pickups with heavier game sounds, but I’m going to switch this over to a high gain kind of marshal sound like.
[00:10:00] Volume down. So, uh, first impressions are really like these pickups. Uh, I’ve never been disappointed by a set of Lollar is I had another jazz master that had their, uh, jazz master nineties in the, with the underground and the neck. And, uh, those, I just loved, um, weird thing. Uh, my video got cut off because we got in emergency alert.
[00:10:25] That there’s a curfew starting at 5:00 PM tonight in Seattle, so neat. Uh, but uh, first impressions. I love these pickups, uh, full disclosure Lollar sent them to me in exchange for a demo interview. Uh, but I don’t lie about sound. I, yeah, I guess I don’t really have anything negative to say about them on the first review.
[00:10:47] You’re gonna see. A lot more of these pickups or see, and hear more of them in future demos. So keep that in mind as you, we watch more demos in the channel. If you want to hear more about what this means, pickup sounded like, uh, the old pickup sound versus just the first intro in this video, check out prior demos.
[00:11:09] I believe most of the time I have been using this guitar was the older pickups. I’m going to keep using this guitar. With these newer pickups. I just really love playing this instrument. I think the pickups are cool. I think they sound hot. I think they sound clear. Um, I think that once again, Lollar has just made a very wonderful set of pickups.
[00:11:31] Uh, that’s why they seem to be sort of the, from my experience industry standard, especially for jazz master offerings. Um, so check them out. Link in the description to more info, where to buy it, how to buy it all kinds of stuff. Again, I’m Emily. This is good offset. And I’ll see you soon.