EMG HZ Pickups

I bought the used Fender Jaguar bass for my son from CL and it looked relatively new.  The protective plastic on the pick guard had not been removed and for $275, it was what I was looking for.  However, within a week, he realized that his Shecter bass -- which had active EMG pickups sounded way better across the entire range.  We ended up going to Guitar Center auditioning various pickups and EMG is definitely the sound he was looking for.  Only problem is the Jaguar is not built for active pickups so the choices were limited at best.

He eventually settled for the EMG HZ passive pickups for PJ bass configuration which Amazon carried for about $100.  The actual swapout only took about 30 minutes and did not require removal of the pickguard -- just the potentiometer plate which is on a separate chrome bezel.  The fit is perfect and the sound has the presence that the kid is looking for.

Still not sure what to do with the stock pickups (below).  They are typical of the electronics that are on guitars manufactured in the Far East -- fully functional but lack the gain and dynamic range of the EMGs.  This little exercise did reminds me of what I've always known about electric guitars -- the quality of the sound is only as good as the pickups installed.  Overall, EMGs are more than a third of what I paid for the instrument.

Gibson Midtown Custom

Possibly the nicest guitar I have in the collection.  I like this Gibson Midtown Custom so much, I'm considering parting with my Gretsch 5420T.  Although they are different guitars, the playability on the Gretsch seems really low compared to this perfectly set up Midtown.  Currently out of production, I found this one used on Craigslist last week.  I had all my requirements -- black, Custom with the intricate headstock inlay and binding, used.  The previous owner had installed a Lollar single coil pickup for the neck and a PAF for the bridge.  The combination has a very wide range of tones although the warmth of bridge PAF is probably my favorite setting on this player's instrument.

I will post some more pictures later when I put it down long enough to take photograph it's features -- including some belt buckle rash in the back of the body.