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What pickups do you typically use? P90s, buckers, singles... which models?

My only jazz guitar is a 50's ES175 w/ P90, so I'm not looking to replace anything. Just curious

GIBSON 57 Classics, DUNCAN Alnico Pro 2s
P90s are great for a more Grant Green kinda bite or Charlie Christian sorta funk.

I used to have a George Benson Ibanez GB10 - wow I love the bite of those FLOATING mini buckers. I love Benedettos, those active systems are very pristine and sweet like something between a bucker and a 90

When I (try to ) play jazz, I pick up my Sheraton with Phat Cats, my Carvin with a PGb in the neck and a CC in the bridge, and my 50's style tele with a SM-1/JD lead.

I moslty use the neck and neck/mid combo.

The Carvin is clean, clear and precise. The Sheraton has a cool woody old school vibe, and the Tele is bright, midrangey, and cutting.

A little of topic... but why is the SD jazz pickup called what it is...
I just don't think it has a jazz sound... great pickup though. I haven't used heaps of differant pickups for jazz but I played a mates guitar with P-90s once, it seemed suited well. I have no idea what guitar or pickup, it was before I was serious with guitars.

Put the Jazz at the neck of a full hollow body and play it through a 2x10quot; Fender BF combo and you'll hear how it can be used for jazz. Besides, it was originally called the JM, after a character in American Grafitti IIRC.

Fair enough I have only ever played it in the neck of a mahogany solid body.

For a trad sort of thing, my main jazz axe is an ES-125 with original
P90. Thats all thats needed. I'm starting to use a Cordoba Gypsy
King flamenco that I think will be great for trad jazz once I get the
right amp/EQ set up (and of course it'll be steller for Django stuff).

I have used both Seth and Jazz HB in 335 style guitars (neck only)
and think that the Seth is a real winner. Buttery and warm, you can
get that 80's Larry Carlton kind of tone if you want but it has some
sprkling highs present for a little more bite (think blues w/hint of
rockabilly lurking behind the warmth).

The Jazz is very clear, almost clinically so. I find it to be
balanced and hi-fi, but with extra highs. You can here every not in
your voicings and maybe it would be perfect on a big jazz box with
the tone rolled down, for me, it doesn't quite have the warmth and
personality I'm looking for. (It does split nice, with a very tubuler
ersatz strat/tele sound).

The tones I'm looking for are somewhere in the Kenny Burrell, Bill
Frisell, John Scofield, Danny Gatton, Robben Ford, Scott Henderson,
spectrum and my next guitar is going to be loaded with Seths.

I use a Duncan Invader... for that traditional Jazz sound....

Well, maybe not

I think many lower output humbuckers sound killer in ES175/335 type guitars. Gibson T-tops are great, Seth's are fantastic, and my personal favorite (currently anyhow) is a matched set of Duncan 59's.

I find it odd that there's no dark sounding pickup specifically aimed at jazz guys. Apparently, that's what tone knobs are for

i use a alnico 2 pro in the neck and custom custom bridge of my ct6 carvin.

i like my '59n for jazz and my AIIPn for jazz too ... i have actually even gotten very happenin' jazz tones from my bill lawrence 500XLn in my ibanez semihollow

and all through a solid state rig

cheers
t4d

I use a semi hollow body with the SD Jazz pickup at the neck and the SD JB at the bridge going to a Fender Blackface. Nothing fancy.

I use my strat. It depends but I usually use the neck pickup with the tone rolled back a little bit. Another way Jazzers get a warmer sound is to strum with the meat of their thrumb right over the neck pickup. A Wes Montgomery thing but it works if your trying to get your sound just a little bit warmer. I've also played my buddys Yamaha single cut guitar with P90s and I really like the jazz tones you can get with the P90s.

For the classic hard bop late 50's/early 60's tone, I think the idea is to get something with a pretty stringy sound (less mids)...hence the popularity of the P90 or CC pickups. Although it's pretty funny that Benedetto offers a few 'jazz' humbuckers that are in the 10K range (archtops don't transfer string energy to pickups very well and you usually need something a little hotter to compensate).

I like the A2Pro for anything! Dammit, I said it - ANYTHING!