I just love the regular PAF Pros on my FP ! Give them a try, very versatile, nice and warm sounding, with bite. The other pickups I personally love are the Breeds. You may also want to give them a try if you get a chance Good luck !

 

Aaron, firstly welcome back to guitar and congratulations on the new Jem. I think the first thing you may need to establish is what sort of sound you are after - this will certainly help with pick up choice.

You could do no worse that replacing the EMG's with PAF Pros as per the original. They are very worthy all round performance pickups. The added bonus with replacing the EMG's with PAF Pro's will be that you get the guitar back to original (semi) condition, that is provided you go with pink pickups etc. Hope this helps.

- Wolfram

 

Sorry, I do only have pink pickups in my FP, but I have the steve's special and air norton though, which I like very much, BTW
Do you need a single coil as well, make sure you get a 4 conductor one, they are humcancelling, so the won't have as much noise as the original one.
The dimarzio HS-2 is very similar to the original jem single, but have the 4 conductor configuration. I'm sure there are others as well.

my 2 C

good luck

 

Hi Aaron, I am also new to the forums (at least when it comes to posting). I cannot help you on the colors, but I have a Steve's special (bridge) and an Air Norton (neck) in one of my guitars and they both sound awesome. I also recently bought a JEM77VBK which has Breeds, and they also sound excellent.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm not too sure what kind of sounds I'm looking for. Unfortunately I can't afford to try 50 different pickups. Naturally I would like the bridge pickup to be a bright clean sound and the neck to be something warmer and mellow. I've played an original FP owned by my friend Jeremy and I really liked the sounds he was getting out of it. I should probably just stick to what came with it from the factory, or get the closest variation of it because I already know what it kind of sounds like. I've been trying to locate an FP here in town in a shop to get a feel for the sound of it, but my efforts have failed; and my friend traded his for a VWH. I've also tried looking on Youtube for people playing Jems to get an ear for what it sounds like, but i cannot be certain they're not running through some kind of processor or effects pedals. I have been able to locate a VBK locally, in rather rough condition to boot, does this model have the same style pickups?

Thanks,
Aaron

 

Naturally I would like the bridge pickup to be a bright clean sound and the neck to be something warmer and mellow.
Thanks,
Aaron

To me it sounds just like the Steve's special, Air Norton combo you are looking for.
Then the guitar sounds like John Petrucci's Ibanez, if you have mesa boogies though. :mrgreen:

 

The 777VBK had PAF pros (i.e., the same). The newer 77VBK has Breeds. Since you said it was in rather rough condition I assume it was an older 777VBK.

 

Well, in the process of getting married and all that I've sold EVERYTHING guitar I owned. From my amps, to processors to...well, everything. The VBK i mentions looks like it's possibly from the 80's. The bridge is extremely pitted, well, most of the hardware is pitted. The body is dinged up horribly and all things green are faded and the headstock is hardly readable. And the price it carries is out of this world. Are you ready? 1,299.99 without a case. Talking to the sales representative it's an extremely (yeah right) rare "Steve Vai" custom .

It sounds like the Steve Special and Air Norton are my ticket to pickups. Now time to figure colors.

Thanks guys,
Aaron

 

Air Classic bridge and Air Norton Neck... not very Vai but very toneful

 

…I purchased a Jem77FP with original case from a pawn shop. It had the original pink pickups replaced with EMGs,

Blasphemy to the highest degree! Welcome

 

Even after getting new pickups installed it will still be less than 800.00$ for an otherwise mine FP.

 

Alrighty then. I just ordered an Air Norton (pink) an HS-2 (with pink cover) and a Steve Special (pink) and they should be here Friday. Anyone know where I can get the clear pick guard, pink knobs and mounting screws for the pick-ups and pick guard? It wasn't specified if the pick-up mounting hardware was included with the pickups.

Thanks for all your help guys.

-Aaron