Seymour Duncan: SH-2N (Jazz)

I used to dismiss the Jazz (SH-2) humbucker to be a one-trick pony; it's ony good for jazz. Back then, I was only interested in high output pickups because believeably, they are better for high gain/ drive music. Along the way, what became more important to me was achieving the end, regardless of the means; I should be checking the Jazz out because it might give me what I want to hear after all, regardless of its label, no harm trying, yes? So I swallowed some pride & bought the SH-2...

...which is now resident in my Ibanez RGA121 (neck). The Jazz sounds exceptional clean, I've heard it in use in a hollow body instrument & it's more appealing to me instead of the favoured '59 humbucker by many clean tone purveyors. The clean effect is indeed a bonus to me because in a driven setting (I rarely play without distortion), the Jazz is able to articulate individual notes very clearly which is what I wanted all along as I often solo in the neck position. So what I thought was a niche pickup is indeed pliable in other tonal settings. So the lesson learnt here- never dismiss a pickup by its label.

PS: For those of you who wish to have the Jazz in your RGA guitar, be informed that there is a need to round off the angular pickup mounting flap. As you can see in the pic above, the guitar's cavity necessitates such trimmings.