1968 Fender Jaguar Rhythm/Lead Circuit question

[nrs24985]

I just bought an excellent 1968 Jaguar from a shop in Australia, I think I got a pretty good deal on it given the current market and not having to deal with the whole buying from the states exchange rate and potential CITES nonsense. Plus it seemed to prices in line with what Jags of that era were going for in the US.

My question is about the rhythm/lead circuit switch on the upper horn, it is wired backwards. So when it's in the up position the lead circuit is on, knobs and lower switches control the pick up selections and tone and volume control and then when it in the down position the rhythm circuit is on and the rollers control the volume and tone. Everything I read indicates it should be the reverse ad every vintage Jaguar I've have had previous (65, 66, 68 & 73) have all been that way. The wiring and solders all look original to my eyes, so is it possible that this was just a mistake that made it out of the factory, has anyone else had this on any of their vintage Jags?

I have a photo of the wiring but I'm not a member of any photo sharing websites so I can't post them here. If anyone wants to take a look I can email them to them. PM me if you want me to do this.

I've also noticed the lead circuit doesn't always engage unless you give the switch a good push, if I just lightly slide it it usually doesn't engage and I get no signal. I've noticed that the ground wire is a little wobbly where it is soldered to the brass shielding, could this be the issue? The shielding is also a bit loose from the wood and when I open this area up and push down on the shielding I don't have this issue. Any ideas?

[sookwinder]

Simplest answer would be that a previous owner turned the switch around 180 degrees.
Or the factor installed it "upside down", but given that there was rudimentary QA check at the end of the line, I can't see that mistake being missed.

And yes the slider switches to tend to wear out and need a thump/thud to get them to connect. Also sometimes when they have not been used for some time, the bare metal needs a clean...

Which shop in Oz did you get the Jag from?

[nrs24985]

I got it from guitar factory in parramatta, Sydney, the solder joins all look pretty old to me, but I'm no expert so I'm not 100%, it was sold to me as all original with no changes.

[sookwinder]

It should be just a matter of turning the switch around ... most times there is enough wire to do that... depending upon where the earth lead is located it maybe under one of the screws that secure the slider switch , if that's the case when you turn the slider switch around you may have to just relocate the earth lead to the same physical position (just now connected to the other end of the slider)

[nrs24985]

It should be just a matter of turning the switch around ... most times there is enough wire to do that... depending upon where the earth lead is located it maybe under one of the screws that secure the slider switch , if that's the case when you turn the slider switch around you may have to just relocate the earth lead to the same physical position (just now connected to the other end of the slider)

That's exactly what I did sook, easy fix and not sure why it didn't to me occur earlier that someone must have opened it up for inspection and then refitted it the wrong way. Ground wire moved to the other end as well when putting it back together, and for some reason the slider switch doesn't need to be forced as much as it did before, so both matters are solved.

[nrs24985]

With that matter solved I now just need to get a single bridge height screw (if I can get a vintage one great, if not AVRI is fine) for the high e side.

It's currently fitted with a strat one which makes getting the height right somewhat difficult, see my post here - viewtopic.php?f=16&t=105323" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If anyone can help I'd appreciate it.

[dylanafghjkl]

for the record the only good free image host at the moment is http://imgur.com and you don't need to sign up or anything