NGD: AV '65 Olympic White Jazzmaster

[rbrcbr]

Thanks for the input guys. Pretty neat that the reissues are so true to the way they built them in '65, down to the shielding plates.

So I tried everything but the contact cleaner, I'll need to pick some up this week and see if that helps.
I busted out my multimeter (for the first time ever, just recently got one, finally) and tested both pickups with the normal wiring situation. Output read from the other end of my instrument cable gave me .886 on the neck pickup, 6.6k from the bridge. Bad pots in the rhythm circuit would affect this reading right?
I wired the pickup straight to the 3 way, no difference. Idk if that has anything to do with the rhythm circuit still running through to the output jack.
I wired the pickup straight to the output jack and didn't notice much of a difference.

I'm thinking it may be the pickup itself in this case. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

[HNB]

Sounds like the pickup is bad. If you ran it to the toggle and it was still messed up, it is likely the pickup because the bridge sounds fine and it is running through the same stuff at that point.

[Larsongs]

It very well could be the Pickup.

In any case you'll be glad when you get the problem fixed. These are the best of the best Jazzmasters. I went through several other Jazzmasters until I finally got an Oly White AV65. I don't have any desire for another one. These play, sound & look killer.

Good luck getting yours resolved..

Lars

[rbrcbr]

Sounds like the pickup is bad. If you ran it to the toggle and it was still messed up, it is likely the pickup because the bridge sounds fine and it is running through the same stuff at that point.

It very well could be the Pickup.

In any case you'll be glad when you get the problem fixed. These are the best of the best Jazzmasters. I went through several other Jazzmasters until I finally got an Oly White AV65. I don't have any desire for another one. These play, sound & look killer.

Good luck getting yours resolved..

Lars

Thanks for the help guys. I'm curious as to whether or not a bad rhythm circuit could affect the neck pickup and only the neck pickup, even if I wired it straight to the switch or jack. It looks like there is a black (ground?) wire running from the back of the rhythm circuit volume pot to the middle lug of the 3 way switch. If it's all part of the grounding, and there's a short in the circuit, could it short out the neck and not the bridge since the rhythm circuit is grounded to the 3 way switch?

I still haven't looked under the pickup covers to see if there is a bad wiring situation there, so I'll take a look at that here in a bit when I get some time.

[HNB]

The ground shouldn't be an issue. If you run the hot from the neck to the jack or toggle (that is working with the bridge pickup) it should work if the pickup isn't broken. You could always solder the neck ground and hot to the jack and test it that way. If you are using a meter on the disconnected pickup and it is reading super low, that is the pickup. It isn't attached to anything at that point.

[rbrcbr]

The ground shouldn't be an issue. If you run the hot from the neck to the jack or toggle (that is working with the bridge pickup) it should work if the pickup isn't broken. You could always solder the neck ground and hot to the jack and test it that way. If you are using a meter on the disconnected pickup and it is reading super low, that is the pickup. It isn't attached to anything at that point.

Okay, yeah the pickup may be bad. The meter reading was of the connected pickup, reading the tip/sleeve at the other end of my guitar cable while it was plugged in. I'll disconnect the pickup for good measure but at this point I'm thinking it may actually be bad.

[Kwyjibo]

Sucks that you have these problems but once you get it setup, you will be in love. How great is that neck?? Love my 65 AVRi and am so happy I purchased. Best of luck to you

[rbrcbr]

So I disconnected the neck pickup and currently am getting a reading at like 14 Mega ohms. I've read that effectively that can be read as no circuit - so either there is a dead wire in the coil, or the wires to neck pickup are soldered poorly? Going to redo those solder joints and see what happens. Looking at the pickup coil, everything looks fine. So strange.

Sucks that you have these problems but once you get it setup, you will be in love. How great is that neck?? Love my 65 AVRi and am so happy I purchased. Best of luck to you

Thanks! Very excited to get it together, the wait is lame though. How are you liking the staytrem on your CFM AV65? Thinking of trying the staytrem for once and picking up a collet upgrade/trem arm from staytrem while I'm at it.

[rbrcbr]

Figured it out!
At first I thought maybe it was just the solder joints on the pickup, but after reflowing those with solder, nothing changed. My multimeter was giving me no reading at all.
I saw these little copper wires hanging off where the coil meets the ground wire, but soldering those made no difference.




I then noticed that the hot wire had this charring on it and was looking pretty busted at the end of it.



I went ahead detached the hot wire, cut that end off, stripped it, and reconnected it to the pickup. Voila! I guess there was a bad connection going on at that end. It gave a reading of 6k immediately after I reattached it.

I've got it back together now and it sounds great! The neck pickup is working well and surprisingly enough, putting a set of 11s on it hasn't seemed to require a set up, the action is low and the intonation is spot on. I'm pretty sure the strings on it when I bought it were 9s. Now it's going to be a matter of adjusting the pickup heights properly (haven't ever messed with that much) and swapping out the tuners/bridge/trem.

I'm actually quite surprised at how the stock bridge feels fine on there. Maybe I just have a light touch, but i haven't had the strings jump from the saddles yet, Maybe I'll keep it?

Otherwise, considering a Staytrem bridge and collet/trem arm replacement, since it didn't come with a trem arm. I've got a friend who will sell me his Mastery kit, but it's so much money and since I have a Mastery on my other JM, I'm interested in seeing how I'd like the Staytrem.

[HNB]

Grats! I wonder how it got charred there.

[rbrcbr]

Grats! I wonder how it got charred there.

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing, I imagine maybe it was just a bad solder job? The question is, why? I figure a pickup doesn’t give enough output to char the lead if there is a short somehow, and even then, it couldn’t originate at the pickup, could it? Glad it’s fixed, to say the least.

[Kwyjibo]

So I disconnected the neck pickup and currently am getting a reading at like 14 Mega ohms. I've read that effectively that can be read as no circuit - so either there is a dead wire in the coil, or the wires to neck pickup are soldered poorly? Going to redo those solder joints and see what happens. Looking at the pickup coil, everything looks fine. So strange.

Sucks that you have these problems but once you get it setup, you will be in love. How great is that neck?? Love my 65 AVRi and am so happy I purchased. Best of luck to you

Thanks! Very excited to get it together, the wait is lame though. How are you liking the staytrem on your CFM AV65? Thinking of trying the staytrem for once and picking up a collet upgrade/trem arm from staytrem while I'm at it.

Staytrem is a must for my offsets. Noticeable improvements to sound/resonance and fixes the string spacing. I would definitely recommend a collet upgrade, too. I am 100% going to get one. The trem arm is very loose. Falls out almost every time I'm standing up and moving around while playing. Not a huge deal but the trem arm not moving from gravity is very nice

[sirspens]

I'm actually quite surprised at how the stock bridge feels fine on there. Maybe I just have a light touch, but i haven't had the strings jump from the saddles yet, Maybe I'll keep it?

It took me one day of playing my Jazzmaster to figure out how to play and not knock strings off the saddles. I don't understand people's issue with this. Unless you're digging into your strings with a fork, I don't see how people knock their strings off the saddles.

And you just DON'T get as much of that sweet harmonics sound with other bridges.

[jmurph]

Congrats on getting such a deal! I'm glad you were able to get the problems sorted out. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the neck for your semi-hollow jazzmaster? That guitar looks incredible!

[rbrcbr]

Staytrem is a must for my offsets. Noticeable improvements to sound/resonance and fixes the string spacing. I would definitely recommend a collet upgrade, too. I am 100% going to get one. The trem arm is very loose. Falls out almost every time I'm standing up and moving around while playing. Not a huge deal but the trem arm not moving from gravity is very nice

Cool, definitely considering it. The trem arm/collet at the very least since this one doesn't have a trem arm.

I'm actually quite surprised at how the stock bridge feels fine on there. Maybe I just have a light touch, but i haven't had the strings jump from the saddles yet, Maybe I'll keep it?

It took me one day of playing my Jazzmaster to figure out how to play and not knock strings off the saddles. I don't understand people's issue with this. Unless you're digging into your strings with a fork, I don't see how people knock their strings off the saddles.

And you just DON'T get as much of that sweet harmonics sound with other bridges.

This is my first experience with the stock bridge on a JM that seems fine. I will say - it does seem almost like the tension is less/the strings are looser than my JM with the mastery? Like they feel more flimsy? I take it that's why people add shims to the neck pocket when setting up the stock bridge? Not sure I like that so I'm considering a bridge swap but it's definitely playable as it is right now.

Congrats on getting such a deal! I'm glad you were able to get the problems sorted out. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the neck for your semi-hollow jazzmaster? That guitar looks incredible!

Thanks! Very stoked about that. The neck on the semi hollow is a Musikraft B&B neck, with a flamed maple neck and a chunky C (90-99) profile. It's one of the nicest and most comfortable necks I've ever played on. A bit heftier than the standard AV65 profile.