WHY IS REWIRING A JAZZMASTER SO HARD?

[Scantino]

Is it just me, or is rewiring a Jazzmaster harder than other guitars?

What is the best place to route all the wires? In the neck pickup cavity? bridge cavity?

My Jazzmaster has a grounding wire that runs from the trem cavity and also one that is screwed straight into the body of the guitar in the tone and volume pot cavity. Do I need both grounds?

[Hyphen Nation]

I have built/soldered fairly complex things, like this thing:
http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I am totally intimidated by the wiring of a partscaster I am assembling. Like, I am looking at every thread on here and reading as much as possible elsewhere…For what ever reason the circuit is hard for me to get my head around.

[909one]

It seemed hard at first but its not too bad. Think of it like this... The main circuit is the same as a Telecaster circuit; 1 vol, 1 tone and a pick-up switch. That's easy enough. The switch on top bypasses everything out of the circuit except for the neck pick-up and inserts the tone and volume on the top. This slider switch is DPDT switch that's doing two jobs simultaneously. The volume and tone on the top circuit are wired exactly the same as the volume and tone on main part of the guitar except only the neck pickup is feeding it. The reason why there's so much treble rolloff even with the knobs all the way up is that its using different pot values 100k for volume that affect the pickup load much less cleanly even when not turned down. They did that to get an automatic 'jazz' sound. I don't want my jazzmaster to sound muddier so I wired in my own version of an alternate circuit, I put in a high pass filter (low roll off) when the switch is engaged. It helps clear out some of the mud when using the neck pickup at high volumes.

[hoddyman]

I don't know, but I had my Jaguar professionally re-wired, and it only took the guy an hour or two. I guess that it's more complex than a Telecaster, but it's really pretty straightforward. I've got it so that the rhythm circuit "hears" whatever pickup(s) I select, ( including with the "strangle" switch engaged) for a darker tone and a different volume. I also have it so both pickups can be on in series, too.

[_nash]

Is it just me, or is rewiring a Jazzmaster harder than other guitars?

Probably because it's basically 2 circuits with one set of pickups.

What is the best place to route all the wires? In the neck pickup cavity? bridge cavity?

Google "jazz master wiring" for good wiring routing options.

My Jazzmaster has a grounding wire that runs from the trem cavity and also one that is screwed straight into the body of the guitar in the tone and volume pot cavity. Do I need both grounds?

No clue what the one screwed into the body is for. Just make sure that everything is grounded to the jack. Use 1 continuous ground chain. For instance, ground the shielding to each other, then one link to the vol. pot, one link to the tone, and one to ground. The tailpiece link can to to any of those. Make sense?

[Hyphen Nation]

Super helpful guys.

909one, how did you wire up a lo-pass? I would be curious about that for a jazzblaster I am working on.

[2fLAz]

it's not that tough, it takes time and a good documentation/set of pictures

Here is my take on replicating a vintage wiring :p



Note that pots & shileding are vintage but 4 out the 6 tape bits are not vintage. Can you spot the fake ones ?