Fender Jag neck onto Squier body, Am Pro wiring

[timtam]

First time poster here. I picked up a Squier jag body on ebay, and am now contemplating a project build with a Fender neck.

I have always loved Jags but never owned one. Just wary of the classic circuitry. I have added a 5-way switch to a Tele before, with series and phase options, which I loved. So I kind of liked the Johnny Marr wiring when it came out, but was even more interested to see the new American Professional wiring (4-way plus phase switch).

So my rough idea for this build is as follows:

- Squier jag body (Vintage Modified in Candy Apple Red)
- Fender Jag neck in Pau Ferro (to avoid CITES rosewood issues with shipping it to me). Possibly a MIM Vintage RI Classic Player with vintage tuners (9.5 radius, C profile)

***** What are my chances of a good fit between these two ? Happy to shim if necessary.

The rest ...
- Fender tremolo with lock knob (will it fit ?)
- Fender Vintage 65 Jag pickups. Looks like I will need to add a separate ground for the claw for this wiring scheme (ie make 3-wire) how hard is that ?
- Am Pro wiring (but probably with classic 1meg pots instead of Am Pro's 500k that go with its different pickups; treble bleed ... maybe / maybe not ?).
- probably classic-style bridge (52mm wide?) not Mustang-style (56mm?), with individual height adjusts (hopefully properly set up to prevent the common issues ?!)
- control plates - I may need to custom make the 4-way plate and phase plate in aluminium (as they still seem to be hard to get)
- Fender cream or mint pickguard (body may need new screw holes ? will the bridge holes line up and will it fit around the neck heel ?)

All advice greatly appreciated !

[Embenny]

1) All Fender and Squier Jag bodies and necks are compatible with each other. It's just the Japanese-made ones specifically that have a marginally wider neck heel and neck pocket, so any American or Mexican neck will fit fine on the Squier body (all necks and bodies might need slight fit adjustment when being paired together, of course)

2) Faction Guitars makes all the plates you seek. No need to machine yourself unless that's one of your hobbies and you're doing it for fun.

3) Standard Fender USA-spec pickguards will fit your Squier body just fine.

4) The Fender AVRI vibrato tailpiece will fit just fine, too.

5) it's super easy to ground a jaguar pickup claw separately from the pickup. You just run a ground wire to the back of the volume pot or wherever, and make sure the claw isn't soldered directly to the black pickup lead (if it is, just clip the connection between the two without cutting off the black lead)

[timtam]

Many thanks for that. Feeling more confident that this might work.

Pity about about the Faction plates being $50 each. They look like nice work, but $150 for 3 small plates is too rich for me. The Am Pro's pot plate is the standard jag plate (0054505000). The Johnny Marr-type blade switch plate that the Am Pro also uses is listed as a Fender part (0091903000) for less than $20 with at least one reseller, but not always available. But I haven't seen anyone else selling the phase switch plate (7709945000) yet. So both may end up being a custom job for me.

[Embenny]

Many thanks for that. Feeling more confident that this might work.

Pity about about the Faction plates being $50 each. They look like nice work, but $150 for 3 small plates is too rich for me. The Am Pro's pot plate is the standard jag plate (0054505000). The Johnny Marr-type blade switch plate that the Am Pro also uses is listed as a Fender part (0091903000) for less than $20 with at least one reseller, but not always available. But I haven't seen anyone else selling the phase switch plate (7709945000) yet. So both may end up being a custom job for me.

Oh yeah, Faction plates are great but pricey. I have a couple - for things like my "2 x 3-way Mustang switch" upper Jag plate, it was well worth it (in my opinion) since the only other way to get my hands on something like that would be to machine it myself (which I lack the skills or interest to do).

Stratosphere and other chop shops are currently a better deal, if you have the good fortune of finding the parts when you need them.

[Embenny]

Many thanks for that. Feeling more confident that this might work.

Pity about about the Faction plates being $50 each. They look like nice work, but $150 for 3 small plates is too rich for me. The Am Pro's pot plate is the standard jag plate (0054505000). The Johnny Marr-type blade switch plate that the Am Pro also uses is listed as a Fender part (0091903000) for less than $20 with at least one reseller, but not always available. But I haven't seen anyone else selling the phase switch plate (7709945000) yet. So both may end up being a custom job for me.

Glad to help! It can be a bit intimidating with so many different sources of parts, but the nice thing about Fenders is that, generally speaking, parts are freely interchangeable. There are a few exceptions, so I'm glad I could reassure you about some things.

And yeah, Faction plates are great but pricey. I have a couple - for things like my "2 x 3-way Mustang switch" upper Jag plate, it was well worth it (in my opinion) since the only other way to get my hands on something like that would be to machine it myself (which I lack the skills or interest to do).

Stratosphere and other chop shops are currently a better deal, if you have the good fortune of finding the parts when you need them.

[timtam]

Another data point in the search for the newer Jag switch plates: I found a source that does the 3 Johnny Marr plates as a set in aircraft aluminium for US$59.95. Not sure if I can post the link here and stay within the rules. Anyway their name is rockrabbitguitars and I have no connection with them.

I have also had one supplier saying the American Pro plates (same as the Johnny Marr except for the upper phase switch plate) will be available as Fender parts by the end of the year.

[airtom]

There is also a company on Reverb that is making the switch plate. https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=jo ... ch%20plate I hope it's kosher to post the link in the body of this post. Anyway, I am going to order one to use on my RI Classic Player HH Jag. I have everything else except the pickups. Still researching those and leaning toward the SD SH4 and Jazz neck. Tom