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SixStringSlinger
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Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2020 12:52 pm

Hi there!

Post by SixStringSlinger » Wed Jul 13, 2022 3:15 am

I've been a member here for a bit, and lurked for research/guitar porn for a lot longer, but never posted till today (I'm mostly on TDPRI under the same handle). I just posted a thread asking for help on some questions I have, so I figured the least I can do is share some pics in return.

My first offset was a Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster. I'd been ogling JM pics for a long time, and finally jumped on this one to satisfy that lust as well as to use as a platform for mods and to learn soldering/wiring. We all know what a rat's nest these guitars can look like stock. My early attempts at re-wiring, while functional, didn't look much better.

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I tried out the stock 1meg pots on the lead circuit, then went down to 500k's, and eventually settled on 250k's. They still get just short of painfully bright (that's JM pickups for you), and I prefer to have various distinct-sounding-yet-useable points along my tone control's sweep rather than having to park it at "2" for my safety and that of others. I also put in a treble bleed since anything less than "10" on the volume control brought on a huge loss in treble.

I also played with pickup-swapping for a bit. I was never really interested in the stock Duncan Designed pickups as I wanted something more "traditionally" JM. I put in a set of Fender PV'65's, but something about the bridge pickup bothered me. It was as if the sound of the pick hitting a string was as loud as the resulting note, and it drove me mad. I confess that I didn't really know what to expect from JM pickups at that point, but now I suspect the issue was a combination of that and some other physical aspect of the guitar (bridge, set-up, something). I later got some Novak gold foils on sale, and after that settled on the PV'65 neck and the gold foil bridge, and that's how the guitar lived for a while.

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The bridge was also a bit of a saga. I started off with the stock, traditional-style JM bridge, followed by a Mustang-style one for a slightly cleaner look. Both were more trouble to me than they were worth, in terms of chasing down and eliminating strange little sympathetic noises. Plus I seem to be messy with Loc-Tite, so it looked nasty. I eventually went with a Mastery bridge which solved those problems, even though the look clashed a bit with the rest of the guitar. However, it also kind of lent to the JM's '50's-'60's sci-fi vibe, and I certainly can't fault its build and sturdiness. A Mastery won't go anywhere until you tell it to.

Eventually Staytrems became available again in the US, and I was curious about making my JM a little more traditional again, so I ordered one. This design, with much fewer screws involved (along with, I can only imagine, my experience setting up this guitar) made for a more traditional function and look without any extraneous noise.

Speaking of tradition, I also went back to using the PV'65's in both positions. I don't know if it's my ears or my brain or some aspect of the guitar's set-up that has changed over time, but now both pickups sound great to me. I've also gotten a lot better at soldering/wiring.

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(To be fair, there is a poor join on the lead tone pot that crapped out soon after, but I've since fixed that).

I also modified the wiring so that engaging the rhythm circuit doesn't automatically (and exclusively) engage the neck pickup. The stock wiring is cool for its ability to go from dark, boomy neck-pickup-on-rhythm-circuit to bright and brash bridge-pickup-on-lead-circuit, but I'd rather sacrifice that and have both bright and dark options for all pickup settings.

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These are the most recent pics of my JM, although these still have the Mastery on.

And that's that! If anyone wants to share the height setting on their PV'65's I'd be happy to hear them. I know the ears are the final judge, but I'm still curious about what you all are doing.

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