2004 R serial CIJ JM CAR - updates

[MattK]

CIJ Fenders hadn't attracted my interest much - I'd had a few 2000s models in the past, which were in and out fairly quickly because they didn't really grab me. However a few weeks ago a CAR Jazzmaster came up for sale half a mile away at a price I couldn't ignore. I went to try it and something really clicked ... maybe the Princeton Reverb the owner plugged me into, but anyway. It joined the herd despite my intentions of downsizing. Plays great, maybe lacking a little something in the sound, but a beautifully made thing which felt right in the hand.


This week I decided to drop the original running gear back into my 1985 JM and keep it stock - which turned out to be a good idea! - so I had a harness and a couple of really lovely Rose Korona pickups sitting idle. With a JM the easiest thing is to swap the loaded pickguard, so I kept all the original stuff on the CIJ pickguard and bought a parchment MusicLily one very, very cheap ...


The guard fit 99% but I had to take the neck off to sort out the pocket cutout. Bonus - alder body instead of the basswood I expected!

All sorted out after a lot of swearing and a switch lug that kept grounding when I assembled it.

All good to go, and joining a very Jazzmastery rack of "currently playing":

[BoringPostcards]

Sweet one, Matt. Looks good.
I’m super jealous of your CFM CV Jag. I wish they were available in Canada. I had to go for a CV70s in surf green, my least favourite colour, due to availability.
Such is living on an island in the middle of nowhere. Lol

[MattK]

I had to get mine from Germany, Thomann were OK to ship it. Came with the JM XII although that worked out the same as buying it retail here. It's a very good Jag, I'd say pretty much as good as the MIJ one, which surprised me.
When I switched out the running gear on this JM I transplanted the AVRI trem that was on the old 85 as well. To my surprise it's become loud acoustically, specifically resonating from the trem. Anyone else had this experience? Literally nothing else in the setup changed.

[JSett]

To my surprise it's become loud acoustically, specifically resonating from the trem. Anyone else had this experience? Literally nothing else in the setup changed.

Yeah, I had the same when I changed to an AVRI vibrato. I put it down to the fact the metal is significantly thicker on an AVRI unit and acted like a high-mass bridge transmitting more resonance to the wood. That was my theory anyway, which has no scientific basis or tests behind it

[MattK]

2 for 2, case closed!

[crazyzeke]

Plays great, maybe lacking a little something in the sound, but a beautifully made thing which felt right in the hand.

That's literally my experience with every single CIJ offset I've come across - the luthiery on the body/neck and overall fit and finish is stellar, but the wiring and pickups totally suck. Fortunately they're a lot easier to sort out than the others, so as long as it feels good the many flaws can be fixed, which it looks like you've done with the loaded pickguard etc.

When I switched out the running gear on this JM I transplanted the AVRI trem that was on the old 85 as well. To my surprise it's become loud acoustically, specifically resonating from the trem. Anyone else had this experience? Literally nothing else in the setup changed.

Yeah I've had moments like this with the Jag lots of times over the years, usually when changing pickups or bridge which can be transformative, but recently I had to swap out the very battered and worn CIJ original stock vibrato because it just wouldn't say in tune for even 90 seconds. Went for a Squier JM JM vibrato I got from someone on FB Marketplace and although it wasn't a huge upgrade (the tuning is stable and the old arm I bent upwards for strum dipping push fits perfectly, yay for tight tolerances) it is definitely slightly louder and more resonant acoustically, which means at some point in near future an AVRI system is totally going on this guitar. Anything that adds sustain, a thing usually in short supply on Jags/JMs that don't have the AOM/stoptail Gibson style setup, gets my vote... this probably partly explains my affinity for hotter pickups (they compress more, so what you lose in dynamic range you gain in sustain), and using an actual compressor pedal to even out cleans, especially when doing surf rock on the Jag's unique sounding out-of-phase setting (long story).

[crazyzeke]

Yeah, I had the same when I changed to an AVRI vibrato. I put it down to the fact the metal is significantly thicker on an AVRI unit and acted like a high-mass bridge transmitting more resonance to the wood. That was my theory anyway, which has no scientific basis or tests behind it

Makes perfect sense to me, and reflects my experience. I think the extra mass of the Mastery bridge, including when I changed the grub screws for bigger metal mounting posts (to avoid bridge sinking was the only reason) has a similar effect, as well as increasing extreme top-end presence.

[atomicwash]

It looks much better with the ivory (?) pickup covers and white guard. Nice work!