Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

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Jhall84
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Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

Post by Jhall84 » Tue Oct 04, 2022 5:32 pm

Hi everyone,
I just got my first Jaguar(Squier CV 70s) as a project to gradually upgrade everything. I’ve already got a new neck on it and I have a set of Pure Vintage 65s that should arrive Thursday and am hoping to get everything together then. I’ll be making a post on the build.

In terms of playability I’ve got it dialed in, but I would like to mod the rhythm circuit as I don’t think I would use it in its current form.

What I’d like to do is move the lower 1meg pots to the rhythm circuit and install 250k pots where they were originally located. Additionally, I’d like to still have the pickup selectors and strangle switch to be functional when in the rhythm circuit. This way I would essentially have the standard circuit be like a Tele and the rhythm circuit would be the standard Jaguar circuit. Seems like a simple mod but I don’t know much about electronics, I just know how to follow a diagram. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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timtam
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Re: Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

Post by timtam » Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:12 pm

OK .... do-able, with a few hidden hassles. What I firstly understand you to be saying is that you want to move the location of the lead circuit pots to the location of the rhythm circuit - you don't actually want to change the lead circuit at all. The pots on the rhythm circuit control plate are mini pots, one 50k linear and one 1meg linear. Whereas both lead circuit pots are 1meg audio. So you will have to source two 1meg mini audio pots if you want to put lead circuit pots onto the rhythm circuit plate, as roller pots. Given your base is a CV jag, they will likely need to be metric-size mini pots, that fit the bracket holes and the rollers you have.

Then where the lead circuit controls were, you want to install tele-style 250k vol/tone pots and wiring. And you want the pickup choice for that circuit to (still) come from the lead circuit switch plate (analogous to the tele blade switch) ? You would first take the output from the strangle switch at the end of that switching chain and wire it to the DPDT rhythm/lead switch, in place of where (only) the neck pickup comes into that switch in the stock circuit now.

You could just take a stock jag wiring diagram like the one below (locations-agnostic), and replace the rhythm circuit components with those from a tele wiring diagram, with its vol/tone pots (full-size). With the DPDT lead/rhythm switch taking the output from the strangle switch (labelled blue) into the switch (replacing that labelled yellow at the top left of the switch). The disconnected neck pickup hot (yellow) would instead go direct to the lead neck switch. The labelled-orange wire that goes to that switch now would instead go to the lead circuit tone pot (where the blue wire from the strangle used to go).

The input to the tele circuit from the DPDT will be the wire labelled white at the DPDT. The output from the tele circuit that normally goes to the tele output jack now goes as the blue-labelled wire on the DPDT.

Finally, just re-draw the whole diagram with those elements and wiring, except in the places on the guitar where you actually want them.

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"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Jhall84
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Re: Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

Post by Jhall84 » Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:25 pm

Thanks for the thorough reply! I don’t know if all CV Jags are this way or if I just got lucky, but the current 1meg pots in my lead circuit are already minis so I won’t have to get those.

As for the instructions, I think I got it. I will redraw the diagram tomorrow and it will hopefully be clear to me as I’m pretty sure trying to visualize the relocation of the two circuits has been the cause of any confusion I’m having with your instructions.

Additionally, to make sure I’m seeing this correctly; when wired this way the rhythm/lead switch will now be upside down in the sense that the up position will be the Tele circuit on the lower control plate and the down position will be the old lead circuit(now on the rhythm plate), correct?

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Jhall84
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Re: Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

Post by Jhall84 » Thu Oct 06, 2022 7:25 pm

I’ve attempted to draw up a diagram with the above instructions and would love for someone to look it over and see if they see any errors.

I was sent the wrong color pickguard so it will be a few more days before I will be wiring it up.

Thanks!

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timtam
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Re: Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

Post by timtam » Thu Oct 06, 2022 10:13 pm

The top 3 tabs of the DPDT (rhythm/lead) slide switch in a jag select the output to the jack: your 250k tele-style new lead circuit, or the old lead circuit now in the rhythm circuit position. The bottom 3 tabs select where the pickup signals are going (well actually just the neck pickup in a stock jag): to one or the other of the same two circuits.

Taking the top row of tabs in your diagram first, the green centre wire is to the output jack. In your diagram those tabs select the guitar's output as being either from the left light blue wire (from the strangle switch/pickup selector) or the right light blue wire (from the 250k new lead volume pot's 'output'). So that's not quite what I said ;) ....
"take the output from the strangle switch at the end of that switching chain and wire it to the DPDT rhythm/lead switch, in place of where (only) the neck pickup comes into that switch in the stock circuit now. "

So the strangle/selector wire needs to go to the middle bottom DPDT switch tab, not the top left tab.

And what then should go instead to that top left tab ? Remember that you are selecting the output from between the new-250k tele-style volume pot's output (as correctly shown in your diagram), or the new rhythm/old lead circuit's output. In standard jag wiring, the 'output' from the lead controls is the middle volume pot tab. So that top left tab should be connected to the middle volume pot tab of the new rhythm/old lead circuit.

Now looking at the bottom row of 3 DPDT switch tabs ... that select where the pickup selection is to be sent - to the 250k tele-style new lead circuit, or to the new rhythm/old lead circuit. To provide that pickup selection to the switch, we've already seen that the strangle/selector wire should go to the bottom middle tab. As in the top (output) row, left is the new rhythm/old lead circuit, right is the 250k tele-style new lead circuit. The right tab in your diagram already correctly shows sending the pickups to the 250k volume pot's left tab - its 'input'. And the left tab already correctly shows sending the pickups to the new rhythm/old lead circuit's input, at the outer tab of the tone pot. FWIW I think I got mixed up as to which was the 'tele' circuit somewhere around this point in my original post !

When you install the switch, you can rotate it whichever way round you want, so that up/down positions select between the two circuits in the way you want.
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Jhall84
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Re: Help needed with Jaguar Rhythm circuit mod

Post by Jhall84 » Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:17 am

Thank you very much again for the help! I see where I went wrong. For some reason I had it in my head that the neck pickup originally went to the top left(probably because it’s also yellow). Thanks for the explanation of the function of the switch ports, that certainly helps make sense of this.

So if I’m understanding correctly, the blue output from the strangle switch needs to go to the bottom middle port of the rhythm/lead switch, and the top left port of the switch needs to be connected to the middle port of the new rhythm(old lead circuit) volume pot? And everything else looks good?

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