Replacement jazzmaster pickguard fitment

[cdwillis]

I've got a Squier CVJM on the way and want to get another pickguard. I'm assuming it's the same pickguard as the VMJM. Will an American Standard JM guard fit these imports?

I saw a video of a guy swapping pickguards and he had to use a different mounting bracket for the rhythm circuit, but I'm not sure how to tell if I'll need one.

[Horsefeather]

Yeah, you'll likely need that bracket. It's obvious to see when you have them side by side. The span of the narrow one is within the span of the two wheel slots whereas on the American spaced one the screws are well outside the wheel slots.

And assume that you will need to be filling and drilling the other screw holes. Aside from those things, though, it's no biggie. Since you don't have to worry about mating up to any metal plates, the whole thing has a little wiggle room if you need it. I think an American guard can work for you just fine. I've read that the J Mascis guard, which is what I installed, is cut to American dimensions.

Actually, it's not certain you will need the bracket. It seems like on the newer models from both these lines, they use the wider one. I think it's the older VMs that have the narrow bracket. Let us know!


Narrow bracket screw spacing:

http://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/ZoomJ ... 001_nr.jpg


Standard bracket screw spacing:

https://davesguitar.com/wp-content/uplo ... 279611.jpg

[cdwillis]

Thanks, Horsefeather. That's some useful knowledge. Do you know if the holes for the bridge posts are bigger for a TOM style bridge like on the J Mascis? I'd love to get a gold anodized pickguard and strip it gold off of it, if it will fit the Classic Vibe JM.

[Horsefeather]

I think the bridge holes are all the same size, which is larger than they need to be to fit over any of the types of inserts. That said, I did have to file my holes a little bit due to alignment issues.

You can get plain aluminum guards on ebay.

[cdwillis]

Thanks for the heads up. I found one, bought and shipped, for $15. Hopefully it's not a totally cheap piece of Chinese junk. Might switch the pickup covers and knobs/tips to black.

[mcbrandt]

What is a reasonable expectation for fit with a replacement guard these days? I have a '14 VMJM, and I just bought a guard off stratosphere. I already had the new rhythm circuit bracket so was squared away there. I had to do a fair amount of filing all around the neck pocket, and in the bridge post holes, to get it to fit. At this point, 5 of the 13 perimeter screw holes line up, which seems sub-optimal considering most of the youtube videos out there that show the adjustment of one or two at most. It doesn't look like a Japanese guard to me based on the screw holes by the bridge posts, and it was advertised as for a USA fender. I ordered another guard from IKN

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DB ... UTF8&psc=1

to see if it will fit better than the Stratosphere one, as I don't want to fill/re-drill for 7/8 holes if I don't have to. If they both fit like shit I'll just pick which one looks better or gives me less hassle I guess, just was just wondering what the norm is for this sort of thing.

[andy_tchp]

What is a reasonable expectation for fit with a replacement guard these days? I have a '14 VMJM, and I just bought a guard off stratosphere. I already had the new rhythm circuit bracket so was squared away there. I had to do a fair amount of filing all around the neck pocket, and in the bridge post holes, to get it to fit. At this point, 5 of the 13 perimeter screw holes line up, which seems sub-optimal considering most of the youtube videos out there that show the adjustment of one or two at most. It doesn't look like a Japanese guard to me based on the screw holes by the bridge posts, and it was advertised as for a USA fender. I ordered another guard from IKN

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DB ... UTF8&psc=1

to see if it will fit better than the Stratosphere one, as I don't want to fill/re-drill for 7/8 holes if I don't have to. If they both fit like shit I'll just pick which one looks better or gives me less hassle I guess, just was just wondering what the norm is for this sort of thing.

PIc? Filing around the bridge holes makes me suspicious it's a Fender Japan spec guard.

[mcbrandt]

I’ll try and get my own pic up tomorrow. Here’s the link to it

https://stratosphereparts.com/new-brown ... usa-3-ply/

[mcbrandt]

Okay, so the guard on the guitar is the Stratosphere replacement, the guard sitting on the side is the stock one.

[mcbrandt]

Weird, the IKN (FLEOR) guard is basically the same as the stratosphere guard in terms of how the holes line up. It fits better overall, but the same amount of perimeter holes are mismatched. I guess it's a Squier so fuck it, time to fill/drill a bunch of holes. I noticed the angle of the guard just above the neck is sharp on the original guard, and the two replacement ones it's rounded. Don't know if that tells anything or matters.

[mcbrandt]

Just putting notes here for any future persons that care. I'm ending up using the stratosphere guard, because it seems to fit just slightly better, but mainly cause I'm lazy and I already copper shielded it. After fully installing some screws others start lining up a bit better. Looks like I'll need to fill and re-drill about 4 holes, the two behind the bridge, and the closest two above it. The rest get in straight enough to be passable from what I can tell at this point.