Going down a rabbit hole but I refuse to give up!

[SurfLove]

OK so allow me to document my latest "adventure". First let me say I am not the most proficient modder, but I've done some basic items over the years so I though I could handle this. I may be wrong - we will see!

I bought a 60s Vintera Jag last year. A decent basic guitar that I thought I'd mod to make better. I acquired new Fender Pure Vintage '65 Jaguar Pickup Set, Fender AVRI USA Vintage Jazzmaster/Jaguar Tremolo Kit with Arm (I also installed a StayTrem). I also acquired a Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar USA Revised 52mm Spacing Bridge (Fenders version of a Staytrem bridge).

I installed the new tremolo kit with no problem. But now here's where things have gone south: After removing the original (what I assume is a Mexican Mustang bridge with threaded saddles that rattled a lot) I found that the thimbles in this guitar do not accommodate the larger diameter bridge posts on the Johnny Marr bridge! So I ordered new thimbles for an AVRI Jag that have a larger diameter that should (I hope) accommodate the Mar bridge posts. But now I have to remove the old thimbles that I see seem to have a ground wire from the volume pot attached (when I open the control cavity I see a black wire going from the volume pot into a hole in the direction of the right thimble)! So now I must figure out a way to remove the old thimbles without destroying the ground wire so that I can re-solder it to the new right thimble (FYI I'm not a very proficient solderer) that I will be installing. I plan to use the solder gun trick and maybe also the threaded bolt trick - https://guitarfxdepot.com/guitar/how-to ... -easy-way/ - to remove the old thimbles. I'll also need of course to make the thimble holes a bit bigger to accept the new thimbles (drilling carefully with the correct size bit in reverse is my plan).

And just to make matters worse, when I went to remove the old pickups, I snapped the right side screw (which on these guitars goes right into the wood) on the neck pickup and when I tried to remove the broken screw-tip piece still embedded in the wood with vise grip locking pliers, it just kept breaking until I had nothing left to grab! so I had to put a new screw into the wood right beside it which seems to work. I've left the old pickups in there for now until I get the bridge situation addressed.

I will continue to update this thread as I progress but if anyone has any words of wisdom to assist I'd gladly welcome it! At this point I'm thinking I'd have probably been better off just buying an AVRI Jag but I'm too far into this now!!

[timtam]

The easiest way to remove thimbles is with a 6mm expansion bolt. Place it in the thimble, screw to expand the bolt to grip the thimble walls, then pull the thimble out out. Cover end with some loose tape if you want some protection for the inner thimble walls (may even help it grip them). A regular nut head on the expansion bolt is fine, an eyelet head if you can find it is even nicer ..

[SurfLove]

Yeah I was gonna do that timtam, I got a 6mm expansion bolt just like the pic but it's too big to go into the thimble! Go figure (what else could go wrong, right?). That's how much smaller the inside diameter of these thimbles are (roughly 7 mm it appears but the expansion bolt end just won't go in). It seems that these expansion bolts have a casing that actually makes them 7.5 mm outside diameter which is too big for these thimbles. So I seem to be forced to try another method.

[timtam]

Hmmm ... yes there is some variation in thimble inner dimensions. And 6mm is the smallest diameter expansion bolt AFAIK. They usually fit IME. Next best non-destructive method would be a plastic expanding wall plug and screw. They start at about 4mm IIRC.

[SurfLove]

OK that might work. Just find a snug fitting size expander and screw, insert and screw until it expands enough to grip the thimble and pull it out?

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Just don‘t get frustrated!
The hole in the wood could possibly be sealed with matchsticks and a little bit of wood-glue.
I have a Staytrem in mine - no problems here. But keep in mind that if you should want to change the pickguard: the (old) thinbles don‘t line up with the holes in an AVRI guard (the rest does) - so you would have to enlarge the pickguard-holes just a little bit...

But I love mine! They are great and beautiful guitars!

[SurfLove]

OK update. Have made some serious progress (thankfully). Was able to remove 1 thimble (left side) using a screw anchor but I noticed it twisted considerable as it came out. Since I knew that somehow a ground wire from the volume pot was connected to the right thimble, I did not want to twist it, so I tried the solder iron technique and to my delight, after heating it up quite a bit, it lifted out quite easily by prying slightly with a butter knife and then lifting it with needle nose pliers. Now I was surprised to find that the ground wire from the volume pot was not connected to the thimble at all. No solder or other connected that I could find, but it is simply trapped between the wall of the thimble and the wood of the hole wall. I guess the tightness of the thimble seated in the hole is sufficient connection for the ground.

I finally received the new Fender American thimbles and I found that the inner and out diameter are roughly 1 mm wider than the Mexican version in the stock Vintera (7/8mm vs 8/9mm). The better news is that the posts of the Mar Staytrem bridge are easily accommodated by the new thimbles. I then took a 10mm bit and widened the holes using a drill in reverse (a 9mm was insufficient to enlarge the holes). The new thimbles sat in the holes well but a bit loose which I rectified by inserting a toothpick in each hole. The thimbles now rest tightly, with the ground wire in the right hole. The Staytrem sits perfectly in the new thimbles! The pickguard fortunately clears the new thimbles and bridge with no issue.

My next step was to install the new AVRI pickups. Another weird quirk I now found is that the ground wires from both stock pickups (and other sources - 5 total) are ALL joined together at one grounding point in the pickup selector cavity. This made it somewhat difficult to remove the old grounds and re-solder the new ones (I ended up clipping the bridge PUP ground wire to simplify things). I was able to find a clear spot to re-solder both new pickup grounds and was able to complete the swap without much difficulty. I then tap-tested the pickups with my amp and both appear to be working fine (with of course the expected 60 cycle hum).

So this is where I now stand. My next steps are to shim the neck if needed, re-string the Jag, intonate it and set the tremolo trem-lock, and of course test everything. I will update after those steps are completed. Fingers crossed!!

[stafflod]

Hmmm ... yes there is some variation in thimble inner dimensions. And 6mm is the smallest diameter expansion bolt AFAIK. They usually fit IME. Next best non-destructive method would be a plastic expanding wall plug and screw. They start at about 4mm IIRC.

I just used this method on a Marr Jag body. They came up really easy! I could even reuse the plastic plug.

[stafflod]

Hmmm ... yes there is some variation in thimble inner dimensions. And 6mm is the smallest diameter expansion bolt AFAIK. They usually fit IME. Next best non-destructive method would be a plastic expanding wall plug and screw. They start at about 4mm IIRC.

I just used this method on a Marr Jag body. They came up really easy! I could even reuse the plastic plug.