Replacing shielding to reduce weight

[RaistMagus]

I have an AVRI62 Jazzmaster that has large (copper?) plates and pools in it for shielding. I'm considering removing them to reduce weight. How much do you think they weigh? What lighter shielding solutions are there?

https://imgur.com/a/PfGXgXv

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

Copper shielding tape will be lighter. Conductive paint will be lighter still.

If weight is (starting to be) an issue I would route the body between the pickups to the same depth as the control cavity.

Lightweight tuners are also an option. It all adds up.

[bodhi]

If you have a kitchen scale you could find out and share it with us I don't believe it'll be all that significant, unless they feel heavy in the hand.

There's a quite significant difference in the weight of individual pieces of wood, the JM and Jag bodies are pretty large, so the major weight is going to be there no matter what. Routing like suggested above will probably help out, but if the body is really heavy to start with, there's a limit how far you can get without visible impact.

[Larry Mal]

Probably like six ounces, maybe I should put that in grams here.

I cannot imagine it would be worth the effort, and also, things are grounded to those plates.

[JSett]

The weight you'll lose is almost nothing. Absolutely pointless. You'd probably save more weight moving to a lighter strap

What are you trying to achieve? If it's just weight saving then you're better off ripping out things like the rhythm circuit that actually weigh something.
Or buy a lighter guitar. JM's are comparatively heavy compared to Strats or SG's...there's a lot of wood and hardware in them.

Don't buy a Les Paul

[RaistMagus]

I googled a bit and found some site where they sell these and they list a weight, not sure if this is the packaged shipping weight or just the part, I tend to think it is jst the part or mostly the part. The big pool was listed as 100g (3.5 oz) and each of the small plates under the pickups as 10g (0.35 oz). I assume the smaller pool would be around 20g (0.7oz), for a total of 140g (4.9oz). If the paint would weigh e.g. 40g then I expext a benefit of 100g (3.5oz), not great but definitelly noticeable for my shoulder and back.

The guitar was originally 3780g (8.33lb) and now after removing the rhythm circuit and the trem lock button it is 3702g (8.16lb). I kinda regret not buying a MIJ one at 3600g, the lightest a JM can be, but it was in a sorry state otherwise. I also sold a very lightweight 2008 thinskin for peanuts at the time, it had some weird piercing ice-pick resonances that I wasn't able to dial out nomatter how I tried; still kinda regret this sale as well.

Copper shielding tape will be lighter. Conductive paint will be lighter still.

If weight is (starting to be) an issue I would route the body between the pickups to the same depth as the control cavity.

Lightweight tuners are also an option. It all adds up.

Thanks, maybe conductive paint is the way then. Weight is an issue for me due to neck and back problems unfortunatelly. The tuners are the vintage ones, I think they're already quite light. Do you know of any lighter ones?

If you have a kitchen scale you could find out and share it with us I don't believe it'll be all that significant, unless they feel heavy in the hand.

There's a quite significant difference in the weight of individual pieces of wood, the JM and Jag bodies are pretty large, so the major weight is going to be there no matter what. Routing like suggested above will probably help out, but if the body is really heavy to start with, there's a limit how far you can get without visible impact.

I do have a kitchen scale but it is not easy to remove all the brass plates. I have weighed the rhythm circuit (only 57g) and the trem lock button (12g).

Probably like six ounces, maybe I should put that in grams here.

I cannot imagine it would be worth the effort, and also, things are grounded to those plates.

A little here and a little there end up making a difference. Yes, I would have to replace the grounding scheme with something.

The weight you'll lose is almost nothing. Absolutely pointless. You'd probably save more weight moving to a lighter strap

What are you trying to achieve? If it's just weight saving then you're better off ripping out things like the rhythm circuit that actually weigh something.
Or buy a lighter guitar. JM's are comparatively heavy compared to Strats or SG's...there's a lot of wood and hardware in them.

Don't buy a Les Paul

The rhythm circuit is already gone haha. These guitars are hard to come by and very expensive so I can't really shop around for a light AVRI62. This JM was 3780g (8.33lb) originally. My strat is 3400g (7.5lb) and my Les Paul is 4000g (8.8lb). The strat I can play with no issues. the JM is ok for short times, the LP I haven't tried a long session yet. The LP was listed as lighter and that's wy I bought it but I got tricked : (

[JSett]

Ahh. Well, short of actually taking wood out you're not likely to lose much else. Wider strap is probably the best bet then if you're determined to keep it.

[sunburster]

I kinda regret not buying a MIJ one at 3600g, the lightest a JM can be,

JMs can be lighter than that, you just have to hunt around. Mine is 3410g, for example.

[ohm-men]

Indeed, taking out the shielding won't reduce weight.

I have been building a Jazzmaster body last summer , which ended up arround 4 Kg.
I deepend out all the routings (except those ounder the Pu's) to the same depth as the trem cavety.
I ended up saving a mere 200/250 grms. (qouter of a pound?)

Another body I made turned out pretty heavy, this was a Hallmark Swept wing type body. I ended up routing everything under the PG just leaving some wood in the middle (a bit like a semi holow) I routed out a lot of woud and was able to reduce the weight with 1.2 Kg. The swept wing has a HUGE pick guard, at least 40% more then a Jm.
But, this one is now more of a semi hollow then a full body instrument.... Turned out nice as it more to my liking now... But I can't imagine you doing this to an AVRI body...

AVRI's can be on the heavy side. But as being already said, better invest in a wide strap to relief your shoulder...
Or get a lighter body and transplant the whole shebang...
After all, AVRI is Alder, so plenty of choiche when it comes to lighter weight bodies...

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

Wide straps do help. I should know, I have a Les Paul Custom that weighs almost 10 lbs or 5Kg. The Squier JM 40th anniv. I got last year felt light in comparison ar 3.7Kg. Then I built a 2.8Kg JM, so light due to the Paulownia I used for the body.

Honestly, if the 62 AVRI is too heavy I think you're better off keeping it as it is because routing the body will lower the value and the other options have minimal effect, or trade/sell it for a lighter 62 AVRI.

[Larry Mal]

There's just so many genuinely light guitars out there that I am wondering why all this routing of the Jazzmaster is going on.

I just saw an SG Special that weighs six pounds six ounces, for instance.

[RaistMagus]

I kinda regret not buying a MIJ one at 3600g, the lightest a JM can be,

JMs can be lighter than that, you just have to hunt around. Mine is 3410g, for example.

WOW! I had no idea they can be so light. I've done some extensive statistics from websites that list weights (mainly Sweetwater) and there was nothing in that range. Maybe my statistics are a biased as the lighter ones might be selling first.

Whenever I played a MIJ JM, they always feel smaller than the American ones to me, I can't tell why... They're supposed to be the same but.. Not just the string spacing, I mean the whole body/neck thing.

Wide straps do help. I should know, I have a Les Paul Custom that weighs almost 10 lbs or 5Kg. The Squier JM 40th anniv. I got last year felt light in comparison ar 3.7Kg. Then I built a 2.8Kg JM, so light due to the Paulownia I used for the body.

Honestly, if the 62 AVRI is too heavy I think you're better off keeping it as it is because routing the body will lower the value and the other options have minimal effect, or trade/sell it for a lighter 62 AVRI.

2.8kg! Isn't it neck diving then? How does it sound compared to the alder ones?

There's just so many genuinely light guitars out there that I am wondering why all this routing of the Jazzmaster is going on.

I just saw an SG Special that weighs six pounds six ounces, for instance.

Because we like offsets : )

[tammyw]

I'd say go for it with the shielding, if that's what makes you happy.

Plastic button tuners will be about 4-5g lighter each than metal button tuners, so about an ounce difference for the set.

Also, an aluminum top plate for the vibrato (or an anodized aluminum Mastery vibrato) will take off another 3 ounces.

FWIW, the second-lightest guitar I have is a PRS S2 Vela semi-hollow at 2.52kg, and it's a lovely guitar in it's own right.

[Downsman]

Indeed, taking out the shielding won't reduce weight.

I have been building a Jazzmaster body last summer , which ended up arround 4 Kg.
I deepend out all the routings (except those ounder the Pu's) to the same depth as the trem cavety.
I ended up saving a mere 200/250 grms. (qouter of a pound?)

Just to point out 250gms is over half a pound, not a quarter (454 grams to a pound). Which would be a noticeable difference.

I'm going to be doing a swimming pool route for my heavy Vintera Jag, but not for the weight savings as such, but because I want to put in 3 mini humbuckers, and I like the idea, since I'll be routing it anyway, of having flexibility for other options in the future. I imagine I'll end up about the same weight as three mini humbuckers weigh about 250gms more than the two Jaguar pickups. But I'm also getting rid of the upper switch plate and rhythm circuit so may end up a bit ahead.

In my AV65 Jag the copper shielding feels very thin and lightweight, but don't know how it compares to what was used in the Jazzmaster.

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

Wide straps do help. I should know, I have a Les Paul Custom that weighs almost 10 lbs or 5Kg. The Squier JM 40th anniv. I got last year felt light in comparison ar 3.7Kg. Then I built a 2.8Kg JM, so light due to the Paulownia I used for the body.

Honestly, if the 62 AVRI is too heavy I think you're better off keeping it as it is because routing the body will lower the value and the other options have minimal effect, or trade/sell it for a lighter 62 AVRI.

2.8kg! Isn't it neck diving then? How does it sound compared to the alder ones?

Sounds like JM with flatwounds and the relatively higher output Black Bobbin type pickups. I do notice more string vibration in the neck compared to the heavier Squier JM. But honestly, I think the neck plays a bigger part in the sound of an electric guitar than the nody does.

Here's the neck pickup with lots of tremolo and splash of reverb (but still using round wounds): https://youtu.be/dwILxigJjVs?si=lBUi6j0ZUr6G5Jjz

It doesn't neck dive when standing, using a strap. If I sit down it doesn't balance perfectly on my leg. When I hold the neck I don't notice anything different.