Shortscale Owners... List your mods and tweaks.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:57 pm

One way or another, most have made some kind of adjustments to their shortscales. I'm interested to hear what you've done to yours !! and the reasons why you decided to do this... ? What has been the most beneficial mods you've encountered ?

The nature of forums is about discussion and improvements on whatever that may be... hopefully this could conclude some of these repeated posts, and put to bed some of these issues. Buzzing bridge anyone ? Perhaps this'll become a thread where newbies may be linked to when they receive their first shortscale...

Please share & relay your experiences and observations however minute or in depth !!

A list & summary style response would be great ... if discussing a specific model then please mention this..

thanks
Owen

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:26 pm

Great idea.
Imo a lot of mods are dependant on the players taste other than perhaps the notorious rattling bridge. But anyhow, here's my main mods;

Shim Neck- I find a lot of bolt-on guitars suffer with bridge grub screws being too high (especially with low action) making palm muting uncomfortable and in some cases you can loose the screws. I also prefer low action and it aids this, so it solve's two issues for me.

Lubricate everything!- Moving parts that is. When you consider a Car engine depends a lot on lubrication for good performance then a guitar is no different, especially tremolo systems. It also helps with bridge parts too, especially the stock Jag/Jazzy bridge.

Pickup upgrade- Most stock guitars within a certain price bracket can benefit from pup upgrades. In some cases it can transform a guitar. Personal choices can also be applied.

Other things i may consider are replacing the nut or cutting nut slots deeper for lower action, strap locks for gigging guitars, sometimes a cap or pot change can be an improvement and lastly replacing machine heads. There is nothing worse than disfunctional machine heads.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:40 pm

My first shortscale, a Squier Duo-Sonic [older RI] was modded to bits but purely for looks [stealth-duo]

My Classic Vibe Duo has a new switch on it because the factory one was shit and broke

The HH Jag special has Duncan '59s in it but this was not done by me. So far i've only put Bronco knobs on it but it will get a Bigsby and maybe P-Rails down the line with extensive mods to the switching to accommodate.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:40 pm

The first thing to generally happen to any guitar that comes into my possesion (shortscale or otherwise) is straplocks.
I'm not the crying over a blemished guitar type but I do what I can to avoid it.

Other non systematic changes include:

- Re-orientation of three way switches to side-to-side
- Reversal of Jaguar lower control plate switches so that down is on
- The disabling of upper bout controls but only on the Jazzmaster (I actually used these controls quite a bit on the Jaguar that I had.)

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:43 pm

straplocks is another thing i'll end up doing to all of my guitars. No point in having chips in a guitar thats already new. Although, once that first chip comes out its all downhill and you stop caring about nicks and scratches. Its a nice feeling really.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:49 pm

Fran wrote:Lubricate everything!- Moving parts that is. When you consider a Car engine depends a lot on lubrication for good performance then a guitar is no different, especially tremolo systems. It also helps with bridge parts too, especially the stock Jag/Jazzy bridge.

What's your lube of choice, Fran? I remember trying lots of things as a teenager, when I spent more time reading guitar magazines and practising scales thane I did getting real experience.

I remember having good results with graphite from a pencil, but I haven't had to use it in years. I suspect that I'm setting things up better now that I was when I was sixteen.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:51 pm

BacchusPaul wrote:
Fran wrote:Lubricate everything!- Moving parts that is. When you consider a Car engine depends a lot on lubrication for good performance then a guitar is no different, especially tremolo systems. It also helps with bridge parts too, especially the stock Jag/Jazzy bridge.
What's your lube of choice, Fran? I remember trying lots of things as a teenager, when I spent more time reading guitar magazines and practising scales thane I did getting real experience.

I remember having good results with graphite from a pencil, but I haven't had to use it in years. I suspect that I'm setting things up better now that I was when I was sixteen.

It depends, on something like a Floyd Rose i'd use Silicon spray as it does'nt attract dirt. But stuff on short scales i'll use vaseline.

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:57 pm

For my only shortscale (and guitar):

Mustang Bridge: I know it is not 100% necessary, and a downside is the lack of being to move the strings from notch to notch (which fixes the MIJ trem spacing anomaly). It cut down on buzzing etc.

Pencil all surfaces: Pretty self-explanatory, I've not noticed improvement, but it must help.

New Pickup: Curtis Novak neck pickup.

Wax potted both pickups: I did mainly beeswax with some parafin. I used old candles and a few new ones, kept under 150 degress and left in for about 20 minutes. Cut nearly all microphonic feedback (which heavily plagues CIJ/MIJ pickups).

Entirely new electronics: Cloth wiring, Fender USA pots with brass shafts, new jack, replaced all faulty switches.

Foil'd the back of the pick guard: Used spray adhesive, nominally cuts down on some noise.

.011-.050 Strings: I can't play for shit on anything less than .011s.

Yeah.

tomin8r · Post by **tomin8r** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:13 am

Lower action and move saddles - Intonation
13-60 strings - Standard protocol
5 springs/all the way back (strat trems)
pup/pot swap (SuperSonic, bronco bass, strat) - Decent toanz

Thats about all I usually do depending on the guitar.

Dice · Post by **Dice** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 3:40 am

For non trem users:

Mustang and Jag bridges - wrap tape around the posts to keep the bridge stable.

Mustang Trem - hardail it. Bolts through the base plate in to the tail piece, with a couple of washers under the tailpiece to allow for wrap under and correct string break angle.

kypdurron · Post by **kypdurron** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:35 am

Reissue Mustang: higher strings popped out of the nut - small plastic wheel on string tree removed and string tree lowered. Always hit the switches when playing - lowered switches as deep as the routing will allow. New setup of the trem springs.

MIJ Jazzmaster: Mustang bridge (before, I had a Schaller TOM on it, but it had the wrong radius. I also had a modified Mustang bridge from warmoth, but it was alwysa set up as a stock Mustang bridge, so I changed it to one). New pickups (pickup-wizard JM-pickups).

argylelewis · Post by **argylelewis** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:40 am

Mods to the Supersonic - Refinish olympic white as when it came it was nearly bald. Toronado Bridge as it did have a gibson type drilled in there and it was horrible. Jazzmaster pickups just because, well just because I wanted them. Soon to be new cut pickguard as I had to cut the last one and I didn't quite get it right.

I did have a '66 Musicmaster aswell which I didn't really mod but I did put new tuners on if that counts, i sold it for Â£400 in December so I could go to Paris. Now I'm wishing I still had it.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:15 am

As for lube I've used vaseline and graphite shavings (sometimes mixed) in the past with good results ( EDIT: ON GUITARS YOU PERVOID GETS) - any other options?

Way too much Straplocks in this thread. I hate schaller strap locks. Hate. Them. Would prefer the dimarzio rucksack clasp option even though it looks gash if I had to choose. Real men use Grolsch though. Fuck an schaller.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:22 am

argylelewis wrote:I did have a '66 Musicmaster aswell which I didn't really mod but I did put new tuners on if that counts, i sold it for Â£400 in December so I could go to Paris. Now I'm wishing I still had it.

paris is nice, but not '66 musicmaster nice.

argylelewis · Post by **argylelewis** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:33 am

It was nice, probaly worth it...just, although that Musicmaster was really nice.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:39 am

This is what I've done to 2 of mine:

Jag-stang:
- Tape the bridge posts to keep it stable (I'm not a trem user really)
- Graphite in bridge slots (for those odd occasions I do use the trem)
- Replacement Humbucker (originally SH-5, now BKP Miracle Man)
- 500k Vol and Tone pots
- 0.22uf orange drop cap

Jaguar (in order):
- Mustang Bridge
- Tape the bridge posts to keep it stable
- Graphite in bridge slots
- Buzz-stop
- 250k pots
- kill switch instead of bass cut
- Replace pridge pup with S-Jag-3
- Replace S-Jag-3 with SH-5 humbucker, then with BKP Nailbomb
- put 1meg pots back in
- replace both pickups with BKP92s
- wire switches to give series/parallel mod
- remove buzz-stop
- put 3 way toggle in for pickup selection and have remaining switch as in/out phase
- put rewound Jag pups back in

Post by **Mike** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:21 am

I went insane on my Jag-Stang when I had it.

- new pickguard; straightened humbucker route, corrected lower horn
- replaced bridge pickup with Seymour Duncan JB Trembucker
- neck pickup with 1/4 Pounder since the Neck pickup died (a crying shame)
- replaced pots with 1meg to increase brightness
- rewired switching as one slider pickup selector (neck,both,bridge) and the other as a control selector (volume&tone, volume, bypass)
- replaced knobs with chrome domes
- locked trem to plate with washers/nuts
- replaced bridge with TOM for a time, no discernable improvement

My Classic Player Jaguar has only the simplest mod done:

- Flipper orientation of lead circuit on/off switches for the two pickups and rewired them accordingly. Now "down" (away from the strings) is ON so it's impossible to "strum" the pickups off if you're a shambler like me. I left the bass-cut as is as the down position is OFF.

My 1966 Jaguar is bone stock and will stay so.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:31 am

Mike wrote:- new pickguard; straightened humbucker route, corrected lower horn

Mike is there any threads with pics of this? Be reet interested to see it with those specific changes.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:52 am

Most of mine are just set-ups and new pups (mostly SD) and electrics. The only one I've did a lot to is probably the Vista Jagmaster. It cas a SD Custom Custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. It also has a Jag upper control set that I'm thinking of rewiring like the Mex Jags for splitting. It needs a white guard cos the ugly guard is tooo ugly. For some reason it looks even worse in pics:

Post by **Mike** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:52 am

Aha this is all in the ancient mists of time my boy. My old man and I also made Doog a straightened guard for his, I dunno if he has pics of that either.

Lemme dig in my photobucket