microphonic '75 Jaguar... solutions?

[Pacafeliz]

well some days ago i was just about to throw my nice heavyweight '75 jag into the FS section and/or ebay, but then i came across that great Zwan live video on youtube where corgan plays his maple'd 70s jaguar and gets the must un-fucking-real tones outta it and i said "no way".
for now.
or... until now.

this clip, i mean: ... re=related
(you don't have to LIKE the band or solo... it's just those incredible fuzzy tone, SO smashing pumpkins-y. note he uses the bridge pup, even though it sounds so bassy/ballsy).

cuz i plugged it in and yes it sounds great and all, but the whole guitar is terribly microphonic. i mean, i touch it with my finger somewhere and you can hear the bump. i turn a knob and you can hear everything. i touch the pickguard or pickups with the pick and there's this loud *click* thru the amp.
thus, the guitar is very feedback'y, and not of the good kind.
saddly, it has the original pickups gone missing and i've had some AVRI jag pups installed. so i think it SHOULD not be the pups.
so... then, what is it?!

i REALLY want to use this beautiful guitar... but i can't even dream about taking it on a loud stage someday, as is.

HELP!?
thanks,

Pat.

[finboy]

grounding?

[hotrodperlmutter]

wax the pups?

[cobascis]

wax the pups?

They are MIA, should be fine. I think it is a grouding issue.
Also,


PICS!!!

[Mages]

PICS!!!

http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28354

[Sublimedo]

MIA pups could still have issues, in my experience.

[othomas2]

REMOVE CLAWS = All your problems solved.

[MattK]

I don't think Pat's gonna go for that.

The foam under the pickups is 35 years old, like me it's probably pretty frickin tired. I'd cut a couple of thin strips about 3mm thick from new foam, slip them between the old foam and the pickups, then crank those screws down painfully tight.

Either that or bend the "teeth" of the claws in tight to the plastic by about 0.5-1mm. Or both - you just want to lock it down.

Also - if they are wax potted, turning the hair dryer on them (but not hot enough to warp the covers) should "re-flow" the wax a bit if it has become brittle.

[othomas2]

he asked for solutions... Thats a no non sense solution as the pickups arent original . I would say use less gain treble and reverb and live with it. A few have messed with there possible solutions and there is nothin out there that can make a significant difference from what i can see. I chose to remove the claws before i smashed my jag to pieces... A possible remedy / quick fix if you are on the verge of parting with it.

[aen]

Ship USPS to:

Dwarfcraft
912 James St
Eau Claire, WI 54703
USA


No more noise.

[dots]

REMOVE CLAWS = All your problems solved.

napes, unless that means removing them to put on better pickups. a standard jag w/o claws just ain't the same.

[othomas2]

REMOVE CLAWS = All your problems solved.

napes, unless that means removing them to put on better pickups. a standard jag w/o claws just ain't the same.

Aesthetically it kinda sucks... but sound wise... no different from what I've heard. Unless of course you like squeeeeeeel squ sqqqueeeelllll....

[MattK]

note he uses the bridge pup, even though it sounds so bassy/ballsy

If you look about 6:30 in the clip, you can see that the rhythm/lead switch is UP - so unless it was custom wired, he's using the neck pickup.

[dots]

REMOVE CLAWS = All your problems solved.

napes, unless that means removing them to put on better pickups. a standard jag w/o claws just ain't the same.

Aesthetically it kinda sucks... but sound wise... no different from what I've heard. Unless of course you like squeeeeeeel squ sqqqueeeelllll....

I don't think removing parts is the answer though. I play jag with pretty high gain quite often and it never squeals.

[timhulio]

Got a working link for that clip- what Zwan song is it? It seems to be borken...

Tim

[johnniespring]

was it this one?



if so, it's shit. loike all zwan...

[dots]

did you ever get a resolution to this one? please say you didn't take the claws off of a vintage jag. . .

[othomas2]

Well judging by the for sale pictures there is some kinda timeline shown here...

At one stage there weren't any... so taking them off wouldn't be such a crime really especially as they're non original pickups in the first place. Pat was it a prob when they were off ?

[ellengtrgrl]

Nobody likes to take the claws off. Luckily I didn't have to with my '66 Reissue. But, I wish I'd known they were probably the root of the horrible microphonics, my first Jag (a 1990 Japanese Reissue) had. I potted the stock pickups - it still squealed. I put in Quarter Pounders - it squealed just as bad! I had to play at volume and gain levels more appropriate for a lounge jazz act! I got so fed up, I ended up selling the guitar, and gave up on Jags, until I learned last year, about the claw shield issue. I wish I'd known about the claw shield problem 20 years ago - I probably wouldn't have sold that Jag.

[Skip]

he asked for solutions... Thats a no non sense solution as the pickups arent original . I would say use less gain treble and reverb and live with it. A few have messed with there possible solutions and there is nothin out there that can make a significant difference from what i can see. I chose to remove the claws before i smashed my jag to pieces... A possible remedy / quick fix if you are on the verge of parting with it.

me--- this^^^^^