First things first: The trem is a bit fucked. The string ends get stuck between the wobbly plate they string through and the plate that bolts it to the body. I agonised for ages over this, wondering what the fuck was going on and why other people didn't complain about it. It basically prevents the trem from doing upward wobbles. And then I dismantled the whole assembly and found that it looked awfully like the previous owner (+4, probably) had nicely filed down the fulcrum it sits against, considerably more on the treble side, which is where the strings catch the most.. I have nothing to compare this to. Somebody help (I'm probably just going to buy a cheap replacement, to be honest)
Secondly, I'm considering installing a new bridge. I have a Wilkinson roller bridge just sat around. I tried dropping the posts into the regular Jag bridge cups, and they fit nice and snug. This did mean that the bridge wasn't height adjustable, as the supplied cups are screw-ins, but they're a good few millimetres wider. So now I'm wondering whether to drill the original holes out for the 10-11mm cups for the wilkinson. I strung it up with just one string, and it played nicely, though the action was really very high further up the neck, a result of the Jag cups not being quite deep enough. The Wilkinson cups allow the posts to screw right down, and the lips are also slimmer, so the action wouldn't be a problem. Should I dew it?
It seems like one of the previous owners tightened the tension too much and wore away some of the support plate using the tremolo. Without having it in my hands i'd say you need to loosen that tension screw quite a bit, which should allow you to upbend and also allow the back plate to ease up a bit so the ball ends dont get trapped.
Dont go buying a new trem because i have the part you may need going spare.
As for the bridge it needs to be very accurate or it wont intonate. Widening existing holes is a nightmare and almost impossible to get accurate, a luthier would fill the existing holes with a hardwood dowel then drill it out for the new bridge. If you can live with the temporary modification i'd go that route, it will mean shimming the neck though because TOM style bridge sit higher than Jag/Stang bridges. You can get the height adjustment right by the thickness of shims used.
The TOM post for the roller bridge I was using sat quite far out when sat in the regular Jag bridge cups, so I think I might easily get away without using any shims. When I tried the bridge posts sat in the empty holes after pulling the bridge cups out, the strings wouldn't fret as they were sat on the neck. With the proper TOM cups that will add only 1.57mm, which is negligible.
As for the trem, I really don't think it's just average wear and tear. This thing has been badly butchered in the past and it looks like somebody has actually filed away at the fulcrum. You can see marks from whatever has been used. It's left it uneven, and no matter what I try with the tension spring, the string ends just catch at the back. It's pretty much a write-off, none of it even seems to fit together properly anymore. I can live with a cheaper version without the mute to be quite honest, it's just a shame, really. Unless I could cannibalise one of the cheaper ones to replace the bits that are fucked on the original.. Hmm. That would be interesting. I'll just have to buy one and see.
So yeah, I definitely think I'm gonna get started on drilling those new holes tomorrow. Wish me luck. This is the first time I've ever modified a guitar in this way.
ekwatts wrote:Unless I could cannibalise one of the cheaper ones to replace the bits that are fucked on the original.. Hmm. That would be interesting. I'll just have to buy one and see.
this is what i was thinking.
a buddy of mine bought one of the no name, knock off bits. want me to have a look at it next to my CIJ and maybe photo the differences?
You might be right about the filing but wtf were they thinking. I have an allparts Jag tremolo you can have, all that is missing is the spring part so you can use the fulcrum part off it at least. PM me your address.
How much wider do them holes need to be for the TOM cups? If you mark the new width you may be able to chisel the waste out (most Pound Shops sell cheap small Chisels). I'm worried without using a drill press with the body clamped down to the work surface you could end up with a disaster here.
The body will be sufficiently clamped down hard, I did a few experiments with a 12mm drill bit into a piece of scrap wood before and the cups fitted quite nicely once I'd pushed them in hard. All I'm really worried about is drilling right through the body, so I'll take it slowly. Famous last words.
Thanks for the offer of the trem Fran, PM sent. You're a gent.
othomas2 wrote:You could just file the other side of the support to match and the shim underneath the plate to bring to the correct height.
Well, I have no real point of reference, so I'm not exactly sure what the right height would actually be, beyond trial and error. I believe there may also be some other niggles with the assembly other than just the fact that some idiot has had a go at bits of it with an orbital sander but I can't really identify them without knowing how it should look.
Plus, it's scratched to fuckery, and not just from use. It looks like its been stepped on.
Fran is a dude without equal, though we all know that anyway. Got the trem today and just took the fulcrum section from that and stuck it onto mine and it works. The string anchor bit now sits properly proud of the rest of the assembly, the way I assume it should have on the other one. I'm still non-plussed as to why the fulcrum on my trem was so long. It seems really odd and it actually makes some sort of sense that the previous owner had attempted to file it down, because it was just wrong. Oh well, doesn't matter now.
I'm possibly going to do the drilling later. I also realised that I'm going to have to widen the holes in the scratchplate for the bridge cups too. Hadn't thought of that, and I don't have a large enough drill bit (about 14-15mm I'd say) so it's onto eBay for one with a minimised shaft that will fit my ancient ghetto drill from a time when holes used to be smaller.
It's in and working. This is a really nice bridge. It's chunky, it looks cool as fuck and I'm convinced it's added a whole bag of sustain while playing it acoustically. With the working tremplate, courtesy of Fran, I feel like I've actually got a proper Jaguar at last. This is a good day for mankind. Now I just need a new scratchplate and to solder everything back together adequately enough after I've removed the claws from the pickups.
I also used an innovative method of securing the guitar in place while I drilled; I lay it on the ground and stepped on it. It meant I got the angle pretty spot-on, too.
ekwatts wrote:It's in and working. This is a really nice bridge. It's chunky, it looks cool as fuck and I'm convinced it's added a whole bag of sustain while playing it acoustically. With the working tremplate, courtesy of Fran, I feel like I've actually got a proper Jaguar at last. This is a good day for mankind. Now I just need a new scratchplate and to solder everything back together adequately enough after I've removed the claws from the pickups.
YOU DID IT?! Glad it all worked out and the bridge helped
Edit: It will add sustain, yet another area were the stock bridge fails.
Fucking awesome! Those things are relatively cheap too, I just looked it up. Any issues with the radius being different? If not I'm so fucking ordering one of these right away and installing it in my Jag. The bridge is my main issue with the Jag, but I didn't want to do the whole KURTSDSZ TOMLOL thing.
euan wrote:
I'm running in monoscope right now. I can't read multiple dimensions of meta right now
The only problem I've noticed is that the D and G-strings are "ghosting" a little bit, a bit too much ringing, which is probably an intonation issue. Well, I hope it is.
The radius doesn't seem off at all. The roller saddles don't allow for individual height adjustment, they're all stepped in a nice curve. Also, the neck pickup alignment is off, but the bridge pickup seems okay (it's the Duncan SJAG3 with the big fat polepieces though). When I took the neck off while I drilled the holes out before I noticed that it had already been shimmed. There's a little bit of lower fret buzz when the bridge is fairly low (lower than I'd normally have it anyway) so I'm wondering if it'd be worth removing the shim and simply adjusting the truss rod a little bit. I fucking hate it when you can't adjust a truss rod via the headstock though.
Anyway, none of these issues are anywhere near as bad as they were before I added the new bridge. The thing was damn near unplayable, so I'm sure I can weed out all the little problems over time.
Concerning the neck pup pole piece allignment, are your fret dot markers evenly in line down the centre of the D and G strings? If not the neck is fractionally out of line, easily done when you put one back on. If you slightly loosen the neck plate screws youll be able to move the neck whilst fixed in the pocket so it all lines up.
