Fender Jaguar Classic Player: Quest for the Amber Switch Tip

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:52 am

I now have a Stay trem fitted and it has PERFECT action so long as you want a trem that doesn't wobble in the socket before biting point , can be moved freely but stays where it's left and looks like an original trem. The only difference is that this trem arm has to points of bending instead of a smooth curve - something I'm going to suggest the maker do to cater for the more exacting needs of our Offset brethren. I think it's great.

John, the chap behind it, was brilliant to deal with and as he didn't have one for MIM we took a guess that it would be metric threads a'la most MIM stuff. Turns out that the trem arm socket is 5mm metric but the thread that screws into the plate is USA Imperial which lends a lot of support that some of the trem is AVRI parts.

I sent John my parts (matron) and he put one together that fit nicely. He also sent me two arms to try, a short and a long one, as well as sending me a pearl tip to match the aged pup covers. We had a good chat on the phone for an hour about stuff including certain unconfirmed and upcoming signature Jaguars from fender. So yes this cost me 30 quid but lets be honest that is some fucking top notch service from a Precision Engineer for the kind of Trem action like.

avj · Post by **avj** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:10 pm

Great info there. I'd love to see how the new arm looks.

I also missed the update with the white-button Klusons. They look great! Which kind are they?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:43 pm

Dave wrote:fender Musicmaster Bass amp

shit, i still haven't sent you that fuse... i'll dig it out right n-SQUIRREL!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 12:29 pm

avj wrote:Great info there. I'd love to see how the new arm looks.

I also missed the update with the white-button Klusons. They look great! Which kind are they?

Will post some pics soon. Only have iphone and It would be good to get higher res close up picks to show the arm/collar socket fits. Aside the fact it hads two bends in the arm instead of one smooth curve it looks no different. I mentioned this to him and he's likely to make a tool to start producing curved arms in the future for the vintage-correct purists out there.

They are normal Kluson tuners that I got from an SSer a while back. There is a slight gap between each one on the back so I'm wondering if the MIM used Metric tuners - I presume a metric/imperial mismatch. Will have a look at the box and find out!

Stewart - yeah as and when chap! What did it do again?!? Timhulio was the man to talk to about installing it right?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:18 pm

yeah, i was too scared to attempt to fit it in case i got dead.

avj · Post by **avj** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 7:05 pm

Dave, I saw you mention a roller bridge for the CP Jag in another thread. I was investigating this the other day myself and found that the GFS Les Paul-style roller bridge came recommended in several other forum locations that I failed to record. They're out of stock in the chrome and in the black variety, but there is surprisingly no shortage of gold ones.

I believe Les Paul radii are typically 12" while the CP Jag/Jazz are listed as 9.5", but as you noticed in a comparison, this is probably less of an issue than it would be for a vintage-spec 7.25". I'd love to give one of these a whirl, but not at the cost of having gold hardware.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 9:54 am

avj wrote:Dave, I saw you mention a roller bridge for the CP Jag in another thread. I was investigating this the other day myself and found that the GFS Les Paul-style roller bridge came recommended in several other forum locations that I failed to record. They're out of stock in the chrome and in the black variety, but there is surprisingly no shortage of gold ones.

I believe Les Paul radii are typically 12" while the CP Jag/Jazz are listed as 9.5", but as you noticed in a comparison, this is probably less of an issue than it would be for a vintage-spec 7.25". I'd love to give one of these a whirl, but not at the cost of having gold hardware.

Nice one AVJ! Was this recommended in regard to CP jags specifically? I think in that thread I also said that i am not at all convinced the AOM bridge is even tailored to be 9.5 despite the fact it's only used on fenders with that radius. Looked exactly the same as 12" Tonpros bridge I've got. I didn't measure but just lined up by site so i may be wrong.

It would be a little bit of an engineering job but if the rollers are sufficiently thick enough and you can get the roller spindels off then you can mount them on a drill, set them spinning and apply a file to bring the grooves down a bit on the outer saddles. Might get through a few bridges before getting it right though.

I suppose another option if you have high enough frets is to get a 12" radius sanding blaock and bring the upper frets to that radius essentially ending up with a compound radius if only on the frets. But that is probably going way to far to be honest! God I am so anally retentive.

One last thing I did which is one of those things I would never have believed until i tried: I thought the acoustic sound was a bit dead compared to 25.5 scale guitars and have seen others say as such about 24" scale. Well I tried a trick which I think I picked up from Bacchus Paul.

String your guitar up to concert pitch and then turn the neck screws a quarter or half turn loose. Then re-tune to concert pitch. The screw the neck screws tight again and re-tune back to concert pitch. This effectively pulls the neck in super tight into the socket. BANG it rang so much better - enough that I don't think its just subjective mojo bollocks - I have a pretty good ear for such things and I would do this on every guitar without hesitation. Recommended.

avj · Post by **avj** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:22 pm

Dave wrote:
avj wrote:Dave, I saw you mention a roller bridge for the CP Jag in another thread. I was investigating this the other day myself and found that the GFS Les Paul-style roller bridge came recommended in several other forum locations that I failed to record. They're out of stock in the chrome and in the black variety, but there is surprisingly no shortage of gold ones.

I believe Les Paul radii are typically 12" while the CP Jag/Jazz are listed as 9.5", but as you noticed in a comparison, this is probably less of an issue than it would be for a vintage-spec 7.25". I'd love to give one of these a whirl, but not at the cost of having gold hardware.
Nice one AVJ! Was this recommended in regard to CP jags specifically? I think in that thread I also said that i am not at all convinced the AOM bridge is even tailored to be 9.5 despite the fact it's only used on fenders with that radius. Looked exactly the same as 12" Tonpros bridge I've got. I didn't measure but just lined up by site so i may be wrong.

It would be a little bit of an engineering job but if the rollers are sufficiently thick enough and you can get the roller spindels off then you can mount them on a drill, set them spinning and apply a file to bring the grooves down a bit on the outer saddles. Might get through a few bridges before getting it right though.

I suppose another option if you have high enough frets is to get a 12" radius sanding blaock and bring the upper frets to that radius essentially ending up with a compound radius if only on the frets. But that is probably going way to far to be honest! God I am so anally retentive.

One last thing I did which is one of those things I would never have believed until i tried: I thought the acoustic sound was a bit dead compared to 25.5 scale guitars and have seen others say as such about 24" scale. Well I tried a trick which I think I picked up from Bacchus Paul.

String your guitar up to concert pitch and then turn the neck screws a quarter or half turn loose. Then re-tune to concert pitch. The screw the neck screws tight again and re-tune back to concert pitch. This effectively pulls the neck in super tight into the socket. BANG it rang so much better - enough that I don't think its just subjective mojo bollocks - I have a pretty good ear for such things and I would do this on every guitar without hesitation. Recommended.

The GFS bridge was mentioned in a few forum posts I found in various places as a replacement specifically for the CP Jag/Jazz -- but I have this bad habit of going apeshit and opening a thousand tabs when doing research stuff, then failing to save the sources in a helpful way for later. This is why I have a tendency to initiate extremely long threads here on a topic I'm passionate about, lest I forget. Rumor has it that any 74mm bridge will fit, leaving the only hurdle being a correct radius. Oh, and for a bit more coin it seems Schaller make a roller bridge that will fit. I'm sure there are cheaper vendors than StewMac, I just happened to have that tab open.

I've also just acquired a matching CP Jazzmaster this week (lorez totally jacked my thunder with his awesome purchase!) and I'm going to go through and give it a proper setup tonight or tomorrow. While it's apart, I'll use calipers to measure some important bridge-related distances and I'll also whip up a quick radius gauge to measure the current AOM bridge radius.

I think this kind of thing is perfect material for the oft-neglected SS wiki. With the two of us already balls-deep in research, we should create an article for the CP Jag/Jazz and populate it with our findings. I've got a message in to dots about creating a page, since it seems to require a certain level of access.

The ol' neck-seating trick is indeed a good one. I also remember picking that up from someone around here that I can't think of, so I'll jump aboard with you and give BacchusPaul the credit. I had actually forgotten about it until you mentioned it, so I will be a busy bee tonight applying that to everything I haven't already done it to.

avj · Post by **avj** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:48 pm

I noticed the GFS chrome Schaller-style roller bridge is back in stock, so after reconfirming reports that it works great on the CP Jag/JM I've ordered a pair. I'll report back soon!

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:20 pm

the only downside i've found with the roller style bridges is that you can't just pop it on, intonate and rock. you'll have to adjust the bridge posts down in order to compensate for the higher string saddles.

which i guess really isn't a big deal, but it's not just a bolt on and rock like i thought it would be. you'll basically be resetting up your guitar, and for me, i can never find the same sweet spot twice.

avj · Post by **avj** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:03 pm

Yeah, I'm kind of expecting that. I'm going to start with the JM because I have a few other adjustments I'd like to make too. I noticed that the trem action is nowhere near as smooth as the Jag (even when the spring is adjusted properly for trem lock use), so I'm going to remove the trem plate and investigate.

Also, on both the CP Jag and JM I have the AOM bridge sitting as far down as it can go, but the action is still a touch high on the JM. It'll be a good time to put a shim in if I need to, which is something I wanted to do anyway with the stock bridge. Perhaps I'll even be lucky and the overall height will be lower, negating the need for a shim. LET A GIRL DREAM.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:43 am

Haha oddly I just ordered the wilkinson bridge from GF...basically because it locks in and looked like a more solid build for teh sustainz. might be shit though! will also report back when it lands..

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:41 pm

Oh noez! Before ordering from GFS Brits should always check the CH Guitars website on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-string-guitar-T ... 20ac612066
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/electric-guitar-r ... 1e582bbad4

The stuff is about the same price, if not lower when the US > UK shipping is taken out of the equasion and I'm fairly sure that it's all exactly the same stuff anyway. I really should have pointed this out earlier. This is where I bought my roller bridge from, too.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:53 pm

ekwatts wrote:Oh noez! Before ordering from GFS Brits should always check the CH Guitars website on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-string-guitar-T ... 20ac612066
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/electric-guitar-r ... 1e582bbad4

The stuff is about the same price, if not lower when the US > UK shipping is taken out of the equasion and I'm fairly sure that it's all exactly the same stuff anyway. I really should have pointed this out earlier. This is where I bought my roller bridge from, too.

No worries! I had to order a MIM strat bridge replacement bridge from them for Willin anyways so made sense to get both. Will look at CH guitars in future though cheers!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:49 am

Argh. Just got through the roller bridge from Gfetish and I can tell straight away that the two outer rollers don't turn because they're pinched by the brackets. Not even sure it's worth me putting in the guitar to test if I cant turn then with my finger.

Disapoinment sucks. Just hope the MIM trem I got for Willin is all good

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 7:28 pm

AVJ: WARNING WARNING WILKINSON BRIDGE DOES NOT WORK WITH CP JAG. REAPEAT: WILKINSON BRIDGE DOES NOT WORK WITH CP JAG

The posts screw in fine into the existing thimbles but they are a tiny fraction too close together to fit the bridge. Forcing does not work. This combined with aforementioned rollers not rolling = FAIL.

Oh well time to exchange for the Schaller type.

Obviously EKWatts has shown these will work on Jp Jags.

avj · Post by **avj** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:51 pm

Well, that really blows. It's also a bit troubling, since they're listed as having 74mm post spacing -- the magic number.

I had ordered a pair of the Schaller variety from GFS on the Mar 29 and just received them today. I am about to head out to rehearsal, but if I have time tonight I'll try and flop one onto the Jag and let you know how it goes.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:34 pm

What the fuck. That's bizarre. They should fit.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:22 pm

When I installed the bridge on my Jag all I did was widen the existing holes for the regular Jaguar bridge cups. It was just a teensy bit tight, can't remember which way, but there was a little resistance, maybe a half a millimetre or something, but I didn't have to force it on. It's a big post import bridge so I would have assumed it would just fit unless Fender are manufacturing their own import-style tunomatic bridges that bizarrely have a completely different post spacing to both regular cheapo or Gibson TOM bridges or even their Jag/Jazzy bridges.

Now that I've just said it, it sounds entirely possible. Silly Fender.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 3:18 pm

ekwatts wrote:When I installed the bridge on my Jag all I did was widen the existing holes for the regular Jaguar bridge cups. It was just a teensy bit tight, can't remember which way, but there was a little resistance, maybe a half a millimetre or something, but I didn't have to force it on. It's a big post import bridge so I would have assumed it would just fit unless Fender are manufacturing their own import-style tunomatic bridges that bizarrely have a completely different post spacing to both regular cheapo or Gibson TOM bridges or even their Jag/Jazzy bridges.

Now that I've just said it, it sounds entirely possible. Silly Fender.

It might be because i didn't replace the actual thimbles as he new posts screwed in the existing ones. Every chance that things will come together if I swap the thimbles but given that 3 rolers don't roll on it I wasn't willing to go the whole hog! Think I'll just plump for the other roller bridge at this stage although I like the look of the wilkinson.