9 YEARS LATER UPDATE jag tang project / refurb

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:28 pm

I'm de-guitaring myself as much as possible so in the end all I should have is my guyatone and a jagstang. Essentially too much gear and not enough playing and Doog has inspired me to get back to the point of owning a guitar which is to play it.

I got this JS from Greenknee in a trade and despite it's oddball nature I find it immensly playable and pick it up all the time, mainly for the neck. The neck pup sounds DREADFUL and thin. The bridge sounds fine enough to my heathen ears. Now I need to get this up to scratch for various reasons as I intend for it to be my joint main guitar for the foreseeable. Issues are:

Tone pot does not work
Nut is snapped and glued back in
I don't like pure white pearloid
Shit neck pup.
No shielding
No ground wire to output!

I also want to give this guitar a slightly classic 50's / 60's japanese guitar look as it seems to have more in common with those types of guitars. Fiesta red, mint guard (aged) with all chrome pup covers...

Chrome inspired by member Mister Neutrons JS:

So the mods I'm going to do are based on what I already have where possible to save money.

Replace and carve nut from Tusq - possibly aluminium
Mint 3 ply guard aged with shellac
White Button Klusons
swap the bridge pup for an old 70's KT10 (Distortion 2 type) and attach a chrome cover to it.
Swap the neck pup for a chrome covered GFS lipstick (8 k or so...should roughly match the HB)
Swap out the pots for CTS pots I already have
Orange drop Cap installed
Add grounding and shielding
Lower swithes with washers

Lastly I'm toying with a more practical switch for the pups but do not want to rout for a toggly on the lower horn - ideas?

Shopping list then is:
Shielding
Wire
HB Chrome cover
Mint Guard
GFS Chrome lipstick

Not too bad cost wise I think

Here's a visual test for the Mint guard (squint a bit and you'll see)

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:57 pm

i love my surf stang

fixed everything i hated on original js

Neck by Rodrigo M&P instrumentos
Body by Robert Original
Pickguard by Aug lol

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:05 pm

That's awesome Iceman!

I'm toying with astraight bridge pup but don't think I want to do any routing. Aside from looks do you think thismakes a big tone difference?

in an ideal world i'd have contours too but this needs to be simple for the time being as in it needs to be up and playable quick with no re-finishing!

Im a bit unsure about a good humbucker and single/hb single - any sugestions? cheap and good of course...

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:14 pm

Fiesta Red JS = Fiesta RAD JS

Kurdtz or not, that looks dope

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:24 am

Dave wrote:That's awesome Iceman!

I'm toying with astraight bridge pup but don't think I want to do any routing. Aside from looks do you think thismakes a big tone difference?

in an ideal world i'd have contours too but this needs to be simple for the time being as in it needs to be up and playable quick with no re-finishing!

Im a bit unsure about a good humbucker and single/hb single - any sugestions? cheap and good of course...

My surfstang is an new body. made of Swamp ash by RobertOG , so he made it straight was i asked , dunno if route the original JS to Straight will change anything.
i using an Seymour Duncan JB current
i going send the Seymour duncan JB back to my original jag-stang and put another Lipstick

Since seymour duncan donÂ´t do Lipstick humbuckers i bought GFS , yes i going for GFS

i bought those for my Surfstang
http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Pro-Tub ... p_356.html
i waiting income my home to checkup

on my original Jag-stang will be Seymour Duncan JB that is currently at my Surf-stang.
i will setup back the tone that i removed. and back wiring
neck-both-bridge - Split - Series - Parallel and Off-Phase at Push-pull

i enjoyed the tone those lipsticks , we see how they will sound at my Surf-Stang

[youtube][/youtube]

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:15 am

Ordered: 1 Shipped: 1 H73 GFS Pro-Tube Lipstick Humbucker Pickup- Cool Chimey Tone! Bridge Position $39.95
Ordered: 1 Shipped: 1 F14 Push-Pull DPDT Pot- 500K Audio- Genuine Alpha Quality $8.79
Ordered: 1 Shipped: 1 F35 Sprague Orange Drop Tone Caps- .022uf for Les Paul $3.95

waiting arrive

so :

my jag-stang will back the Config Seymour duncan SSL-1 + Seymour Duncan JB ( Wiring neck-both Bridge // Split - Series - Parallel ) + Phase off at Push-pull.

my surf-stang will be Seymour Duncan Lipstick Tube for Strat SLS-1 + GFS Pro-tube Lipstick. ( Wiring neck-both Bridge // Split - Series - Parallel ) + Trebble Mod at Push-pull.

lets see how those GFS Sounds on my surf.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 1:25 pm

Dave wrote:I also want to give this guitar a slightly classic 50's / 60's japanese guitar look as it seems to have more in common with those types of guitars. Fiesta red, mint guard (aged) with all chrome pup covers..

i wouldn't refinish it unless you're prepared for major work, the paint on those is about an inch thick. nitromors is shit now they banned the active ingredient, double the price, half as effective.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:05 pm

Nah not gonna get into the whole refinish malarkey - it's WAY too much work when you get stuck in perfectionist land like I do on that kind of thing. I really would like to put contours on it at some point so I'll tackle it down the line but I really like the red as it stands for now.

Okay I've figured out the functionality (I think) but need some idea if this is possible. Firstly I've decided to route for a 3 way toggly a'la Frans JS because for pup switching on the fly I don't get on with the stang set up BUT I want to employ the stang switches for other stuff based on an idea I saw on Offset

Switch 1 - Series/Off/Split (Humbucker)
Switch 2 - Phase/Off/Out of phase (Single Coil)

3 way Toggle - selects between pups.

If I understand this right I can do the Morellols kill switch with the toggly? That would be ace.

Now I'm unsure whether to go with:

GFS Lipstick HB and Single (a'la icey and for the aesthetics)
Normal chrome cover HB
Wide Range type HUmbucker size - probably from Catswhisker as Creamery/novak/lollar way out of my price league.

I've attempted to do visualisations using tin foil and marker pen...

I'm torn between the WR and Lipstick...i think the lipstick might not look as neat as the example above as the tubes are likely smaller than normal HB bobbins I'd guess... Opinions?

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:39 pm

lipsticks is amazing twang

route ?! nah dont do it , remove tone left just volume and put the 3 way there.
remove the volume and put an Alpha 500k pot whit Push pull and add something there.

GFS do an cheapo Wide range , dunno if sounds good.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:06 pm

Do what Icey said.
And get the lipsticks.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:13 am

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:47 am

i swear i read Niaagah

tough was calling me.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:13 am

iCEByTes wrote:GFS do an cheapo Wide range , dunno if sounds good.

it doesn't sound like a WRHB.

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:01 am

hotrodperlmutter wrote:
iCEByTes wrote:GFS do an cheapo Wide range , dunno if sounds good.
it doesn't sound like a WRHB.

-> http://www.guitarfetish.com/Vintage-Spl ... c_175.html

that one ?

too bad :/

so no cheapo options atm

Post by **Doog** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:27 am

Dave wrote:Essentially too much gear and not enough playing and Doog has inspired me to get back to the point of owning a guitar which is to play it.

I'm honoured! I honestly think the Line 6 M9 was the best decision I've made with gear for ages, it's made me stop thinking about new pedals and got me excited about the possibilites of the guitar once again.

Party on, Dave.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:48 am

I'm really getting rid of all stuff I'm not using to any musical end - just want a couple of pedals dear to my heart - a decent lopper to jam with and a reasonable home amp. Then learn to write whole songs

and avoid constant noodling to no end!

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:04 am

Dave wrote:I'm really getting rid of all stuff I'm not using to any musical end - just want a couple of pedals dear to my heart - a decent lopper to jam with and a reasonable home amp. Then learn to write whole songs and avoid constant noodling to no end!

i've had similar thoughts recently with my recent pedal sell off. I would sooner have some guitars and spend time improving my playing, musical knowledge and hopefully sriting some better songs.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:18 pm

Dave wrote:Nah not gonna get into the whole refinish malarkey - it's WAY too much work when you get stuck in perfectionist land like I do on that kind of thing. I really would like to put contours on it at some point so I'll tackle it down the line but I really like the red as it stands for now.

ah, i got the wrong end of the stick- i thought it was a blue one you had.

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:15 am

if its help...

itÂ´s RodrigoÂ´s Wiring , from M&P Instruments.

NECK - Both pickups - Bridge
Series - Split - Parallel

Alpha 500k Pushpull does Phase-Off

Inspirations :

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Sep 15, 2011 9:37 pm

Nice one Icey! Many thanks!

Have you had any luck with a new pickguard yet? I've been on a mint guard quest myself - updates soon...

9 YEARS LATER UPDATE jag tang project / refurb

9 YEARS LATER UPDATE jag tang project / refurb

Re: Jag Stang project / refurb

Re: Jag Stang project / refurb - Fran/Icey wiring/pup advice