That's my Jazzmaster in bits then!

lasermonkey

I recently got a Staytrem 7.25" bridge off eBay for cheap, which I bought to put on my mid-80s MIJ Jazzmaster. As it's an E-series JM, it can only be dated as 1984-87. I'd read that the earliest MIJ Jazzmasters had USA pickups fitted to use up existing stock. I wasn't sure whether mine was one of those, so off came the scratchplate to check. Nope, Japanese pickups. Boo!

 While I was at it, I took the neck off to, just in case there was a neck stamp or anything else to narrow down the date further. Nope, just the JM66-70 stamp on the heel, and not a single indicator of a date anywhere. Oh well.

 As the pickups were the Japanese type, they had to go. I placed an order with Mojo Pickups for an overwound bridge set. Now I just have to be patient!

In the meantime, I now have two guitars in bits, so I decided to get some cloth covered wire, some new knobs for the P-Bass and some conductive paint to screen the control cavities. At least it should give me something to do while the pickups are being built and the P-Bass body lacquer cures before flatting and polishing.

 Note to self- don't tinker with any more guitars until these are done!

Winny_Pooh

I've not seen such an old Japanese JM. you may as well post pics.

lasermonkey

A few pics, as requested.

The Olympic White is mellowing nicely. You can see where I'd attempted to screen the cavities some time ago. I'd actually completely forgotten about it! Obviously I didn't have quite enough conductive paint at the time, if the patchy coverage is anything to go by. This will be rectified the moment the paint arrives.


Interesting place for a shim, if it is indeed a shim:


No date stamp, just the JM66-70 stamp. No other way of dating either, such as pot date codes.


The electrics are definitely better quality than those on my mid 90s CIJ.


The tort is printed, though not anywhere near as bad as the overpriced and horribly pixellated Allparts one.


Definitely a Japanese pickup:


Just waiting for the various parts to turn up now!

peaches

Looks like your Olympic white has aged far better than my 90s AVRI Jag, that went a pretty nasty yellow. 

lasermonkey

Yeah, I think the finish has mellowed, rather than yellowed. It's definitely changed over the 25 years I've owned it, but subtly.
I added some conductive paint to the cavities. I spend a fair bit of time playing in front of the computer, so shielding is necessary for me.


My pickups have arrived too. I should hopefully be fitting them in the next few days.

impmann

A tip: lube the screws before you put them in. The heads of modern pickup screws are made of a strange alloy containing Dairylea and are easily ruined.

lasermonkey

Thanks for the tip! I shall do just that.

lasermonkey

I fitted the pickups and rewired the harness this afternoon. The original wiring was quite untidy. It was also slightly different to the wiring diagrams I have, so I changed that too. Wiring isn't my strong point, as I'm not a naturally tidy person. It's a lot better than it was though!
 I swapped the tone cap for a Philips "orange drop" I had knocking around, entirely as I thought it looked nice. I am aware that once it's back together again, it will likely never be seen again!
 I'm going to have to lose the cable tie base, as it fouls against the cavity sides. Shame, that. I may have to re-dress some of the wires too, as it's bloody tight in there!
 I've tested the electrics and it all works. I just need to put it all back together.

thermionic

Neat job on that wiring!

peaches

Yeah the inside of the Jazzmaster I did is hilariously poor compared to that, although I did create my own bizarre circuit with little to no electrical knowledge. 

lasermonkey

It's all back together again now. The Staytrem bridge was a pice of cake to set up. I like that the string spacing is a touch narrower. I'll have to get one for my blue Jazzmaster as well.
The pickups. Where to start! I'm hearing so much more in the way of overtones, richness and depth. I think it was @JookyChap who said it was like someone had taken a blanket off his amplifier and I now know exactly what he meant.
It really does feel and sound like  different guitar now. The only thing I'd change is the scratchplate, as the Spitfire ones are so much nicer. That'll have to wait for another day, as I'm skint now!

meltedbuzzbox

The mastery bridge would have a similar affect again. It really brings everything to life even more. 

lasermonkey

All done and dusted!





All in all, I'm pretty chuffed with the improvements for the modest outlay. £90 for the pickups, £41 for the bridge, plus some conductive paint.
When I have the spare cash I'll definitely get some Spitfire tort. It's expensive, sure, but so much better looking than anything else currently out there. Oh, and a set of white witch hat knobs. Anyone know where I can get some that aren't stupidly expensive?

I've since taken delivery of a white pearloid scratchplate and a pair of Duncan designed Squier pickups for my Candy Apple red CIJ Jazzmaster. The scratchplate was only £15 and the pickups £10.50. I figured they'd sound better than the stock Japanese ones until I save up some more money, and it's not like a big gamble at that price!

lasermonkey

I decided to do the work on the red Jazzmaster today. It only took around an hour.
Before:




After:




This is the mid 90s CIJ Jazzmaster that I bought from the Huntingdon Crack Converters for £360. It had a boring black scratchplate and the whitest pickup covers in all Christendom. I swapped the scratchplate for an Allparts red tort one, which was way overpriced for the awful, pixellated thing. Despite being a bit of a tort fanboy, I was never convinced it worked here.
I bought a cheap white pearloid scratchplate, plus a pair of Duncan designed pickups (from a Squier JM) for just over a tenner. I think it looks a lot better now. The cream knobs will have to go though!

GavRichList

For no other reason than a show of support for your scratchplate of choice, I'm just going to leave this here 

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff193/guitarsforminnaars/87E6AE7A-59F8-4079-BD6F-A7A9CA6DCFD4.jpg

lasermonkey

That's bloody lovely, Gav!

GavRichList

My AVRI. Weighs a tonne, but I love it. As you can see, it's had a few tweaks. Mastery x2, Spitfire, and those Mojos.... (mine are the 58-64s, A3 magnets, slightly overwound bridge)

impmann

Gav,

Seriously mate... get @GSPBASSES to make a replacement body, get it painted by Rich @lamf68 and ditch the POS over heavy and not so resonant Fender body. My custom built JM utterly destroys my old AVRI in all departments and yet it has the same bridge, trem and pickups... plus its light!

+1 for ditching the tort on the red JM - I am *not* a fan of tort against CAR as it just looks wrong to me and Fullerton very very rarely did it, probably because it looks nasty. If I were doing it, I'd replace with a parchment guard with white pickup covers (you can't get parchment pickup covers that aren't gash) and parchment knobs. That would look lovely IMHO. The SD-designed pickups are definitely a set up from the Jap units - and I preferred them to the standard AVRI pickups (shrill bridge unit). The best value JM pickups out there, possibly! But not a patch on Mojos.

GavRichList

@impmann - it sounds great, it's just a shade weighty. Also, Sunburst is a choice on my part, not a compromise!