Hello guys.
I have JV '57 Strat. Built date is 01/07/83.
I need someone to explain to me this:
First of all, keep in mind, this is 100% original so everything as it came from the factory 36 years ago.
The 5-way switch is odd, but I know some JV's came with it.
It works in the reversed way - if I need neck pickup I have to push it down (originally bridge pickup way). Same with bridge pickup etc.
Even stranger with middle pickup. At first, I thought it's not working at all but recently noticed that it has very very low output. I need to turn the volume all the way on my 60w amp to hear a bit of sound.
Is it something wrong with original wiring or just faulty switch?
http://https//photos.app.goo.gl/3CJXmLNUZa6kCjcU6
Comments
Replace it with a CRL 5-way - or if you can find one, an original Japanese-made DM-50, although they're not as good quality - and it will be fine.
It's also possible that the middle pickup is dead, but I would suspect the switch first.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Regarding my research, this is an originally installed switch. at some period Japanese there short on DM-50 so they started to use this crap. I saw a couple of JV's with it.
But if it's wired wrong might be not original. I don't know... person I was buying it is the first owner and I know him well, he wouldn't lie to me
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
That applies to me too, but I'm certain no early Squier ever came stock with this switch, it's a later design.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
My own JV Squier Stratocaster had been repeatedly brutalised before I acquired it. None of the original electronic parts was present.
I have a new old stock DM-50 stashed away somewhere in a re-sealable bag. Never seen solder.
I concur with ICBM that the DM-50 is inferior to a sprung CRL switch.
It would only take a weak connection to ground to render a functioning pickup almost silent.
Another possibility is physical damage within the selector switch. If the PCB half of the switch deviates from its intended position, contact with wipers is reduced.
I will change to CRL switch and then let's see what happens.
The rest of it looks original.
Parts get replaced, and should be, when they fail - in the past, no-one cared about "originality", especially not on what was a cheap modern guitar.
I also remember the JVs coming with 3-way switches, and it's very likely that a lot of people changed them simply to get the in-between sounds more easily. This was the era when it wasn't considered sacrelige to modify 60s Fenders, let alone Japanese ones.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
http://www.strat-talk.com/threads/squier-57-jv-strat-domestic-or-export.437536/page-2
For instance, the photographs in posts 22 and 23 illustrate how a VLX53 selector switch should be wired. This is because the order in which its terminals are labelled is not the same as a YM-50 or the typical SE Asian eight-contacts-in-a-line switch available today.
I suggest that somebody connected up the VLX53 selector switch whilst following a schematic diagram for a YM-50 or an American switch.
The reversal error can be corrected by swapping the hot conductors from the neck and bridge position pickups. The wire connecting the lower tone pot to the selector switch also needs to be shifted to the unused terminal on the second pole.
On a slight tangent, I cannot help noticing that the pickup output cables on the Strat Talk thread Stratocaster are plastic insulated whereas the OP's guitar appears to have pseudo push-back "cotton effect" insulation. (JV series Squier '52 Telecasters had something similar.)
You have amazing knowledge and helped me a lot to understand what's going on here.
It's all clear now.
So you think this is the reason why my middle pickup barely working?
Cheers
I can offer no definitive answer to that question without being in the same room as your guitar. There are several possible explanations for the lack of signal. They all need checking out.
Begin with FelineGuitars' suggestion to take D.C. resistance meter readings from your middle pickup. A reading anywhere between 5 and 7 kOhms would indicate that the pickup is healthy and, hence, the signal is going A.W.O.L. elsewhere in the circuit.
My own preference for lever selector switches is the sprung CRL type. If you want smart Alec wiring, a twenty-four contact Superswitch is the way to go.
The switch in your guitar is wired wrongly, so at the very least it has been tampered with - if the owner doesn’t remember that I would have to call into question whether he would remember it being replaced too.
Replacing 3-way switches with 5-ways was *extremely* common in the 1980s, not least because that Strat in-between sound was probably the most popular single guitar sound. A JV Squier was simply a cheap modern guitar of no collector interest or value - I modded quite a few without a second thought as to whether anyone would care thirty years later.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
He said, he played it for a couple of years with his punk band, then bought a better guitar.
Since then this guitar was sitting in the cheap(ish) original hard case somewhere in the attic.