GUITAR BUILD PROJECTS, DRUM FETTLING, CUSTOMISATION & DIY TECH
That's the way it goes sometimes. Guitars get rotated around, and sometimes you don't play a particular favourite for ages. I recently started a few modifications on my Ash Stratocaster and, looking around for an alternative to hand, I took my White Jag out of its' case for the first time in ages. I get to have a good long look at an old favourite with "new eyes", and the benefit of a good few months working on other projects.
The Jaguar brought a new set of challenges. Nitro finishing, a fiddly wiring job and a bit of shimming to compensate for a higher bridge. The winter months have meant that the workshop is uncomfortably cold to work in - so the final finishing has been mostly done in the warmth of the kitchen. Over the last month or so, I've managed to finish both the Jaguar and the Strummercaster. Time to step back and have a look at what's been achieved.
The Jaguar has been sitting for a little while, to let the strings stretch, the neck to adjust under tension and to generally let everything settle. It's already pretty playable - but a proper setup should improve this even more.
It seems the Staytrem bridge must be taller than the stock design Jaguar bridge. Either that, or the neck heel is too deep. The action on the Jaguar is well above what you'd call normal - even with the bridge screwed all the way down to the deck. Fortunately - there's a cure.
As with most projects, all the individual elements build one on another - each relying on the quality and accuracy of the previous steps. So fitting the pickups feels a little bit like putting the pinnacle on a house of cards. Here's hoping all my preparation leads to an easy installation.
The pickups for the Jaguar have arrived! Time to pull this project together - well, see if I can wrap up the construction anyway. I need to make sure the neck is good to go - so it's in the best possible shape for the first setup.
I have a copy of an original, hand-drawn, Fender wiring diagram I found on the web. It's dated 7th August 1962. That's exactly the same week I was born, (and the same week Marylin Monroe passed). As I've mentioned before in previous posts - to me, the Jaguar design totally encapsulates that era. Rockets, chrome, conical bras, spacemen, surfboards, cars with fins. You can see it all in the lines of a Fender Jaguar. And it's one of the reasons I embarked on this whole project to begin with.
In the original, 1962 Jaguar design, all the ground side of the circuit ran via a series of linked, brass plates which fitted into the bottom of each recess cavity. However I end up doing the wiring - I'll have to replicate this function in some way or other.
I've got a pair of pickups and a wiring harness on order. In the meanwhile, it's time to tidy everything up and get ready.
A quick change to the standard specification - but one which comes highly recommended.
Garageland 