Questions From A New Jag Owner

Spitfire

Regarding the tuning thing, are you saying that the tuning goes out after you use the trem? If so this is unusual, the Jag trem is, as Rick says, as good as any other vintage design and I've always found it very stable.

Could the tuning problem be related to ;

1) New strings settling in

2) The intonation being out

The-Edits

Spitfire said: Regarding the tuning thing, are you saying that the tuning goes out after you use the trem? If so this is unusual, the Jag trem is, as Rick says, as good as any other vintage design and I've always found it very stable.
Could the tuning problem be related to ;
1) New strings settling in
2) The intonation being out
?

Yeah, it tends to go out of tune a bit when I use the tremelo and if i pull the tremelo all the way up the guitar goes about almost a full tone higher and stays there.

Ive never had so much trouble tuning a guitar before!

I do it by ear by making them strings sound the same at the 5th fret as I do on all my guitars and can normally have a guitar in tune in 30 seconds but with the Jag I find that it might sound right on the fifth fret but when I play a chordit will just sound like a couple of strings are a little flat and even when I do get it right it wil usually be out again after a couple of minutes.

I think the strings that came with it are 9s so im going to get some 10s and see what that does.

What is the intonations and how do you adjust it? is that the screws on the bridge saddles?

Spitfire

Yes the bridge saddles. If the intonation is out the guitar may sound in tune with the strings played open but go out as you play further up the neck.

http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/front_ ... nation.htm

9s are, in my opinion, too light for a Jaguar, most people use 11s or higher. I prefer flat wound 12s. The Jag has a very trebley sound and they just sound chunkier. Though I'm not sure light strings would have any major bearing on your tuning other than adjusting the trem for them.

From what you've said I think the problem you have may be, at least in part, down to having new strings and possibly an incorrect bridge and or trem setup. Have a look at this;

http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/v2/index ... ow=tremloc

Get everything set up right with some heavier strings and hopefully your path to Fender Jaguar heaven will be paved.

Fran

Make sure you 'stretch in' the new strings and lubricate the slots in the nut with pencil graphite.

My Jag is complete stock and works/plays fine...you gotta do your homework on the guitar though. Check Ricks website and maybe here;

Fender Jaguar

Be patient to get it right and you'll be rewarded. 😉

Fran

Ooops...Spitfire beat me to it.

😎

The-Edits

Cheers for the advice, I know all about how to treat new strings, ive been playing 10 years and this guitar has been played with these strings for about 2 weeks now plus however long they were on in the shop.

Ill have to check out those sites and see if I can find anything out.

Cheers

The-Edits

Right, well I got my Mustang bridge and put that on with some heavier strings and its like a tottally different guitar, stays in tune, no buzz!!

What a stunner, cheers everyone for all your help!

Spitfire

🚬

theshadowofseattle

😉

Mad-Mike

Most stores don't know much of anything about those guitars. Shoot, I walked into one and asked for a Jaguar trem bar, and they said "no, but we have a Jazzmaster trem bar"....as if there was a difference, I look at the bag with the bar in it and it said JAGUAR on it clear for all the world to see.

Went to another store, asked them if they had a Jaguar bridge. The guys literally could not remember the difference between a Jag-Stang, a Mustang, and a Jaguar, nor the difference between a TREMOLO and a BRIDGE! They bring up a Mustang and a JAguar tailpiece, and I'm thinking "goody". Then they asked what style I play, I say Metal, then booger hands me a licenced Floyd Rose...WTF!?!? No way in heck I'm replacing the Jag trem with one of those pieces of junk, I don't have to unlock the nut or cut strings up to install them, and it stays in tune all the same.

My Jaguar came with a MUSTANG tremelo bar too. Bonus is I have a spare for My Jag-Stang, and if not, I have one for when/if I decide to piece togeher a custom Mustang.

Either way, the Jag is an excellent guitar, it's just all in the set up. Heck, I use one for metal without any real changes, and it's been the most stable axe I've owned.

fiend

edits,

any pics of your jag? 😛

marcraygun

jaguars are great once sorted , I had my height adjusment screws glued in place and had furrows cut into the saddles and it is fine also you have to have 11 strings minimum.

I have 2 friends who have jags and never use them as they dont know what they are doing.

I have tape on my tremelo arm tight and a loop of tape to keep it at right height, I read that this is what my bloody valentine used to do.

But even after all this jags are a very distinct machine, personally I like clang and twang and feedback so I love mine, my other guitar is a gretsch so as you can guess that is my kind of sound.

Fran

marcraygun said:
I have tape on my tremelo arm tight and a loop of tape to keep it at right height, I read that this is what my bloody valentine used to do.

I also read they used to put more bend (maybe putting it in a vice) into the arm to give more control/dip on chord gliding.

Mad-Mike

marcraygun said:
I have tape on my tremelo arm tight and a loop of tape to keep it at right height, I read that this is what my bloody valentine used to do.

That sounds like what I did. I disabled (aka. Tightened) the Trem-Lok button as I don't use it, and tightened the spring till the trem spring was set as tight as it could go without limiting my spring travel, then tightened the collet teeth a lil bit, bent the bar upward a tad, and installed the bar without pushing it in ALL the way where the back of the bar would miss the high E string when it goes ALL the way down. It was a little tought getting the bar to wear so then ti would stay where I wanted it, but it's there now, and man is it nice.

Doog

I never thought about tightening up the spring with the screw until then, cheers Mad Mike! Made a fair bit of difference to overall feel and use of trem.

Mad-Mike

No probalo. The spring is usually the most forgotten part on the Jaguar. When I got mine, the crazy guy tightened it all the way up till it pushed the bar back and made the trem IMPOSSIBLE to move (and also threw the back plate off REALLY bad so that it pushed the lip up high and caused a small susatin problem as the angle behind the strings was affected). The first thing I had to do was take the trem off, confirm everything was inside that should be, then loosened the spring.

Rick

i have mine tightened up all the way, so that it's a hardtail. didn't make the angle any worse though. and even if it did, it wouldn't really create a sustain problem. i suppose it could raise the strings eye holes a couple of mms in some cases.

as fo the adjustment of the trem, the standard mid position is only of use if you use the trem lock. otherwise, you may just put it in any postition you want, as long as there is enough range in the trem

Doog

I tightened the screw so that the trem arm ain't moving any "higher", but it's still usable for wangy bar action- it's just a little stiffer than before, which is fine.

I actually bent the trem arm a bit a while ago to give more range (so it doesn't catch the Buzzstop), its almost TOO far away from the bridge now, might need a minor bend back..

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