P-Rails on a Jag: Jag/Jazz and Mustang Sliding Switches

wmh

Hey guys, I'm pretty new here, but I've got to say, it's nice to finally find a place where people share my passion for what I believe are Fender's greatest creations: the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar. 😁

Edit: For those of you too lazy to read the whole post 🙄, my question is basically: Would the Mustang's 3-way slider switches fit in the Jaguar's 2-way slider plate (while still being able to switch between all three positions)?

Anyway, I'm planning on buying some shiny new pickups (SD P-Rails actually) for my Jag HH and I wanted to mod the circuitry a bit to be able to split (rails/p90), series (humbucker) and also parallel (if possible).

Anyway here's what I was thinking: (Edit: please forgive the way I try to explain things in the passage below. I know YOU guys know exactly what I'm talking about, but this was originally posted at UG and I didn't bother to rewrite it...)

I wanted to replace the Jag's 3 2-way sliders for some 3-way sliders (like the Mustang's). The first two sliders (wich normally just turn each pickup on/off while in lead circuit) would be set up to switch between p90, rail and humbucker mode for each pickup. The third switch (normally for bass cut, aka "strangle") will be turned into a "pickup selector" (losing the bass cut), ie neck, middle, bridge selector.

The rythm circuit will be slightly modified just so that the neck pickup "mode selector" slider (wow, that was a mouthfull) will also apply to it while the rythm cuircuit is active.

Anyway, the success of this project depends on wether or not the Jag/Jazz sliders are the same size as the Mustang's. I dont mind if a little modification is necessary to the switch plate of the Jag but I really don't want to do anything too drastic.

Cheers,

WmH

harrison

the switches would not fit in the slots of the jaguars plate, they only have room for the two way

Fran

The series/parallel type of mods are usually done by converting the low cut 'strangle' switch to the selector between the two, then the rest of the switches as normal. A few people have done it and there may even be diagrams on here ...somewhere. 😀

JaguarOW

I would suggest(unless you really dont like having two on/off switches) installing two push/pull pots to split the rails and keep the strangle switch

wmh

JaguarOW said: I would suggest(unless you really dont like having two on/off switches) installing two push/pull pots to split the rails and keep the strangle switch

Thanks for the info. Would they fit if the holes in Jag's plate are lengthened?

I guess that's not a bad idea but the thing is I want to get the most out of the P-Rails and be able to choose each pickup's "mode" (p-90, rail or humbucker, which is why I need 3-ways actually) to be able to get some pretty unique tones when using different modes together. A single switch would therefore not be sufficient for this.

Again similar dillema as above, with only 2 push-pulls you can either have each push pull control wether each pickup is split (only one of the two) or humbucker, or have both push pulls setup to choose the mode of both pickups at the same time.

Thanks for the suggestions though guys, I will keep them in mind all the while trying to think of another solution.

I've thought about replacing the sliders by 3-way toggles but having three of them would just look out of place on a Jag. ☹

Edit: Ok, did some research and found the schematics for the Jag and Stang Switches:

- Jag/Jazz: ~35mm switch length, ~28mm from screw to screw, ~12mm actual sliding length.

- Mustang: ~42mm switch length, ~35mm from screw to screw, ~19.5mm actual sliding length.

I could thefore buy a replacement switchplate and modify it to fit the switches underneath: lengthen slider holes and drill new holes (a little farther apart) for the screws. I'll photoshop a mockup and post it here a little later.

harrison

the switches path of travel may surpass the total area of the plate, so enlarging the holes would not be an option. it might be possible to get a custom made plate with larger slots but the expense may be more than it is worth. and routing of the control cavity would probably be required

JaguarOW

wmh said: Again similar dillema as above, with only 2 push-pulls you can either have each push pull control wether each pickup is split (only one of the two) or humbucker, or have both push pulls setup to choose the mode of both pickups at the same time.

ive done my homeworks on these pickups 😁

except of course you would have to adjust that diagram to fit in the rythm circuit

wmh

JaguarOW said: ive done my homeworks on these pickups 😁
except of course you would have to adjust that diagram to fit in the rythm circuit

Thanks for the diagram but I've seen it before. The problem with this setup is that you can't have, for example, p90 on the bridge and humbucker on the neck at the same time.

wmh

Okay made a quick mockup, here's what the plate would look like after modification:

(Left: Modified; Right: Original)

Here's what it'd look like on a Jaguar:

Modified: http://i43.tinypic.com/iyj49k.jpg

Original: http://i43.tinypic.com/111nps9.jpg

(Note: I'll be doing this on a Black/Chrome Jaguar HH Special, not the Classic Player)

I could also leave the screws where they are since the sliding area fits between them: I'll cut the screws and weld them from behind (keeping them for aesthetic reasons) and then just glue or weld the switches on from behind the plate. This would result in something like this:

(Left: Modified; Right: Original)

tragictravisty

you could try taking out the rollers and putting 2 mustang switches in there

wmh

tragictravisty said: you could try taking out the rollers and putting 2 mustang switches in there

I'd like to keep the Rythm Circuit intact for the most part so that is not an option... Unless I can put the rollers somewhere else? Any suggestions on a layout in this case?

tragictravisty

nah. but if you keep the rollers all on ten, you could mod it so that the rythm switch presets it to that tone, and then stick mustang switches in the place of the rollers. i know jag switches fit in the roller places

wmh

Nah, I do like to mess with my rythm settings so I don't think I'll be getting rid of the rollers.

I did find some "miniature" 3-way sliders from the same makers of the Jag/Jazz/Stang sliders which have almost exactly the same sliding length (~12.75mm) as the Jag/Jazz sliders (~12.04mm): Miniature 3 Position Sliders made by Switchcraft.

wmh

mcnugget94 said: How about removing the volume pot and putting a rotary switch in?

Ooh, rotary switches :3 , hadn't thought of those. If the rotary switch controlled the pickups then how would I control the volume on the lead circuit?

funtoosh

one mods leads to another: you could replace the tone with a stacked double pot ;~)

to control both volume and tone.

hey, there are even jag-similar knobs available for these from some bass (P or J, not sure which) . . . .

tragictravisty

or drill for another pot

wmh

tragictravisty said: or drill for another pot

I would appreciate a link or a pic. 😀

OR whatabout replacing the rythm circuit switch with a 12 position rotary switch? 😆

1 to 9 - Lead circuit:

1. p90 - p90

2. p90 - rail

3. p90 - humbucker

4. rail - p90

5. rail - rail

6. rail - humbucker

7. humbucker - p90

8. humbucker - rail

9. humbucker - humbucker

10 to 12 - Rythm circuit:

10. p90

11. rail

12. humbucker

Would be absolute hell to wire though I imagine... X_x

harrison

put the rotary in place of the diamond plate, seems like the most logical

wmh

harrison said: put the rotary in place of the diamond plate, seems like the most logical

😆 12 position rotary was a joke, I dont think I have the patience to do that kind of a setup. If I DO use a rotary, it'll probably be a 4-position (p90, rail, series, parallel) which will also apply to the rythm circuit. But that's if I dont find any other solution allowing me to chose each pickup's mode individually.

I still think the miniature 3-way sliders could work since it has almost the same sliding distance as a standard Jag's 2-way slider.

funtoosh

funtoosh said: hey, there are even jag-similar knobs available for these from some bass (P or J, not sure which) . . . .

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