Custom Jaguar

noah_swanson

Hey all....so i've had a fender jaguar for awhile now. I recently bought a les paul and cant get enough of that thicker sound. Here's my idea on rewiring the jag, and of course let me know what you all think.

1) First i was looking at seymour duncan cool rails...this way i could keep the pickguard without re-drilling or anything to the body cavity itself.

2) The switch on the tip of the guitar used for switching the two circuits would be replaced with a standard 3 way switch (like in the les pauls) to switch the pickups like a normal les paul. The roller knobs would control the neck pickup independantly and the knobs by the input jack would control the bridge pickup.

3) Now for those switches at the bottom...originally they switched off the pickups, but the cool rails are 4 conductor...so i'd use two of those switches so i could switch the pickups from the humbucker state to a single coil state by grounding out one of the coils.

4) The last thing i considered. The only problem with the tremelo/bridge is keeping those strings anchored on the bridge. I tried a mustang bridge and even filed in a deeper crevice in the jag bridge. On the bigsby's they have an extra retaining rod that kinda holds the strings down. If something like that could be installed..that would help hold the strings down on the bridge yes? Otherwise i'd just trash that bridge and put a B5 bigsby...if anyone seems to think this wouldnt work please let me know..i've only begun to scratch the surface of this project, but all input is appreciated!

Here's a rough schematic:

Also about that switch that originally put another cap in paralell...let me know of any suggestions...Thanks

Rick

can't understand why the strings wouldn't be staying on the bridge properly. unless you were way overhitting the strings. but there is a thing called a buzzstop, if things are that bad.

i don't know too much about electrics and humbucker pickups with extra wires and such. but good luck with it. i'm sure someone will come along with advice

Fran

Interesting project. Although i'd bin the bigsby idea, if you higher the bridge by the posts then shim the neck to suit...the downward angle of the strings from the bridge to the trem will be greater. I've done this on my Jag and them strings are going knowhere.

SD Cool Rails as a choice of pup intrigues me, why those? I'm pretty sure they are fairly lower output than an LP's traditional pup: the PAF.

There are other things to consider of course like LP's have set glued necks, they're made from mahogany, TOM bridge etc. All these things contribute to that 'thicker' sound.

Let us know how the project goes.

Mad-Mike

Fran the man said:
SD Cool Rails as a choice of pup intrigues me, why those? I'm pretty sure they are fairly lower output than an LP's traditional pup: the PAF.
There are other things to consider of course like LP's have set glued necks, they're made from mahogany, TOM bridge etc. All these things contribute to that 'thicker' sound.
Let us know how the project goes.

Your right, Cool Rails basically just make it sound like a slightly warmer/hotter Jaguar without hum from my experience. My Jaguar has 500K pots on the lead circuit, and Cool Rails. With the coils split, it sound very very very thin, even for a Jaguar. Without the split, it essentially sounds like a 60's Jaguar with slightly overwound pickups, with a little more bottom end. Overall though, it still has that "surf" sound to it. It won't sound like a paul except maybe in the middle position (it comes close to the sound of a les paul with both pickups on, meaning a Les Paul with both pickups on), but it's not the same tone (a little more top end sparkle).

noah_swanson

First thanks to all you guys for the comments and advice....i got the cool rails beacuse of the low output...also on the seymour duncan site they had a nicer eq'd output...a little bassier and less twangy than the vintage rails. I've asked a few guys at shops and they kinda suggested those for a deeper tone. I have 57 classics on my les paul and i like the lower output.....they dont overdrive the clean channels, and keep the distortion nice and warm. as for the bigsby idea, it was kinda farfetched but i figured i'd throw the idea around a bit.

Fran

I understsand the choice now, good thinking actually. your tonally staying in the same ball park as a traditional Jag but adding bottom end, warmth and cutting out interference and buzz.

Something i did similar was put a red Lace Sensor in my Jags bridge position. 😉

adriaband

Mad-Mike said:
Your right, Cool Rails basically just make it sound like a slightly warmer/hotter Jaguar without hum from my experience. My Jaguar has 500K pots on the lead circuit, and Cool Rails. With the coils split, it sound very very very thin, even for a Jaguar. Without the split, it essentially sounds like a 60's Jaguar with slightly overwound pickups, with a little more bottom end. Overall though, it still has that "surf" sound to it. It won't sound like a paul except maybe in the middle position (it comes close to the sound of a les paul with both pickups on, meaning a Les Paul with both pickups on), but it's not the same tone (a little more top end sparkle).

Mad-Mike- I think I saw you say that you bought your Jag w/ cool rails already in it. But do you know if it's the regular SD Cool Rails for Strat dropped in the jag?

What do you have to do to get it to sit correctly under the strings?

I'm thinking of dropping one of these in the bridge position on my '98 CIJ Jag.

Fran

You may have to add a little extra packing because the existing foam may not give you enough to adjust the pup to the correct height.

Mad-Mike

Mad-Mike said:
Your right, Cool Rails basically just make it sound like a slightly warmer/hotter Jaguar without hum from my experience. My Jaguar has 500K pots on the lead circuit, and Cool Rails. With the coils split, it sound very very very thin, even for a Jaguar. Without the split, it essentially sounds like a 60's Jaguar with slightly overwound pickups, with a little more bottom end. Overall though, it still has that "surf" sound to it. It won't sound like a paul except maybe in the middle position (it comes close to the sound of a les paul with both pickups on, meaning a Les Paul with both pickups on), but it's not the same tone (a little more top end sparkle).

Yes they were already installed, but the original plan was to remove ALL modifications and return it to "near stock" (near stock meaning I was going to install some Jaguar pickups with an over-wound one at the bridge). I was not even aware they were "cool rails", they sold it with the pickups advertised as "hot rails" of all things, then I plugged it in and thought "these don't sound like humbuckers", so I pulled them, looked at the bottoms, and saw SCR-1B on the sticker, so it essentially has 2 bridge pickup version cool rails. And yes they are the regular Cool Rails as the writing confirmed. Mine are the earlier version, Seymour Duncan now makes them in some kind of molded deal like EMGs, the older ones I like better anyway since reading up on them. The EQ is essentially between that of an SJAG2 and an SJAG1, so it's like a hot SJAG1 or weak SJAG2 (SJAG is Seymour Duncan's Jaguar pickups for those that don't know).

As for making the pickups sit straight, Fran was right on about it, I stuck some extra foam I had from some EMG select pickup boxes underneath the pickups. Originally, there was just rubber around the bottoms of the screws holding them in, however, this threw the neck pickup off it's axis, so I took some of that foam stuff and it's been darn good ever since. However, I plan to do this after I put a rocker bridge back on it, I saw this in an earlier thread and think it's a REAL cool looking mod..........

triskadecaepyon

Mad-Mike said:
Your right, Cool Rails basically just make it sound like a slightly warmer/hotter Jaguar without hum from my experience. My Jaguar has 500K pots on the lead circuit, and Cool Rails. With the coils split, it sound very very very thin, even for a Jaguar. Without the split, it essentially sounds like a 60's Jaguar with slightly overwound pickups, with a little more bottom end. Overall though, it still has that "surf" sound to it. It won't sound like a paul except maybe in the middle position (it comes close to the sound of a les paul with both pickups on, meaning a Les Paul with both pickups on), but it's not the same tone (a little more top end sparkle).

I used to have a cool rails in my Jag. I replaced it with some SJAG-2's. Anyone want to buy my cool rails?

Fran

Trisk if you was a UK'er i'd be interested, but the US is'nt worth the hassle with shipping etc...

Hey Mike i remember your shred demo or whatever you wanna call it...what distortion/eq was you using with the Jag? And did you use a comp/sustainer to get more juice out of the guitar seeing as the cool rails are fairly low output i think you did well to get the pinch harmonics and stuff.

Mad-Mike

Fran the man said: Trisk if you was a UK'er i'd be interested, but the US is'nt worth the hassle with shipping etc...
Hey Mike i remember your shred demo or whatever you wanna call it...what distortion/eq was you using with the Jag? And did you use a comp/sustainer to get more juice out of the guitar seeing as the cool rails are fairly low output i think you did well to get the pinch harmonics and stuff.

I was using the Behringer V-Amp Pro, running with the Brit-Hi-Gain amp sim (JCM 800 Marshall), and the Edward Van-Halen Standard 78' Cab emulator (I may have also used the 67' British 2X12 cab emulation at times too). My EQ is usually variable. I usually have the prescence, highs, and mids turned all the way up, and the bass backed down about a 4th over halfway (1 o' clock), though sometimes I crank it up full blast, but when I record mp3's for my soundclick page, I usually back down the bass because too much ruins the mix sometimes. I believe on the shred demo I also had a stereo chorus enabled. I used the compressor function in a few parts, however, my usual tone has no compressor and relies on pure pre-gain. The Pre gain is usually set to 7 or 8 for the Jaguar. I tend to go for sort of a Boogie Heartbreaker or Marshall TSL JCM2000 type sound. The first Jaguar I ever played was bone stock, a vintage 63', and run through a Heartbreaker at full on gain , that's been my favorite sound ever since (as well as a Jazzmaster through a Fuzz Factory).

Fran

Cool. I've noticed my Jag sounds better and more capable at handling shred tones and scooped mid rythyms (that was with potted stock pup) although it lacked sustain on lead at times that's using a Marshall DSL 401 valve combo were as the Jazzy sounds better with fuzz or crunchy overdriven sounds and sustains better on leadwork.

Them demo's you did oughto have been made a sticky, although it offends some people that someone would want to shred on a Jag (silly really) it was an excellent example of how diverse the guitar can be and would answer a lot of FAQ concerning distortion issue's, trem issue's, scale length issue's and pup upgrades.

Mad-Mike

Fran the man said: Cool. I've noticed my Jag sounds better and more capable at handling shred tones and scooped mid rythyms (that was with potted stock pup) although it lacked sustain on lead at times that's using a Marshall DSL 401 valve combo were as the Jazzy sounds better with fuzz or crunchy overdriven sounds and sustains better on leadwork.
Them demo's you did oughto have been made a sticky, although it offends some people that someone would want to shred on a Jag (silly really) it was an excellent example of how diverse the guitar can be and would answer a lot of FAQ concerning distortion issue's, trem issue's, scale length issue's and pup upgrades.

Exactly how I see it, though I've never had much trouble with sustain on either the Jag or Jazzmaster. For awhile I considered a Floyd Rose on my "live" guitars because of the string popping out of the saddle thing, but when I played a Jazzmaster again, I had no problems whatsoever, and it was another MIJ like the first one I played.

As for the demos, I plan to put up some more vids on youtube eventually.when I feel like it and have time. It does not surprise me that they were not stickied either, I never expected them to be due to "musical politics". As for diversity, they are very diverse, that's why I like them. Guitars with one or two knobs and a switch bore me after awhile, so far I've been practically recording everyting I record on the Jaguar or Jag-Stang now, the only time I really need to pick anything else up is for that bridge/middle Strat tone.

adriaband

triskadecaepyon said: I used to have a cool rails in my Jag. I replaced it with some SJAG-2's. Anyone want to buy my cool rails?

Trisk-how much for the bridge? or as a pair? are they the "originals"as Mike was talking about or newer?

ps thanks for the info Mike

BobArsecake

What's the point in you having a Jaguar at all? just sell it if it's so different from what you want.

Fran

The old chestnut "i love the shape but it sounds too thin" is what's going on here i think, maybe selling/trading it for a HH Jag or even Jagmaster may be a solution. Either way a Jag is never gonna be a Les Paul in a million years.

Mad-Mike

Fran the man said: The old chestnut "i love the shape but it sounds too thin" is what's going on here i think, maybe selling/trading it for a HH Jag or even Jagmaster may be a solution. Either way a Jag is never gonna be a Les Paul in a million years.

Cool rails ain't going to get you a Les Paul tone, that's for sure, mabye beef it up and remove the hum, but it's still going to sound like a mildly overwound Jaguar still.

If he's going for a Les Paul Tone, he'd be better with a customized shortscale with EMG's apparently, someone saw my STYX vid on youtube and argued that the guitar playing was not a Jag-Stang, it was a Les Paul (morons), and that I was not really playing, how so, I don't even own a Les Paul, I can't stand the snobbery associated with them.

adriaband

someone said: I plan to do this after I put a rocker bridge back on it, I saw this in an earlier thread and think it's a REAL cool looking mod..........

What kind of pickup is that in the middle? It looks like they modified a jag pickup cover to go around it

my main thing with putting a potted hotter pickup in the jag bridge position is retaining the look. I want more balls along with the jaguar tone, and need to ditch the microphonic feedback. I think the jags sound great with some distortion outside of this... side effect.

Fran

It looks like a jb jr, i like how it retains the look as well.