Jazzmaster USA/CIJ tailpiece question

pillof

Hi guys, it's my first post here 😁

I'm wondering whether the JM USA/CIJ tailpiece interchangable.

My CIJ's spring and tremolo arm doesn't feel as strong as I like, so I'm thinking about replacing it with an USA one.

On the other hand, here's a picture of Thurston's JM

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/eq/gtr123i.jpg

It seems they set the spring pretty tight.

There seem to have another ring on the tremolo arm's collet. My CIJ doesn't have it. Is that normal on a USE tail piece?

Earth

No the parts aren't interchangeable. The spring is and a couple of other bits but not the tremolo plate and knife plate, the main components.

Go to angela.com and buy a US trem, they aren't expensive, look waaaay nicer (better plating) and work a bit nicer IMO. The arm wont fall out either. Angel.com sell them way cheaper than guitarpartsresource!

if you're not using the trem, dont bother changing it. The cij trems are good to, just don't look and work quite as nice.

pillof

Earth said: No the parts aren't interchangeable. The spring is and a couple of other bits but not the tremolo plate and knife plate, the main components.
Go to angela.com and buy a US trem, they aren't expensive, look waaaay nicer (better plating) and work a bit nicer IMO. The arm wont fall out either. Angel.com sell them way cheaper than guitarpartsresource!
if you're not using the trem, dont bother changing it. The cij trems are good to, just don't look and work quite as nice.

Thanks for the tips!

I use the trem a lot, but the tremolo arm falls out too often.

Just want to make sure, the size of US trem unit would fit on a CIJ, right?

http://angela.com/jazzmasterjaguarvibratounit.aspx

Thanks!

gilmourish

welcome to the forum 😀 glad to see you took my advice about posting this here!

pillof

gilmourish said: welcome to the forum 😀 glad to see you took my advice about posting this here!

ah! I forgot to reply your post on the other forum!

this is a great forum! thanks for the advice! 😁

Earth

Yes, generally a US trem will drop right in with no problems but some japanese fenders have a smaller trem route and some minor routing needs to be done, I have only ever heard of this happening twice. On my CIJ it was a perfect fit. The odds that you will need to make some minor modifications the the front of the trem cavity where the trem lock button goes are very very slim!!!

I actually think the problemtic fenders are MIJ jazzmasters and jaguars not CIJ anyways. Its not like they are gonna have multitudes of CNC routers set up for japanses fenders and they are all different. If it fits on my CIj I would say 100% it will fit on yours.

Routing templates and production techniques change over the years and this is possibly where the problem JM/jags arose.

Just buy one and install it, if you have problems come back here and I'll help you with getting it on.

Remember to buy the trem arm for it too!

Angela has increased its prices since I bought my US trem as I got mine complete with arm for about 70 bucks.

pillof

😁😁😁

thank you so much! I'm gonna order the US trem set ASAP.

out of curiosity...why are the MIJ JM/Jag problemtic?

I've read too many discussions on the topic, but found no specific answer.

vastrange

I was wondering the same thing. I also own a MIJ JM and i want to upgrade the tremolo with the American one . What about the holes of the tremolo unit.... will they fit exactly?

And the problem with the fallin off arm would it be solved if i just changed the mounting receptable? Has anyone tryed that?

I also found this, it might be helpfull

http://www.fenderz.us/2009/12/fender-ja ... o-arm.html

Earth

All the mounting holes line up perfectly, its the trem lock button area that can not have enough room in some MIJ's. I havent seen it enough to know why it happens or the ins and outs of it but its not a common problem and I wouldn't worry about it being a problem. If it did become a problem I would deal with it at the time.

I remember one guy on offsetguitars by the name of "rumoursofsurf" IIRC having this problem, maybe contact him and see what the specifics where.

I've seen us trems fit right in on MIJ and CIJ jaguars with no problem. Mines a 05 CIj and it was a perfect fit.

vastrange

thanks man!