Modding My Jagmaster

zeDoktor

Hey everyone 😀

I picked up a Jagmaster a couple of months ago and have been having some fun with it and decided to mod it. I picked up a couple of pickups, some 500k pots, caps, knobs, and a trem block. Pardon my ignorance but this is my first time working on a guitar and I've run into a couple of hiccups.

First, the string spacing on the tremolo block that I bought seems to be just fine, however the tremolo arm hole does not line up with the one on my bridge (I had assumed that it was a standard Strat deal since that's what I've seen online). Is there a specific part that I need to order to remedy this?

Secondly, the trem block protrudes past where the backplate would go. Is this going to be an issue or can I just rock without a backplate? Should I put a hole in the backplate just so I can put it back on?

Thanks

irish_punk13

I'm not so sure about the first problem, but the second problem is because the body is supposedly thinner that a strat body.

zeDoktor

irish_punk13 said:
I'm not so sure about the first problem, but the second problem is because the body is supposedly thinner that a strat body.

Ahhhhhh. I've never played a strat so it wouldn't have been apparent to me. I put the trem back on and it seems fine except for the lack of arm mounting. I'll try it out like that--the replacement block has some serious heft compared to the stock one. There isn't too much additional distance for the springs so if anything it tightened up the trem a bit. I haven't played it yet because I have the pick guard off since I'm redoing some of the electronics. I installed a push/pull pot for volume (in hindsight I probably should have swapped out the tone pot but I'm terrible at desoldering) and I'm going to install some pickups that I grabbed online.

I couldn't find a part # or anyone selling the 3-way switch that's used on the Jagmaster. Would a Gibson LP switch work with the same size mounting hole? I'm trying to keep everything attached to the pick guard the same size so that I don't have to enlarge the mounting holes in that I want to put the stock stuff back in.

feedbackismyfriend

ya it's the same kinda switch you can get them on gfs for pretty cheap

irish_punk13

Yeah any regular LP styled switch will work. I was reading I think on shortscale that you should have to grind down the block somehow to make it fit. I hope everything works out with your mods, and that you'll post pics after words.

Also do you know how the pickups are from GFS, Feedback? I'm planning on getting one of the humbucker sized p90s for the neck position on my jagmaster.

zeDoktor

irish_punk13 said:
Yeah any regular LP styled switch will work. I was reading I think on shortscale that you should have to grind down the block somehow to make it fit. I hope everything works out with your mods, and that you'll post pics after words.
Also do you know how the pickups are from GFS, Feedback? I'm planning on getting one of the humbucker sized p90s for the neck position on my jagmaster.

I bought the pickups from GFS so I'll let you know how they are when I wire everything up but just looking at them they seem to be fine. I got a dream 180 neck and a vintage '59 bridge. I chose these because they were 5 wire so they could run humbucking or single (which is why I got the push/pull pot). I also picked up an orange drop cap for it.

The Jagmaster wiring is a little different from most of the generic wiring diagrams online but I chose to replicate it with the new parts (mostly).

zeDoktor

I'm in the process of making a complete hash of my pickguard. What they say is true; don't buy covered pickups if you don't want to enlarge the holes (mostly square off the corners) for them and all you really need is a (metal) file but that doesn't mean it will be easy to keep it from looking like crap. If you have some measure of patience and finesse I'm sure it can come out just fine. Getting the mounting screws with the springs on, however, is an art that is escaping me.

zeDoktor

Wiring this push/pull is a huge PITA. I don't want to go to sleep until this thing has strings on it but I don't think that'll go too well for me at work tomorrow so I think I'll solder up this last lead and be done with it for the night.

zeDoktor

I think I'm a bit of a crap guitar tech... nothing was pretty but I figured I'd better finish it now because as the holiday's approach there would be no money at all to buy anything I needed if I broke something. So I got it all wired up and had a few faux pas on putting the pick guard back on because the wires from the pickups were in the way blah blah. My selector switch ended up slight crooked because of lack of foresight on my part--always make sure your wires are long enough for the components when they are in the proper position. Reattached the guard made sure to connect the ground to the claw in the back. Still don't have a back plate on it... I don't think I'm going to cut the block any as there's no easy way for me to do it. I also had some false starts restringing it as I haven't put strings on a guitar in something like 4 years but that was nothing that Youtube couldn't fix. With one string on the guitar I went and plugged it in and got... nothing. But that was premature because it's a tube amp, remember? After that I got sound. From both pickups. And when I hit the coil split I got hum and slightly different sound. So I'm happy about this now. Gonna hit it up with the tuner to see what the open strings will sound like and then tomorrow I'll worry about resetting the saddle heights and get some pics.

edit spoke too soon. looks like I may have developed a short moving the guitar around... or a bad solder joint. ffffffffffffff I don't think I could get away with taking the guard off without ditching the strings, either.

zeDoktor

Further investigation with the aid of a few hours of sleep led me to discover the cable wasn't plugged in all the way 😡

Jagmaster is rocking out. GFS pickups are noticeably quieter than the stock Duncans and hit about the same level of hiss when I split the coils. I'll need some time later on to work out the saddles but so far everything seems OK. Off to work.

zeDoktor

I was reading shortscale and discovered (after the fact just like the switch) that GFS has import trems that look like they might fit my guitar without any filling/drilling. I'll mess with the electronics all day but I'm not a woodworker so I'm trying to avoid that as long as possible. I might jump on this to see if it fixes my tremolo arm problem as well as picking up a spare switch. I'm considering black switch and black trem. Guitar right now has covered nickel pickups and it's a sunburst with a tort guard.

This was a cellphone pic of it apart

Black hardware? Also considering the possibility of picking up a white guard and spraying it black. I just can't leave well-enough alone.

zeDoktor

high-rezers comin up

the LEAST flattering picture of a guitar in the world:

The knobs are cream but they're coming out a nasty color underneath the lights in my house. The switch knob is still white--I neglected to buy one when I got the knobs.

aaand camera phone:

You can see the raised knob here

Check out how the tremolo arm holes don't line up with the stock trem and the GFS block. I speculate that the GFS trem may solve this.

feedbackismyfriend

that looks sexy as frick, good job. can u post some demos?

zeDoktor

Just poured a Newcastle and sat down with guitar, tuner, screwdriver, and Scotty P on the second monitor. Since I had to take apart the bridge I have to make sure the saddle lengths are correct. Until I do that I'm not going to be playing much and even then I can't play worth a lick--I've only had the guitar for two months or so.