jag cp hh questions

brandonwinmill

I'm still having problems with my classic player jaguar hh. I may get rid of it. The action is strange. Does the action usually change? I hope this doesn't sound stupid, but the action has gotten worse. It was great above the 4th fret. At the 12th fret it wasn't good and as you moved towards the body it is slide guitar high. I have been having trouble with the bridge since i got it. My guy that works on it always says wow bent neck. Could the bridge affect the action? These last few days it's buzzing because now the strings are hitting the fretwire at the first fret. It's aggravating. it wasn't that bad before recently. It is too low at the first fret and giraffe nuts high after the 15th fret, man wtf? I don't think this could be intonation? Intonation is minor, or that's what i thought.

Also it's going way out of tune in-between playings. Every other guitar i have doesn't do this. They may be slightly out if at all. I grab the jag and it's so far i have to get a tuner because i can't get it even close. I can't hear perfect tuning but i can get it close enough if it is close to begin with. This is totally different and it's every string almost.

I'm also getting restless with the pickups. I know fender humbuckers aren't the most popular. I wanted to know how would the coil tap be affected by changing the pickups? I like the fact that i can get a lot of different tones by manipulating the roller things. I think the concept is excellent because of the in-between single coil and humbucker tones you can get. I guess i don't understand if it's the pickup or the wiring that matters. Are there only certain pickups i could choose from to keep the flexibility? If anyone can point me in the direction of a place where theres an explanation of the way the circuit works on this guitar that would be fine also. If any pickup installed would do the same thing that would be great. I could use a really hot pickup and then roll a little off like you would with a volume knob but keep the volume the same. I really like the idea and thats why i got it in the first place but i would like to do this with pickups of my choosing.

I won't be offended if someone says get rid of it. I don't want to fight a losing battle. Thanks

AngryHatter

Sounds like the neck needs to be shimmed and the truss rod needs adjustment.

Depending on where you live and the temperature changes at night tunings change. Mine goes sharp at night.

Yes, the bridge directly affects the action. Too low and you get buzz, too high and the guitar is unplayable.

brandonwinmill

AngryHatter said:
Sounds like the neck needs to be shimmed and the truss rod needs adjustment.
Depending on where you live and the temperature changes at night tunings change. Mine goes sharp at night.
Yes, the bridge directly affects the action. Too low and you get buzz, too high and the guitar is unplayable.

Ok, i'm making a list of what is needed and then decide on what to do. What is strange is my other ones don't go out of tune and they are sitting next to each other. I have a bank vault in my house and when i kept them in there it would change because it gets really cold and really hot in there because there is no a/c in it. My house stays pretty much 72 degrees all year.

So neck and bridge both are suspects right now i'm gathering. Maybe i should change bridge. Any ideas on how the pickups function on that model? If it's hard to explain or time consuming don't worry about it.

Thank you for your help.

Alex

Did you buy it new or used? New guitars typically will not require anything more than some minor tweaking but this sounds pretty major. If it is new you should check if it had warranty/satisfaction guarantee and see if it could be exchanged for another one.

brandonwinmill

Al(ex) said:
Did you buy it new or used? New guitars typically will not require anything more than some minor tweaking but this sounds pretty major. If it is new you should check if it had warranty/satisfaction guarantee and see if it could be exchanged for another one.

Thanks for helping me.

i bought it on ebay. I've posted about this guitar before it's the same one that the trem arm hits the strings. It touches the strings without me touching it, which now may be because of the action i'm wondering? if the strings are this(a mile) damn far from the fretboard they must be going into the bridge at a funky angle also i'm guessing. I'm not too familiar with correct terminology.

You made me think of something also. I have been yanking the bar the other way, pulling it out. It sounds neat this way and since i didn't have any room to "push" the bar i have been holding it while picking which gives a small bit of the way kevin shields did it but more subtle and when i get close to the note i'm after i'll "pull" the bar away from strings. I may have broke it myself. Damnitt. I'm guessing that isn't healthy for a guitar who already had a neck in need of adjustment. I may have stretched the strings? I don't know but it sounds great and i didn't know anyone else who used this technique and i may have just found out why.

AngryHatter

Al(ex) said:
Did you buy it new or used? New guitars typically will not require anything more than some minor tweaking but this sounds pretty major. If it is new you should check if it had warranty/satisfaction guarantee and see if it could be exchanged for another one.

Mine had a dead spot on the 'B' at the 15th fret. Without shimming it was awful.

It was also two years old when I bought it. It had been sitting in the store since 2008.

wholetone

It sounds like it might be worth the $40 to $60 to take it to a really good set-up tech and have them get it right. There are very few guitars that can't be made right as rain with a good setup tech. Where do you live in Louisiana? I'm willing to bet even if you are in the boonies that there are setup techs in Baton Rouge and New Orleans that can get you square fairly quickly.

SmutVendetta

brandonwinmill said:
Thanks for helping me.
i bought it on ebay. I've posted about this guitar before it's the same one that the trem arm hits the strings. It touches the strings without me touching it, which now may be because of the action i'm wondering? if the strings are this(a mile) damn far from the fretboard they must be going into the bridge at a funky angle also i'm guessing. I'm not too familiar with correct terminology.

This is not possible according to J Mascis.

WTF?? The trem touches the strings without touching the trem bar? I can't imagine you have the bridge set so rediculously high? Sounds pretty out of shape and if that's the case I have no ideas. Some pictures (keyword) may help diagnose the problem.

SmutVendetta

brandonwinmill said:
You made me think of something also. I have been yanking the bar the other way, pulling it out. It sounds neat this way and since i didn't have any room to "push" the bar i have been holding it while picking which gives a small bit of the way kevin shields did it but more subtle and when i get close to the note i'm after i'll "pull" the bar away from strings. I may have broke it myself. Damnitt. I'm guessing that isn't healthy for a guitar who already had a neck in need of adjustment. I may have stretched the strings? I don't know but it sounds great and i didn't know anyone else who used this technique and i may have just found out why.

I do this all the time. Never had a problem remotely close to what you're talking about.

Anyway, with the trem bar touching the strings the trem bar hasn't come loose has it? Or I don't get what you mean, how can the trem bar touch the strings w/out touching it if the action from the bridge isn't like 2-3 inches off the pickguard?

dirtkahuna

I've been playing a Jag HH since last spring and have had zero problems with tuning or action. It was purchased new. I haven't modified the bridge. I use teflon tape to keep the tremolo arm snug (I do not like the lose threads).

The pickups are perfect for my rig. I've spent quite a bit of time creating my signature tone, which is mostly clean with a bit of reverb and compression (I mostly play surf rock). I use the bridge pickup 99% of the time and rarely mess with the tone dials. To be honest, a Jazzmaster Blacktop may have been a more suitable guitar for my style of playing.

I agree that the guitar should be taken to a pro to be setup.

brandonwinmill

First, thank you for all your responses. I never noticed them. The guy i use is the son of the guy who leo fender borrowed the strat headstock. There is some trivia there. If you look at a fender strat headstock it is a R shape. He asked Mr. Romero if he could use the "r" shaped headstock that he used on Romero guitars. My friend is Ronnnie Romero and he own's Ronnies guitar's in New Iberia Louisiana. He is great, only thing is he does what he wants. If i ask him to do something he may change what i asked if he thinks it's better. Also, strangely, he is not a fender fan. He much rathers my gibson stuff. I always believed this was due to the fact that he never got credit or payment for the headstock. His dad never wanted it though. Romero guitars bring a bit of money if you can find one.

I can attach a picture of the trem arm. I have before and to be honest i didn't understand the responses. I was told to check the spring from another member, but i didn't understand.

I still really don't understand the way the pickups function. I'm guessing i'm stuck with those. I am going to bring it to him next week and see what he can do. Again, thanks for your responses.

I am holding the bar and if i let it go it will just about touch strings. We had talked about just bending the hell out of it, but then the other problems started. I know we discussed this already but i'm trying to connect problems together and get them all taken care of at once. This looks way too close?

brandonwinmill

I was doing some research on my friend's dad and i found out he actually invented the jazzmaster. This may be worth it's on thread. Let me know if i should post the history of this, but here is a picture i found. It's a early fifties Romero's. Notice the headstock! I'm going to call him right now and see if he has info on it. I would like to know about the pickups and how they decided on this body shape.

Here's another and he just told me that his dad did all the offset guitars first. He did jaguars also before fender did. They also built steel guitars together.(Mr. Romero and Leo) His dad sold fender amps in the 40's. He also said he hasn't seen one in 25 years. We are going to see what the owner wants for this one. It is for sale along side a 36 ric a 56 es-5 and a 50's gretsch country club falcon.

vastrange

brandonwinmill said:
First, thank you for all your responses. I never noticed them. The guy i use is the son of the guy who leo fender borrowed the strat headstock. There is some trivia there. If you look at a fender strat headstock it is a R shape. He asked Mr. Romero if he could use the "r" shaped headstock that he used on Romero guitars. My friend is Ronnnie Romero and he own's Ronnies guitar's in New Iberia Louisiana. He is great, only thing is he does what he wants. If i ask him to do something he may change what i asked if he thinks it's better. Also, strangely, he is not a fender fan. He much rathers my gibson stuff. I always believed this was due to the fact that he never got credit or payment for the headstock. His dad never wanted it though. Romero guitars bring a bit of money if you can find one.
I can attach a picture of the trem arm. I have before and to be honest i didn't understand the responses. I was told to check the spring from another member, but i didn't understand.
I still really don't understand the way the pickups function. I'm guessing i'm stuck with those. I am going to bring it to him next week and see what he can do. Again, thanks for your responses.

I am holding the bar and if i let it go it will just about touch strings. We had talked about just bending the hell out of it, but then the other problems started. I know we discussed this already but i'm trying to connect problems together and get them all taken care of at once. This looks way too close?

-

I think your tremolo's too loose. Have you tried adjusting the spring tention?

this might help: link

brandonwinmill

vastrange said:
I think your tremolo's too loose. Have you tried adjusting the spring tention?
this might help: link

Yes, i didn't know how to check the spring. I'm just going to tighten it i think first. Thank you very much, this will absolutely help.

SmutVendetta

Wow you're holding it up and it's that low? It's most likely the spring under neath the tremolo. I bet your trem arm wiggles around like mad. I've had that happen a couple times. It's simple and easy to figure out once you take get under the hood.

vastrange

brandonwinmill said:
I was doing some research on my friend's dad and i found out he actually invented the jazzmaster. This may be worth it's on thread. Let me know if i should post the history of this, but here is a picture i found. It's a early fifties Romero's. Notice the headstock! I'm going to call him right now and see if he has info on it. I would like to know about the pickups and how they decided on this body shape.

Here's another and he just told me that his dad did all the offset guitars first. He did jaguars also before fender did. They also built steel guitars together.(Mr. Romero and Leo) His dad sold fender amps in the 40's. He also said he hasn't seen one in 25 years. We are going to see what the owner wants for this one. It is for sale along side a 36 ric a 56 es-5 and a 50's gretsch country club falcon.

this is a really classy jazzmaster .... killer looks!!!

do you have pics of the jag as well? and that guard is absolutely amazing!!!

so if i got this right romero and fender worked together?

this is good stuff man....one of the reasons i love this forum.

brandonwinmill

It worked!!! I tightened the screw down a lot. It's way off the strings now and the lock slides in and out much better. Does it usually still function with the lock engaged? i played with it a little and i hit the bar with the lock in locked position and in unlock position and it seems to work either way. That screw was very, very loose. Man, i can't thank ya'll enough. It is a great feeling to fix something yourself now and then. I hope i can help one of you some time. Thanks a million!

AngryHatter

brandonwinmill said:
It worked!!! I tightened the screw down a lot. It's way off the strings now and the lock slides in and out much better. Does it usually still function with the lock engaged? i played with it a little and i hit the bar with the lock in locked position and in unlock position and it seems to work either way. That screw was very, very loose. Man, i can't thank ya'll enough. It is a great feeling to fix something yourself now and then. I hope i can help one of you some time. Thanks a million!

The lock is to keep it in tune when a string breaks, not to physically lock the bar in place - it's something of a misnomer.

The bar will go down when the lock is engaged, but not up.

If you look at the cross section you can see it.

The right side is toward the headstock.

brandonwinmill

vastrange said:
this is a really classy jazzmaster .... killer looks!!!
do you have pics of the jag as well? and that guard is absolutely amazing!!!
so if i got this right romero and fender worked together?
this is good stuff man....one of the reasons i love this forum.

Yes! They ended up being great friends and he never charged him or sued fender over the headstock or the body styles. He considered it a compliment. It's freaking me out because we are very good friends. He is searching for pictures but his dad built one at a time by hand so there isn't many. That was his style though, not fenders. He loved the offset waist. It says Leo liked the body but nothing else about it, but he built every one alone and he did a great job. That picture was a early 50s model. I'm not sure the first year jazzmaster but this is true stuff. I'm overly excited because now I have something to talk to him about. Everytime I bring my jag in he makes a comment about the headstock. He'll say boy I love that big headstock. Yesterday when I called him I asked if that was why, because the headstock on his dads was big and he said well yeah. I'm going to keep picking his brain. Its Ronnies music in new Iberia Louisiana. He's a great dude. Thanks

brandonwinmill

AngryHatter said:
The lock is to keep it in tune when a string breaks, not to physically lock the bar in place - it's something of a misnomer.
The bar will go down when the lock is engaged, but not up.
If you look at the cross section you can see it.

The right side is toward the headstock.

First, thanks again. The neck needs adjusting and i'm still sending it to ronnie but i was feeling helpless. I hate feeling like a dummy. I totally misunderstood the word lock. Ok so i'm ok it's functioning properly. Great news. Thanks