Jaguar mods!

[Goober1206]

Hey everyone,

The Jaguar bass is a bass everyone loves to mod, and so I thought I'd post a thread where we can list our mods just for fun. I'll start:

Status Carbon Fiber Graphite Neck
Fender CS 60's Pickups
Closed Pickup Covers
Jazz Control Plate, four holes
Concentric Volume/Tone*
Concentric Volume/Tone
Concentric Bass/Treble
1962 Fender Jazz Stacked Knobs
Black Pickguard
Badass II Bridge
Strap Locks
Copper Sheilding
2 .022 Orange Caps
2 .047 Orange Caps
Copper Bridge Grounding Strip
Preamp Switch is now a kill switch
Pickup Switch #1 is now a capacitor switch
Pickup Switch #2 is now the preamp switch

Your turn

[Marton]

No picture, no bass ?

[Goober1206]

Lol I'll post some pics tomorrow. I assure you, it's real lol

[yellofury]

Originally Posted by Marton

No picture, no bass ?

+1

[Goober1206]

[Draconian]

First post. ^_^

(I'm going to preface this entire post with: this is my first bass. Well ok, technically an Epiphone Thunderbird IV was my first bass, but I had that for about 2 weeks before I traded up to the Jag. I'm primarily a guitar/synth player just looking to expand my home recording abilities, which is why I decided to pick up a bass)


First off - awesome job on your Jaguar, you're my new hero. I'm dead-set on turning this already ridiculously versatile bass into an even more ridiculously versatile bass.


I'm currently modding my 3TS Jag Bass and I had a question about that Jazz control plate you have there. I wanted to get one, but I don't have a Jazz to compare the layout to, and from the looks of them online and such, it looks as if they're not quite as wide as the Jaguar, nor do they have a slight curve in them. Did that plate drop right in? What did you have to do to make it fit? Cut the pickguard?


This is what I've done so far to my Jaguar:

- Full copper shielding in all cavities
- Fixed grounding issues with star ground to output ground
- Badass 2 Chrome Bridge
- Black Tusq nut installed (don't get me started on why black... not happy)
- Straplocks


What I'm planning on doing:

- Add small on/on mini toggle switch on control plate to switch between 022 and 047 capacitors (curious on the difference in sounds, I hear 047 will let me get a bit less snappy, but I don't want to lose the 022 possibilities)

- (If the Jazz plate is not a direct drop in) I was going to do a stacked pot for vol/tone in the first position, then change what was the tone pot to a blend pot. If I can get a 4-hole plate without routing or drilling, I'd rather do that and keep it at 3 non-stack pots, pretty much just for aesthetics.

- Want to eventually replace the preamp with something else cause it's a bit noisy, I think I can get something a bit more aggressive with not as much noise. Even with the fixed shielding/grounding it's still a somewhat... I dunno, it leaves something to be desired.

- I've considered a black ice built in overdrive, I have no idea how it sounds though.



Questions:


Can you suggest where to get the highest quality pots as possible? I looked at RS Guitar Works pots, and they looked really awesome and supreme quality, but they also don't seem to have a blend OR a stacked pot available on their site. So far the only decent ones I've found are from Allparts - I'd prefer to buy the best quality pots I can, if you can suggest good ones. Also, what resistance level should the blend be? I see 25, 250, and 500's.


When I do add the blend pot, I assume the pickup on/off switched become redundant and potentially problematic, yah? If I do have a blend, and it's at 50/50 but I shut off the bridge and run just the neck pickup - do I still need to move the blend pot to 100% neckside to get full power? I'm guessing that this is how it works, so in essence having a blend pot means the on/offs should be disconnected at least, and ideally utilized for something else!

So if I then will have 2 free switches, what exactly does a phase switch do for the sound, and how is it wired? For the 2nd free switch I would probably put the overdrive on it eventually, unless you have some other suggestions for what a free toggle could do?


Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm very electronics savvy when it comes to wiring/soldering, so running new connections and following a more complicated schematic isn't a problem - I just need some direction on what I should do.


And I've been lurking for about a month, so I know - no picture, no bass.

[jefkebass]

My sunburst Jag modded with:
-hipshot ultralight tuners
-hipshot A style bridge
-dimarzio model J pickups with cream cover

lousy fake playing pic

[Goober1206]

Lol thank you for the compliment, and that sounds like an awesome goal. Excuse any mistakes or laziness; I'll be typing all of this off my iPhone.

Sounds like you don't want to put on the new plate if it's not a drop in, so I'll let you know it's definately not lol but if you decide to do it i'll be happy to give you a heads up.

Nice ideas, would you mind if I do the caps switch too? Lol

For most parts, I go to darrenriley.com or something like that. For concentric pots I use cts 500/250 vintage pots. Beware! The jazz concentric knobs do not fit this pot. To make it fit, you need to widen the hole of the bottom knob. The top fits. But 62 vintage jazz knobs fit fine. I m doing a bit of upgrading today and I just got three sets of them and they're nice.

About the blend.. In series mode, it becomes sort of a master volume. So when in series, center the knob. And about the on off switches, if you turn the blend all the way to one side, you turn off pickup #1. turn to the other and off goes #2. in my eyes, they're useless with a blend.

I don't recommend the phase. Makes it sound nasaley and high. Sounds terrible to me and I plan on replacing it with your caps idea lol. You could have a kill switch.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Draconian]

Awesome thanks for the direction!


And yah man, go nuts with the caps switch! The only reason I don't want to put it on one of the 3 switches, is because I don't want to have to run that much more wiring just for caps - I considered it, and maybe I'll do it anyway, but I seem to remember that channel to the master control cavity being pretty damn crowded already. I was just gonna drill a hole and put a real small toggle on the main control plate so I could have the cap leads and their associated wires in one compact area.


Hmm... I would hate to have 2 useless switches if I do the blend and the phase isn't worth it - so maybe I will do the caps over there... but either way it looks like I'm still going to have to figure out what to do with what would've been phase!


So is the blend pot worth it ya think? If it's seemingly useless in series, does it make a big diff in parallel? I find myself liking series more than parallel, although I deff do use it from time to time.

[A-Step-Towards]

Cool bass but not sure if i would call it modded since nothing really original is there, its a custom in my book

[Goober1206]

Originally Posted by A-Step-Towards

Cool bass but not sure if i would call it modded since nothing really original is there, its a custom in my book

Thanks lol that's fine by me

and Draco, blend is worth it if your knob space is limited, and for the switches I say go for the caps and a kill switch. The only ability you lose by not having the pup on off switches is being able to mute your bass completely. If you use series alot though maybe it's a bad idea. Unless you're trying to replacethe switches without losing capability. And about the caps.. If you're going to replace with orange caps, you'll have to put them somewhere else and run long wires unless your wiring is so tidy that there's tons of room lol the orange caps are HUGE compared to the stock cap. I finished my mods for today lol new knobs as I said. New knob setup which is: Volume/Tone Volume/Tone Bass/Treble. For the switch, I ran two wires from the knobs to the switches cavity, and managed to stuff four orange caps under the switches lol. On one position, both tone knobs use .022 and on the other, .047. Doesn't make a huge difference but I can hear it. It's late so I'll test it more tomorrow.

[ivyman]

U guys should definetaly add a Hipshot D tuner to your modded jaguars, i did it to mine and its really cool ,convenient and it looks good too

[Goober1206]

I don't really use drop D, otherwise I would.

[Draconian]

I considered it, but don't you have to expand the hole sizing for those? I don't want to do any wood work on the Jag anywhere, I want it's body to stay original.


And I wouldn't need 4 caps, only 2 cause I'm just keeping the master tone for now - plus I doubt I'll do orange drops, I read a couple threads here about bass tone caps and the only thing that's important is a quality tolerance level, getting a cap that is what it says it is - they don't affect tone directly like on a Les Paul or somethin.

[Reynoldbot]

I'll play! My Jaguar is a lefty, and those aren't available here in the States, so I had to have mine imported from Japan. It's also in Old Candy Apple Red, a color not available in the States. Here are my mods:

-Hipshot A style bridge
-Aguilar AG-4J 60 pickups
-Aguilar OBP-2 preamp
-proper shielding
-Dunlop straplocks
-aluminum knobs
-shaved down switches (I kept accidentally switching them while playing)

Pics:

[Goober1206]

Originally Posted by Reynoldbot

I'll play! My Jaguar is a lefty, and those aren't available here in the States, so I had to have mine imported from Japan. It's also in Old Candy Apple Red, a color not available in the States. Here are my mods:

-Hipshot A style bridge
-Aguilar AG-4J 60 pickups
-Aguilar OBP-2 preamp
-proper shielding
-Dunlop straplocks
-aluminum knobs
-shaved down switches (I kept accidentally switching them while playing)

Pics:

Nice! How did you sand them down? They look perfect like they were made that way and they look so smooth

[Spleenface92]

Now I kind of don't want to post my non shiny, beat to hell jaguar here. Also, it's stock.

[Reynoldbot]

Originally Posted by Goober1206

Nice! How did you sand them down? They look perfect like they were made that way and they look so smooth

Unfortunately, I can't say, I had it done at a shop (Leonard Shapiro's in Minneapolis). I'm assuming it was done with a small belt or rotary sander, and just done with a lot of care and skill. I can't understate how big an improvement it is on the Jaguar's playability having those switches sanded down like that. Before I was afraid to really cut loose onstage because I kept hitting them. Now I can play completely unrestrained.

A nice feature of the new preamp is that it's boost/cut whereas the stock preamp is simply boost. It's got a handy center indent so I always know how I'm affecting the tone.

EDIT: by the way, Goober, Draconian, and jefkebass, those are some nice burst jags! I really almost wish I had gone for the burst myself. I just couldn't say no to that candy apple red, especially since it's not available stateside (as far as I know, there are less than half a dozen OCAR lefty jags in the whole country). Jefke, I especially love those cream pickup covers! Wow those go so well with the block inlays and maple headstock.

EDIT #2: Just a note, if you want to get the switches sanded down on your Jaguar, make sure not to shave them any shorter than 1/8" tall, or you might hit the spring and break the switch.

[johnk_10]

mods on my jag bass:
one piece maple neck (with nitro finish), CTS pots, switchraft jack, NOS cornell dubilier .047 capacitor, USA bakelite knobs, shielded cavities, ultra jazz pickups (w/raised A&D pole pieces), gotoh res-o-lite heads, USA vintage bridge), custom serial numbered neck plate (the number is my wife's birthday).

[Goober1206]

Thanks for the tip bot, maybe I'll borrow a tool or two and try it myself.