Squier Jaguar Short Scale Club Part 3

[SoulReflection]

SR, is there a reason why you didn't upgrade all your pots while you were at it? I was considering it for two reasons. I thought for very little investment I could upgrade them to 500K, and also I can more easily match the control knobs (I'm probably going to change them).

On that topic, do you happen to know the type of shaft the stock Jag SS has? I've never had one off.

Well, I haven't installed anything at this point and was still reviewing the benefits of upgrading the pots. I still have an unused set of EMG-PJ's to try out and that includes new pots. Considering the relative inexpense of these parts, I might just order more to include 500K and orange caps. I like solderless connectors to make swap-outs easier.

Regarding control nobs, along with the bend/taper pots I ordered, I included the sleeves to increase the size to 1/4". That way I have more flexibility in control knob sizes.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

SR, is there a reason why you didn't upgrade all your pots while you were at it? I was considering it for two reasons. I thought for very little investment I could upgrade them to 500K, and also I can more easily match the control knobs (I'm probably going to change them).

On that topic, do you happen to know the type of shaft the stock Jag SS has? I've never had one off.

~
FTR, 500K pots are not necessarily an upgrade over 250K pots, and large pots are not necessarily an upgrade over small ones.

500K pots are generally used when a higher impedance pickup [one with more turns of wire and a reading of more K on your ohm meter if you measure them] has been chosen by the maker of the instrument.

Gibson humbuckers are a good example of this, whereas the vast majority of Fender instruments are not, due to their predominant use of single coil pickups, and even a P split pickup is not all that high of an impedance, compared to a typical dual coil humbucker such as those on a Gibson Les Paul.

It's an issue of impedance matching, between the pickups and the pots.

If your pots are working properly, leave them until they do not.

A 'Balance pot' could be considered an upgrade, but simply an alternate make or model of volume or tone pots, not.

If you absolutely must spend money on something, and the money is burning a hole in yer pocket, and causing you PAPD [Parts & Accessories Purchase Disorder], consider strings, pickups, and tuning machines.

Those items are where some benefit might be noticed.

The one exception on the pots resistance is with active EMGs [and any similarly designed pickups of other brands], which usually come with [and need] 25K pots, due to the low output impedance of each pickup's internal preamp.

Again, it's for proper impedance matching.

Also, the electrical value of a tone capacitor [also generally included] needs to be much larger to match this as well, same reason.

- - -

Oh, and while I'm on a myth-quashing roll, let me add that those pretty looking orange Sprague capacitors, while being a good quality component, work identically to any other brand, if they have the same electrical value [that's the number of uf or pf] stamped on them.
~

 

[DavesnothereCA]

Well, I haven't installed anything at this point and was still reviewing the benefits of upgrading the pots. I still have an unused set of EMG-PJ's to try out and that includes new pots. Considering the relative inexpense of these parts, I might just order more to include 500K and orange caps. I like solderless connectors to make swap-outs easier.

Regarding control knobs, along with the blend/taper pots I ordered, I included the sleeves to increase the size to 1/4". That way I have more flexibility in control knob sizes.

~
I did not know that anyone made such a beast.

Please, where can I source these ?

Also, where do you source your balance pots ?
~

 

[SoulReflection]

~
I did not know that anyone made such a beast.

Please, where can I source these ?

Also, where do you source your balance pots ?
~

Hey, @DavesnothereCA, thanks for your informative posts. Here is the answers to your questions:

Source is Amplified Parts. Shipping was very quick and reasonable here in California.

Products on order:

2 x

Potentiometer Adapter Sleeve - Converts 6mm or 18T shaft to 1/4" - $1.06

($0.53 each)

SKU: R-VADAPT-25

2 x

Potentiometer - Bourns, Dual MN Taper, Knurled Shaft - $5.00

($2.50 each)

SKU: R-VBM2-250KM-SP

• Resistance: 250 kΩ

 

[Kijekuyo]

~
FTR, 500K pots are not necessarily an upgrade over 250K pots, and large pots are not necessarily an upgrade over small ones.

500K pots are generally used when a higher impedance pickup [one with more turns of wire and a reading of more K on your ohm meter if you measure them] has been chosen by the maker of the instrument.

Gibson humbuckers are a good example of this, whereas the vast majority of Fender instruments are not, due to their predominant use of single coil pickups, and even a P split pickup is not all that high of an impedance, compared to a typical dual coil humbucker such as those on a Gibson Les Paul.

It's an issue of impedance matching, between the pickups and the pots.

If your pots are working properly, leave them until they do not.

A 'Balance pot' could be considered an upgrade, but simply an alternate make or model of volume or tone pots, not.

If you absolutely must spend money on something, and the money is burning a hole in yer pocket, and causing you PAPD [Parts & Accessories Purchase Disorder], consider strings, pickups, and tuning machines.

Those items are where some benefit might be noticed.

The one exception on the pots resistance is with active EMGs [and any similarly designed pickups of other brands], which usually come with [and need] 25K pots, due to the low output impedance of each pickup's internal preamp.

Again, it's for proper impedance matching.

Also, the electrical value of a tone capacitor [also generally included] needs to be much larger to match this as well, same reason.

- - -

Oh, and while I'm on a myth-quashing roll, let me add that those pretty looking orange Sprague capacitors, while being a good quality component, work identically to any other brand, if they have the same electrical value [that's the number of uf or pf] stamped on them.
~

The help I receive in this forum is great, thanks.

So, this is kind of an ongoing line of posts for my upgrading project for my Jag SS. I'm upgrading it for two reasons, practical and aesthetic. The flatwound strings I have are perfect, and I won't need new tuners unless I want to change the color. I have no neck dive and they stay in tune amazingly well.

First, I was content with my stock pickups until now. I really like the P-pickup, and I was content playing with only that one and no J-pickup, which contributes little or nothing of value to the sound. My style fits a P-Bass sound best anyway.

However, now that I'm playing in my new worldbeat band, I have found a lack of middle presence, and I want to boost it, both with PUs that are strong in that area and with being able to add in the J-pickup. I have ordered DiMarzio P-Js (which are on back-order, unfortunately).

Since I will be changing the PUs, I thought I'd combine that job with changing to VBT, which I consider a more practical arrangement for a PJ bass. That requires buying a new pot.

Secondly, I am modifying my bass for visual aesthetic reasons, and changing the control knobs are a part of those modifications. I have a new pickup guard coming this week, and I believe a different style of knob will go better with it. I consider visual aesthetics to be an important part of stage performance.

So, with the new higher-output PUs, the desire for the VBT conversion, and the minor desire to change the knobs, I thought a universal pot upgrade might be wise, since I'm changing to VBT anyway, and the upgrade is very cheap.

This is all new to me, so I've been asking for--and bountifully receiving--help for my Jag SS forum friends every step of the way.

As far as the money is concerned, I sold another bass for the express purpose of making these changes.

 

[Kijekuyo]

Well, I haven't installed anything at this point and was still reviewing the benefits of upgrading the pots. I still have an unused set of EMG-PJ's to try out and that includes new pots. Considering the relative inexpense of these parts, I might just order more to include 500K and orange caps. I like solderless connectors to make swap-outs easier.

Regarding control nobs, along with the bend/taper pots I ordered, I included the sleeves to increase the size to 1/4". That way I have more flexibility in control knob sizes.

Once again, thanks for your help. I'll order those sleeve adaptors myself. The knobs I want to put on my bass are the barrel-shaped type with set screws.

 

[BAG]

If that's the only problem with it, a set of HipShot Ultra-Lites could fix it. OTOH, if the market there is the same as here, the resale value could put you into a slightly better SS the, hopefully, would not have the same problem .

I've had Gotoh Res-o-lites on it previously. They helped a tiny bit, but not enough considering they cost around half the price of the bass. When I put together my Franken Fretless I took them off the Jag and put them on it replacing the stock ones on the Jag.

It appears though that I may already have a home for it. My daughter moved out of home 6 weeks or so ago. She only took her main acoustic guitar with her but has been looking at doing some recording. She said she'll pick up her other guitars on her next visit (after lockdown) and I offered her the Jag in case she wants to record any bass lines.
My only concern is that she'll want to take more of her stuff with her such as her DBR10 foldback speaker, which is currently one half of the top end speakers in my studio (the other one belonging to her little sister who still currently lives with us). I don't really want to have to put the DBR15's in the studio and would have to replace the 10's at around $900 per speaker.
Then there is her Fly-Rig for guitar, which I've been using a bit but can live without as I have a decent little guitar amp even though the Fly-Rig sounds better and is easier to record......... and then there's her Beta91a mic that I use inside her Woodskin cajon, both of which I use a LOT and would have to replace at a total cost of around $1800. This could get expensive. I thought you saved money when your kids left home.

 

[Kijekuyo]

Does anyone here have this bass as their only bass?

Yes! It's my baby! I need nothing more.

 

[Kijekuyo]

~
FTR, 500K pots are not necessarily an upgrade over 250K pots, and large pots are not necessarily an upgrade over small ones.

500K pots are generally used when a higher impedance pickup [one with more turns of wire and a reading of more K on your ohm meter if you measure them] has been chosen by the maker of the instrument.

Gibson humbuckers are a good example of this, whereas the vast majority of Fender instruments are not, due to their predominant use of single coil pickups, and even a P split pickup is not all that high of an impedance, compared to a typical dual coil humbucker such as those on a Gibson Les Paul.

It's an issue of impedance matching, between the pickups and the pots.

If your pots are working properly, leave them until they do not.

A 'Balance pot' could be considered an upgrade, but simply an alternate make or model of volume or tone pots, not.

If you absolutely must spend money on something, and the money is burning a hole in yer pocket, and causing you PAPD [Parts & Accessories Purchase Disorder], consider strings, pickups, and tuning machines.

Those items are where some benefit might be noticed.

The one exception on the pots resistance is with active EMGs [and any similarly designed pickups of other brands], which usually come with [and need] 25K pots, due to the low output impedance of each pickup's internal preamp.

Again, it's for proper impedance matching.

Also, the electrical value of a tone capacitor [also generally included] needs to be much larger to match this as well, same reason.

- - -

Oh, and while I'm on a myth-quashing roll, let me add that those pretty looking orange Sprague capacitors, while being a good quality component, work identically to any other brand, if they have the same electrical value [that's the number of uf or pf] stamped on them.
~

After doing more research, I believe I'll be staying with the 250K pots, although I still gather that a 500K blend is going to be more consistent. Maybe I'll opt for a 500K blend and keep the stock ones for the rest.

That said, I might even forego switching to VBT. I think I'd find it more convenient, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

 

[felis]

After doing more research, I believe I'll be staying with the 250K pots, although I still gather that a 500K blend is going to be more consistent. Maybe I'll opt for a 500K blend and keep the stock ones for the rest.

That said, I might even forego switching to VBT. I think I'd find it more convenient, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

You wouldn't be gaining much unless you just wanted to go for higher quality components.
I think the SS Jag is fine as it is.

 

[SoulReflection]

After doing more research, I believe I'll be staying with the 250K pots, although I still gather that a 500K blend is going to be more consistent. Maybe I'll opt for a 500K blend and keep the stock ones for the rest.

That said, I might even forego switching to VBT. I think I'd find it more convenient, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

...

 

[SoulReflection]

You wouldn't be gaining much unless you just wanted to go for higher quality components.
I think the SS Jag is fine as it is.

In my case, replacing the stock Jag neck pup with one from a Player P made a huge difference...so much so, it got me interested in what other benefits (like a better bridge pup and blend) could be achieved. But, that is just my (personal) opinion. Everyone else is entitled to theirs.

 

[Fairmont]

The Squier Jag isn't a short scale. It's a medium scale.
The Squier Bronco is a short scale.

 

[Kijekuyo]

The Squier Jag isn't a short scale. It's a medium scale.
The Squier Bronco is a short scale.

There are 34", 32", and 30" Squier Jaguar basses. This thread is focusing on the 30", which is no longer produced.

 

[Kijekuyo]

In my case, replacing the stock Jag neck pup with one from a Player P made a huge difference...so much so, it got me interested in what other benefits (like a better bridge pup and blend) could be achieved. But, that is just my (personal) opinion. Everyone else is entitled to theirs.

I still plan to get the new pickups. They are on back order, so it's giving me time to reconsider which model I will ultimately buy. I have the DImarzio Model PJ on order, but I may switch to the DiMarzio Area PJ, which no one has either.

 

[Fairmont]

There are 34", 32", and 30" Squier Jaguar basses. This thread is focusing on the 30", which is no longer produced.

My bad. My apologies.

 

[Bass Man Stan]

1. 34" 32" 30"
   

 

[BlueTalon]

After doing more research, I believe I'll be staying with the 250K pots, although I still gather that a 500K blend is going to be more consistent. Maybe I'll opt for a 500K blend and keep the stock ones for the rest.

That said, I might even forego switching to VBT. I think I'd find it more convenient, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

If it was my bass, I'd go for the 500K pots, because I like the brightness and presence in the sound. You can always turn the tone knob down when you want, but you can't put brightness there that isn't already there.

 

[Kijekuyo]

If it was my bass, I'd go for the 500K pots, because I like the brightness and presence in the sound. You can always turn the tone knob down when you want, but you can't put brightness there that isn't already there.

Thanks, I've heard that. I used to be into the bright sounds in my bass (when my friend wanted to play Grateful Dead), but as I moved more into '70s reggae, psychedelic soul, and Afropop, I have gone to the Dark Side, and I never bring in trebly stuff.

But thanks for that advice; it fits what I have read on Reddit and seen on Youtube, and I'm sure it will help others that read these posts and are looking to strengthen the brights.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

After doing more research, I believe I'll be staying with the 250K pots, although I still gather that a 500K blend is going to be more consistent. Maybe I'll opt for a 500K blend and keep the stock ones for the rest.

That said, I might even forego switching to VBT. I think I'd find it more convenient, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

~
I've not yet had experience in creating a blend circuit, so cannot say what pot would be best for that.

My earlier comments were in general, regarding passive volume and tone circuits of common instruments.

But soon I plan to try, as I was pleased with how the blend pot functioned on a Schecter bass which I played for a gig early last year.

My already transformed Franken-Ric might be a place to try, as it has 2 identical pickups.

However, as they are active EMGs, I expect that the blend pot would need to be either 25K or 50K, as the volume and tone pots for that application are 25K, so those values would result in the same ratios as we have been discussing for these passive Fender basses.
~