Jazzblaster Fusion, continued...

[tylereot]

Continued from the thread Here...
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=20255.75

I did most of the wiring today.  I'd show you a picture, but *!$%!+!?! Photobuckit sux.
The superswitch is easier to work with once you actually SEE how it works, rather than trying to understand it from a diagram, or what have you.  Or at least it is for me.
That said, it really does take a pretty high degree of manual dexterity...

Well, let's try that picture again...

 

[alterbridgefan]

I really hate wiring, and I'm glad to see that yet another person is better at it than I am. :sad:

On another note, does this mean the guitar is almost done?

 

[tylereot]

It IS almost done!  I still need some connections, from the switch to the two tone controls, and volume, and it'll come together.  I'm waiting for Ken to get back to me confirming those before I start soldering.
I got the mounting holes for the Jazzmaster pickup drilled this morning, and the HB mounted on the pickguard.  The output jack is wired, and in place, grounds soldered to the wire from the trem springs anchor.  I've tested the continuity of the ground from the anchor through the body cavity shielding.  So far....  :icon_thumright:
I guess I can test my connections through the SSwitch.....

 

[tylereot]

Well.... I got it wired up to the diagram Ken sent me.  I still can't get my mind around the electronics of how this thing works.  But I can solder by the numbers.  I think.

So, I plugged it in, and tapped the pickups through the switch positions.  I'm sure the bridge HB is working, not sure about the JM neck.  It just hums when I touch it, instead of making a 'click' noise.

Not sure what to do other than put it all together, string it up and pray.  Any other tricks to discovering what all is working and what isn't in which string position?

 

[bagman67]

hold your newly-wired body up face-to-face to another guitar with strings - nobody said the strings your pickups are sensing have to be on the guitar you installed them in.  Your pickups' magnetic field will be disturbed by string vibration in proximity to them even if they're attached to a different guitar.  That will let you know whether you're actually picking up string vibration.

 

[tylereot]

hold your newly-wired body up face-to-face to another guitar with strings - nobody said the strings your pickups are sensing have to be on the guitar you installed them in.  Your pickups' magnetic field will be disturbed by string vibration in proximity to them even if they're attached to a different guitar.  That will let you know whether you're actually picking up string vibration.

*snap!*
That's why they call you Hero Member (again!).  Thanks Baggy!

 

[tylereot]

It's ALIVEE!!!!

:cool01:

 

[JaySwear]

So it's working?!

And good tip, Bagman  :icon_biggrin:

 

[tylereot]

And I took it to rehearsal tonight!
I can see why the Jazzmaster wasn't embraced by the jazz players of the day (well, the ones who weren't in jail and had other guitars to play..), but this guitar has some serious mojo.  It clearly loves blues, and even psychedelic jazz.  Bebop?  Well... we'll see.  It's still pretty dang fresh.
But...
Here it is.

There are still things I need to pick up on, like a couple of pickguard screws, a rough spot or three in the finish, etc.  And I may not be done with wiring.  But I'm very pleased with how this all came out.
Gotta thank Ken at Roadhouse pickups for guiding me through the whole electrical end of the project, from pickup design through soldering connections.  The guy is a sweetheart.
Really bent over backward, and so far, the Jazzmaster pickup is the SHIZZ!!!
I haven't had the bridge HB on long enough to really get to know it yet.
Thanks to Len, for the pearl and the advice.  Thanks to Buddy and Andy DePaul for the cool moon inlay.
Also big thanks to Cagey, Bagman, Line6man, Altar and all y'all who gave me encouragement and great advice.  :icon_thumright:

ccasion14:

 

[alterbridgefan]

Thanks for bringing such a lovely surprise to the table!

 

[JazzX]

Looks amazing, great job on the headstock, it really makes the whole build quite unique!
:rock-on:

(you better make its bass VI twin!)

 

[tylereot]

Now, I need to work on the tone.
I'm just not diggin' the tones from the parallel connections: 2-tapped JM and single bridge coil, 3-Full JM and full HB.  4 is the single coil bridge, which is a slightly less twangy telecaster kind of sound, not bad and 5 is the full humbucker which is excellent.

AS I see my options, I need to:
1) find a way to connect the JM tapped output to the single bridge coil in series.
2) Ditch the switch, and simply run a three way, and put a coil split toggle where the second tone control is (both tones are wired to the volume pot, so they're not acting independently anyway.  Really, a tone pot isn't very important on this guitar anyway).
3) Add a strat pickup in the middle (it's routed for it!), and run the wiring like a HSS strat.

 

[mayfly]

er wow.  that's quite the thing.

 

[reluctant-builder]

I really dig the motif, and the wood is lovely ... but a Jazzmaster without that tremolo plate looks naked to me ... like someone walking out in public with a shirt, but no pants.

 

[tylereot]

I really dig the motif, and the wood is lovely ... but a Jazzmaster without that tremolo plate looks naked to me ... like someone walking out in public with a shirt, but no pants.

LOL!  That's because you're used to seeing it that way!  Throw out your old paradigms!

Meanwhile, it seems we got the pickups out of phase with each other, so I'm going back in this weekend to sort out the plumbing.

 

[swarfrat]

I really dig the motif, and the wood is lovely ... but a Jazzmaster without that tremolo plate looks naked to me ... like someone walking out in public with a shirt, but no pants.

Yeah but a jazzmaster with a jazzmaster tremolo is like walking around in public with sequined bell bottoms and strategic cutouts. Hardly an improvement.

 

[Cagey]

I really dig the motif, and the wood is lovely ... but a Jazzmaster without that tremolo plate looks naked to me ... like someone walking out in public with a shirt, but no pants.

Yeah but a jazzmaster with a jazzmaster tremolo is like walking around in public with sequined bell bottoms and strategic cutouts. Hardly an improvement.

As much as I hate to defend them, that really depends on who you're trying to impress and/or what you're comfortable with. They actually do have a decent look to them, and they're a lot easier to play than something like a Les Paul, for instance. If you're willing to live with all the noise and mechanical deficiencies, they're not bad instruments. There are a LOT of better choices, at least in my mind, but that's my mind. Not everyone would have married my last wife, but I thought she was great at the time. Today, I'd choose differently.

As an old friend used to say "I remember my wedding like it was yesterday. I wish it was tomorrow so I could cancel it." Guitar choices are often that way as well.

 

[stubhead]

I wired up #1 with a superswitch on the Lawrence L500XL that gave me
1) front coil
2) back coil
3) both coils in series
4) both coils in parallel
5) both coils out-of-phase.
That plus a 3-way, and concentric tone and volumes for the Lawrence and the single-coil neck PU (which is essential for the "Little Wing" sound).

It was a lot of work, and as the out-of-phase sound was meaningless to me, I figured out that a 4-way Telecaster blade would have done the same thing with about 1/4 the amount of jumper wires. And I prefer mini-switches to push-pull pots, as I prefer my wiring to be sequentially-logical. The secret magic switches are great - if they work just as intended. But if you have some recombinant phase-reversing-adding-in-this-coil type of monkeyworks, and it doesn't work perfect right off the launch pad, it's much harder to figure out out how to re-tune it. I don't mind complexity if it's giving me something I want - I'll learn how to use the switching, and I much prefer to get as much as possible out of a single passive guitar rather than depend on eleven pedals to basically get louder, then - more louder. But I like my wiring to reflect my sort of primitive water-running-downhill view of electricity.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

and they're a lot easier to play than something like a Les Paul, for instance.

Yeah, I don't agree with this statement at all, but to each their own.
Patrick

 

[Cagey]

and they're a lot easier to play than something like a Les Paul, for instance.

Yeah, I don't agree with this statement at all, but to each their own.
Patrick

I understand. There are certainly a lot of great players who've made them work who have far more talent than I do. I just have trouble reaching things on those guitars because of the deeply buried neck and the thickness of the heel. I keep trying to love them - I buy one every 24 to 36 months with high hopes - but I never hang on to them for more than 6 months because I can't play them. I'm sure it's just me and my reluctance to suffer carpal tunnel syndrome. I'll keep trying, though. They're iconic instruments. Everybody should own an LP at least once. Maybe twice, just to make sure. Try as you might, nothing sounds like a Paul.