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Lefty Jazzmaster: Let there be sound!

Perhaps the wire you grounded was somehow a signal wire. That would account for making the thing so quiet, and also for shorting the output of that one pickup.

Think about it. At first, it worked, but it was noisy. Then you grounded a wire and the noise went away, but it stopped working. Hmm... If I was a logical sort of guy, I'd say you forgot to serve undercooked bacon while rebuilding your lawnmower's carburetor. Either that, or you made a wiring mistake. I don't know. Maybe somebody else will have some input.

From what I can see, that thing should be noisy as hell. I'd be sending pictures to Ripley's Believe It or Not if it wasn't. Single coil pickups, none of the wires are shielded, and they're all long runs. You could probably make it noisier if you wanted to, but you might need to add a power cord to the thing to run the motors...
 
Oh, don't get me wrong. It's noisy as hell when I pick one or the other pickup in the master circuit, but when both are chosen, they're hum cancelling.

As for grounding a hot wire. I feel confident in saying that didn't happen. I've got all my grounds accounted for: one from each pot, one from each pickup, everything else is grounded by the conductive copper. I did a continuity test to check that, and the quietness in the hum cancelling position bolsters that.

Further, I think I just didn't complete the circuit, which is why it's quiet. I, perhaps, imagined it working. I probably had the master circuit engaged, in hum cancelling, when I assessed the neck pickup, leading me to a mistaken conclusion about the rhythm circuit. If you want to be logical.

Here are some random shots of my "work space." I twist-tied the strings together in pairs, after removing them from the vintage tuning machines, to keep them from tangling. They're fresh strings and I don't feel like discarding them just yet.
 

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Don't unsolder anything yet. On a blank sheet of paper, re-draw the entire circuit full size. Draw the cavities with a ruler if it's needed. You can trace around a quarter for the pots, and even outline the cavity  (first) by holding the paper over it. Then draw the wires in as you know they should be. And then find the difference. I could hazard three guesses as to what's  wrong, but there's no need to guess* when you have a correct drawing right in front of you.



DO-NOT-READ-DO-NOT-READ-DO-NOT-READ-DO-NOT-READ-DO-NOT-READ-DO-NOT-READ

*1) When you close it up, one wire gets pushed against something that grounds it.
2)  Some wires are hooked to the wrong lugs on the switch.
3) A soldering joint looks good to look at, but it's loose inside and somehow cuts out.

But first, the drawing. Instead of just staring at a bunch wires thinking "Huh?" For pete's sakes, leave the cover off til it's fixed. You can jiggle the wires around when it's on and see if something interesting happens, buzz-wise. I think we already know you haven't hooked it up so bad there's 120 volts in there. :laughing3:
 
Too late, Stub! I opened her back up and rewired the rhythm circuit according to the traditional Jazzmaster wiring. Worked like a charm. Then again, I may just have not turned up the volume before. I can be a bit Fred MacMurray, sometimes.

But, she's wired up, she's working, and she sounds ... on my first, cursory play ... REALLY DAMN GOOD!  :icon_biggrin:

All that's left to do is affix the string tree and to apply, perhaps, the Jazzmaster decal I have sitting idly atop my piano. This thing has about $150 of Fender parts in her. I know some of you are pretty militant about not putting a Fender decal on a Warmoth, but I bought a licensed Fender body and neck for the purpose of making myself a left-handed Fender (inspired and licensed) Jazzmaster. I would never lie and tell anyone it's a "genuine" Fender, but I do want to "complete the look."

Once I get the tree installed and decal affixed, I'll record some clips and post them with some fresh pics.

Thanks, all, for your support and help!  :icon_thumright:
 
Great stuff RB  :icon_thumright: ... what'll make your weekend much more relaxed  :toothy10:

Dose this mean I can stop sweating now, when I read your enlightening threads  :icon_biggrin:

Good work and thank you so much for sharing your Up's & Down's with us all here.
When is the book release  :icon_jokercolor:
Thats sure worth lots of  :occasion14:  :occasion14:  :occasion14:  :occasion14:  :occasion14:  :occasion14:  :occasion14:
 
Hey, thanks! I'm glad my endless frustration has provided you some entertainment. :icon_biggrin:
[/quote]

I wasn't being sarcastic, really !

I had total confidence in your ability to overcome what were, in the scheme of things, minor setbacks.

Stories like yours are encouraging to those of us not confident we can pull it off.

Thank you for sharing.

- B
 
Verrry nice. I've enjoyed seeing it come together. Congrats on a really nice build.
 
Thanks!

I woke up in the middle of the night last night craving to play my Jazzmaster. So, I got up and ran through some scales, noodled a bit until I was satisfied and went back to sleep. I'd say I'm pretty thrilled about it, since it's pervading even my subconscious. :icon_biggrin:

I played it today at full-blast and the Novak P90 in the bridge is sick. What a phenomenal pickup. It is just filthy, in that great way, like the opening riff of "Bad to the Bone." This "Jazz" guitar can effin' rock, and rock hard.

The neck pickup isn't as boss, though I don't know yet if that's due to it being a different type of single coil or whether it's not set close enough to the strings, but when I switch to it by itself, its output is significantly weaker. I've had to crank the volume on the guitar and on the amp to get a usable sound from it. OK, nevermind, I raised it. It's all good. :icon_biggrin:

In addition to the string tree and the decal, I realize that I didn't install the strap button on the upper horn, so that's on the to-do list, too. I love this thing, though. All the agita and frustration were worth it; I've put together one hell of an axe.

... is anyone else disappointed by how the forum looks right now? I hope this is only temporary; it's not an improvement.
 
reluctant-builder said:
The neck pickup isn't as boss, though I don't know yet if that's due to it being a different type of single coil or whether it's not set close enough to the strings, but when I switch to it by itself, it's output is significantly weaker. I've had to crank the volume on the guitar and on the amp to get a usable sound from it. OK, nevermind, I raised it. It's all good. :icon_biggrin:
Click to expand...

Haha I love how stream-of-consciousness your posts read.  I was about to pop in and ask if you'd fallen in love with it yet - glad you have, and as you said, you get such satisfaction and a personal connection to the guitar being the one to cobble it together that can't really be duplicated in any other way than just doing it.

Re: the forum, I reckon there was a software update and the forums just need to be re-skinned, I'm sure the change, or at least this look, is temporary.
 
I'm glad that all worked out well for you. There's nothing better than a fine axe you've delivered yourself, and you did a fine job.

So... now that that's over with... what have you done for me lately? You gotta start another one right away! <grin>


And yeah. New forum format is less than attractive, but it seems to have all the same functionality. Have to check the personal profile area - the developers may have given users the ability to change foreground/background colors, whether or not we want to see everybody's insane sigs, etc.
 
Thanks, guys.

The next one will be a carved top mahogany LPS, Alpine White with black binding, humbucker routes but I'll be putting in the Mean 90s I've got sitting around. Neck will be mahogany with a blank ebony fretboard, same alpine white finish as the body. Can decide on the headstock, though ... LP or V?

I was jonesing for a Musiclander, but I'm just not happy with how apparently small they are ... and I've been lusting after the Hagstrom Deuce, but they only offer finish options for their lefties that I don't want, so that's why I want to go for an LPS.

It'll be a little while before the LPS gets ordered, though. Hell, I haven't even put the top horn's strap button, the string tree nor the decal on my Jazzmaster, so I'm not quite done yet.  :icon_biggrin:
 
Whether or not your current axe has open issues has nothing to do with it. That's maintenance work at this point. Once you plug it in, it's done and it's time to build a new one <grin>

As for a good headstock on the LPS, I've thought about that body style myself and decided if I did it I'd put either a Warmoth or Warhead headstock on it. To me, the LP headstock is gaudy and impractical, and the "V" headstock looks more than a little silly. I've never been a fan of the 3x3 tuner arrangement, but at least on the Warmoth 'stock it's small and the strings are properly lined up. The Warhead stock is nice, too, but it may be a bit much for that body style. On the plus side, it has the 6 in-line tuners. I don't know. I'd be tempted.
 
Here are two clips I recorded just now.

The first is the neck pickup, using the "rhythm circuit" and some lead with the bridge pickup, with some dirt on it.

The second is the neck pickup, using the master circuit, leading with the bridge pickup, clean, but with some reverb.

Edit: In the interest of sparing your ears, I've removed the dirty clip.
 

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The clean version sounds good, although the lead is a bit weak in the mix. But, that's not the guitar's fault.

The dirty version sounds... awful. I'm sorry. Sounds like something is wrong. Reminds me of trying to play a guitar through "Line In" inputs on the stereo 40 years ago. Bad impedance match, bad level match, bad transistor distortion, bad SFX, bad... something. Just bad.
 
Ha. I'm pretty sure you can fault me for that, too. I'm terrible when it comes to mixing and, truth be told, that's the guitar plugged into my Tascam, straight into the computer, no amplification, then an emulated amp applied to it. Neither recording nor mixing are my forte. Not even close. I'm a better bowler, and I'm an awful bowler.
 
I still drool when I see you went with the Mastery Bridge. It's such a sexy piece of hardware. I love it, Steve.
 
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