Should the trem be light in operation? http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007/05/12/setup-the-tremolo-system/. Please visit our friends in the surf music community: Contact Us Of course, that's what the center Phillips screw is for, and probably in this case is what needs adjustment. If theres something about which I become immensely excited, its the care and upkeep of offset guitars! Aside from buying an aftermarket bridge, my aim with the last two articles was simply to give players some food for thought when dealing with the stock bridge. (And of course, last of all, Ill get a luthier to check out the nut!). Im jumping to conclusions, I know, but its really not that far-fetched. [Spoiler: I Have NoIdea], Kinman Nasty 90 Noiseless Jazzmaster Pickups: Make Noise without theNoise, Agents of Shielding: A Guide to GuitarShielding. Also, while in rhythm mode, the pickup selector switch and lower-bout volume and tone controls become non-functional. I love what youve done there! Fantastic detailed articles! So now the string only grazes the top of the screwhead i'm not so concerned but i can understand why Dave Wronski uses flat head screws in combination with the buzzstop. Just re-read this comment, and had to say thanks for your kind words! Again, great writing! I was also wondering about the shim issue too as the bridge is already set low, exacerbating the break angle and rubbing issues. Said button is also VERY useful when using alternate tunings. Unless youre Thurston Moore, you may not be able to afford a fleet of Jazzmasters to handle every tuning youre likely to use, but with the Trem Lock you may not need them. 53 days ago, bigtikidude: Im glad I did and thanks for the info! Are you sure you have it adjusted correctly according to the instructions, so the lock slides into place with just the slightest pressure on the arm. Read your 3 part series and its clear, concise, detailed, helpful and not limited to techs but makes sense to DIY-phobic guys like me. LHR Anything .095 or above is great! My personal preference is mainly for the units found on vintage guitars. BAM. If you were buying a Mustang-style bridge, Id go Staytrem all the way. Why fiddle with the knobs when you could be shredding? -- Single control knob (volume) and three-way pickup switch The downside is that when a string breaks, this offsets the balance between spring and string, causing your guitar to go out of tune, pulling sharp. past contests. If fact, this happens so often that when I stroll into Guitar Center and see used Jazzmasters on the wall, theyre almost always missing the high e string, which leads me to believe that this problem was just that frustrating for its former owner. You can activate the lead circuit by setting the upper horn slide switch in the "down" position (toward the neck). I own a jazz and two jags. Id much rather have the original saddles in terms of sound and performance over any aftermarket saddle-only solution. Soldering the entire finish wrap of the string. Send us photos on Tumblr and well post your new squeeze! The two inside wheels on the upper horn next to the slider switch are the circuit's volume and passive tone controls. Thanks to all the surf bands, past and present. You may want to remove the unit and see if there is a mark where the arm hits the body cavity, drill a hole deeper into the body. I too went through the teflon tape stage too. I have a "Q" CIJ Jazzmaster and recently swopped the trem to an American unit and upgraded the strings to 12's flat chromes. With its 22-fret neck and a 9.25"-radius, this guitar feels comfortable and natural to play. Im not a fan of the Graphtech saddles from a tonal perspective, but Im sure theyre a fine option. Guitar player for The Driptones surf band. Fits right into the original thimbles too. Learn how to use common Jazzmaster controls and then check out our favorite Jazzmaster picks of 2020. Yet, because of the secretive nature of this body-mount system, many players are hesitant to take the strings off just to access the vibrato, worried that something about their guitars will change the moment the final screw is loosened. 76 days ago, Jojobaplant: -- Includes deluxe gig bag. -- Push/pull pot to coil-split pickups Removed the unit this morning and nothing is touching the bottom of the cavity, i applied a bit of silver paint to the end of the spring - refitted - depressed the arm to make sure. Not at all! Second Magnatech album on Sharawaji in a few weeks on CD and Vinyl! The rhythm circuit tone control uses a potentiometer with a different electrical value than the one used for the lead circuit, resulting in the differing sonic result you hear. Crumb: Increase the bridge height to keep that string from hitting the screw. Is there any way to correct this issue without having to take the guitar apart? Leo Fender couldnt have designed a simpler mechanism for his new, top-of-the-line instruments: the strings anchor on a plate which has both the trem arm and spring attached to it, with a screw threading through the middle of the spring to adjust tension. No polls at this time. In the 4th iteration of this popular signature model, we've added bold new feature like block inlays, fingerboard binding and EMG Jim Root Signature Daemonum open-coil active humbucking pickups. Where I mention using the Trem-Lock to set the tension properly, you can definitely pull up. No Glue ha! If you're a fan of the Fender Jazzmaster, you've no doubt noticed some standout differences in its classic and modern configurations. -- Gold anodized aluminum pickguard, vintage-style tuners. is this normal? Do not click. Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAk2gQpQrmI?rel=0. Then (either unknowingly or know to those creep sales dudes who are dishonest) you end up buying the off the wall guitar, incomplete! I can bend the arm just find, but it's too close to the body. I not sure, because I don't use heavy gauge strings, but you may be bottoming out, that is, the bottom of the trem arm may be hitting the bottom of the cavity so it would indeed be very hard to push down. Hi, I noticed a thread a few weeks ago.. something about american jazzmasters or jags using a number of shims as factory setup. Ive gotten an ear full more than a few times about the near-hallowed nature of the bolt-on neck joint, that the sacred bond of neck, screw and body should never be broken. I cant stand playing a brand-new guitar with the arm swinging wildly about like the tail of an excitable puppy. Stormtiger They're not complicated and offer plenty of options. Simply put, J Mascis, guitarist/vocalist of Dinosaur Jr is a Jazzmaster legend. That means the world! Colophon. Spam Formum posts this morning. As versatile as the Jazzmaster is, it may not be for every player. i expect those would be hex head and a devil to find. did the arm bend trick on another jm and that works great too. -- Thin and lightweight body i wanted to flip over my offending screws but there is rifling only in the pivot screw, there is no rifling in tremolo plate so if i flip over screws they dont hold two plates together. -- Hard-tail string-through-body bridge. Though Im very much an offset activist, Ill concede to this complaint! Ive been looking for something like this since I was contemplating buying a 62 AVRI Jazzmaster back a few months ago. When youre pressing down or lifting up on the bar, you are directly moving that plate, which the spring counteracts with just the right amount of resistance, lowering or raising the pitch of the strings. http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007/05/12/setup-the-tremolo-system/. I love your site! Not kidding.. i'm not the kind of guy you'd kick sand in my face but i'm honestly getting a bit of muscle burn in operation! -- 100% Designed by Fender Check out our Title is, 5 things you didnt know.. Blah blah, most of it is cool. Hi there, Interesting fix, nice! Sorry to bump an old thread, but I need some help with my Jazzmaster Tremolo system. The Higher Evolution of Offset-Waist Guitars, http://www.warmoth.com/Modified-Mustang-C716.aspx, An Open[ish] Response to Fender CEO Andy Mooneys Thoughts on OffsetGuitars, Guitars with Issues: Where to Draw The Line? -- Dual humbucking pickups Enjoy a loud and warm tone that sustains thanks to dual high-output humbucker pickups and a hardtail bridge. That one was a bit of a stretch. Seriously, man youre right up there with home.provide in my book! home.provide was one of the first sites back in the nineties where some info on the jag and jm could be found times flying Easy, right? they deserve it. Pushing that button back turns the trem into a kind of hard-tail! Fender PlayThe #1 guitar learning platformTRY FOR FREE. That diagram has the strings much higher than in reality, the bridge would have to be extremely high. More than one unaware player has mistaken a Jazzmaster in rhythm mode for one with a faulty bridge pickup! -- Adjusto-Matic bridge with vintage-style "floating" tremolo tailpiece The the floating bar which the strings are threaded had dropped into the slot so far that to thread the strings i had to depress the trem-arm to bring the floaty bar upwards. Weve been talking about some of the more widely misunderstood features of our favorite Fender Offsets, the Jazzmaster and Jaguar. Most of all, Im surprised it took me 20 years to figure this out. New stuff coming from the Men in Gray Suits REALLY SOON! -- Jazzmaster floating tremolo and bridge Voila. This is the first new guitar i've ever been able to afford so i think i'm going to get a guitar tech to breath on it.. Joe White he knows a thing or two! So, what gives? Add to it, the place the stings rub is exactly the worst spot for this kind of contact: the closing wrap at the ball end. The lead circuit offered standard controls for a Fender guitar: single master volume and tone control knobs on the lower bout, and a three-position pickup selector toggle switch on the same side of the guitar. I have one on my guitar already and I have an extra one, but the extra one has a short in it so it might be cheaper to replace it instead of having it repaired. Or never Informed. Some light filing will almost always do the trick here, either with a small round file, or my favorite, Mitchells Abrasive Cord, which is like the Soap on a Rope of sand paper. I spent quite a while setting the spring and i've got it so the lock slides over easy without touching the arm, i think i got it about right because it makes a nice snick noise when i slide the lock. The mini version of our most iconic model has every bit of mojo of the full sized version. And its the s#!+ For those who haven't found the trem setup page yet here it is: These Phillips screws were lower and flatter on older units, and the anchor itself was negligibly higher, so strings were afforded more room to freely pass over them. Reason being, the springs used on the old ones were more heavy-duty than those found on reissue instruments, especially imports. How much for that pickup? This makes for a tighter feel and greater touch-sensitivity. 98 days ago, ArtS: Effectively, it remembers how your guitar was tuned before you lost a string. I think one part of the general problem with this system is that it needs to work in tandem with the bridge to achieve any kind of stability. YES, TOM! If you like your action the way it is, shim the neck a little. Thats where that tiny, unassuming button on the front of the Fender plate comes in handy. Vintage Jazzmasters and Jaguars also had different springs! Thats why Im never surprised when one of these guitars come in without an e string; this is almost always the culprit. I wish I can just buy that Top 20 guitar from you right now! The trem lock is only there if you break a string and a throw the others out of tune, it doesn't matter how good the strings are. Tapping that end gently with a hammer, its quite easy to put a nearly imperceptible bend in the tip at the end of the bar, causing it to rub up against the walls of the socket, and thus, stay in place. Thanks for your help. When I compared the feel with that of my 1960 Jazzmaster, the difference was really pronounced, with the older unit feeling much more stiff, requiring more work to gliss notes. No Foil magic hat.? I did the same mod to my MIJ Jaguar and used the same page to adjust it for.11 Chromes, there was no real difference in the tension or the arm height. In our last Demystifying article, we gave you some history and pertinent information about the offset bridge, and even a few tips and tricks to keep it in perfect working order. Theres an amazingly in-depth article on setting up the JM/Jag trem over at The Higher Evolution of Offset-Waist Guitars, an amazing resource for all things Offset. The string hitting the screw on the plate is common, that's why Wronski recommends counter-boring the holes and using flat head screws, the buzz stop that Dave uses makes it worse. Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlIEhAyCRpc?rel=0, -- Maple neck with "C"-shaped profile and 21-fret rosewood fingerboard rivets seem to eliminate this problem. Im absolutely 100% in agreement with your reply to your friend. Next pic, a 1966 Jaguar.. see how high the strings sit. And hey, if you need your Jazzmaster or Jaguar expertly set up, look no further! Have to admit I bought them on looks alone from my childhood obsession and love the sounds but always struggled to understand them. Truly great articles. -- Alder body I can't stretch the strings when in locked mode (good one thanks for the tip). Hellllloooo people of Earth Remove the screws under both E strings and thread them upside-down with the Phillips head facing the inside of the cavity instead of toward the string. I too am a long-time Jazzmaster fan. Maintain control over bends, dive bombs and vibrato better with jumbo frets and a fast 12"-radius. It is amazing to see how the offsets gain in popularity in recent years. i think that fliping them is not stable enough and during using vibrato it can be quiet loose. With the vibrato, its all about finding the right amount of tension for the gauge of string in use, so that when the vibrato is actuated theres an appropriate amount of resistance. PatGall: But if you've been hankering to try a traditional model out, here's a quick guide to getting the exact sound you're after. No Tape All makes sense now break angle, string tension, strings snagging edge of bridge, screws on base-plate etc. Its literally the best thing you can do, especially if youre going to use the tension bar he installed. When the proper tension on the spring is reached, youll be able to slide that little button back with no resistance. Thanks for the help it's much appreciated. Whos coming to SG101? For some, this spot is against their output jack, especially if the arm is loose in its socket. strap You should not be able to raise the arm (stretch the strings) when it is locked. Strings sometimes just flat-out break on these guitars, and it sometimes seems a futile effort to continually string the thing up when your high E is just going to snap in ten minutes. -- 9.5"-radius fingerboard. Good idea on hammering the tremolo arm. I'll give it a go thanks. past polls. Some players can find the standard 25.5' scale stratocaster to be a bit uncomfortable. This article is fantastic. Thanks for reading! Change). Much of the tuning instability folks complain about comes from the bridge, but the vibrato certainly can contribute. I havent run into that myself, but you only need to flip the two outer screws. I adjusted the trem-loc as described at webrocker.de which made the trem-arm more erect and also giving more knuckle room but now it's quite hard to depress. As noted, theres one master volume knob and one master tone knob, both located on the lower bout. 115 days ago, Pirecords: When the Jaguar came out, Fender quickly realized that because the shortened scale length of a Jaguar meant lower string tension, the vibrato felt far too stiff. The wheel nearest the slider switch will set your volume. Looking for a beginner guitar? However, the classic Jazzmaster configuration is considerably more elaborate. Im always keeping an eye out for them, but I always find the ones that are slightly different from Roberts. Consequently, they started cutting one coil off the spring, resulting in better tension. Im now tempted to flip those tremolo screws on my Jazzmaster like you suggest here, but Im going for somewhat of a replica of Robert Smiths old Jazzmaster from The Cures early days. i have replaced two outer screws with rivets. btw, it's the spring that hangs down lowest. When the guitar was introduced in 1958 as Fenders new top-of-the-line instrument, one of its several notable firsts was a dual-circuit design with separate volume and tone controls. These are hands-down my favorite guitars, and if I can help someone else fully understand how they work, my job is done. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Michael James Adams is a guitarist, writer, guitar tech, and Star Trek enthusiast based out of Long Beach, California. On my Jaguar, the whammy bar moves up and down very nicely, giving me plenty of room/bounce when I bend those chords. i have sent u some photos (on email) that show how it looks like. Now the bar has clicked back into position and sits a tad higher theres less string angle over the screwhead, before it was trying to break the string windings. Thanks for the replies, I adjusted it to where I like it now! not sure if theyre as good all round as mastery tho. i'm guessing shims are pieces of card the thickness of a rizla packet? While fiddling with the spring something jumped back into place with a clunk noise.. behold everything is a-ok now, absolute luxury! I think some others have had that problem and I may have even done that myself. My new arm is also very difficult to remove so I leave it in rather than risk breaking the collet teeth, I like it better that way than falling out like it used to. About Us Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The first, best advice I would give to those that have caught the Jazzmaster/Jaguar bug is to use a heavier gauge of string. Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMW2Hnv24CQ?rel=0, -- Alder body with gloss finish I do this religiously to my e, b and g strings, and since Ive started I have yet to break any of them. For his signature model, J specified the Vintage White finish, gold annodized pickguard and aged white tone controls which give this instrument a modern yet classy look. Wow, Ian, thank you. There is a reason why nearly every top list of Jazzmaster players on the internt features J Mascis. Love your enthusiasm. i ve got problem. Does this mean you arent using Mastery bridges anymore? For the record, I have .12-.52 DR Blues on that guitar. The strings that ship with VIs have an .084 low E, which is way too low to have a tight, defined sound. But Ive learned the ALL Fenders with ALL tremolo styles come with a tiny spring that drops into the hole before you thread your tremolo arm! I love that, dont get me wrong, but the trem on that blue Jazzmaster is heavenly! The Jazzmasters lead circuit is pretty straightforward. This guitar is for the player looking for the golden era sound and style that defined the decade. I just stumbled over this great series of posts apparently some visitors of your site came over to my site to play with the good ol interactive jag :-)) Ive previously touched on the most common offset objection is that they just dont stay in tune, but this really isnt the case once these guitars are properly set up and understood. -- Two Player Series humbucking pickups -- Two 60s Jazzmaster single-coil pickups Thanks for coming Guy! The Mid '60s C-shaped neck has a classic look and feel with its matching painted headstock and 7.25"-radius. Just thread it through the eyelet as you would a string, then floss away! Second Magnatech album on Sharawaji in a few weeks on CD and Vinyl! Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJJXuGftOSg?rel=0, -- Mahogany body with contoured neck heel I flipped over the screws, which actually had visible marks on them from years of strings being rubbed up against them. All US-made reissue vibratos are the same, but with a Squier body you might have to do some routing to make it fit properly. To activate the Jazzmaster's rhythm circuitwhich is fully separate from the leadsimply move the upper-bout slider switch to the "up" position (away from the neck). Thats called the Trem Lock, and its awesome. But why? Tom. Be the first to know about new products, featured content, exclusive offers and giveaways. SurfGuitar101.com 2004 - 2018 by Brian Neal. -- Maple neck with C-shaped profile Perfect for players with smaller-sized hands or young guitaristsDo not be fooled by this guitar's small size. So there you have it! You can still use the trem, but only to lower pitch. On my 07 Sonic Blue Thin Skin Fender Jazzmaster, Ive installed a Jaguar vibrato from 1963. This problem isnt usually as persistent with vintage guitars, but on newer models the collet and arm arent exactly the same size or shape as the old ones, so more often than not there will be extreme amounts of play on the arm. Our interactive gear guide, FindYour.Fender.com, matches you with the perfect model by learning about your sound & style. Jim Root (or to Slipknot fans #4) of Slipknot and Stone Sour is a rock guitar veteran with over 25 years of touring and recording experience. The pickup selector switch gives three options: Neck pickup, bridge pickup, or both pickups together. Some people wrap tape around the end of the arm (which can be messy and sticky) and others will try to gunk them up, squirting some glue or something in there to cause more friction. My string touches the screw with or without the buzzstop, I've been living with it for 20 years, no problem for me. Wow. The tip of the arm travels down perhaps an inch before there is any real drop in tone and it suddenly because harder to push. There are also replacement arms and collets offered by a company called StayTrem, and their work is stunning! One of the main reasons that strings break on these guitars especially new ones is that the strings arent given the proper amount of clearance over the two outer screws near the anchor on the plate.
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