Tools
I'll try to keep this to the bare essentials needed for carrying out this task, but when it comes to specialist tools, the more the merrier I say!
Minimum 40W soldering iron
I say a minimum of 40W as most solder wire you can buy these days is lead-free, and lead free does require a hotter iron/working temp due to it's higher melting point. A 40w Iron should achieve a working temp of somewhere around 400 degrees C, which is great for lead free soldering and in particular making your ground connections (pot casings etc).
Solder wire
There are varying specs, and quality of solder wire available. If it helps, I personally use Rapid/R-Tech Premium lead-free 22SWG 0.7mm. It has a flux core so you don't need to use flux additionally, but overall I find this to be a good lead-free solder wire to use for guitar/bass wiring work. Techs/luthiers etc tend to have their own preferences though, but this is what I use everyday so hope this helps narrow down your search. Ideally use this in conjunction with some form of fume extraction, or in a well ventilated area. Although lead-free is of course, as the name suggests, the fumes from the flux is still pretty nasty really, so best to think about how to do all of this safely.
Small or Needle nose pliers
These are really helpful for any wiring work, such as handling smaller parts that your fingertips might struggle to grasp, simply placing onto a wire to keep still whilst soldering a joint or using to shape/bend wires for installation for example.
Wire snips/cutters
You'll need some cutters to trim your wire length, if you have some guitar string cutters for example those might be useful here too for example.
Socket/spanners
This will be used to tighten the CTS and Switchcraft / Pure Tone jack mounting nut when fitting the pots and jack to your control plate and also used to remove the old pot and jack mount nuts too.
Philips screwdriver
This will be used to remove/re-fit the pickguard and pickup.
Small flat head screwdriver or Allen key set
This will be used if you have grub screw secured control knobs for example. Many of these traditional control knobs have a small flat head grub screw to secure the knob to the pot shaft. Some however have allen key grub screws so inspect what control knobs you have and go from there. What size you need will depend on the specific control knobs used.
Drill w/step cutter drill bit (or 10mm straight bit)
This will be used to widen the holes in the pickguard to mount the CTS pots and Pure Tone jack socket. I personally highly recommend using a step cutter bit to do this, but it can be done with a regular drill bit if that's all you have.
Multi-Meter
These are of course useful for a number of tasks, but primarily here it's useful to test the continuity and effectiveness of your copper foil shielding that will be applied. To measure your pots (and if capable, your capacitor value too) to help ensure they're within tolerance and/or the specs you wish to use. As well as testing continuity for your ground connections too. They're always handy to have around for any guitar wiring work though.
Wiring style/schematic
So with the parts prepared let's start by looking at the schematic. The Bronco I promise it's a nice and simple one.
To view the wiring schematic for a traditional right handed, Bronco Bass click HERE
Stripping down the bass
First thing you'll need to do here is strip down the bass so you can install your new components.
The Bronco we're featuring here today is a pretty early example of the Affinity series Bronco. The bulk of features are the same throughout the Affinity production run as well as with the Sonic Series version too, but things like the main body cavity for example is slightly different to the smaller, with neater smaller cavities seen in later models. Thankfully the exact same install process is used throughout these models and changes though, so don't be alarmed by any visual differences. The install should be the very same.
When I supply the FULL pre wired Bronco harness/pickup kits, I pre-solder a new bridge ground wire to it for you. It is up to you whether you use this new bridge ground wire, or not. If you have a secure bridge ground wire already in place, the install will be slightly easier for you if you retain that wire. If you want to use my new wire, then please note that you will need to slacken/remove your strings, and remove your bridge from the body.
If you want to use the original, pre-existing bridge ground wire then you can carry out this pickup/wiring swap without even de-tuning your strings. Everything is pickguard mounted on the Bronco, and that will all lift right out without removing or even de-tuning your strings. So if you don't plan on swapping strings, having a clean up, or replace the bridge ground wire then leave those tuned up and get right on with the re-wire.
First up, I'll be removing the control knobs so I can access their mounting nut. Broncos generally leave the factory with Telecaster style barrel saddles. Some are push-fit, meaning they will just lift off the pot shaft (maybe with ease, maybe with a bit of encouragement!). But some like this one, have a single grub screw per control knob which you'll need to loosen before it'll lift off. On this ocassion it was an allen key grub screw, I have seen them with small flat head grubs though so just visually check which you have and go from there. With those loosened, I could lift them off with ease and access the pot mount nuts.
Using the sockets already prepared, loosen the pot and jack mount nuts.
Now continue on with the screwdriver and remove all of the pickguard screws. This will allow you to lift off the pickguard and it'll leave the wiring and pickup parts inside the cavity.
So let's look at the wiring and what we need to do to begin removing it from the body for the full re-wire. Your specific Bronco may be a little different to this, but the core steps to follow are the same. What I mean by that is that the specific pots used by the factory during the different production runs may vary a little. This one did of course have metric type pots, but they were the full sized casings, whereas you'll usually find mini pots in the newer versions. The processes are the same regardless of this though, so don't be alarmed if things look a little different.
As this article is focussing on fitting a full pickup and harness replacement, I won't be covering removing the pickup from the original harness. So please bare this in mind if you are fitting another companies kits.
So! First we need to identify which wire is the bridge ground wire. This wire will normally come out of the body somewhere in the lower area of the cavity nearest the bridge, and it'll head into the cavity and then soldered to one of the pot casings. As noted in the introduction, on the full pickup/harness pre-wired kits I supply a new pre-soldered bridge ground wire. You don't neccesarily have to use this pre-soldered wire, I just add it in case you want or need to use it.
If you are planning to retain the factory/existing bridge ground wire, then it might be wise here to do a quick continuity test with your multi-meter to check it has good contact with the bridge plate. It is easier to do this whilst it's attached to the old harness.
With that single bridge ground wire snipped and removed from the harness, this should now allow you to completely lift out the harness and pickup assembly. Some broncos do have additional ground wires, for example a wire from the harness and screwed into the body cavity. To be totally honest, these rarely do anything effective, most factory cavity shielding paint doesn't work as intended, but you can either remove this cavity ground wire (if it even has one) or snip it from the harness and keep it in situ to re-attach to the new harness later on. Simply follow the same process as above, snip off the wire and separate it from the harness.
Prepping the pickguard
Now time to concentrate on preparing the pickguard for the new parts. With the original pots and jack being slightly smaller mounting thread diameter, due to being the smaller metric spec parts. We first need to widen the holes in the pickguard to accomodate the new jack and pots. This can be easily done with a drill bit, or better yet, a step cutter drill bit. The step cutter is a more controlled way of widening holes in pickguards or guitar bodies. You'll need to widen the holes to 0.39" / 10mm. This will allow for the new parts to mount up perfectly.
The guitar is currently located here, so if you would like to book a viewing do please get in touch. Sale is based on collection only at this stage. So please bare this in mind when getting in touch.
£1500 o.n.o
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Stay Trem
British made and designed, the Stay Trem bridge is an incredibly popular choice worldwide, and for good reason (although it is worth noting StayTrem have drastically cut down their production in recent years, so that combined with their huge demand mean these can be a little tricky to source in a hurry). Notably used by many famous offset players, Johnny Marr for example being one of them who has long been an advocate of the bridge.
With it's baseplate, posts and saddles all being machined from Stainless steel, and a few choice modifications over a mustang bridge mod, this bridge is not only more functional due to it's precision engineering, but a great audible modification also. This bridge isn't just another take on the Mustang bridge though, it tackles a few other niggles found by offset players too. As mentioned earlier, some find that the original bridge height adjustment screws found deep in those two post holes can sink downwards over time due to vibration and/or string tension, meaning your nicely set action keeps creeping lower down. Again, this can be quickly fixed by applying some thread lock to the adjustment screw threads, but Stay Trem have developed for their bridge two nice nylon bushes that sit at the bottom of the posts. This means the adjustment screws, once adjusted, sit there firmly. Simple, but clever, huh! Also, some players reported rattles caused by the intonation adjustment springs on each saddle, an annoying little detail that can be quite frustrating when recording perhaps or if you've got a fine tuned ear to that kind of noise. But here, each saddle adjustment screw is held firmly in place with a circlip (from memory earlier Staytrem bridges used to have nylon bushes for this feature but newer versions I have worked on appear to have circlips. No spring in sight, making it nice and solid, and importantly, accurate for intonation. Speaking of intonation, the intonation adjustment screws are now also slightly offset from the string, making access to them for adjustment that little bit easier.
The saddles themselves are based upon the Mustang equivalents, with a barrel design and single string slot per barrel. But this time precision machined from Stainless Steel instead so a much nicer quality material aiding tone among other things. The saddles themselves are a touch wider so they sit flush against each other and to the correct string spacing, but despite that extra width of the saddles, the string spacing is at a more JM/Jag suitable 52mm instead. They're available for both vintage 7.25" radius and more modern 9.5" radius guitars. Oh, and if you have a mute on your Jaguar still, you can continue to use it with this design.
These continue on with the traditional rocking/tilting design. Height adjustment here is only done via the post adjustment screws, as all saddles are to a fixed height/radius. Tonally, the stainless steel is nice and resonant, as well as harmonically pleasing.
Overall, I think the Stay Trem is a superbly made, really great value (for us in the UK anyway) with some nicely thought out revisions to the Mustang template to better suit the Jazzmaster & Jaguar. There's good reason it's the main choice
Stay Trem Bridge - £75 (at the time of article)
Mastery Bridge
I think it's safe to say, that nowadays if the topic of Jazzmasters and Jaguars comes up, it isn't long before the words 'Mastery Bridge' join in on the conversation. Designed, developed and made in the USA, and played by a wealth of musicians like Elvis Costello, Kurt Vile, Nels Cline and Thurston Moore for example, all famous of course for their offset ownership.
Mastery is a complete drop in replacement bridge with quite a few changes over the conventional, traditional bridge. Probably most noticeable is the Tele-esq saddle design. There are two saddles on the bridge, with two intonation screws per saddle (4 total) which essentially pivots the saddle to achieve intonation adjustment. As these are fully adjustable saddles, you will be able to use this bridge with any radius fingerboard, but will ideally require you needing a set or radius gauges to accurately do so. This adjustment is done by smaller grub screws at either end of each saddle. String spacing here is a tighter than traditional, 52mm. As with all offset bridge types, string height/action adjustment is made by the posts. Whilst we're on the subject of the posts, here is the first example of a different approach to an offset bridge. This is not a rocking/tilting design. The mastery bridge posts have been designed to be a tight fit into the existing thimbles, and will be static once installed. Many players prefer this, providing better stability, reliability, sustain and more. The string notches on these are much, much deeper meaning it certainly eradicates the worry of strings slipping out of the saddles, no matter how hard you play, improving the playing feel drastically. I will say from experience of installing, setting up and playing many guitars equipped with Mastery bridges, that I still think they benefit from a good string break angle over the saddles. I think these much deeper string slots, if paired with a particularly shallow string angle can result in a little unwanted lateral movement within the saddle slot. If this sounds familiar, increase the heel angle, get your bridge set a little higher and it will spring to life I find and perform superbly well.
Another different material here too, with Mastery opting for solid brass construction with a super hardy and self lubricating chrome plating. Brass is probably most commonly seen on Tele bridge saddles, being the material of choice on vintage and modern models alike. The sound is warm yet vibrant retaining the chimey nature of an offset Fender. Many players note a difference in tone after fitting a Mastery, whether that change in tone is right or wrong for you is up to you to decide, but the difference is entirely understandable switching to a different saddle material and fixed post style.
The reason why a coating is used instead of bare brass, is that brass is very prone to wearing, particularly with vibrato use. So this coating helps protect the saddle from wear, and looks rather neat too I think.
These 'out the box' will not allow for Jag players to retain your mute, but as you can see in my example photo above, you certainly can retrofit one though with some minor modifications to your mute plate. General installation, I think, isn't quite as straightforward as a Mustang or Staytrem bridge, there are more adjustments to be made so perhaps if you're not equipped to do this, hand it over to your trusted local tech. But if you have some good setup tools and some confidence in making multiple adjustments to a bridge accurately, then get stuck in I say!
Overall the Mastery Bridge is widely seen as the go to 'premium' bridge option alongside the Stay Trem, with many in agreement that the design is incredibly functional, and some only disliking it because of it's aesthetics and finish. Which is a totally personal choice so it's each to their own. If you're in the market for a well made, well designed bridge, the Mastery has to be a major consideration.
Mastery M1 Bridge - £190 at the time of publishing article
The Descendant Companion Bridge
A fairly recent addition to the offset scene, is Chris Swope's Descendant Vibrato, and shortly thereafter, his 'Companion bridge'.
Chris introduced his Vibrato unit first which in itself set to help conquer a few of the offset bridge niggles, notably by looking to resolve shall string break angle over the bridge. So in theory, his Vibrato could actually help solve some of your traditional bridge complaints! But not too long after introducing his Vibrato design, he introduced the Companion Bridge which really set out to defeat offset bridge woes once and for all. A number of the features for the Companion Bridge were ultimately design with the Descendant Vibrato in mind, which is certainly understandable seeing as both are his creations. But the Companion Bridge will certainly still act as a standalone replacement and doesn't have to be fitted alongside a new Vibrato unit too. Much like the Mastery, this bridge really does set out to be as adjustable as possible, but I do think there are one or two details additional here that make the CB a phenominal bit of kit.
Aesthetically, you'll see a return of barrel style saddles which if you do perhaps prefer that look, may be pleased by this. This time though we have two outer 'fixed' barrel saddles, whilst the middle 4 are height adjustable allowing for the bridge to be set to any radius you wish. Again, this means it isn't quite the quick drop-in replacement like a Staytrem or Mustang bridge, and will require a little more tech know how (and tools) to get the best from the installation. Sticking to six individual saddles though, rather than the mastery's two, you have full intonation adjustment of each saddle here, with an ever so slightly longer adjustment area too over a traditional, staytrem or mustang bridge which might prove useful during a tricky setup. The baseplate is nice and shallow as to not come into contact with the strings as they pass behind and to the vibrato (particularly useful if using alongside the increase break angle Descendant Vibrato unit) with additional recesses on the outer strings to further this clearance. The entire assembly is precision made with weighty stainless steel. The saddles are tightly pressed up against one another for stability and reduced lateral movement of the saddles. String spacing here is 53.97mm (2 & 1/8"), so not as broad as a traditional bridge so reduces the risk of strings sitting too close to the edge of the board, but not too tight together either.
Overall height adjustment is still done via the outer posts, but the posts I think are where this bridge really does shine. These can be fitted in a traditional rocking/tilting style like the originals should you wish, but you can also ultilise it's post collars to have a 'fixed' non rocking bridge too. So furthering adjustability and user preference. But the fixed posts are actually slightly offset, and from a guitar tech point of view, this feature is superb. This can help resolve any niggling neck alignment issues the guitar may potentially have. So if you have found prior bridges have resulted in your strings sitting slightly closer to one side of the fingerboard edge than the other, then with these offset posts you can adjust and position them in such a way that it will slightly reposition/realign the bridge location and help correct that alignment. Super helpful from a setup/refinment perspective I think and something I have found beneficial when working on customer instruments here in the workshop.
Lots of adjustability, and really pushing where you can take a Mustang style bridge design. It sounds great, despite it's stainless steel finish manages to capture some of the traditional looks and would be a great addition to any offset providing it is within your budget.
£215 at the time of publishing article
Tune-O-Matic
I'm closing in on the couple of more controversial bridge options for offsets now, with one that was really commonly seen in the 80s and 90s on offsets in particular, the Tune-O-Matic. The TOM in terms of production guitars is perhaps most commonly seen on Gibson models, but has found home of a number of factory Fender offsets over the years too. As a result, you may well be starting your offset journey with one of these already fitted, but this may not neccesarily be a bad thing, I promise.
If your offset is one of these models that features a TOM from the factory, and are experiencing some issues with it, then I will touch on a few things you can do to help. But you might also be considering modding yours to be equipped with one as opposed to a traditional design, so let's also touch on whether that's viable too.
The main reason you would see many players having techs retrofit these bridges to their offsets back in the 80s and 90s for example was simply that there weren't really any other viable options. In this period countless players were reaching for offsets because they were far more affordable than the likes of a Strat, Tele or Les Paul. The market demand wasn't there, and musicians on a shoe string budget were snapping them up thanks to that lull. So we began to see bands equipped with these guitars, much like in the 60s! Only this time, surf guitar and 60s pop music was not the music of choice, it was Indie rock, shoegaze and early grunge to name a few. Very different playing and approach, which as a result meant players were quickly noticing niggling issues and un-reliability with the traditional bridges seeing more and more players handing the instruments over to techs and having them fit anything that would help. More often than not, this would be a Tune-o-matic. Perhaps due to them being so readily available, but perhaps also because the saddles were/could be easily notched for secure string capture aiding reliability during heavy use.
Thanks to iconic players from this period, such as Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr and perhaps even Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, jumping forward in time, Fender began equipped new production offsets with TOMs too. Sometimes this was executed really well with compatible TOM specs, but sometimes not. I say this because traditionally TOM bridges come with saddles shaped and notched for 12" radius fingerboards, understably so due to their affiliation with use on Gibson instruments. But have a 12" radius bridge on an offset with a 7.25" or 9.5" radius fingerboard and you will encounter issues with setup/playability unfortunately. Why is this an issue you ask? Well if you have a particularly flat radius 12" bridge fitted to a particularly curved 7.25" or 9.5" fingerboard you will inevitably find inconsistency in your action or some form of compromise in action at one side of the fingerboard to the other, or the middle of the board too. Set your action nice and low on the treble side of the board to find the action even lower in the middle and super high at the bass side, or vice versa. As the conflicting radius pass one another, but we simply cannot state that this is always the case though. I have encountered many production Fender models with 9.5" saddle radius TOMs installed, such as certain production runs of the Squier J Mascis signature, Classic Player, and the MIJ Fender J Mascis too for example. On those ocassions achieving absolutely superb, consistent action across the radius of the board thanks to their suited TOM saddle radius, so it certainly is viable in that sense providing you have a compatible TOM bridge to hand. So if you have an offset that already has a TOM, I would perhaps consider firstly checking saddle radius and how that compares to your fingerboard. If it's a miss-match and you really would benefit from a more consistent action for your playing preferences then a number of companies now offer bridge options that will fit your TOM bridge post spaced guitar. Companies such as Mastery and Descendant both now offering TOM friendly replacements that are relatively simple replacements which are well worth looking into. If you have a radius match, but you are experiencing tuning issues (providing you have had the nut slots looked at as that is a key cause of tuning issues) then the string grooves on each saddle can be a result of this. TOMs aren't particularly fond of strings repeatedly passing over their saddles, this can be the case with Bigsby equipped Gibsons too for example, so another option here are roller saddle TOMS. These really do help vibrato equipped TOM instruments, and that can translate to offsets too. But choices other than 12" are often hard to source so instead I would look to the Mastery or Descendant TOM post friendly bridges here.
If you offset is a traditional bridge equipped model and you really wanted to fit a TOM for whatever reason that may be, it really isn't a simple installation I'm afraid. As a result I wouldn't perhaps recommend giving this mod a try unless you have experience in carrying out more intensive guitar work or a great tech who can do it for you. More often than not, post spacing will be quite different to a regular offset bridge, and then post inserts will be different sizes too. So you'll need to remove, dowel and re-drill which aren't the simplest of tasks to do well. I hate to deter people from modding their guitars how they wish, but I would be hesitant to recommend retrofitting a TOM to an offset that doesn't have one, not because of how well they perform, but because of the install process.
But to summarise I have indeed played many TOM equipped offsets that when fitted with a compatible radius saddle version performed surprisingly well. Much better than a forum will tell you it should (or shouldn't). Stable, good intonation and if prepared well (IE saddles accurately slotted and aided for string movement back and forth across them) they worked very well. But I have also played some offsets with un-compatible TOMs and it really was a bad experience, 12" radius on a 7.25" for example with awful inconsistent action and as a result, stability and play-ability issues throughout.
To summarise, I can totally see why so many well known players resorted and settle on this bridge mod years gone by, but in todays offset world when we have oh so many brilliant options available that are better suited. The TOM offset days I think, are numbered.
Prices vary depending on specific TOM bridge, but for example sake, a Gotoh TOM bridge is around £35 at the time of writing this article.
Photo source - https://www.guitarlovers.pt/shop/aged-buzz-stop-for-jaguar/
The Whizzo 'Buzz Stop'
The option that will likely cause most arguments (well, rage) among the offset community, is The Buzz Stop. Once upon a time before Stay Trem and Mastery, this was your 'quick fix' bolt on item for your string jumping woes. Some players still continue to use them but I would say with the introduction of so many bridges now they have begun to drift into the shadows. Many JM aficionados truly despise the Buzz Stop, so why is this option the 'marmite' of the offset world?
The design is a simple roller bracket which fixes via existing holes on the vibrato tailpiece, it even caters for the trem lock slider. With the roller attached (much like what you will see on a Bigsby which I'm sure is where the design took inspiration), the strings simply pass underneath it and over the bridge.
This is simply to drastically increase the string break angle over the bridge, increasing the string tension resulting in less string jumping and as Whizzo state, reducing the renowned offset string buzz behind the bridge too. All sounds good right? In theory, most certainly yes. A low cost, simple bolt on item, no invasive modding required and enables you to keep the existing bridge (and vibrato too). So why do many players consider these the taboo offset mod? If you're an offset veteran, part of the magic of these guitars is the huge space behind the bridge, the strings resonate differently, it gives the playing string tension a unique feel that I've certainly not experienced with other models, even other 24" and 25.5" scale guitars. The Buzz Stop is often nicknamed the Buzz Kill, for taking away this very detail that makes the JM and Jag unique, also seeming to damped or deaden the tone of the guitar. Which in reality means the resonance is reduced due to the increased string tension. In a time before the Stay Trem and Mastery options for example were available, it was very common for players to opt for the Buzz Stop, like this video of Jeff Tweedy of Wilco in the early '00s armed with a JM fitted with a Buzz Stop below (I'm sharing this as it's relevant and a awesome track, why not?!).
Players who have remained committed to the Buzz Stop have reported adding shims or spacers to where it mounts to help raise the unit and slightly reduce the tension it adds. So perhaps there are ways to coax the best from it, but for the most part these are now overlooked as a dated offset product. In a technical sense, they certainly serve their intended purpose of reducing string buzz and increasing string break angle over the bridge, so if that's what you're after then the Whizzo is right for you. If you love the string tension feel of an JM or Jag, playing behind the bridge À la Nels Cline, then I would suggest looking at bridge options noted earlier in this post.
Either way, the Buzz Stop continues to cause the most rage whatever forum it happens to be mention, and will likely continue doing so as long as they continue making them. I hope this section helps you form your own decision and not what others tell you to think, your guitar and your choices!
The Whizzo Buzz Stop - £32.50 at the time of publishing article
Conclusion
Let's wrap this up, it's been a long one huh!? So I've looked at a key selection of options, all of which have their own merits and their own avid fans. There are now even more options in the offset bridge market, perhaps most notably those made by 'Halon' who have been well received by the community. I plan to add these to this article once one crossed my workbench and I get the chance to try them out. But for now, I think I've included some key players in the offset bridge world.
One thing you'll come across in the offset community if you're new to it, is that when you meet someone who uses a Stay Trem or a Mastery for example, that they are very firm in their choice and will sing the praises of the item they chose. Which is great to see that pride in a guitar product, but the downside is that it makes it difficult to choose which is the right option for you with so much info to take in.
I hope this post, with each style broken down into sections, provides you with the details you need to make the right choice for you and your offset. Stick with it, they're the some of the most enjoyable, engaging, rewarding and versatile guitars you're likely to pick up. I love them!
Thanks for reading,
James.
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]]>THE GUITAR SHOW | MARCH 2ND & 3RD 2024 | CRANMORE PARK | B90 4LE
]]>THE GUITAR SHOW | MARCH 2ND & 3RD 2024 | CRANMORE PARK | B90 4LE
For more information on the show, please check out their site HERE]]>Wire
I personally love working with Gavitt wire. Yes, it is the 'vintage' style, period correct option, but I don't specifically choose to use it for that reason. I primarily use it because it is very easy to work with, it handles great both to expose the central core wire and to 'manipulate' within the cavity to achieve nice and neat installs. It is also very consistently made, accurate to it's specified gauge (AWG) and also comes supplied pre-tinned which helps during soldering. In particularly for wiring a Telecaster Custom, with it's multiple, long wire runs between the switch and pots section, using one colour might end up being tricky to figure out which wire is which. So Gavitt produce their cloth wire in different colours! I stock Gavitt wire in the range of colours available, so should you need to purchase some lengths of wire to carry out this wiring job, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
Most retailers, including myself, tend to offer Gavitt wire supplied in 2ft lengths. Realistically if you are doing this with each colour, 2ft length of off-white, black, red, yellow will do the trick
You may also notice on my documented wiring work here, I apply little cuts of heat shrink tubing to the ends of each piece of wire. This isn't specifically necessary for your own install. I merely do this as I find it helps 'seal' the cut ends of the cloth to further help prevent it from fraying. At the end of the day I am selling pre-wired kits and intend for them to look as neat as possible, and foresee any handling mishaps too, so any extra little details like that are simply done for professionalism. You can certainly attach you wires without these little heat shrink additions, but if you wish to do so, feel free to follow my lead :) It is also useful for keeping the longer wire runs neatly tied together, you can do this with tape etc if you wish, or you can do so via heat shrink tubing like I will be doing throughout this wire up. Heat shrink is available HERE
Tools
I'll try to keep this to the bare essentials needed for carrying out this task, but when it comes to specialist tools, the more the merrier I say!
Minimum 40W soldering iron
I say a minimum of 40W as most solder wire you can buy these days is lead-free, and lead free does require a hotter iron/working temp due to it's higher melting point. A 40w Iron should achieve a working temp of somewhere around 400 degrees C, which is great for lead free soldering and in particular making your ground connections (pot casings etc).
Solder wire
There are varying specs, and quality of solder wire available. If it helps, I personally use Rapid/R-Tech lead-free 22SWG 0.7mm. It has a flux core so you don't need to use flux additionally, but overall I find this to be a good lead-free solder wire to use for guitar/bass wiring work. Techs/luthiers etc tend to have their own preferences though, but this is what I use everyday so hope this helps narrow down your search. Ideally use this in conjunction with some form of fume extraction, or in a well ventilated area. Although lead-free is of course, as the name suggests, the fumes from the flux is still pretty nasty really, so best to think about how to do all of this safely.
Wire snips/cutters
You'll need some cutters to trim your wire length, if you have some guitar string cutters for example those might be useful here too for example.
1/2" or 13mm Socket/spanner
This will be used to tighten the CTS and Switchcraft / Pure Tone jack mounting nut when fitting the pots and jack to your control plate.
Philips screwdriver
This will be used to remove/re-fit the pickguard and pickups
Small flat head screwdriver or Allen key set
This will be used if you have grub screw secured control knobs for example. Many of these traditional control knobs have a small flat head grub screw to secure the knob to the pot shaft. Some however have allen key grub screws so inspect what control knobs you have and go from there. What size you need will depend on the specific control knobs used.
Multi-Meter
These are of course useful for a number of tasks, but primarily here it's useful to test the continuity and effectiveness of your copper foil shielding that will be applied.
Scissors and/or blade
These will be for cutting/trimming your copper foil shielding tape
Getting started with the shielding
Wire
I personally love working with Gavitt wire. Yes, it is the 'vintage' style, period correct option, but I don't specifically choose to use it for that reason. I primarily use it because it is very easy to work with, it handles great both to expose the central core wire and to 'manipulate' within the cavity to achieve nice and neat installs. It is also very consistently made, accurate to it's specified gauge (AWG) and also comes supplied pre-tinned which helps during soldering. In particularly for wiring a Jazzmaster, with it's multiple, long wire runs between the two circuits for example, using one colour might end up being tricky to figure out which wire is which. So Gavitt produce their cloth wire in different colours! These colours are also what you'll likely see on traditional/vintage Jazzmasters too, so it's kinda nice to continue with that. I stock Gavitt wire in the range of colours available, so should you need to purchase some lengths of wire to carry out this wiring job, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
Most retailers, including myself, tend to offer Gavitt wire supplied in 2ft lengths. Realistically if you are doing this with each colour, 2ft length of off-white, black, red, yellow, blue and green is required.
You may also notice on my documented wiring work here, I apply little cuts of heat shrink tubing to the ends of each piece of wire. This isn't specifically necessary for your own install. I merely do this as I find it helps 'seal' the cut ends of the cloth to further help prevent it from fraying. At the end of the day I am selling pre-wired kits and intend for them to look as neat as possible, and foresee any handling mishaps too, so any extra little details like that are simply done for professionalism. You can certainly attach you wires without these little heat shrink additions, but if you wish to do so, feel free to follow my lead :) It is also useful for keeping the longer wire runs neatly tied together, you can do this with tape etc if you wish, or you can do so via heat shrink tubing like I will be doing throughout this wire up. Heat shrink is available HERE
Capacitors
I won't go into type here, let's keep the paper in oil, Mustard, orange drop, ceramic disk discussion/argument to the forums! I'll simply focus on the 'value' or spec here. In 1959 onward perhaps the most common spec of tone capacitor you will see in a Jazzmaster will be a 0.022uF (Micro-Farad) in the rhythm circuit, and a .033uF in the lead circuit. There is no real right or wrong here as ultimately the sound/response from a cap is down to personal preference. On this occasion the kit I am making, the customer requested a 0.022uF for both rhythm and lead circuit, but the exact same installation process will apply regardless of the value chosen. Should you need to purchase a tone capacitor for this job, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
For reference, on this particular build I am using the Tube Amp Doctor 'Mustard' style tone cap .022uF (with one of my custom heat shrinks applied simply for branding purposes)
I am also installing on request, a treble bleed mod to the volume pot on this particular build. If you're not sure what this is, a treble bleed mod essentially helps retain the otherwise naturally lost treble frequencies as you roll down the volume pot, resulting in a more uniform tone through it's sweep. That's a very simply/quick way to explain it, but they can be useful for players that like to retain some clarity and top end right through the volume pot sweep. Some players find these also help with improving the overall perceived taper response from using an audio taper pot in the volume position too. There are so many possible specs of treble bleed to use and there's a lot of factors to consider when choosing the right one for you, personal preference, rig, cable lengths...It's a bit complicated really unfortunately, but my go-to spec is usually a .001uF cap with a 120kOhm resistor wired in parallel. Generally speaking that spec does the trick. If you want to use a treble bleed in your build, I offer a range of specs pre-wired and you can find these on my online store HERE
Switches
For the two position slide switch, I will be using a Switchcraft 2-way DPDT in black (tip). This switch is used to flick between the rhythm and lead circuits. Should you need to purchase this switch, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
For the lead circuit pickup selector switch, I will be using a Switchcraft 3 way, right angle toggle switch. This switch is used to flick between the pickup positions when in the lead circuit. Should you need to purchase this switch, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
Tools
I'll try to keep this to the bare essentials needed for carrying out this task, but when it comes to specialist tools, the more the merrier I say!
Minimum 40W soldering iron
I say a minimum of 40W as most solder wire you can buy these days is lead-free, and lead free does require a hotter iron/working temp due to it's higher melting point. A 40w Iron should achieve a working temp of somewhere around 400 degrees C, which is great for lead free soldering and in particular making your ground connections (pot casings etc).
Solder wire
There are varying specs, and quality of solder wire available. If it helps, I personally use Rapid/R-Tech lead-free 22SWG 0.7mm. It has a flux core so you don't need to use flux additionally, but overall I find this to be a good lead-free solder wire to use for guitar/bass wiring work. Techs/luthiers etc tend to have their own preferences though, but this is what I use everyday so hope this helps narrow down your search. Ideally use this in conjunction with some form of fume extraction, or in a well ventilated area. Although lead-free is of course, as the name suggests, the fumes from the flux is still pretty nasty really, so best to think about how to do all of this safely.
Small or Needle nose pliers
These are really helpful for any wiring work, such as handling smaller parts that your fingertips might struggle to grasp, simply placing onto a wire to keep still whilst soldering a joint or using to shape/bend wires for installation for example.
Wire snips/cutters
You'll need some cutters to trim your wire length, if you have some guitar string cutters for example those might be useful here too for example.
1/2" or 13mm Socket/spanner
This will be used to tighten the CTS and Switchcraft / Pure Tone jack mounting nut when fitting the pots and jack to your control plate.
If using the Alpha mini pots for the rhythm circuit, you'll also need a 10mm socket for their mounting nut.
Philips screwdriver
This will be used to remove/re-fit the 3 fixing screws for your control plate
Small flat head screwdriver or Allen key set
This will be used if you have grub screw secured control knobs for example. Many of these traditional control knobs have a small flat head grub screw to secure the knob to the pot shaft. Some however have allen key grub screws so inspect what control knobs you have and go from there. What size you need will depend on the specific control knobs used. The roller wheels I am using that fit the alpha mini pots, require an allen key to secure.
Multi-Meter
These are of course useful for a number of tasks, but primarily here it's useful to measure your pots (and if capable, your capacitor value too) to help ensure they're within tolerance and/or the specs you wish to use. As well as testing continuity for your ground connections too. They're always handy to have around for any guitar wiring work though.
Wiring style/schematic
So with the parts prepared let's start by looking at the schematic. The Jazzmaster I would say looks more complicated/in depth than it actually is. The best way to look at it, is that it is two very simple, traditional circuits simply connected together. They work separately to one another and only really join at the 2 position slide switch. They are fairly time consuming to wire up, but they're honestly not very complex so hopefully this article will help with understanding of that.
It all revolves around that 2 position slide switch really, from there most signal passes through it. Sliding the switch up, the lead circuit (and the bridge pickup) are no longer in the active circuit, so you are solely concentrating on the neck pickup and those two mini roller pots. Sliding the switch back down, the two upper mini pots are now no longer in the active circuit, leaving the lower lead circuit pots to do all the resistance work, and now your bridge pickup is also back, being controlled by the classic toggle switch.
To view the wiring schematic for a traditional right handed, 2 pickup Jazzmaster, click HERE
Getting started with the wiring
Needless to say, Please take care of yourself and your bass when carrying out any wiring work. I / James' Home of Tone cannot be held responsible for any damage caused by dangerous or incorrect techniques used. But hopefully this guide helps prevent any of that. So let's dive in to the action!
Checking your parts
Do you need to do this? Not necessarily, particularly if you're buying quality tight tolerance components from a reliable retailer. But if you're curious, then why not! You might use this opportunity to test the 4 pots to check they are within tolerance and the spec you wish to use. On this ocassion I am using on request 275k pots in the lead, and the traditional 1meg/50k in the rhythm. So starting with the lead, these are 275k stamped pots, with a +/- 10% tolerance. Meaning in theory they should each read somewhere between 247k and 302k. Tight tolerances essentially means more predictable results. The Alpha mini pots do have a tolerance of 20%, so in theory the volume pot should read somewhere between 800k & 1200k, and the tone pot should read somewhere between 40k & 60k.
To check the pot using a multi meter, set it to a suitable Ohm reading (on my UNI-T meter the 2M setting does the trick for a variety of pot values being tested), and with one probe placed on the ground lug (3) and one probe on the wiper lug (2), turn the pot to '10' so to speak as if it was all the way up, and check the reading.
If it's within tolerance, we're good to go. On this occasion we certainly were thanks to the great quality CTS 450 series pots, with readings of 273k & 277k for each, all comfortably within the stated tolerance which will provide me with the result I expect to hear in use. And the Alphas reading at 1049k & 49k, well within tolerance which is great.
Some multi-meters allow for testing of capacitors, mine does but with limited readings, but I suspect many won't at all though and I don't expect you to have, or buy specifically, a capacitor meter to hand for this so don't worry too much. But for the sake of example, I'll show the testing of the tone capacitor here, to display it is within it's stated +/-10% tolerance spec.
So the .022uF Tube Amp Doctor 'Mustard's we're using on this particular build should read somewhere between 0.0198uF and 0.0242uF. I'm actually seeing 0.0224uF & 0.229uF so I'm certainly fine with that, they'll perform as expected which is all that matters!
Mounting the pots to your pickguard
You may of course wish to do the main build off the pickguard, using a card template for example. But I find it easiest to do it straight onto a pickguard on a Jazzmaster as the layout/measurements between components is perfect. So grab your sockets and screwdriver and allen keys and set to work mounting everything. Jazzmaster control cavities can sometimes be a little tight, especially around the rhythm circuit section, and where the lead circuit pots/jack mount up. You might notice that the control cavity around that area is very curved/shaped where the pots will sit within it, so try to orientate your pots so that they will comfortably fit when re-installed, so you wire runs etc will follow the space of the cavity and not foul the cavity walls.
Grounding
Now, this will depend entirely on what pickguard you have, or what shielding you have/plan to use. For example, if you are using a regular plastic pickguard then you will need to consider your method for grounding the parts. Some plastic pickguards will have no shielding applied, some will have smaller sections of shielding tape applied. If you have none at all, then you will simply need to add grounding wires between each set of components, something I'll be demonstrating anyway in this article to help. If you have smaller sections, then it may be worth mounting the components and testing continuity to see how effective it is within those sections. But you will still need to consider ground wire/connections between those sections of shielding. Or you may be considering applying some copper foil shielding tape across the whole pickguard, if so then this will act as sufficient ground connection between all the components. As long as you test for continuity regardless of technique being used, then that is the important thing.
You may also be using an aluminium pickguard too, if so then this will likely provide sufficient continuity, so no additional shielding or ground wires will be required between components. Again though, be armed with your multi-meter and ensure you check that this is indeed the case.
I am simply using a plastic pickguard/template here for the demonstration, and dispatching the harness for install elsewhere, so I will be adding ground wires to ensure the kit has full ground continuity throughout and will work as intended, and nice and quietly too.
I'll show how to test for continuity after I have attached all my ground wires a little later on for you.
Preparing for soldering / Pre-Tinning
With our parts mounted, we can start preparing for soldering, and 'pre-tinning' where we plan on making our connections. This is particularly useful I find when working with lead-free solder, which as mentioned earlier on has a higher melting temp. This can for some users make it a little trickier to make ground connections, so pre-tinning areas where you plan to make a connection can really help the process. If all of this is new to you, I highly recommend practicing these methods/techniques on any old or scrap pots etc first, you'll thank me later when you've got the technique down and are making nice and neat connections on your new quality pots :)
I set my iron temp here to 400 degrees C, my personal preference for fast, effective tinning of ground lugs/pot casings with Rapid 22SWG lead-free solder wire.
To pre-tin, with the iron up to temp, and a clean/tinned iron tip, simply place the iron tip in the area you wish to flow some solder on to and allow the surface to warm up a little. Warming the joint helps the solder flow and 'take' to the surface. If you've ever struggled with flowing solder onto ground connections/pot casings, this is likely because either the iron tip isn't clean or tinned therefore not effectively transferring heat, or you haven't warmed the connection/area first and solder won't happily flow onto a 'cold' surface. For the sake of example here, running my iron at 400 degrees C, it takes roughly 5/6 seconds to warm the surface for solder to 'take' to it. So I place the iron tip on the surface, allow for around 5 seconds and simply flow a little solder wire onto the iron tip and surface. That should leave you with a little solder circle, and a pre-tinned area to make a wired connection to later. As in some cases here we're doing two or three pre-tinned areas per pot casing, so if you're at all worried about over-heating the pot, Just give it a bit of time in-between each flow to allow the surface to cool down. Having trouble soldering the pot cases? Or don't want to risk it? Then you might be interested in using something called 'The Ground Bug' which I also stock. Designed by Swannell Guitars, this neat pot washer has multiple 'lugs' that you can solder ground wires to so you don't have to solder to a pot casing any more! If this sounds useful to you, check it out here for more info
Here are some photos showing the areas where I have prepped and pre-tinned with solder. You may wish to follow my lead and do the same areas, or wait until you decide on where to place your ground connections but I hope this helps as a guide to where I do it.
Lead Circuit Volume pot -
Lead Circuit Tone pot -
Jack socket -
Rhythm circuit tone pot -
Rhythm Circuit volume pot -
2 position slide switch -
If using the same quality CTS 450 series pots as I am here for example, you won't need to pre-tin the lugs on the pots, those are often pre-tinned from the factory. But if by chance they aren't, thankfully due to the material used for those it is usually easier to flow solder onto them anyway (and can use a lower iron temp to do so if you have an iron that enables adjustable temp, something like 350 or 375 degrees C does the trick fine for lugs for example with lead-free solder wire).
Soldering the wires
With the components prepped and pre-tinned in useful grounding areas, it's finally time to get some wires attached! There is of course numerous ways you can start but I tend to kick things off with my ground wires, then rhythm circuit to work my way down through the lead circuit to the jack.
In the photo above you'll see that I have reached for a length of black cloth covered Gavitt wire and pushed back some of the cloth insulation to expose some of the pre-tinned core. With that central core exposed I have placed it on the pre-tinned area, of my 2 position slide switch. If you have followed the steps before and have identified your grounding method, then this step may or may not be relevant to you. As you can see, I have no shielding on this plastic pickguard/template, so I am showcasing how to full ground a JM loom without shielding.
I secure the wire by simply laying some pliers on it to keep the wire still whilst I handle the soldering iron and solder wire. So with the wire in place, I clean and prep the iron tip to ensure good heat transfer, place the iron onto the connection, warm the joint and flow some solder!
Allow for the connection to cool before moving on. Next I will be soldering the other length of this wire to the rhythm circuit volume pot, this will then ensure I have ground continuity between the slide switch casing and the rhythm circuit pots. So I'll line it up and cut the wire to the desired length, this can be done nice and neatly so it tucks out of the way if you like that kind of thing!
With the wire cut to length, I can then push back the cloth covering to expose the central core, then line up for soldering. Again, secure the wire so it doesn't move around, clean the iron tip and place it on the connection to warm the joint before flowing your solder.
You don't need to run a ground wire between the two rhythm circuit pots as they are mounted via the metal right angle bracket and already have ground continuity as a result. But you can double check this by testing with a multi-meter.
So onto the next ground wire connection which will be from the rhythm circuit tone pot down to the main lead circuit pickup selector switch.
Push back the cloth covering, expose the central core and place the wire onto the pre-tinned area where you plan on making your soldered connection. Weight the wire down to help keep it still whilst you work the iron!
With the solder joint made, allow to cool then move onto cutting this length of wire down to size.
Now have a look at your Jazzmasters cavities/routing. You should notice that the neck pickup cavity is a little oversized compared to the pickup itself. This extra bit of space at the back edge of the pickup is perfect for having your wires all pass on through. So when trimming and planning your wire layout keep this in mind as it'll help keep things neat but more importantly, easier to fit upon install too.
So as you can see, I run this wire alongside the pickup hole on the pickguard as that will correspond to the body cavity too. Then bend it towards the toggle switch and trim to size. I wouldn't ever cut things super perfect at this point, leave yourself a little wiggle room so upon making soldering connections later you have a little extra wire length to play with, it can always be trimmed when in situ too.
Now you might be wondering why I've jumped straight to the jack socket and not the toggle switch. Well I tend to do this because at this stage I don't want to solder that prior wire straight to the toggle just yet. You'll see why soon I promise.
So down at the jack socket, I'll need to solder a length of wire from the jack's ground/sleeve lug to the lead circuit tone pot casing. Here I'm using some copper ground bus wire, but you can use the very same gavitt cloth wire we've just been using no problem at all. I only mainly use this copper wire in these sections just to keep the dispatched loom a bit more secure and sturdy in transit and whilst being handled.
My lugs are already pre-tinned, so I place my ground wire into the lug, and make my solder connection.
With the wire now secure to the jack, I trim it down to length so that it reaches the pre-tinned area of the tone pot casing. As you can see above, I have allowed for a curvature/bit of 'give' in the length of this wire rather than going straight to the pot. This is because if you again look at the JM cavity there is some shaping around this area, so I want to ensure it comfortably fits the guitar upon install.
With the wire trimmed I make the solder connection to the tone pot. Now onto the ground connection between the tone and volume pot. Position your wire onto the pre-tinned area and make the solder connection.
With the solder joint done at the tone pot first, I can plan out the length of wire needed to the volume pot (again keeping in mind the body cavity shape) and trim it to length. Then prepare to solder by placing the wire onto the pre tinned area on the volume pot casing and making my solder connection.
This is where I'll leave my ground wire work for now, as those final couple I will make when I am working my way through the other connections and can keep the wires neat. Which I'll of course show my methods in doing so.
So no we should have a rhythm circuit that looks a little like this. I'm now going to be adding the tone capacitor. Depending on the exact cap you're using, space can sometimes be tight on these, so try to keep the cap positioned in the gap between the volume and tone pot and not intruding towards where the pickup sits as it'll foul the cavity and/or pickup upon install.
With the mustards I use (which are similar size to some PIO or Orange drops for example) these fit quite nicely between the pots so I'll be looking to situate somewhere here (shown above).
The capacitor lead outs will be soldered to both the volume pot and the tone pot, so let's look at connecting it to the volume pot first.
As this is a reverse wired, linear pot if you are familiar with guitar wiring (regular right handed guitars that is too) you might notice here that we are grounding the lug on the opposite side to where you normally would. So for example looking at the back of a pot with the lugs facing you, usually the lug to the right would be ground so let's call this lug 1. And the lug on the opposite side is the input, lug 3. With the middle 'wiper' lug being output / lug 2. For this specific task this will be the opposite way around, with us grounding lug 3 instead. This is because the pot is mounted sideways and the turn direction of the roller wheel needs to work in the other direction to what a regular control knob would. So the linear pot spec is used here, of which can be wired either direction (unlike an audio taper pot which is directional).
So I will be feeding one side of the cap through the volume pot lug 3 closest to the capacitor, and also ultilising that cap lead out to ground the lug to the pot casing too. Here's a little example of how I bend/manipulate the wires to get the cap sitting nicely in position -
So as you can see, bending the lead out wire from the cap into this shape helps keep the cap casing flush and clear of components and cavities upon installation, but gets the wires where they need to be for the relevant connection to the pots too.
So I then flow some solder onto the tone cap wire through the pot lug -
With that connection made, I will then trim down that same lead out just after the point where it will contact the pot casing so that I can solder it to the casing for ground.
If you have a smaller cap casing than these mustards, you might find the exact methods I've used here to have these fit nicely within the space unnecessary, but I hope it helps a little in situating the components anyway. So that's the ground side of the rhythm circuit tone cap sorted, now to attach the other lead out to the tone pot. This connection is on the lug situated furthest away from the cap. As the lead out is passing right by some other contacts, you're going to want to shield that in some way. I personally use some heat shrink tubing, but you could trim off some of your cloth insulation for example too. So I trim a piece of heat shrink tubing so that it will comfortably shield the wire/lead out from the cap as it passes other connections.
With the heat shrink tubing cut to size and fitted over the lead out, I can now trim the wire length and position it into the relevant pot lug ready to solder.
With the cap installed, I then move onto the wire connections between the rhythm circuit pots and the 2 position slide switch.
So first up, I'm going to be soldering a length of wire between the tone pot and the switch. Traditionally this particular connection was done with green wire and as noted prior, colour coding your wires on jobs like these isn't just a visual thing to look nice (as much as it does!) it is helpful for wire tracing and future maintenance. Although you could pick any colours really, I like to follow on with the colours and use of those colours as the originals had, it's a nice touch I think.
So here we're soldering the green wire from lug 1 (the opposite side to the cap connection we have just made). As you can see I approach this connection from the side of the roller wheels. You'll see why in a moment.
After soldering the wire, I use my needle nose pliers to manipulate the direction of the wire at a right angle. This is so I can neatly tuck the wire run down along the bracket towards the switch keeping it not only neat, but underneath where the other wire runs will go helping keep everything compact for install.
Following along to the 2 position slide switch. These switches are super simple really, the middle two lugs are your common lives, so these are always connected. Which position you slide the switch to, will then engage either sides lugs. So with the slide switch 'up' so to speak, the neck pickups signal will be connected up to the rhythm circuit tone pot that we are just finished wiring up, along with the soon to be connected volume pot too.
The wire we are working with currently from the tone pot, needs to be connected to the upper lug closest to the pots, as photographed above.
Now let's get the volume pot wired to the switch. I'll be using a length of blue covered wire for this.
Approaching the same way as before, roller wheels side of the pot, I'll be soldering this length of wire to lug 2, (the wiper) so I position the wire and prepare for soldering.
Then using your pliers, or just your fingers too, manipulate the positioning to have the wire run towards the switch much like what we did before with the tone pot to switch connection.
Trim the wire to length, and position it ready for soldering into the other 'upper' switch lug.
Looking better already eh! Keeping at the switch, I'm now moving down to one of those central common lugs. This wire run will head all the way down across the pickguard to the jack socket. So make sure you are working with ample wire length here!
So situating this white wire into the outer central common lug, I'll be preparing the connection for solder. Here you can see I have positioned the wire so that it will run down the centre of the switch.
With the soldering done, I will then use my fingers and the pliers to position and shape the white wire up and over the rhythm circuit bracket as above.
I will then follow the wire alongside a prior ground wire connection I made which will neatly tuck past the neck pickup and within it's cavity confines upon install.
Once past the neck pickup cavity, make a right turn and head towards the lead circuit pots and jack.
Then trim with a little extra to spare so you have some wire length to work with when it comes to finalising this connection. I won't be soldering this wire to the jack just yet, that's because I'll neaten things up with some heat shrink to keep all of the various wire runs together. So I'll come back to this one in a little while. Let's head back up to that rhythm circuit shall we.
Looking at the lower side of the switch now, on the same side as the white wire connection you've made I'll be placing a yellow covered wire into that lug and preparing for soldering. This particular wire will be heading down to the lead circuit's volume pot wiper lug. So again, make sure you are working with a wire that'll reach that far!
Heading up and over the rhythm circuit bracket again, then following alongside the neck pickup cavity we'll be making that same 90 degree turn off to the lead circuit pots.
Roughly plan out where you want this yellow wire to be as it heads to the middle lug of the lead circuit volume pot and trim with a little extra left over to work with. Again, I'll be coming back to make this final connection later on. We're still working on the rhythm circuit but it's almost over I promise.
The final slide switch connection (other than the neck pickup upon final install) is this red wire on the remaining lug on the lower side. So right next to the prior yellow wire connection, position the red and make your connection. Then begin following the wire run up and over the rhythm circuit bracket. This time the wire is heading to the main lead circuit pickup selector toggle switch.
I'll be soldering that to the toggle switch shortly. But I can now start neatening up these long runs of wire, so I personally use some heat shrink tubing here and feed it over the black, white, yellow and red wires right up to where they come off the rhythm circuit bracket...
With another piece of tubing nearer the toggle switch after the pickup cavity.
You don't have to use heat shrink tubing for this, you could use some electrical tape or traditional paper tape like the vintage examples had if you wish! But keeping these long wire runs neat honestly helps make the install process a breeze so it's worth the tiny bit of effort keeping tidy. Good housekeeping!
Now we'll be making our final connection at the rhythm circuit, which will be a short wire run between the volume and tone pots.
Starting with lug 2, the wiper lug of the rhythm circuit tone pot, I position a white wire and prepare to solder.
With the connection secured, I manipulate the wire direction towards the volume pot as this one will be connected to lug 3 there.
I tend to run this wire length past the lug and back up, mainly to give myself a bit of extra wire to work with. It's a short wire run and can be fiddly, so find this helps me with carrying out the work. Hopefully here you might have noticed why I leave this particular wire connection until last too. As this short white wire run really helps hold all of those other wires passing over the rhythm circuit, in place. I've found this super useful over the years.
And there we have it! The rhythm circuit is finished up, next time the soldering iron sees this section is when you attach your neck pickup 'hot' wire to that lonesome central common slide switch lug upon install. So with this section finished, we can move onto the lead circuit.
I start this off with the toggle switch. Switchcraft right angle 3 position toggle switches have a total of 5 lugs. But they're nice and simple don't worry. The two 'lowest' lugs so to speak, so those two smaller lugs closest to the pickguard, are both your common live output lugs so to speak. Bend those gently towards each other as they'll be having a single wire connection to those together.
Directly above those is the main chunky ground lug, then either side of that are the two pickup signal lugs. Engaged or disengaged depending on where you move the main toggle lever.
I start with the common lugs, mainly because at this stage it's nice and accessible. Connect all of the other parts first and it can be tricky to get your hands and soldering iron in to reach this connection otherwise. So with a length of blue wire, I position it within both of the bent together common lugs and prepare for solder.
With that connection made, this length of blue wire needs to head off to the lead circuit volume pot and it's lug 3, input.
Position and trim to size, we'll make that connection very soon indeed. Back to the switch though first.
Next up, your red wire which came down from the 2 way slide switch. With the slide switch in the lower lead circuit position, this red wire essentially is sending the neck pickup's signal back down to the toggle switch like the rhythm circuit never existed! Position the wire up to the right hand lug on the switch (right hand according to the orientation of this photo of course) and prepare to solder.
And now onto the ground lug connections, to that chunky central lug. Here I will need to position the black ground wire that comes from our rhythm circuit first, and I'll also need to add an additional one to the same connection. So first position the existing ground into the lug.
And then add a second black ground wire from the same central lug, and make your solder connection.
As noted much earlier in this guide, these specific ground wire connections are only really needed if your pickguard has no shielding applied, like this example guard. If you have full copper foil shielding right across the pickguard, or an aluminium pickguard for example which had full ground continuity across the components, you can skip these ground wire steps. But I wanted to include them in this guide for those that need it.
This new black ground wire from the switch will now head to the lead circuit volume pot to provide ground continuity between those components and complete our ground circuit nicely.
Cut that wire to length, and we can neaten up this bunch of wire runs like we did with those coming from the rhythm circuit. Again, I'm using heat shrink tubing so you can follow my lead or just use some tape if you like too.
There we have it, lead circuit toggle switch done. Upon install, your only connection here will be the bridge pickups 'hot' signal wire, which will attach to that remaining lug.
Let's get this lead circuit (and entire circuit for that matter!) finished up.
On this occasion and build, the customer requested a treble bleed to be fitted so you'll notice a cap and resistor in parallel here additionally. If you're using one, then it basically fits between the input and output lug (3 & 2) of the volume pot. If you're not using one, imagine it isn't in the photos as it doesn't change what you'll be doing.
First step at the volume pot is to prepare the ground lug. So using your pliers bend back lug 1, towards the pot casing and the area we pre-tinned earlier in the guide.
For the sake of neatness, I also use this opportunity to put my ground wire from the toggle switch here too. So with the lug bent back towards the casing, I position my black ground wire from the switch into the lug and prepare for soldering.
Neat eh! Hope some of these little habits of mine are useful to you too.
Now onto the signal path again, as noted I have fitted a treble bleed mod to this particular build, whether you choose one for your own is completely up to you but it doesn't change the other processes so I'll essentially ignore it here.
Next up, the yellow wire which came down from the rhythm circuit/lead circuit 2 way slide switch. This wire will be soldered to lug 2, the wiper of the volume pot. As I left it a little longer just in case, I simply trim it down and prepare for soldering.
Now onto the blue wire connection from the 3 way toggle switch. This one heads to the remaining volume pot lug 3, input. Alongside this wire we'll be running another short blue wire run to lug 1 of the tone pot. So position the first wire into the volume pot lug 3 and prepare a new length of blue wire into the same location.
With those both in position, I can make my solder connection.
With those secured, I can bend the new blue wire towards it's final resting place at lug 1 of the tone pot. This is a short run, so I do allow for a bit of give in the wire length here to make it easier to handle and work with.
Steaming along now aren't we! Onto the final wire connection now by finishing up that white wire that came all the way from the slide switch, and will be attached to the tip lug of the jack socket. So position the wire, trim to length and pop it into the relevant lug of the jack socket.
You'll likely notice the curvature I allow for with this wire run, this is simply due to the shape of a Jazzmaster routing/cavity around this area. To ensure it fits within the body upon install, I just allow for a bit of curvature/give in the wire lengths. Hope this helps!
With that final wire connection made, we can finish this thing up. That is done by adding the tone cap to the lead circuit's tone pot. The customer here chosen a .022uF value for his build, but traditionally you'll likely see a .033uF in a Jazzmaster. Same install method applies though.
So I prep the tone cap lead outs so that it'll nice and neatly fit onto the pot. Using my pliers I manipulate the lead out so that it bends towards the pot lug (this one will be soldered to lug 2, the wiper.
I then position the cap on the tone pot casing, popping the shaped lead out through the lug 2. The prepare for soldering.
With that connection made, I can trim the excess wire and move onto the ground side.
Ground side, I simply curve the remaining lead-out around and onto the pre-tinned area of the pot casing I prepared right back at the start of the guide.
Trim this wire down to size and prepare for the solder connection.
WE MADE IT! Rewarding isn't it? A Jazzmaster wire up is honestly one of my favourite to do, somehow a therapeutic process for me and I do hope this guide has helped you along the way too.
With it finished up, I personally do a few final checks. Continuity for ground, as well as popping a capacitor meter on the various tone caps/treble bleeds to ensure they're reading what they should and behaving as they should.
So I pop my multi-meter onto the continuity test setting, the check through the various points of ground. Better to do this now, than try and fault find later down the line. So I start at the top, placing one probe on the slide switch metal housing for example, and with the other probe one-by-one check the rhythm circuit brackets/pots, the 3 way toggle switch housing, lead circuit volume and tone pots and of course the jack socket sleeve.
If you have wired ground connections like I do on this example build, then I have now checked those are all doing their job. If you are relying on foil shielding applied to the pickguard or an aluminium guard etc, then you have ensured the surfaces are providing you sufficient continuity and you're good to go on install now! Connecting your pickup hot and ground wires and your ground wire from your bridge. I hope those final steps go well and that this loom guide has helped you put together a loaded pickguard from a pile of components!
Hopefully this article has helped you in wiring up your own Jazzmaster loom, ready to attach your pickups and enjoy playing again. I also hope the selection of parts I offer here and have linked to previously in the article, have provided you with the items needed to do this. But if after reading through this you're sat thinking, 'I might just get someone to do this for me', then I also offer pre-wired Jazzmaster looms too. I offer them with the choice of pot and cap specs to suit your needs and are each made by myself with tested components. If you'd like to order one of these pre-wired looms, you can check them out on the online store HERE.
Have you made good use of some of the free resources here? Wired up your Jazzmaster or found useful info here along the way? Perhaps you might consider kindly supporting this free resource for guitarists via 'Buy me a coffee'! Thank you so much!
James.
Are you keen to get the full silver sky tonal experience in your traditional strat? Then perhaps consider my Silver sky spec pre-wired Strat harness too!
]]>For reference, on this particular build I am using the Pure Tone Multi-Contact jack socket in nickel (x1)
Wire
I personally love working with Gavitt wire. Yes, it is the 'vintage' style, period correct option, but I don't specifically choose to use it for that reason. I primarily use it because it is very easy to work with, it handles great both to expose the central core wire and to 'manipulate' within the cavity to achieve nice and neat installs. It is also very consistently made, accurate to it's specified gauge (AWG) and also comes supplied pre-tinned which helps during soldering. Should you need to purchase some lengths of wire to carry out this wiring job, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
Most retailers, including myself, tend to offer Gavitt wire supplied in 2ft lengths. As a Jazz Bass wiring loom is fairly compact, you won't need much at all, so a single 2ft length will provide you with plenty to work with and some spare if you need to re-do any bits along the way. What 'colour' of cloth covering you choose is entirely up to you. You may also notice on my documented wiring work here, I apply little cuts of heat shrink tubing to the ends of each piece of wire. This isn't specifically necessary for your own install. I merely do this as I find it helps 'seal' the cut ends of the cloth to further help prevent it from fraying. At the end of the day I am selling pre-wired kits and intend for them to look as neat as possible, and foresee any handling mishaps too, so any extra little details like that are simply done for professionalism. You can certainly attach you wires without these little heat shrink additions, but if you wish to do so, feel free to follow my lead :) Heat shrink is available HERE
Capacitor
I won't go into type here, let's keep the paper in oil, Mustard, orange drop, ceramic disk discussion/argument to the forums! I'll simply focus on the 'value' or spec here. In 1963 onward perhaps the most common spec of tone capacitor you will see in a Jazz Bass will be a 0.05uF / .047uF (Micro-Farad). But in more recent years some models have featured a .022uF for example, which will yield slightly 'brighter' results by comparison. There is no real right or wrong here as ultimately the sound/response from a cap is down to personal preference. On this occasion the kit I am making, the customer requested a 0.022uF, but the exact same installation process will apply regardless of the value chosen. Should you need to purchase a tone capacitor for this job, perhaps consider doing so through my online store HERE
For reference, on this particular build I am using the Tube Amp Doctor 'Mustard' style tone cap .022uF (with one of my custom heat shrinks applied simply for branding purposes)
Tools
I'll try to keep this to the bare essentials needed for carrying out this task, but when it comes to specialist tools, the more the merrier I say!
Minimum 40W soldering iron
I say a minimum of 40W as most solder wire you can buy these days is lead-free, and lead free does require a hotter iron/working temp due to it's higher melting point. A 40w Iron should achieve a working temp of somewhere around 400 degrees C, which is great for lead free soldering and in particular making your ground connections (pot casings etc).
Solder wire
There are varying specs, and quality of solder wire available. If it helps, I personally use Rapid/R-Tech lead-free 22SWG 0.7mm. It has a flux core so you don't need to use flux additionally, but overall I find this to be a good lead-free solder wire to use for guitar/bass wiring work. Techs/luthiers etc tend to have their own preferences though, but this is what I use everyday so hope this helps narrow down your search. Ideally use this in conjunction with some form of fume extraction, or in a well ventilated area. Although lead-free is of course, as the name suggests, the fumes from the flux is still pretty nasty really, so best to think about how to do all of this safely.
Small or Needle nose pliers
These are really helpful for any wiring work, such as handling smaller parts that your fingertips might struggle to grasp, simply placing onto a wire to keep still whilst soldering a joint or using to shape/bend wires for installation for example.
Wire snips/cutters
You'll need some cutters to trim your wire length, if you have some guitar string cutters for example those might be useful here too for example.
1/2" or 13mm Socket/spanner
This will be used to tighten the CTS and Switchcraft / Pure Tone jack mounting nut when fitting the pots and jack to your control plate
Philips screwdriver
This will be used to remove/re-fit the 3 fixing screws for your control plate
Small flat head screwdriver or Allen key set
This will be used if you have grub screw secured control knobs for example. Many of these traditional control knobs have a small flat head grub screw to secure the knob to the pot shaft. Some however have allen key grub screws so inspect what control knobs you have and go from there. What size you need will depend on the specific control knobs used.
Multi-Meter
These are of course useful for a number of tasks, but primarily here it's useful to measure your pots (and if capable, your capacitor value too) to help ensure they're within tolerance and/or the specs you wish to use. As well as testing continuity for your ground connections too. They're always handy to have around for any guitar wiring work though.
Wiring style/schematic
So with the parts prepared let's start by looking at the schematic. Thankfully the Jazz Bass is nice and simple, although we have two pickups, we don't have any pickup selector switches or fancy options. It is a simple two volume, one tone, jack socket configuration, with the volumes wired 'independently'. Let's look at why that is; In guitars and basses with 2 or more volume controls, you will likely either see those volume pots wired dependent, or independent of one another. The Jazz Bass is a classic example of a 2 pickup instrument wired with independent volume pots, and if you're familiar with guitars too, then the Gibson Les Paul for example is a classic example of a 2 pickup instrument wired with dependent volume pots.
So how do dependent volumes work I hear you ask, and why isn't a Jazz Bass wired that way? Typically 2 dependent volume pots would be wired with their relevant pickup 'hot' wire being soldered to the input lug (1), with the wiper (2) being used as the 'output' off to the switch, or jack etc. In a bass with two volume pots wired dependent of one another, if you rolled down one, it would cut the entire signal. So you would lose the individual pickup positions, something that is usually particularly useful in a JB. You couldn't have neck only, and you couldn't have bridge only, not ideal eh? If the Jazz Bass left the factory with a 3 position pickup selector switch, then this likely wouldn't be of concern as you could simply flick between the individual and together pickup position with ease via the switch. But seeing as we're solely relying on two volume pots to achieve our pickup isolation, we ideally need to wire our volume pots a little differently. With the pickup's 'hot' wire being soldered to the central wiper lug, and the output moving over to the number 1 lug. That's where independent volumes step in. If you want to learn more about dependent and independent volumes, feel free to read through my article on it HERE.
For independent volume controls, most commonly used in traditional Jazz Bass wiring, our pickup signal needs to be wired to the relevant volume pot 'wiper', or the middle lug. This will allow us to independently control each pickup, providing us with neck only, bridge only, and both together with some element of blend with those too.
We of course simply have a nice master tone here too.
To view the wiring schematic for a traditional right handed '63 onward Jazz Bass, click HERE
Getting started with the wiring
Needless to say, Please take care of yourself and your bass when carrying out any wiring work. I / James' Home of Tone cannot be held responsible for any damage caused by dangerous or incorrect techniques used. But hopefully this guide helps prevent any of that. So let's dive in to the action!
Checking your parts
Do you need to do this? Not necessarily, particularly if you're buying quality tight tolerance components from a reliable retailer. But if you're curious, then why not! You might use this opportunity to test the three pots to check they are within tolerance and the spec you wish to use. These are 250k stamped pots, with a +/- 8% tolerance. Meaning in theory they should each read somewhere between 230k and 270k. Tight tolerances essentially means more predictable results. By comparison, a cheaper pot which might have a 20% tolerance for example, could result in a 250k pot reading anywhere between 200k & 300k.
To check the pot using a multi meter, set it to a suitable Ohm reading (on my UNI-T meter the 2M setting does the trick for a variety of pot values being tested), and with one probe placed on the ground lug (3) and one probe on the wiper lug (2), turn the pot to '10' so to speak as if it was all the way up, and check the reading.
If it's within tolerance, we're good to go. On this occasion we certainly were thanks to the great quality CTS 450 series 'SSSP' pots, with readings of 247k, 242k & 235k for each, all comfortably within the stated tolerance which will provide me with the result I expect to hear in use.
Some multi-meters allow for testing of capacitors, mine does but with limited readings, and I suspect many won't at all though and I don't expect you to have, or buy specifically, a capacitor meter to hand for this so don't worry too much. But for the sake of example, I'll show the testing of the tone capacitor here, to display it is within it's stated +/-10% tolerance spec.
So the .022uF Tube Amp Doctor 'Mustard' we're using on this particular build, it should read somewhere between 0.0198uF and 0.0242uF. I'm actually seeing 0.02263uF so I'm certainly fine with that, it'll perform as expected which is all that matters!
Mounting the pots to your plate
You may of course wish to do the main build off the plate, using a card template for example. But I find it easiest to do it straight onto the control plate as the layout/measurements between components is perfect, and you can check your ground continuity too. So grab your 1/2" socket, or if you don't have imperial set, a 13mm will do fine, and secure the three pots and jack socket to your control plate. Jazz Bass control cavities can sometimes be a little tight, especially when using these traditional full size pot casings too. So get them lined up nice and straight to help prevent any install issues.
Testing for ground continuity
This is a good opportunity to test your ground connection. So with the pot casings secured against the traditional metal control plate, this in theory should provide sufficient continuity. But it's worth checking just in case for whatever reason the plating for example isn't conductive.
So set your multi-meter to the continuity test setting, and place one probe on the control plate, and then with the other probe simply place it on each pot casing one by one listening out for the beep, then place it on the jack 'sleeve' or ground lug and again listen out for the beep.
If you're getting a good consistent reading throughout those points, then you're off to a good start. You will not need to solder additional ground wires between the pots, as the plate is providing you with sufficient continuity and a ground connection. Adding further ground wires has the potential to introduce a ground loop.
If for any reason though you are not getting continuity, (or you are mounting these parts to a plastic pickguard for example), then there may be an issue with the plating and it will be worth soldering a specific ground wire between each pot casing and the jack ground lug. You will definitely need to do this if you are mounting straight through a plastic pickguard/plastic control plate for example. So please keep this in mind if this is the case for you.
Preparing for soldering / Pre-Tinning
With our parts mounted, and ground connection tested. We can start preparing for soldering, and 'pre-tinning' where we plan on making our connections. This is particularly useful I find when working with lead-free solder, which as mentioned earlier on has a higher melting temp. This can for some users make it a little trickier to make ground connections, so pre-tinning areas where you plan to make a connection can really help the process. If all of this is new to you, I highly recommend practicing these methods/techniques on any old or scrap pots etc first, you'll thank me later when you've got the technique down and are making nice and neat connections on your new quality pots :)
So later on I will be attaching each pickup ground wire to the back of each volume pot casing, the ground lug to the casing, the ground wire from the bridge as well as the one lead-out from the tone capacitor too. So I'm going to pre-tin and prep the areas of the pot casing I plan on doing each of those connections. Here are some photos of me showing the areas where I plan to pre-tin with solder.
I set my iron temp here to 400 degrees C, my personal preference for fast, effective tinning of ground lugs/pot casings with Rapid 22SWG lead-free solder wire.
Neck volume pot - Here I pre-tin an area central of the pot casing back, this will be for the pickup's ground wire a little later on. An area for where I'll be soldering the wire coming from the bridge and I also pre-tin a small area just behind the ground lug (3), as I will need to bend that lug back onto the casing and solder it.
Bridge volume pot - As above, but with one less. Here I pre-tin an area central of the pot casing back, this will be for the pickup's ground wire a little later on.
I also pre-tin a small area just behind the ground lug (3), as I will need to bend that lug back onto the casing and solder it.
Tone pot - Here I simply need to pre-tin an area on the pot casing where the outer foil side lead out from my tone cap will be soldered too. I find with the size of the mustard casings I use here, doing this on the casing edge suits really well.
Jack socket - The 'hot'/tip lug isn't usually pre-tinned on Switchcraft or Pure Tone jacks, so it is worth doing so whilst we're at this stage to make your wire connection later a little easier.
As touched on earlier, if you need to make a ground wire connection between each pot/jack, then you will also need to pre-tin an area on the casings to allow for this too.
If using the same quality CTS 450 series pots as I am here, you won't need to pre-tin the lugs on the pots, those are often pre-tinned from the factory. But if they aren't, due to the material used for those it is usually easier to flow solder onto them anyway (and can use a lower iron temp to do so if you have an iron that enables adjustable temp, something like 350 or 375 degrees C does the trick fine for lugs for example with lead-free solder wire).
To pre-tin, with the iron up to temp, and a clean/tinned iron tip, simply place the iron tip in the area you wish to flow some solder on to and allow the surface to warm up a little. Warming the joint helps the solder flow and 'take' to the surface. If you've ever struggled with flowing solder onto ground connections/pot casings, this is likely because either the iron tip isn't clean or tinned therefore not effectively transferring heat, or you haven't warmed the connection/area first and solder won't happily flow onto a 'cold' surface. For the sake of example here, running my iron at 400 degrees C, it takes roughly 5/6 seconds to warm the surface for solder to 'take' to it. So I place the iron tip on the surface, allow for around 5 seconds and simply flow a little solder wire onto the iron tip and surface. That should leave you with a little solder circle, and a pre-tinned area to make a wired connection to later. As in some cases here we're doing two or three pre-tinned areas per pot casing, so if you're at all worried about over-heating the pot, Just give it a bit of time in-between each flow to allow the surface to cool down.
Soldering each volume pot ground lug
Here using our needle nose pliers, we'll bend back the ground lug (3) towards the pot casing to little pre-tinned area we did during the previous step. Then with the lug against the casing, we'll again place the iron tip on the area, ideally so it is touching both the lug and the casing for a brief moment to warm the connection, then flow some solder! Be careful not to flow too much solder here as it could in theory run down the casing and pool up in unwanted areas near the internals. In theory thanks to the pre-tinned area, a fairly small amount of solder wire here will do the trick and will flow nicely. Then repeat the process for the 2nd volume pot
Attaching the tone cap
There's no set rules about the order in which you do all of this, I just find it easier to attach the cap at this stage.
Orientation; Some capacitors will have a marked 'outer foil' usually with a band/ring printed on one side of the casing for example, if yours does, then ideally you want to solder the lead out wire on the outer foil side, to ground. This is important practice within amplifier building for example to help reduce unwanted noise/interference, but isn't quite as important with super simple guitar circuits. Some/most capacitors won't have a marking so this isn't always quite as obvious, orange drops spring to mind for example, but don't worry about this too much as within a simple guitar/bass circuit, it isn't hugely important. Unless you have an oscilloscope by chance, or fancy spending time hooking up crocodile clips to an instrument cable plug, then I wouldn't loose sleep over outer foil orientation within a guitar circuit too much. But if the cap you're using does have the outer foil marked, you certainly may as well solder the outer foil side lead out to ground.
I use my needle nose pliers here to help manipulate the lead-outs into the position I want to fit the cap to the tone pot. As the casing on these mustard caps is relatively large, I find it good practice to bend the lead-out downward so I can have it poke through the relevant lug (3 on the tone pot on this example) all whilst keep the cap casing sat nice and flat against the pot casing, like so..
I then place the iron tip on the connection, warm the joint momentarily and flow some solder on. This is a good example too of simply using your pliers or weighted hand tools to help hold components in place/still. You can certainly buy and use lots of fancy helping-hand jigs for soldering, I own one myself, but I find it more hassle to use those with varying results, than to just quickly use the pliers I already had right by me anyway. It is good practice here to leave the solder joint to do it's thing for a moment too. Don't be tempted to instantly move the loom etc as this could lead to a disturbed connection and cold solder joint. So warm the joint, flow some solder and allow it to do it's thing for a mo.
Then with your cutters, snip the excess and move onto the ground side. Again, using your pliers simply manipulate and bend the ground side lead out down towards the pot casing and the area you have pre-tinned. Once happy with the position, snip the excess and proceed with flowing some solder over it.
Place the iron tip on the connection, ideally warming both the lead out and casing for effective transfer, and flow some solder.
Attaching the wires
As briefly mentioned earlier in this article, I will be applying some small cuts of heat shrink tubing to 'seal' the ends of the cut cloth on my build here, this is simply a personal preference thing and you do not have to do it this way. You can certainly just cut, pull back, solder and push back the cloth covering without the heat shrink. So feel free to follow my lead, or continue on without heat shrink, completely up to you.
I tend to start at the neck volume pot and work my way back to the jack. So first of all I grab some of my Gavitt 22awg cloth covered wire, pull back a portion of the cloth covering to expose the pre tinned central core wire, and place it within lug 1 of the neck pickup volume pot.
Some like to wrap the wire around the lug, but I've personally found this isn't required. I do repairs here at my office also, and trying to work on or replace pots/components when the wires have been wrapped around the lug over and again is, well, frustrating really. It is far easier to work on and repair/replace further down the road when the wire is simply pushed through the lug. But that's just me, everyone has their preferences for sure.
So I pop that through the lug 1 on the volume pot, place the iron tip on the lug and wire to warm the joint and flow a little solder. Ensuring I keep the connection still after removing the iron to help the joint remain stable and not a cold joint.
With that wire now in situ, I line it up with the following connection to be made, which is the bridge pickup volume pot lug 1, and cut to length. You might prefer to allow yourself a little 'give' in the wire length, so not quite as tight/neat as I have done here. Leaving a little give in the length might make working on it easier for you, I'm doing these every day so have gotten pretty used to handling looms but if this is a early wire up job for you, giving yourself a little extra working material might prove useful.
With the wire from neck volume pot lug 1, in place leading to bridge volume pot lug 1, I will now add another length of wire from bridge volume pot lug 1 which will head to the tone pot lug 2(wiper).
So repeat the process from above, pull back some of the cloth covering exposing the central core wire. Place it in bridge volume pot lug 1 alongside the wire you have just also placed there, secure it and flow some solder to make the connection.
Now with that connection made, push back the cloth covering and trim/snip the wire to length at the tone pot lug 2, placing the exposed central core wire in the lug.
Then onto our final wire connection, from tone pot lug 2, to the jack 'hot' lug. This can sometimes be a bit fiddly on a Jazz Bass as they're located fairly closely. But repeat the process as before, placing an exposed end of central core wire into the tone pot lug 2 alongside the existing placed wire, and make your solder connection.
Just so the wire isn't crazy short, and easier to handle, I tend to manipulate the wire to make a 'bridge' shape from the tone pot lug 2, to jack hot. Up to you if you do this also of course!
And there we have it, loom finished up!
Again, I will note about your ground connections between the pots and jack. As we are using a traditional metal control plate here, of which I have tested for continuity with my multi-meter, I do not need to add additional/separate ground wires between each of those components. But if you are mounting these parts to a plastic control plate, plastic pickguard (neither of which have shielding tape applied for example) or for whatever reason upon continuity testing on a metal plate you were getting no reading/continuity. Then you will need to add a length of wire soldered between each pot casing, so neck volume to bridge volume, bridge volume to master tone, and of course from master tone to your jack socket ground/sleeve lug.After making those wired ground connections, grab your multi meter and check for continuity.
Hopefully this article has helped you in wiring up your own Jazz Bass loom, ready to attach your pickups and enjoy playing again. I also hope the selection of parts I offer here and have linked to previously in the article, have provided you with the items needed to do this. But if after reading through this you're sat thinking, 'I might just get someone to do this for me', then I also offer pre-wired Jazz Bass looms too. I offer them with the choice of pot and cap specs to suit your needs and are each made by myself with tested components. If you'd like to order one of these pre-wired looms, you can check them out on the online store HERE.
Have you made good use of some of the free resources here? Wired up your bass guitar or found useful info here along the way? Perhaps you might consider kindly supporting this free resource for bassists & guitarists via 'Buy me a coffee'! Thank you so much!
The Stonk Box is our second Automatic Thermally Bias fuzz pedal, so after plugging it into power (9vdc only), it will take 2-3 minutes on average to sound correct. The color of the LED indicator light might change. Don’t turn the internal trimmer. THAT’S IT. Read on if you would like to...there’s some good stuff.
SUMMARY
Like the Germanium Fuzz before it, the Stonk Box attempts to take a classic 1960’s fuzz design, and bring the sound into the modern world without bringing any along the flaws and inconsistencies of the original. In this case, we set our eyes on the MK1 fuzz (which is itself a modified version of the very first fuzz ever). We kept the original controls (FILTER and VOLUME), and added a TONE control and a TRIM control to expand the palette of sounds available. Buffer and pedal order friendly (but with no pickup simulation, we had to tweak the output circuit this time). The original circuit is considered one of the hardest of the classic fuzzes to get right because of the difficulty in transistor selection...with our patented technology we can do it easily and consistently...for the first time ever!"
You won't need to move the collars up and down on the posts, they can stay where they are. But using your small spanner supplied, you can turn the collar to the left or right to adjust the offset collar in it's position. Which direction(s) you turn each post collar will of course depend on the alignment of your neck or the exact position of the body thimbles.
So best thing to do is install the bridge and see where you're at. I would perhaps also recommend installing the outer two strings, or tying some string perhaps if you don't want to string up just yet, so you can check your neck and string alignment.
Doing this allows me to check whether I need to adjust the collars so that they can correct any alignment issues. Thankfully on this particular guitar the alignment was very good, so no correction really needed there. But if your strings are closer to the edge of the fretboard on one side than they are the other, then simply adjust both of the offset post collars until you achieve something like the photo above.
I did however find that the position of my two body thimbles must have been a smidgen out, and I did benefit from evenly adjusting my post collars 'outwards' so to speak. This allowed for a lovely tight fit into the thimbles and will further help achieve the fixed bridge position I am aiming to try out. A firmer contact/seat into the thimbles will in theory improve resonance too. I then pop the rest of the string set on so I can progress with the bridge setup...
Setting the saddle radius
Fixed radius saddle spec bridge
This is incredibly simple, because you don't need to touch a thing! Each saddle on this bridge is sized to match the chosen radius and aren't individually adjustable. So skip ahead to the setting string action/height stage.
Adjustable radius saddle spec bridge
With this particular bridge you can adjust the inner 4 string saddles to perfectly match your fretboard radius. To do this though you will ideally need an under-string radius gauge that matches your fingerboard radius. This will help achieve an accurate saddle radius. You could do it with a short ruler too, but the under string radius gauge is the quickest and most accurate way to set the saddle radius so I would recommend sourcing one or taking to a trusted tech to carry out the work so that your guitar plays as well as it can!
So! Here you'll need to grab that under-string radius gauge and pop it into position to begin making your accurate adjustments. Don't worry about your overall action at this stage, that will be corrected in the following step.
Using your outer two strings sitting in their fixed saddles as your guide, raise or lower each of the inner 4 saddles via the supplied allen key so that the under side of the string rests perfectly along the top of the radius gauge. Each saddle has two adjustment grub screws, I would recommend adjusting those evenly so the saddle sits nice and level. And there you are! All set and ready to begin the next stage of the setup...
String height/action adjustments
Height adjustment is made much in the same was as the vintage/traditional design that you'll no doubt be familiar with. Either end of the bridge plate where the posts are you will see a hole. Inside that hole is an allen key grub screw. Using the smaller of the two supplied allen keys, simply insert into the post and begin adjusting the grub screw to your desired action/string height. As you turn the grub screw either way you'll see it rise or fall. Again, concentrate on your outer two 'E' strings here. Unfortunately I cannot provide a string action/measurement to work to as there are a number of factors that come into play for each players 'perfect' action. Neck relief, string gauge, how heavy or light a strumming technique etc. But adjust, re-tune the guitar and have a play, get it to where you like it and go from there. If you need some form of reference point though, if you have a short ruler to hand, pop it between the 15th fret and the bottom of the low E and then high E and look for around 2mm gap. Then refine from there for your preference or what the guitar will allow for. Hope this helps!
For the fixed radius bridge, again we don't need to worry about those inner 4 strings, and for those with the adjustable saddle bridge, we have already set the matching radius for those in the previous step so those will fall in line with the outer post height adjustments you have made and make for consistent action across the fingerboard for you.
Consistent string action and consistent play-ability across the fingerboard is only really possible with correct neck relief. For vintage style radius fingerboards such as 7.25" or 9.5" a good recommendation is to look for .010" gap between the top of the 8th fret and the underside of the string, when the string is depressed at the 1st (a capo will help for this) and last fret. For more 'modern' fingerboard radius specs, I would be looking for something closer to .008" gap in the same manor as above. Quality and consistency of the fretwork and string gauge plays some part of this, but I hope this helps as a guide.
Intonation adjustments
Although the bridge does come supplied with a super rough guess at common intonation layout for the saddles, that may well get you off the ground and playing roughly in tune, this will need adjustment to get things accurate. If you're not familiar with setting your intonation, then I would perhaps recommend seeking out a tech to do this for you. But I'll talk through the adjustments and process to help along the way :)
You adjust the intonation, moving the saddle forwards or backwards via the allen key on the rear edge of the bridge.
So! first of all, plug your guitar in to your tuner and bring it up to pitch. With the guitar stable in it's tuning, play the open string harmonic at the 12th fret and get that perfectly in tune, then with the 12th harmonic perfect, fret at the 12th and see whether the fretted note is sharp or flat (higher in pitch or lower in pitch than it's intended note). If the note is sharp, then you need to adjust the saddle 'backwards' so to speak, so closer to the tailpiece. If it is flat, then do the opposite and adjust the saddle forwards, so closer to the pickups.
Re tune via the 12th harmonic, then fret at the 12th and check again. Repeat the process until you have the the harmonic and the fretted note perfectly in tune. Work your way through the strings until yeah have adjusted each and the intonation is perfect across the set. You may find if you have fitted a brand new set of strings, it likely isn't worth carrying out this process until they have settled down a bit. Box fresh strings on their first time up to tension will need a bit of settling in time, I often find that I set the intonation on a brand new set and the next day it is slightly (more a lot depending on the string brand!) out and needs correction. Key with intonation adjustment is patience, constantly checking your harmonic tunings before fretting etc. But certainly worth the efforts to ensure the guitar plays in tune across the board.
Locking the posts
So you've set your saddle radius, overall action and intonation, now it's time to lock it all down. Offset fans will be aware of the vintage bridge design and the 'creep' it can suffer with. Action lowering as the tension of the strings pulls down on the bridge causing the grub screws to slowly move over time. To help further with this, Chris also supplies some super tiny but useful locking grub screws.
First step is to pop some masking tape very close to the end of the larger supplied allen key. This will help prevent you from pushing the key too far through the open ended locking grub screw and inadvertently adjusting the bridge post height in error. It acts like a bit of a stopper really. Then pop your grub screw on an proceed to gently thread it into the bridge post..
Do not over-tighten! This is super important.
Fitting the optional Coupling disks
This step is entirely optional, and is the installation of the coupling disks. As mentioned earlier, these coupling disks apply further sideways pressure onto the saddles further improving the contact points. The theory behind this is to further improve resonance/sustain. So if you like experimenting with this, you might find fitting them useful! It's a simple step, but let's have a look.
These, much like the locking grub screws, simply thread into the bridge posts. They are an offset bushing, so applying some pressure so it turns against the saddle, simply tighten the small allen key bolt until fitted. Repeat for both sides of the bridge and there you go! That will have those saddles bunched right up against each other for maximum contact if that's your thing!
And there we have it! Following these steps should have your Companion bridge fitted and setup how you like it. Whether it's as a vintage style rocking or modern fixed, or with the fixed radius saddles or the adjustable saddle spec. I hope it has helped you with the process, alongside Chris' great supplied instructions too.
I have used multiple offset bridges, and have even covered the subject in previous blog articles too comparing my findings and the options out there. We are spoilt for choice no doubt. But having tried so many options, I am very very impressed with, and pleased with the results of fitting the Descendant Companion bridge to our demo guitar. It is a fantastic design, and as a guitar tech really appreciate some of the additional adjustablility Chris has applied to the design. It really helps iron out niggles with the guitar if it has them, and just further refine and improve the setup. This guitar is a whole bunch more resonant, especially to my ear when in the fixed non rocking configuration, but that's just my findings. experiment with it and find what works best for you and your setup preferences. But thankfully due to the great design of Chris' Descendant bridge and vibrato unit too, you can very much dial it in perfectly! Thanks for reading,
James
Have you made good use of some of the free resources here? Wired up your guitar or found useful info here along the way? Perhaps you might consider kindly supporting this free resource for guitarists via 'Buy me a coffee'! Thank you so much!
Location
Stourbridge Town Hall, Crown Centre, Crown Ln, Stourbridge DY8 1YE
Entry
Entry to the event is from 11am and runs until 5pm
Entry costs £2 per person or is free to enter after 3pm
Amenities
There are on-site toilets within the Town Hall
There will be both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink options for sale
Visitors and traders can pick up a wonderful Quarter Horse coffee at our Record Culture record shop opposite the Town Hall - with a discounted rate if you're visiting from the fair
Parking
There is no on-site parking available for visitors but there are numerous options for parking in the town, including the Tesco underground car park, which is perfect for short-stay visitors as you'll get 2 hours there and the Town Hall is just a walk or elevator ride up to the top floor. The Ryemarket multi-story car park is the best option for a longer visit, costing £3.50 for the day.
Alternatively, there are various spots of off-street parking around the town if you are happy to take in a little walk
There are excellent rail and bus links into Stourbridge and the Town Hall is located just a 5 minute walk from Stourbridge Town train and bus station.
Accessibility
There are two possible entry points to the hall, one of which has stairs but the side entrance on Smithfield is flat and wheelchair friendly.
Other Infomation
For any other information for visitors not contained here, please drop us an e-mail to lee@recordculture.com and we'll answer any questions
For more detailed information on this kit, you can view the product HERE or by clicking the photo of it above
HH Coil split wiring
This is a slightly unique kit in that it is designed for 2x humbucker equipped Strats. Fender have produced a few of these variants over recent years, I remember the Roadhouse models when I was younger, but these days there are classic player, American Pro and Squier models all featuring the two humbucker pairing. Interestingly although they only had 2 pickups the usual blade switch, master volume and two tone controls remained like a 3 pickup Strat, so I have created this kit to suit those. It has a 3 way switch, and a coil split CTS push/pull for each pickup individually, just as a bit of extra versatility. As mentioned above, coil splitting isn't always the perfect way of achieving single coil tone, but it certainly adds some extra tonal options and I thought something that makes sense on this control layout and simplified pickup pairing.
For more detailed information on this kit, you can view the product HERE or by clicking the photo of it above
'Delonge'!
This kit could ultimately be applied to any single pickup, single volume guitars, but it is ultimately for the Tom DeLonge Signature Stratocaster model from the early 00's. I was able to work on an all original 2001 example which gave me chance to have a look at what spec treble bleed it came equipped with and offer a replacement/retrofit kit for this iconic single pickup punk rock Strat. Although just a single volume, no tone setup, these do have a relatively unique treble bleed mod spec that I haven't seen on other production guitars. Whether that was down to recommendation from Seymour Duncan for their Invader pickup, or it was to Delonges preferred spec, I'm not entirely sure, but I liked it upon testing and certainly works well with a high output pickup like the Invader. I use a quality 450 series CTS 500k pot for this along with the Pure Tone multi contact jack socket, all for a quality upgrade/replacement kit. These have proved popular mainly for those converting their strat into Delonge spec, or taking on a fresh partscaster build too. Enjoy making this back to basics kit! And certainly enjoyed the research process, one of my favourite production strats as it's very nostalgic for me!
For more detailed information on this kit, you can view the product HERE or by clicking the photo of it above
So there we have it! That is a overview of my entire (at the time of writing this article!) range of Signature Series Stratocaster wiring kits. I do offer Solderless versions of some of these kits, but I'll save that article for another day, this one was focusing on the Signature Series specifically. I hope it helps guide you to the right spec to suit what you're after, or even if you're planning a DIY strat re-wire but need a run down of specs and wiring styles.
Thanks for your time and kind interest,
James