Help needed - I'm going mental wiring a Jazzmaster!

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lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
edited June 2018 in Making & Modding
Never thought I'd have to ask for help regarding rewiring a guitar but I'm on the verge of a friggin breakdown!!! I've recently finished an AVRI Jazzmaster for Kylef on here and like the lovely fella I am, have been re-assembling it for him before returning it, but this fuuucccckkking wiring is driving me mad, firstly one of the roller pots was frigged so I bought a new pair and installed them, I stripped every piece of the utterly horrendous wiring that was inside and replaced it with beautiful 22awg cloth covered multi coloured single core wire....Now everything works perfectly but the volume and tone won't fully shut off!!!! I'm nigh on positive, and I've no idea why, that the pots aint the correct value for the guitar, there was so much solder splashed on them when i took it apart that you can't really see the numbers, but there's definitely a K on them, and when i try and move the solder about I'm sure I can see 250, now I'm no jazzmaster expert but shouldn't these be 1Meg pots? and that being the case would having 250k pots cause the problem of the volume not shutting off? I don't want to cost him any more money but it's pointless me sending back a guitar thats fucking useless..Apologies for the profanity, i refuse to delete it on the grounds of insanity. cheers for any insight lads
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Comments

  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    Going to need some photographs of your wiring as it currently stands.

    Volume pots not shutting completely is probably a ground path issue. 1 Meg pots are customary on the Jazzmaster and Jaguar. The roller pots are 1 Meg (Vol) and 50k (Tone), respectively.

    Does the AVRI have a metal screening plate under the pickguard?
    Be seeing you.
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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    it does have a metal plate all over the bottom of the cavities, they're individual pieces connected by hook up wire

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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I'm looking into Jazzmasters at the moment as I'm building a variation for my next guitar. I have this info:

    Vintage spec
    • Lead circuit volume pot: 1 meg linear taper
    • Lead circuit tone pot: 1 meg audio taper
    • Rhythm circuit volume pot: 1 meg linear taper
    • Rhythm circuit tone pot: 50k linear taper
    • For the capacitors, use the value .033 MFD in the lead circuit and .022 MFD in the rhythm circuit. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    If the volume and tone pots won't shut off fully, the ground to them is missing.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    ICBM said:
    If the volume and tone pots won't shut off fully, the ground to them is missing.
    awesome!!!! where can I get the ground from?
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    lamf68 said:

    where can I get the ground from?
    The grounds should all be linked, back to the master ground which is on the output jack. Trace it through the guitar and you will find a connection missing, most likely. The worst case is if they all appear to be connected but there's a cold joint somewhere... you may need a multimeter to find that.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    ICBM said:
    lamf68 said:

    where can I get the ground from?
    The grounds should all be linked, back to the master ground which is on the output jack. Trace it through the guitar and you will find a connection missing, most likely. The worst case is if they all appear to be connected but there's a cold joint somewhere... you may need a multimeter to find that.
    I have a meter to hand, how does it relate to tracing a dodgy ground?

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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    @ICBM sussed it thanks to the comment on the ground!!!! what a cock....I'm still positive there's nothing in a schematic that shows the volume and tone pots connected with ground wire though unless I'm looking at the wrong drawings....all sorted i think
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    edited June 2018
    lamf68 said:
    @ICBM sussed it thanks to the comment on the ground!!!! what a cock....I'm still positive there's nothing in a schematic that shows the volume and tone pots connected with ground wire though unless I'm looking at the wrong drawings....all sorted i think
    The schematic assumes there will be a shielding plate on the back of the pickguard, which is missing on yours. The ground path is completed by the pots contacting it.

    You will also need to run a ground wire to the roller pots as well, since there's currently no connection.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    ICBM said:
    lamf68 said:
    @ICBM sussed it thanks to the comment on the ground!!!! what a cock....I'm still positive there's nothing in a schematic that shows the volume and tone pots connected with ground wire though unless I'm looking at the wrong drawings....all sorted i think
    The schematic assumes there will be a shielding plate on the back of the pickguard, which is missing on yours. The ground path is completed by the pots contacting it.

    You will also need to run a ground wire to the roller pots as well, since there's currently no connection.
    will do, top man, saved my sanity there mate...and it's been almost a week of pissing about
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    To be honest, I would take a deep breath and take it all off the guard again, and cover the back of the guard with shielding foil. There's a lot of wire in a Jazzmaster and they can be quite noisy if not thoroughly shielded. If the backs of the cavities are done that's good, but it need to be a complete 'Faraday cage' to work properly.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    ICBM said:
    To be honest, I would take a deep breath and take it all off the guard again, and cover the back of the guard with shielding foil. There's a lot of wire in a Jazzmaster and they can be quite noisy if not thoroughly shielded. If the backs of the cavities are done that's good, but it need to be a complete 'Faraday cage' to work properly.
    the cavity is fully shielded with brass plating mate! The lead circuit is now as silent as I've heard a single coil guitar but the rhythm is still buzzing! do i need to ground the tone to the volume pot as well as running a ground from the volume to the brass plate?
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71953
    lamf68 said:

    the cavity is fully shielded with brass plating mate! The lead circuit is now as silent as I've heard a single coil guitar but the rhythm is still buzzing! do i need to ground the tone to the volume pot as well as running a ground from the volume to the brass plate?
    The cavity is not fully shielded if the front isn’t. That’s why there should be a brass plate on the back of the pickguard as well, which is missing.

    You don’t need to connect the roller pots to each other because the metal frame will do that, but you do need to ground the whole assembly.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • meltedbuzzboxmeltedbuzzbox Frets: 10337
    I've had jazzmasters without the additional metal (aluminium?) pickguard sheet or the internal brass shielding and they've been super quiet. 
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11495
    tFB Trader
    Your main volume control has no earth to the back of it - connect it to the back of the tone pot

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

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  • lamf68lamf68 Frets: 850
    All sorted cheers one and all
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