Modding a Fender Player Jaguar

[MrNovember]

So I bought a new guitar:

I absolutely love it, but I bought it with the intention of modding it. I'm thinking of updating it to American Pro wiring (bottom of his page: https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-ta ... ed-to-know)
Also a Mastery vibrato and bridge of course.

Any suggestions on pickups or where to find the pickguard and plates?

[coldbrightsunlight]

That American Pro setup sounds interesting. I've been thinking of rewiring my jaguar again for years.

What are you looking for with pickups? What's wrong with the current ones, is it just the volume difference you mentioned? Big fan of not fixing stuff if it ain't broke but a lot of people seem to swap out pickups just for the sake of it

[Paul_C]

*sigh*

now I want a Fender Player Jaguar.

[MrNovember]

It's a bit of a swapping them for the sake of it situation. I honestly haven't played the bridge pickup enough to have a proper opinion of it. Mostly been playing the neck pickup, which I have no complaints about. I'll probably just leave that one stock.

Most of my drive for modding the Player is to have more of the standard metal control plates, which I could probably do without swapping the pickups

[repoman]

Not sure what pickups are in the Player Jag, I have some AVRI ones in my Jag and they are very nice, and really cheap for a set. I kind of want to find something a bit hotter for the bridge, or lower output for the neck maybe but its not a huge deal.

I've never done the AmPro wiring, but had my Jag wired as the Johnny Mar and 4 way before, and I never really used any of that, and really dislike the series wiring of single coils that far apart, it makes a big muddy humbucker sound imo. I just have a 3 way in mine and wire it like a normal Tele.
You can also save on the bridge by getting the 9.5 Am Pro Offset bridge instead of a Mastery. I have a Mastery and think its really over engineered and expensive and I still get rattles with it sometimes. It also has hex wrenches that are so small they are a PITA if you ever lose them because you'll have to special order that size.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I've got the staytrem bridge on mine and while I've only briefly tried other peoples' masterys I prefer the staytrem. Just seems like a less fiddly design. That said I also coped perfectly happily for several years using a tune o matic and jaguar bridges aren't even as bad as people make out anyway.

If you're after slightly hot jag pickups I've got one of the seymour duncan ones in the bridge (https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/ho ... 2758e76f01) and it's great.

[MrNovember]

I have already noticed strings jumping out of the stock bridge, so some kind of an upgrade is a must, but maybe I should just stick with a Staytrem bridge. I've got one on my Bass VI that I am very happy with; I just always thought that Mastery was kind of like the holy grail of offset bridges

Also, I printed off the Warmoth Jag pickguard template and found a place to order the Am Pro Jag plates. If the Warmoth pickguard looks like it'll fit, I'm going to try to keep the wiring as is for now and just upgrade the pickguard and plates for aesthetics

[MrNovember]

Huh, just checked Staytrem's website and they apparently only ship to UK residents now due to "limited production and stock".

[coldbrightsunlight]

I think between the two it's personal preference? Staytrem was cheaper for me to get at the time but actually from my limited mastery experience I like the staytrem more. I'm sure other people feel the opposite.

If you're interested you wouldn't be the first person I've bought one for and shipped to the US...

Don't tell on me.


Control plates are needed for the aesthetic so good choice there

[MrNovember]

Thanks! I will keep that in mind. Kind of leaning toward Staytrem now just due to the price difference (roughly $100CDN depending on conversion rates) and the fact that I have experience with them.

Also, what colour pickguard would you go for on the Tidepool Jag? I could be safe and stick with black since I know I like it, but I'm tempted by vintage pearl or tortoise shell.

[MrNovember]

So I ordered the Am Pro Jag plates on reverb and reached out to Warmoth about their pickguard because they didn't seem to do Jag pickup cutouts.

Apparently, in their experience, their Jag pickguards do not work with 90% of Jags so they don't even offer to do Jag pickup cutouts. But they suggested I try Pick Guardian instead. Pretty nice of them to be so up front about all this. Haven't heard back from Pick Guardian yet, but I am pretty excited.

Also, decided on sticking with the black guard. I like it. And I'll like it more with more chrome.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I was going to say tortoiiiisse but the black does look nice.

Tortoiseshell though

[repoman]

I think between the two it's personal preference? Staytrem was cheaper for me to get at the time but actually from my limited mastery experience I like the staytrem more. I'm sure other people feel the opposite.

If you're interested you wouldn't be the first person I've bought one for and shipped to the US...

Don't tell on me.


Control plates are needed for the aesthetic so good choice there

Yeah, I feel the same way about the Staytrem, I had one before and have a Mastery now but liked the Staytrem more, the problem is they don't sell outside the UK now.
The AmPro Fender bridge is basically a Staytrem (which is really just a Mustang bridge with appropriate radius), although I think the saddles are brass rather than stainless steel and there aren't nylon bushings on the grub screws. You can buy some nylon bushings to fit for a couple cents from MacMaster-Carr. I think the AmPro is like 70 bucks, which is a lot better deal than the $200 for the Mastery and it will be less fiddly and work just as well if not better.

[repoman]

So I ordered the Am Pro Jag plates on reverb and reached out to Warmoth about their pickguard because they didn't seem to do Jag pickup cutouts.

Apparently, in their experience, their Jag pickguards do not work with 90% of Jags so they don't even offer to do Jag pickup cutouts. But they suggested I try Pick Guardian instead. Pretty nice of them to be so up front about all this. Haven't heard back from Pick Guardian yet, but I am pretty excited.

Also, decided on sticking with the black guard. I like it. And I'll like it more with more chrome.

Warmoth is a pain in the ass to deal with, they want to make it so you buy everything for builds from them, so they purposefully make everything off a bit just so their stuff fits correctly. It's pretty shitty, I buy a early Pbass body from them thinking its a Pbass body, but the neck pocket is actually routed to not fit Fender necks, only theirs, and same with the bridge routing/holes...designed to fit with bridges they sell, not an actual Pbass bridge, same for pickguards, etc. Sick of dealing with them. They also don't level the frets on the necks they sell, which considering the price they should, you can get an Allparts neck which is basically the same for half the price (and I think they are made a little better tbh) or if you spend the same just get an actual Fender neck with tuners thats all set to go fret wise from a place like Stratosphere.

[MrNovember]

I got the Am Pro Plates a few weeks ago, but haven't done anything with them yet. I realized that if I'm sticking with a black guard, I'm just going to try cutting this one myself. I don't think I really have the right tools, but I'm just going to take it really slow and try to leave a little excess so I can sand/file it down to the correct shape.

I also have an old Jazzmaster guard that I might make a few practice cuts on.