NGD! MIJJMJM

[Larry Mal]

It's possible that my guitar is a '91... honestly, I kind of forget. Maybe I'll take a look at the serial number when I get back home.

This thread is not doing much for my belief in my own powers of remembering shit, then again, I'm getting old- I've had that Jazzmaster for about 25 years now.

[Embenny]

My '93-'94 OLB Jaguar actually had the brass shielding and is a fantastic guitar, the only things I ever changed on it were the pickups and the bridge. The pickups were ok but nothing to write home about.

For this Mascis, I'm thinking I might drop in the Joe Barden JM pickups that were orphaned when I sold my American Special JM. They're black, and I have a black set of S1 knobs for switching from single coil to humbucker on them. The nice thing about them is that even the "single coil" mode is noiseless, like a Barden strat pickup.

I already have my AV65 to sound like an actual jazzmaster, so having this one set up for multiple noiseless tones could be nice. And with the extra shielding from the gold guard on top of the Bardens, which are as low-noise a pickup as anyone has ever made, it should be an idea guitar for recording or taking to crazy noisy environments. And the "strat mode" on the pickups can help me reminisce about the stock pickups, only noiselessly . Besides, they're black, and black plastic looks pretty good on these, IMO (photo credit to OSG member ToolShedd):

[leokula]

Besides, they're black, and black plastic looks pretty good on these

Totally agree! Looks awesome.

[Larry Mal]

Since I already did the distasteful dive into my Photobucket account to get the picture of the pickups, I'll show you this- this was my MIJ Jazzmaster, there was no brass plates or anything.

[Danley]

Not even shielding paint - because Jazzmasters aren’t big enough antennas for noise.

[Surfysonic]

My '93-'94 OLB Jaguar actually had the brass shielding and is a fantastic guitar, the only things I ever changed on it were the pickups and the bridge. The pickups were ok but nothing to write home about.

For this Mascis, I'm thinking I might drop in the Joe Barden JM pickups that were orphaned when I sold my American Special JM. They're black, and I have a black set of S1 knobs for switching from single coil to humbucker on them. The nice thing about them is that even the "single coil" mode is noiseless, like a Barden strat pickup.

I already have my AV65 to sound like an actual jazzmaster, so having this one set up for multiple noiseless tones could be nice. And with the extra shielding from the gold guard on top of the Bardens, which are as low-noise a pickup as anyone has ever made, it should be an idea guitar for recording or taking to crazy noisy environments. And the "strat mode" on the pickups can help me reminisce about the stock pickups, only noiselessly . Besides, they're black, and black plastic looks pretty good on these, IMO (photo credit to OSG member ToolShedd):

Congrats, Mike! Glad to see you still have the blue sparkly '62 Jag, too. Regarding the quoted image above - purple is not normally one of my fave colors but that combination with the gold guard and black pickup covers is fantastic and a keeper! As an aside, burgundy mist is starting to grow on me, heh.

FWIW, I also think your pickup plans makes good sense and has me considering swapping out my Pure Vintage '65 pickups out of my Squier JMJM to look at some noisless JM pickups since i have the '63 Fender JM. (if the new Ultra Series JM pickups become available for sale, I might think about getting a set.

[Embenny]

Thanks, Steve! And yes, that '62 sparkle Jag is #1 on my "lifer" list - though I did finally find the nerve to swap out the clashing tort. I'm still undecided on what I like best on it, but am currently into black, since black guards were "standard" on the few examples of stock vintage examples of blue sparkle that I've seen.

Interesting that our MIJs should differ so much, Larry. My Jag wasn't much younger than yours but had the nice thick brass shielding plates. A bare-wood JM is definitely basically a radio antenna.

The interesting thing about this Mascis is that, in the neck pickup cavity (the only part I opened up), I saw two pieces of copper shielding tape coming up from the control cavities onto the edges of the pickup rout, but the pickup rout itself was painted a rubbery-feeling black. I don't think Fender has ever used copper tape on a stock instrument, so I think someone might have done a shielding job on this guitar (which is odd to me, since most people who care about shielding a cavity would care about changing the terrible stock pickups). Also, the black paint suggests to me that there was probably a factory shielding paint job, though it had a different texture from the shielding paints I've seen and used before.

So I wonder what I'll encounter when I take off the guard to do the pickup swap - a DIY copper shielding job on top of shielding paint maybe? If so, I'll be very pleased - a shielded cavity, metal pickguard, and Joe Barden pickups would pretty much guarantee that this would be my quietest guitar.

[sunburster]

Interesting that our MIJs should differ so much, Larry. My Jag wasn't much younger than yours but had the nice thick brass shielding plates. A bare-wood JM is definitely basically a radio antenna.

Pre-CIJ MIJ Jags have shielding plates, pre-CIJ MIJ JMs have nothing. CIJ Jags and JMs both have shielding paint. Post-CIJ MIJ Jags and JMs both have shielding paint.

We should really have one dedicated thread to all of the differences between pre-CIJ MIJ, CIJ, and post-CIJ Jags and JMs, because the confusion and mythology continues to persist.

[Danley]

Interesting that our MIJs should differ so much, Larry. My Jag wasn't much younger than yours but had the nice thick brass shielding plates. A bare-wood JM is definitely basically a radio antenna.

Pre-CIJ MIJ Jags have shielding plates, pre-CIJ MIJ JMs have nothing. CIJ Jags and JMs both have shielding paint. Post-CIJ MIJ Jags and JMs both have shielding paint.

We should really have one dedicated thread to all of the differences between pre-CIJ MIJ, CIJ, and post-CIJ Jags and JMs, because the confusion and mythology continues to persist.

One of the stranger parts for me (sorry, not Mascis related) is my ‘96 MIJ has shorter stock bridge posts than any other rocking bridge I’ve encountered. Agree we probably need a thread; but figured one existed somewhere and I’d get yelled at if I started it