Super-Sonic w/ AV65 Jag PU's

[zip73]

A while back, I threw down a low-ball bid on this Super-Sonic not really thinking I’d win it, but did.

After awhile, I was really hating on the tone. I changed the configuration from two volumes to a volume & tone to get some control over the treble. As simple as this sounds, I had to do extensive re-wiring, and then even with tone control, I just wasn’t digging these PU’s. Discouraged, I ripped everything out of it and left it for dead.

It sat gathering dust with no electronics in it for a few months until forum brother RIORIO and I got talking about our Super-Sonics. Our mutual dissatisfaction with the factory PU’s and controls fueled discussions about modding them which inspired me to resurrect mine (plus, it was something to do).

One naive idea was to install Filtertrons. Fortunately, before I could jump off the deep-end with this, RIORIO found a vid of a guy who had done just that, and forwarded it. After watching it, I abandoned the Filter-tron idea completely. They are nice PU’s, but didn't sound quite right to me inside a Super-Sonic. (thx again J).

In the meantime, I assembled a parts JM utilizing AV65 PU’s which I was very pleased with, even amazed. Because of this, I decided to go AV65 Jag PU’s for the Super-Sonic and compliment them with some 250k CTS pots, an orange drop cap and vintage-spec wiring. SneakyT cut the new pick-guard for me and did an excellent job.

Had to cut a couple of quarter inch thick wood shims to fit inside the factory PU routes so the Jag PU’s would be fully height adjustable for set-up. Fortuitously, these routes were just wide enough to accept the Jag PU’s with less than a 16th of an inch to spare on both sides. I wired it as-per a “deleted rhythm circuit JM diagram” from and old OSG post.

When I plugged it in for the first time, it came to life with a novelty of tone that was totally unlike it was before. The AV65 genes mixed with the Super-Sonic bedrock give this a very pleasing ‘Jaguar-esque” sound. Warm in the neck and neck/bridge and capable of traditional trashy Jag bridge tone. It’s different and familiar all at the same time.

Conclusion: Worth the cost of parts and an afternoon of soldering it together.

[Deed_Poll]

Love it! Looks great with the white switch & knobs too. Amazing.

[s_mcsleazy]

fucking sweet

[RIORIO]

This came out amazing! Glad I could be the wind behind your sails. I love the look of the jag pickups in there. Maybe another Santa Cruz trip is in order to come play this one

[wadeaminute]

Loving this. Well done.
Fender should have let folks know that the GunMetal sparkle was actually purple. So nice in person.
I like how clean it looks - two simple pickups, and the white knobs. If it were mine (and remember, I have no regard for the stock setup of these), I would move the switch to under the neck-pickup, and would move the jack so that I could have the knobs farther apart. Still, yours probably looks better than my version of a purple Jag-Sonic (Super-Guar?) would.
Here is my purple one:


A Surf 90 pickup from GFS, and four-way esquire wiring.

I like your knobs better! Are they from Fender?

Where is the youtube video of the Filter'Tron'd Super-Sonic, please? I've always had that in mind for one of mine.

[kdanie]

I dig it. I did a little one-off body (spanish cedar/black korina) with two SD jag pickups with 250k pots and I love the sound, kind of like a tele with real balls.



ken

[tylerforyou]

Yowza! That's the coolest!

[tylerforyou]

I need to see a straight on picture.

[davewrites]

Enforcer 'buckers have always been the deal breaker for me. They're fine for Teles, but an offset short-scale?

That guitar makes so much more sense to me with Jag single coils. I have a reason to bid on one of these in the future. That may be a 2015 project for me. (If only I could figure out an elegant way to undo the Strat trem.)

Great project--thank you!

[pscates]

I truly love this! I posted about something similar some time ago...it's a cool little body design, but the default configuration is more of a "rawkin'" type of thing. I said "wouldn't it be cool if Fender offered a version with some Jaguar pickups, for the other players?"

But you actually did it! I think it's a great look...it's that blend of the two things I always love seeing tastefully combined: the funky (reverse body, sparkle paint job) + traditional (Jaguar pickups, simple volume/tone/3-way switch). It's perfect. I also like the white knobs and selector switch. All that together just changes the entire look/vibe of it (in a good way).

I'd still love to see Fender take it the rest of the way, and do a "Surfer Sonic" type of thing...same body and all, but with Jaguar pickups and the Jazzmaster/Jaguar tremolo (vs. the Strat). I realize that's an ultra-niche market, but I could imagine quite a few people going for it, as a viable, quirky alternative to a full-blown Jaguar.

Dumb question: was it hard to figure out the placement of the pickup cutouts in the new pickguard? I've always wondered how one goes about that. I assume you provided the original pickguard for the perimeter shape/screw location, but being that the new Jaguar pickups are set into that little humbucker notch, there wasn't much wiggle room. How did you guys go about getting those cut-outs so nicely dialed-in/centered? Just really precise measurements/tracings?

Is that something you could make available to folks here? A PDF or something (or was it all done manually/on-the-fly?

[wadeaminute]

(If only I could figure out an elegant way to undo the Strat trem.)

I have hard-tailed four of mine with tele bridges.
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[zip73]

Deed & mcsleazy: Thx.

RIORIO: Anytime you need a break form The City. And bring the BiLT.

Wade: Honored you deem it worthy. Agreed, the color is unlike any gunmetal I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve encountered a lot of guns. Many were blued, none purpled. Will find that Filtertron vid and pm it to you.

ken: Your creation reeks of austerity in that attractive LP Jr kind of way, only better as it is an offset with quality wood and Jag PU’s. Envious of your skill.

tyler:


dave: Totally forgot they were called Enforcers. Still, at the current admission price, you ought to snag one and mod it. You know, just for S&G.

pscates: Your analysis is on target. Totally onboard with the Surf-Sonic idea. As to PG/PU placement: Sent SneakyT the factory guard & some dough, he sent back a perfectly cut guard (and my orig). That’s all there was to it. It’s what he does. The rest was drive-by.

[tylerforyou]

Thanks! If I had known how purple those are I might not have gone orange. It's all class.

[bubble gloves]

I'm a TOTAL copy cat.
Bought 65 Vintage Jaguar Pickups on eBay and 1K pots.
The pickup swap out turned a guitar that was gathering dust into something I'll use lots.
Thanks for the great idea.
The Super-Sonic joins the wall of silly modifications and odd projects.

[zip73]

I'm a TOTAL copy cat.

My purpose for posting was for others who were frustrated with their SS's to consider this idea. Yours came out nicely.

Another change recently made to mine was to add a TUSQ nut. The factory nut sounded dead in comparison. Took just a few minutes to pop the old one out and install the new one.



Also added some Callaham saddles. Not entirely sure this was a big help, but it definitely didn't hurt. Check out the manufacturing differences between the factory saddles and the more precise Callahams.