MIJ Jazzmaster - upgrade advice

[kneedriver]

Hi all --

just acquired a '94 MIJ JM. stock..

have plans to upgrade the pickups, and put my usual mustang bridge choice in.

what other essential upgrades do you recommend?

know it can get deep -- trying to cover just the basics and not spend too much..

thnxx

[VilhelmNielsen]

This is what I've done to my Japanese Jazzy:

New pickups
AVRI Tremolo
Mastery bridge (I tried staytrem as-well)
New electronics, including 500k CTS pots
Complete shielding of the cavities

And I love that guitar to death! Feels like an incredible player, and worth a lot more than I've spent on it.

[benji]

I agree that shielding is a good investment if you're going to be playing loud. I also like the idea of new pots. I never loved 1 meg and CTS pots are great. I guess if you bother to change the pots, you might as well change the cap too.

[MattK]

Shielding mine cost about eight bucks' worth of adhesive foil sheet. A little tricky but it worked. Not noiseless, JMs never are, but it's silent on the middle position so the shielding is working well. I guess you could shield the pickup covers but that seems like overdoing it.

[MJG]

New pickups
AVRI Tremolo
Mastery bridge
New electronics (…)
Complete shielding of the cavities

(…) worth a lot more than I've spent on it.

^Agreed.

[VilhelmNielsen]

@MatthewK: I've heard shielding the covers causes loss in the higher frequencies.

[EVOL!]

For my CIJ Jazzmaster I did

- set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity I's
- standard Fender Mustang bridge
- Staytrem tremolo arm. Love the collet.

[thedude99]

If or my 97 CIJ Jazzmaster I just did the PUP's back when I got it in 97. Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazzmaster's. I'm putting a set of Pickup Wizards in tomorrow though.

Planning on doing the tremolo and electronics soon as well.

Question about the pick guards. Do replacement/custom made ones actually look better than the stock ones?

[Larry Mal]

@MatthewK: I've heard shielding the covers causes loss in the higher frequencies.

Why would that happen? What's the science behind that? All shielding does is remove electromagnetic interference by sending that to ground rather than your pickups.

What would change about the either the string's ability to vibrate or the pickup to sense the vibration and output it?

[FIREBOT]

For my 2013 MIJ:
Antiquity IIs
Total rewire with CTS, Switchcraft/Orange drop/Cloth wires
Mastery bridge and trem
It was fully shielded with paint in the cavities and foil on the guard from the factory. They seem to have stepped this up on the newer ones. I really love it...

[DesmondWafers]

Mine had baby pots, I would get rid of those.

[MazzyJaster]

Apologies for bumping an old thread, but to save starting a new one I was wondering if US Jazzmaster parts fit the Japanese models?

[timiscott]

Don't know about the modern ones, but my MIJ is 93/94 and I think the measurements are metric rather than imperial - the pickguard had to be sanded back to allow a set of PV65 pups to go in it. Fender do sell a Japanese term unit if a US one won't fit.

[Bradley-Jazz]

Hi

On my 94 MIJ, a US trem fits fine. The pots etc. are all metric sized (I think the holes needed a tiny bit of opening up to fit US CTS). The roller pot bracket is different to the US ones, and the pick guards are different. SD Vintage Jazzmaster pickups dropped straight in and on mine sound great - not looking to change those.

I went 500k pots, but actually changed back to 1 Meg. I've rewired my rhythm circuit to work on both pickups, so I can have a bright and warmer setting for all three positions. I did have a series mod on that switch instead, but found it too dark for me.

Enjoy!

[Bradley-Jazz]

Just to add to that... I got my 94 in 94, and all those mods happened over years...

If you want to keep it cheaper, leave the trem on and see how you get on - I only changed mine when the knife edge wore significantly (but I would go for a US one when you do). The bridge is personal choice. I loctited my stock bridge for years, then went for a mustang, and now have a Staytrem (which is a keeper).

Shielding and pots are cheap, so if you have mini pots (which you probably do), I'd probably change those when doing the pickups, which are well worth the upgrade.

Then play it!