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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Jaguar MIJ ground routing.

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First I want to say that I'm not familiar with electronics so I will explain this as a "novice".
I have a serious ground issue with one of my MIJ jaguar. I notice that this got clothed wires and due to the soldering I assume the PO has been there before me. Don't know if he swapped the pot's. Well, ground is connected to to a screw at the rythm/lead circuit selector, another is screwed to one of the "lead" pick-up selector, the two of them being soldered outside the volume-pot along with a wire going underneath the bridge. The last one I've soldered to a brass shield underneath the pick-guard wich I had lying around. Anyway, either works, only thing wich works is touching either of the three plates, then the hum disappear. Touching the string etc. does'nt help. Hope this make sence and that anyone can tell me how to route a proper ground.

Last edited: Sep 06, 2013 19:22:48

By 'dead quiet', do you mean the hum stops or there is no output from the guitar?

In any case, the Japanese Jaguars leave out the ground wire that goes from the volume pot to the output jack. Usually, the jack is grounded to the pot by the control plate, but if either the pot or the jack becomes slightly loose, the ground connection is lost and bad things happen, such hearing radio stations through your amplifier. It's a good idea to add the ground wire, just in case.

Since there is no change when you touch the strings, maybe they aren't grounded properly. In some Jaguars and Jazzmasters, the strings are grounded either by a wire routed from the control cavity to the tremolo cavity and attached to the tremolo. In others, there's a hole drilled from the control cavity to the bridge 'cup' closest to the treble string. The third method I've seen is where a wire sneaks its way out of the bridge cup and simply makes contact with the pickguard shield. My AV Jazzmaster uses this form of grounding but I think it's pretty cheesy:

image

If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

Thank's alot for your input!
You're right, there is no ground from the jack and when I touch the plates the hum disappears, not by touching the strings, maybe because it's going to the brass shield under the pick-guard and not under the trem. I was thinking maybe I could follow this one except routing them all to the same brass shield under the pick guard. (It's the only shield I got). Would that maybe cause a so called ground loop?

image

Last edited: Sep 06, 2013 19:06:37

This is how it's wired except the grounds mentioned.

image

Last edited: Sep 06, 2013 18:47:34

Problem solved! I'll post the solution, maybe someone can use it some day.
The wiring was identical with the Seymour Duncan diagram above, I added the "Sleeve ground" shown from the jack input. I resoldered the ground from each control-plate to the back of the volume pot in addition to a third ground going to the brass shield instead of the factory "under the bridge" (tremolo plate) solution. It's as perfect as can be now with no hum or difference heard while touching metal parts etc. of the instrument.
(Even with those dimmer lights engaged downstairs Wink )

Last edited: Sep 07, 2013 09:21:43

Japan Jaguars do not have the hole in the body that goes from the lower control plate to the tailpiece. In old jaguars and in all USA reissues there is a wire that goes from the brass shield in the lower control cavity that runs to the top of the tailpiece cavity, and the wire is bent up and over the top edge of the body so a ground contact is made when the tailpiece is mounted.

The bare wire that is sticking out of the bridge mounting thimble is bent over to make a ground contact with the shield that sits on top of the body between the pickups. This is normal for vintage, and reissues.

Adding the "sleeve ground" to the output jack is redundant, and not used in any Fender Jags as far as I remember.

SlacktoneDave wrote:

Japan Jaguars do not have the hole in the body that goes from the lower control plate to the tailpiece. In old jaguars and in all USA reissues there is a wire that goes from the brass shield in the lower control cavity that runs to the top of the tailpiece cavity, and the wire is bent up and over the top edge of the body so a ground contact is made when the tailpiece is mounted.

This is a 2008 Jaguar MIJ and it got the hole from lower control plate to the tail piece. This is the one with block inlays and binding so maybe it differ from a std. MIJ. As I mentioned earlier it also got cloth wires. I have a early 90's MIJ Jag as well with the slim neck and the brass shield's, nothing going to the tail piece on that.

Last edited: Sep 07, 2013 10:16:27

SlacktoneDave wrote:

In old jaguars and in all USA reissues there is a wire that goes from the brass shield in the lower control cavity that runs to the top of the tailpiece cavity, and the wire is bent up and over the top edge of the body so a ground contact is made when the tailpiece is mounted.

Hey, it's Dave! Maybe that's true now for the USA reissues, but my 2001 AV Jazzmaster was grounded by a wire leading from a bridge cup to the pickguard shield, so ground contact is made when the pickguard is mounted. See the picture above for details. The body on mine was indeed drilled between the tailpiece cavity and control cavity, but the hole is blocked by the cavity shield! I thought the grounding on my guitar was pretty cheesy so I'm glad Fender is doing it 'vintage correct' now.

As for my other Japanese Fenders like the Bass VI, the grounding is hit and miss. Shielding paint is used in the body cavities, but they weren't grounded at the factory. Also, the pickup claws on the Bass VI weren't grounded to anything at all. I added grounds to the cavities on my Bass VI but was too lazy to solder grounds to the claws. I have one of those blonded LE Jaguars and the claws and brass shields were grounded properly. I did have to ground the output jack to the volume pot on my Jaguar to avoid picking up local radio stations, and I'm afraid all of the import offsets need the ground wire installed.

Sure, the extra grounding wire may be 'redundant', but that's what redundancy does for us; when a volume pot or output jack becomes loose, the redundant wire maintains grounding and prevents a minor problem from ruining your gig. Anyway, the old Jaguar wiring diagram does show a ground wire for the Jaguar output jack, but just because it's on the drawing doesn't mean Fender actually did it that way.

image

If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

Last edited: Sep 09, 2013 16:30:28

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