Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know if the US switchcraft type sliding switches will fit in a Japanese Jaguar?

I was looking at a new CIJ in a shop the other day and the chromework did look cheap I agree. Mine is about 20 years old and I think the chrome looks a lot thicker.

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I would suggest doing both of the pickups if you are going to switch. I'm not sure if there would be polarity issues or whatever. Might not work too well with replacing only one pickup.

I think it would cost around $100 to get AV pickups and get CTS pots, switches and a jack, and to get better wire or cloth wire. It would sound a lot better if you did this. My AV and CIJ just never quite compared tonally although they were a lot closer in terms of playability.

I've just ordered a Seymour Duncan SJAG1-b for the back position of mine because the existing one is a bit weedy and whistle-prone.... I believe that the Japanese ones are not potted in wax.

However, I really like the sound of the front one - it's very 'big' and round with seemingly much less of a tendency to feedback. Perhaps someone changed it before I bought the guitar, but more likely I suppose is that if the two pickups are wound the same, then the front will always have more output than the back because the string ocsillations are wider at that harmonic than they are just after the bridge - which is why SD make bridge and neck models of the same pickup: the neck ones being wound weaker so that the outputs match.

Anyone else used the SJAG1-b and have an opinion on it? It seems they are easier to source here than the Fender US ones - I can get one by the end of the week and they are not too expensive.

If I don't like it I'll have to order a US one - or two as Jake suggests. The wonder of e-bay is that changing your mind about pickups doesn't usually end up costing too much - you can always sell your last choice.

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.

If you end up swapping the pots for CTS/US size pots, you can use a Unibit or "step bit" to open up the hole cleanly. I've done this a bunch of times on CIJ/MIJ/MIK/MIC guitars. It works fine.

I recently installed new pots in my jag - actually ones which make the cts's look flimsy, bulky shaft. ridiculous overkill but it was the only thing the guy had laying around, unless I went with $1.99 toy -pots.

anyway, I just took the appropriate drill and drilled through it. hold it flat on a plank with a block of wood and a piece of cloth in between, the material is like cake, you go right through it, not a single scratch. no point in ordering a $10 part or what do they cost.

as for pups, estreet, don't know about the UK (actually, it seems more expensive then the mainland) but for me in the netherlands it's almost always cheaper to order parts from the US then local, even with shipping and taxes. and more then half the time, esp. with small stuff, it passes through without getting taxed. it's not that much cheaper really, but the choice is just way better.

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WR
as for pups, estreet, don't know about the UK (actually, it seems more expensive then the mainland) but for me in the netherlands it's almost always cheaper to order parts from the US then local, even with shipping and taxes. and more then half the time, esp. with small stuff, it passes through without getting taxed. it's not that much cheaper really, but the choice is just way better.

I'm too impatient WR ... every time I order something from the US, either for a guitar or one of my Macs, it seems to take about a month to come. One exception was my Crate Powerblock, which I bought to carry as a spare over a year ago, before they were available here - that came in about two weeks. Unfortunately, the guy in the shop put too high a value (he put $300 - it was $180ish at the time) on the postage documents - probably thinking he was over-insuring it - and I ended up having to pay the postman $60 in import tax when he delivered it.

It's frustrating to see prices in the States that are under half what we have to pay here. I paid over $700 secondhand for my Fender reverb tank. You can't actually buy a new one here at the moment - (about $950 when you can) because apparently they dont have an import licence due to high lead content! Of course, if I'd bought one from the US - not only would I have had to pay the tax - I'd also have to swap the transformer.

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.