Guess we just have to get used to these non-rosewood boards. Even Rickenbacker is no longer using "real" rosewood on their guitars. Rick has been using what they call "Caribbean Rosewood" but it's really "Chechen". While "Chechen" doesn't look so much like rosewood to my eyes, it actually is quite beautiful in its own way with lots of interesting grain/figuring and a rich dark orange/brown coloration that works well with Rickenbacker's gloss finished fretboards. To your point about your Indian Laurel board still not looking great after conditioning, I guess like any other wood, some cuts will look better than others and I doubt Squier is spending the time or money to pick out the nicest looking Laurel. While I may have gotten a little better looking Laurel Board on my Squier, my Jag definitely needed more work (fret ends were sharp, nut was high and needed recutting and shaping) but it's now one of the best playing and feeling necks of any of my guitars which all cost way more than the Squier Jag.

Last edited: Oct 15, 2024 07:58:36

Surfadelphia wrote:

Guess we just have to get used to these non-rosewood boards. Even Rickenbacker is no longer using "real" rosewood on their guitars. Rick has been using what they call "Caribbean Rosewood" but it's really "Chechen". While "Chechen" doesn't look so much like rosewood to my eyes, it actually is quite beautiful in its own way with lots of interesting grain/figuring and a rich dark orange/brown coloration that works well with Rickenbacker's gloss finished fretboards. To your point about your Indian Laurel board still not looking great after conditioning, I guess like any other wood, some cuts will look better than others and I doubt Squier is spending the time or money to pick out the nicest looking Laurel. While I may have gotten a little better looking Laurel Board on my Squier, my Jag definitely needed more work (fret ends were sharp, nut was high and needed recutting and shaping) but it's now one of the best playing and feeling necks of any of my guitars which all cost way more than the Squier Jag.

That Chechen is beautiful wood. Rickenbacker guitars always had those gorgeous fingerboards and I’d hate to see that lost to time.

It doesn’t particularly trouble me that the fingerboard on my Squire is so plain looking, but when I see the beautiful rosewood in Iceratz’ Squier, I can’t help but wish that mine was as beautiful. On the flip side, the only problem my CV Jaguar has ever had was a slightly wonky tailpiece, which I replaced almost immediately, and beyond that, I’ve never had to do so much as a single adjustment, and the frets are pretty decent, albeit not as shiny and pretty as those on my Warmoth Jaguar build.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Back to the wiring upgrades to the new 'Blue Nebula' Jaguar.
Copper shielding is done, next I run several ground wires from the upper horn, the bridge thimble and the tremelo back to a central terminal in the lower control cavity.
Here is something you probably haven't seen yet in guitar wiring: I made a master ground terminal bar out of a 12ga Copper strand with terminal ends, and screwed it into the sidewall. Now I can attach and solder each ground wire separately to the terminal bar.
It's just like an electrical panel concept.
These Jaguars have more grounding layouts than any other guitar I have seen, just check out the diagram.
In the past a made one giant spade terminal end, but I couldn't 'edit' the build if needed.
So this is my latest approach, which enables easy assembly and disassemble if needed.
All chambers and thimble checks out with the multimeter for continuity.

One thing I know for sure, when I go to these extents for grounding I get a super quiet response from the pickups, so it's definitely worth it.

I got the Monty wax (not the stain) and treated my Indian laurel fretboard.
Here is a picture of before and after.
It did get slightly darker, but more importantly it got slippery smooth and the wood grain not feeling as coarse.
I rubbed on the wax as instructed, but I then used a heat gun to melt it deep into the grain, very light passes of heat until I saw it wetout.
2 coats and here we are, it's great!

Last edited: Oct 17, 2024 20:27:11

*synchro

it looks like it lightened the wood slightly. You just live a charmed life to have Indian Laurel that looks so good. :)<

The 'before' picture was the bottom one, sorry for the confusion

I got the new wiring completed on the Squier Jaguar upgrades.
Everything tests out perfectly so far.
But it's not without a revelation that the Fender diagram is most definitely WRONG!
Specifically 2 things:
1) The 3 way switch shows the bridge hot yellow going to the wrong lug. It needs to go to the same 'line' as the ground wire.

2) The Cap to the master tone pot is shown incomplete. Needs to run from the tone pot ground chasis to the left side wiper lug. The diagram just shows the chasis connection.

Here is the completed arrangements.
This is the best Jaguar wiring I done!
I used orange drop capacitors for the 0.01uf in both the main tone pot and the mini rhythm.
All pots CTS.
I kept the factory 0.003uf cap in the Strangle because I couldn't find a replacement. It definitely works.

Need to wait for the pickguard and 2 roller knobs for the Rhythm, because CTS mini pots are smaller shafts than the imports.
The master ground "bus' bar really worked great. It's a solid 12ga Copper strand with terminal ends, screwed into the sidewall cavity.
The jack ground wire is a 16ga copper going directly to the bus.
From there, each other 22ga from other chambers are connected, and finally the 2 pickup grounds are attached separately so I can 'edit' the build easily if needed.
Now I can't wait for the rest of my stuff to arrive to complete shortly!

Last edited: Oct 19, 2024 08:17:36

synchro wrote:

That is some great workmanship / How did you get the borders of the shielding tape so perfect?

Thanks for your compliments!
And having done one yourself you understand the challenges with Jaguars.
IMO, Jazzmaster is easier, only slightly.
Leo definitely went over the top with the Jaguar circuit!
It's easy to trim the copper tape using and Xacto knife, and just scoring the tape to shape, then it easily peels away with your fingernail. I used a clear curved ' French curve' drafting tool to run the knife blade along.
These are the extra steps I take when I am waiting patiently for parts.

As a continuation of our discussion of Indian Laurel fretboards, here’s my project, for the day. I used Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes, which contain orange oil. The photos were take shortly after the second application, and I’m letting it soak in overnight, before cleaning off the residue. There’s a definitely improvement, but the fingerboard is probably never going to be much lighter colored, short of some sort of dye treatment.

I can see, from the photo, that the wood was pretty dry, in spite of having been wiped down with a lemon oil based treatment, not that long ago. I tried the towelette approach, because it simplifies matters. Overall, I think that the product is good. I might try it on my VI, next.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

synchro wrote:

And here’s how it looks after soaking in for about 12 hours. I think this is about as good as it will become. It’s not as beautiful as some nice piece of rosewood, but at least it’s not the dusty gray that it had become.

The Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes seem to do a pretty good job, and is more convenient when treating a fingerboard without removing the strings.

IMO that looks great!
As far as I can tell, it looks just like mine.

The "Blue Nebula" Jaguar makes it off the workbench!

It really came out great!
Its probably the quietest hum of any single coil guitar I owned, except for the Noiseless pickup rigs.
The shielding is the reason, with excellent grounds everywhere. I placed copper shielding to the backside of the pickguard as well, and this directly contacts the overlapping shielding from the cavities.
I would need to hold the guitar 6" right in front of the amp to even begin to hear any 60 cycle hum!

For appearance, I specifically was looking for a parchment pickguard, with matching pickup covers, this was my vision all along.
I had considered pearl as another, but the blue sparkle is so damn good I wanted it showcased for 'bling bling' on its own.

I do have one issue though, and I will be replacing the pickups to Pure Vintage 65' ASAP.
Initially for this rebuild, I had used some spare parts and quickly discovered (yet again) the nuances of using a Fender Pro Jaguar neck and various bridge PUs ( AV62', stock Squire - both bridge and neck!)

The issue with the Pro Jag neck is that its wound & voiced totally different than anything traditional, with a powerful output of 10.4Ohm., its dark to begin with. So by itself is quite bassy, but when engaged to the traditional wired rhythm circuit- its unusable. Its so muddy that, I even took off the 0.03 cap from rhythm tone pot to see how that would affect it. The tone came back, but with zero adjustment. Strangely as well, the rhythm volume would work, but never to shut completely off.
I am no-where as tech-savy to point out the specifics of where the 'cut-off' Hrz ranges are designed, but to my ears it was obvious.

It figures that Fender never intended for this Pro neck PU to work with traditional Jag wiring, because the Pro Jaguar (now discontinued from 2017) never had the rhythm circuit! My bad for trying it...again.

The other combos of bridge PUs I experimented with were also not paired well with the Pro output. When I used the 62' bridge, the master combined circuit went out of phase into useless nasal wimpy tone.

Interestingly, the use of the Squire stock NECK PU, (power was 11.2Ohm & more 'paired' if you will) by placing that in the BRIDGE position, I got the best tone I could of all worlds...but FAR from anything vintage, very modern and powerful.
If I rolled back the master tone and volume a smudge, I can get then get_ some vintage Surf twang_ but that's not what I want this setup to be, ultimately I want a 'classic Surf machine'.

I had already owned a converted 62' Jaguar re-build Vintera, so I knew what that was about for classic sound, and at the time of reworking it, not knowing anything else about Jag PUs, went that route with 62'.

But now I want to try out the Fender PV65'.
I have already spent hours researching other possibilities with the custom options.
I read a revealing discussion from a Custom Shop Masterbuilder who stated to a buyer , 'if you want the classic 60's Surf tone build, then get the PV65', why do we want to custom wind something else?"

In the end, this guitar is just an inexpensive Squire, and I feel there is a cutoff cost basis for PU selections for investments.
The Pure Vintage 65' made the most sense and there were numerous reviews specifically doing this for a stock Squire VM or CV upgrade, and even to the Japanese builds. So I don't think I can go wrong.

What's also important here is the fact the PV65' are balanced outputs, and voiced correctly, so that they will work with a traditional Jaguar wiring scheme across the whole range of switching selections.

I'll update my findings in the next "workbench' post.

Here is some more bling!