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I waited to respond to this message 'till after I put on the 11's and I have now
done so (D'Adario Chrome flatwound with a plain 19 replacing their wound 22 for
the D string). It is true, the CIJ's whammy is not factory set for anything more
than 11's and it don't like 11's too much. With the 11's there is still enough
travel for Pipeline style bend but it ain't enough for the Eddie Van Halen
crowd.
In contrast to Gavin, I find the tone of the guitar is absolutely wonderfull
with the flatwound 11's. The sound is significantly improved and I'm no longer
in such a hurry to replace the pick-ups, though I probably will do so
eventually. But understand that I have always had the flat 11's on the U.S.
Jazzmaster and my surf playing style is strictly thumb pick and fingerstyle (ala
Chet). I like more bottom end. I also use the alternate, mellower, pick-up
settings that the Jazzmaster includes.
The heavier strings did bring the action up almost a full 16th of an inch at the
12th fret. I removed the neck and gave the truss better than a 1/4 twist, more
like 3/8ths. I think that may have been too far. It brought the action down
lower than it was with the 9's and I'm getting a slight buzz on a couple of
lower frets. I'll need to back off the truss an 8th. So if you go for 11's,
don't crank the truss more than a 1/4 turn.
Gavin, I would like to see those under-the-pickguard photos, especially any
photos revealing the pick-ups. Thanks!
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: Gavin Ehringer
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 4:42 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] In the bowels of the ($399) beast
The word I've gotten regarding heavier strings on the CIJ Fenders is
that a) the tremolo spring can't take much more than 11s; 2) ditto for
the truss rod. In other words, you may need to replace the tremelo
spring with a heavier one if you go to, say, 13s, and you may not have
enough adjustment built into the truss rod to adjust for the increased
pull on the neck. Just rumours ? I also heard the springs vary in
weight, and believe this becase my Jag spring was lighter, with more
coils.
I put 11s on mine and, for some reason, it really killed the tone. The
original strings look to be 9's, not 10s as Marty said. I base this on
the fact that I put 10s on, and they were definitely heavier than the
originals. Elevens had no similar effect on my Japanese Jaguar,
however. Perhaps the longer scale on the Jazz had something to do with
that.
Anyway, I am a light-string man myself, so it doesn't bother me at
all. The guitar sounds pretty sweet to my ear with the 10s, and I
don't have to mess with the truss rod.
I stripped and photographed the inside of my Jazzmaster when I changed
strings (if anyone asks, I will post pictures).
I found the following "Gee Whiz!" facts:
1) There is no brass shield inside, only shielding paint. A ground
wire goes directly to the body, inside the cavity.
2) Either the pickups are reverse wound, or someone found a way to
silence 60-cycle hum in the middle selector (both pups on) position.
With both on, the guitar is dead silent.
3) The bridge & tremolo hardware are definitely Jap reissue versions;
the hole where the tremolo dives into the plate is oval-shaped rather
than round like the U.S. reissues and the vintage guitars, and the
bridge has screw barrels of varying thread pitches, a characteristics
of the Japanese bridges.
4) The upper roller pots are 850k, but I couldn't read the other
values on the lower pots for all the wires!
5) The pickups are of the Japanese, narrow-bobbin variety.
6). Finally, the Lake Placid Blue color is a lot lighter and brighter
than the U.S. version of this color...I compared the Jag to a
U.S.-made Mustang in LPB, and the two were visibly different in color.
Finally, this is still a really good-sounding and playing surf axe!
Gavin
--- In , "Marty Tippens" <mctippens@e...>
wrote:
> Because heavier gage strings increase the pull on the top of the
neck creating a more pronounced bow, the truss rod must be tightened
to counteract the pull and result in less of a bow. The truss rod does
this by pulling on the back of the neck. This brings the action back
to where it was with the lighter gage strings.
> -Marty
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: San Barry
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 1:28 PM
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: another 399 Jazzmaster review
>
>
> What kind of truss-rod work does the guitar require for heavier
gage strings?
>
> > It will take some truss-rod work to get it set pu for heavier
gage falt wound strings.
> >
> > -Marty
>
>
>
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