NGD: Squier CV 60's Jazzmaster

[BatUtilityBelt]

I don't want to reinforce my ignorance and I don't have a Jazzmaster. Is there something you can do with copper foil tape under the trem to eliminate any break in circuit?

Someone on squiertalk suggested the same thing and it would help. What I don't like is that any electrical circuit that depends on touching moving parts is going to exhibit some flakiness (shorting out) at times. I wasn't even considering that the bridge is floating until @honyock mentioned that.

[BatUtilityBelt]

I was wondering if that is the why behind the OP early in this thread talking about the importance of full shielding of Jazzmasters?

Nope, I do the same with most single coils, and JM pickups are just the biggest fattest single coils I know, so they're a bigger antenna, able to pick up a few more full wavelengths.

[honyock]

[mention]honyock[/mention] I tried another test of your theory and it checks out. Just one turn of this wire around the bridge post made the contact better (but still crackles with movement).

Pig tail ground.jpg

I think my preference will be to figure out how I can safely drill the tunnel from the trem to the control cavity. That way I know I can make a rock solid ground. The bad news is this must be a problem all the CV 60's Jazzmasters would be prone to.

Just fwiw, my O.G. SJM I think the ground went to the vibrato not the bridge post. I am not sure on my Fender Cobain Jag, but it had the "modded" setup with a TOM bridge and I put a Wilkinson roller bridge, so it doesn't have the same issue.

[Chocol8]

My vote would be to drill a hole and run a wire that you can solder on to the trem. Cry once and be done with the issue.

[BatUtilityBelt]

My vote would be to drill a hole and run a wire that you can solder on to the trem. Cry once and be done with the issue.

That was my thinking too, I just really did not want to chance mucking up the finish with a drill at a weird angle. I ended up using my dremel to drill it, because it had the best shape to attack that angle.

Luckily, I did no harm to the finish, and didn't come close to drilling out the backside.
The guitar is back together yet again, but this time it is dead quiet when I'm not playing it now, just as it should be.

[Chocol8]

Glad to hear all is resolved without any collateral damage!

Did you run a twisted pair? Are you so spooked by intermittent ground that you are going for redundancy on that line?

[BatUtilityBelt]

Glad to hear all is resolved without any collateral damage!
Did you run a twisted pair? Are you so spooked by intermittent ground that you are going for redundancy on that line?

Yes, I ran 2 on purpose - not sure if it was because this was the 3rd time I opened the guitar or my normal ocd.

[Mossman]

@BatUtilityBelt I´m starting to like those offset guitars. The body and pickguard color combination of your Fender looks good. Hope you get to a definitive solution of the ground problem. One thing about them, though: they need to have 22 frets. 21 fret necks don´t do it for me...

In my own "Only 5 instruments to have" rule, I believe that it would be a LP single cut style, a LP DC style, one of these Jazzmaster, and two acoustics - one for nylon strings, and one for metal strings -. So far I´m 2/5 on the list - my nylon acoustic, even though it´s a no brand crappy 43 years old guitar, still qualifies as an "acoustic nylon strings" -.

Your list is incomplete... I don't see any mention of a Telecaster in there.

[sabasgr68]

@BatUtilityBelt I´m starting to like those offset guitars. The body and pickguard color combination of your Fender looks good. Hope you get to a definitive solution of the ground problem. One thing about them, though: they need to have 22 frets. 21 fret necks don´t do it for me...

In my own "Only 5 instruments to have" rule, I believe that it would be a LP single cut style, a LP DC style, one of these Jazzmaster, and two acoustics - one for nylon strings, and one for metal strings -. So far I´m 2/5 on the list - my nylon acoustic, even though it´s a no brand crappy 43 years old guitar, still qualifies as an "acoustic nylon strings" -.

Your list is incomplete... I don't see any mention of a Telecaster in there.

Now that you mention it, I felt that I was missing one in that list. I think that the best solution is to rewrite the rule to "6 instruments". BTW, that´s only for guitars. The whole list includes other non guitar instruments

[BatUtilityBelt]

A few days later, grounding the trem was still a right answer - it sounds great and remains quiet when it should. But today, Fender finally responded to my request for a wiring diagram. Instead of sending that, they sent a link to their 'Authorized Service Centers'. The local one here would be the Omaha Guitar Center. I can only say the tech there is the worst guitar tech I have ever encountered and I'm glad I never took it to him. I told Fender it was a design flaw to have a bridge act as both a fulcrum and a ground point.