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Post subject: 3 Way Rotary Selector Switch for Jazzmaster MIM
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 11:21 pm
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Hello, I'm DESPERATE ! Can any one please tell me how to wire in a 3 way Rotary Selector Switch to replace the 3 way toggle switch in my Classic Players Fender Jazzmaster MIM.

I just want to replace the toggle with the Rotary Switch having the first position be for the neck pickup, the middle position for both pickups and the third position for the bridge pickup.
Just a simple stock kind of arrangement.

I have a 3 way Rotary Switch that I bought from Pickers Parts: It has 12 terminal/lugs around the back side outer diameter and 4 terminal/lugs centered on the back side as well.

Thanks to anyone who can help me, charles


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Post subject: Re: 3 Way Rotary Selector Switch for Jazzmaster MIM
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 3:10 am
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Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
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Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Easy with this video ;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4OVZd5Faws

First choose ONLY ONE of the fourth ( A,B,C,D ) contacts set of your rotary switch .

Next step; your actual toggle CENTER wires go to the "Common" of the rotary switch.

Other actual toggle wires ; one go to rotary contact no 1, other go to number 3 . No wire on number 2.
You may have to reverse these wires if pickups selection are wrong.
_____________________
Practice soldering if needed before working on the guitar . Do not use soldering gun . Magnetic field can demagnetize pickups.


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Post subject: Re: 3 Way Rotary Selector Switch for Jazzmaster MIM
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 11:54 am
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Wow, THANK YOU so much for the instruction. I will try to make
this happen today.

peace & kindness, charles


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Post subject: Re: 3 Way Rotary Selector Switch for Jazzmaster MIM
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 1:32 pm
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Charles

Send us some picture after the job


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Post subject: Re: 3 Way Rotary Selector Switch for Jazzmaster MIM
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 2:26 pm
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Hello again...

OK, I finally finished the 3 way Rotary Switch mod in the Jazzmaster late last night. And yes despite the fact that it was like 1:30 am in the morning, I still had the zing to come in to the studio and play it for an hour.

For those of you who might want to perform this mod, here is what you'll need to do:

First of all I need to mention that the video up on You Tube regarding the wiring scenario for the 3 way Rotary Switch into a guitar is only partially correct.
Following the video scheme only gives you Neck PU and Bridge PU, it does not take into
account that a player might want to have both Neck & Bridge PU's on at the same time.

STEP ONE: Buy a 3 way Rotary Switch, I got mine from Pickers Parts, around $8.00 including shipping.

STEP TWO: Open up the Jazzmaster (JM), and remove the four wires from it's toggle selector switch, ie...one brown, one red. one white and one black. The brown wire is connected to the
Volume Control - the red wire is connected to the small sliding selector switch located in the upper bout - the white wire is also connected to the same small sliding switch and the black wire will be connected the back of the Volume Control for grounding purposes.

STEP THREE: If you use the same Rotary Switch that I used, you will have to route out the cavity just ever so slightly. I used a small dremel tool and the job looks totally spot on.
By the time I re-installed what little bit of copper shielding tape that I had installed in the control cavity prior to performing this mod, no one could ever tell that a small amount of routing had been done.

STEP FOUR: There are 4 contact sections on this switch, which means there are 12 lugs located around the outside diameter of the switch's back side. When you divide 12 lugs 4 ways you get 4 sets of 3 lugs, therefore thats why you see the A, B, C and D contact lugs.
NOTE: that in viewing the diagram in the video that each one of the "Common" lugs in the center of the switch align themselves with what would be lug number 2 in each group of the four sets of contacts.

Starting from the top (back side of course) of the switch, you'll see that the lug sets follow the same pattern ie, 3-2-1 / 3-2-1 / 3-2-1 / 3-2-1

STEP 5: For my install I choose to use groups A & B. Take the brown wire that is coming from the Volume Control and remove about 3/8 of an inch of insulation from it and solder it
horizontally to both "Common" lugs A & B. These are 2 of the 4 "Common" lugs located in the center of the switch as I've mentioned above. By doing so, you are shorting "Common" lugs A & B to each other.

STEP 6: Don't remove any of the wires going to the small slider switch located in the upper bout. The only wires you need to remove are the ones that are/were connected to the 3 way toggle switch.

Take the red wire which equates to the Bridge PU and solder it horizontally to lugs B2 and B3.
NOTE: By soldering the wires in a horizontal fashion, you will avoid risking that the wires might come into contact with the shielding foil in the control cavity.

Take the white wire which equates to the Neck PU and solder it horizontally to lugs A1 & A2.

The Rotary Switch which of course has a metal frame, which will be automatically grounded when fastened to the pick guard if the pick guard has shielding foil on it's back side.
So the black wire that you removed from the 3 way toggle switch connecting to the back of the Volume pot can be removed, you don't need it.

NOTE: If your pick guard on it's back side is unshielded, then try soldering the black wire to the frame of the rotary switch. Either way, the Rotary Switch should be grounded.

STEP 7: This step might be optional for you, but wasn't at all optional for me, please read on:

The JM by nature is a very noisy beast in that the 2 single coil pick ups by their very nature are noisy and unless you're running them with the selector switch set to it's middle position will do nothing in regards to eliminating RF noise and what ever else interference that single coil pick ups are prone to digest.

The buzz / hum whatever you prefer to call it was totally unacceptable to me both in live and in recording situations.

While you are performing the 3 way Rotary Switch mod, you might as well go another step further and properly shield both the control cavity, the back of the pick guard and the inside of the pick up covers.

The JM will have a portion of it's pick guard shielded with Aluminum foil tape. I've shielded many, many, many guitars with both aluminum and copper foil and while I've found that one is no better than the other, the only difference is that the copper foil tape will allow you to make solder connections to it if need be and it's adhesive substance is conductive.

I shielded the entire control cavity using copper foil and then just for the heck of it I soldered , sparingly I might add, a few of the seems where the copper foil might have over lapped themselves, just to be on the safe side, although I think this step is over the top, but looks cool as hell.

As for the back of the pick guard, I finished shielding it where Fender left off with their half $@! job, with copper foil tape as well since that's what I had on hand.
As for mixing copper and aluminum foil tapes and what ever problems that might cause that you've read about...I've been doing this over 40 years and have never experience any problem what so ever.

NOTE: When you shield the under side of the pick up covers, be sure to slice out a strip of the shielding where the pick up pole adjustment screws are. You don't want the foil shielding touching the pole adjustment screws.

One more thing: The JM has a wire attached to it's tremolo system within the body of the guitar. This is not a sufficient grounding solution. Attach a small electrical lug, the one with a small eye loop, and attach it with a small screw to the control cavity, right on top of the foil shielding. Then connect a wire from the back of the Volume or Tone pot to the same eye loop, make a good clean solder connection. If I were you, I'd make this grounding wire about 10 inches long, so that when removing the pick up in the future, you'll be able to remove it and turn it up side down with plenty of slack.

CONCLUSION: My JM is absolutely DEAD quiet now at any volume !!! It matters NOT where the 3 way Rotary Switch is positioned. Unless you want to spend money for the sake of doing so, shielding is the way to go, swapping pickups for the most part is far to over hyped and for eliminating noise you won't accomplish any thing better than proper shielding and grounding.

One last thing, I personally never liked the way the white, even off white pick up covers looked against the dark tortoise pick guard, to stark for my taste.
I bought a pair of black covers and black knobs from All Parts and installed them.
NOTE: The covers will need to have the holes where the adjustment screws pop through drilled out a tad since I believe these covers are made for the USA made Fender JM. The amount of enlarging is very minimal and since the pick up bobbins are black you can hardly tell that the holes are a little over sized, especially when the strings are in place.

Hope all of this helps, charles


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