www.shortscale.org

Nick · Last edited by Nick on Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

Took me like 13 years between shortscale and jagstang but I finally bought my first shortscale guitar. Not yet arrived, will post pics soon. Sonic blue, already have some pickups to go in it, a JB JR I mutilated to fit a strat cover for the bridge and a Fender Custom Shop single coil in the neck. Planning to do white guard and convert all the white plastic bits to black.

Now I ordered an aged white pickguard from eBay, not realizing that it's said to fit US Spec and NOT MIJ. I can't seem to find what the squier pickguards are built to. In a worst case scenario is it just screw holes or might the pickup routes also be off?

singlepup · . Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 4151 Location: San Diego

You're in luck. Pretty sure all the Squier VM stuff is built to US spec. Should fit OK, maybe not perfectly...

Fakir Mustache · . Joined: 25 Sep 2013 Posts: 4115

I did the same. The screw holes are pretty close (I think only two might have been way off, but it's no big deal to re-drill, possibly plug too if needed), but the Squier reverb handle assembly and the control plate are about a millimeter closer, so you'll have to file the excess. Took me many hours, but I did it by hand.

You might be able to simply move the control plate, but that's not how I did it. And that approach certainly won't work with the assembly.

Here in this thread:
http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55855&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20&sid=12975305e400fc2b4800812ae1c56146
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Nick · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:17 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reassurng info....it arrives today-never been this giddy for a NGD in a long while, even though the parts to make it mine won't be here for a bit longer. Back when the mij comp stangs were like $550 new, 15 year old me bought some dumb Samick HSH Floyd Rose nonsense instead and I've always regretted that. Time to set things right.

dots · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:33 pm Post subject:

need pics!
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Nick · Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:24 pm Post subject:

It arrived Tuesday...here it is as it stands:

My initial impressions on quality are mixed. I love it though and am going to make it work. The neck is great-absolutely no sharp edges, nice and smooth. Kind of wish it had smaller frets but not complaining for the price. The finish on both the body and neck is well done, even paint with no signs of body joints. Pickups don't sound half bad but I'm probably going to replace all the electronics - I'd like the pickups to be a bit less hot. The body is very resonant and is fun to play and hard to put down.

The bad? Well out of the box the bridge rattled like crazy and would not stay in tune. I ended up wrapping some electrical tape around the posts and raising it and shimming the neck which took care of some of the problem but now I have strings making contact with the rear edge of the bridge; the alternative seems to be lowering the bridge and raising the saddles but then the strings make contact with the screw protruding upwards towards the strings which is even worse. It's a delicate balance and might work if properly set up but right now I'm weighing my options. I'll likely end up with a mastery bridge on a guitar that cost just $100 more than the part itself.

Other quality control irks are that the neck screws were in on a slight angle, and the route for the bridge cup on the bass side is too big (looks like they drilled it slightly off then drilled the correct hole without redowelling first.). Doesn't seem to affect anything but you do get what you pay for. Less major gripes are the shoddy squared edge pickguard cuts for the switches, and the fact that the screws used for the strap pins are so huge that I needed to use toothpicks to install the schaller straplock pins that I put on all my guitars.

I have an aged white pickguard and some black covers on order; having second thoughts about a JB in the bridge, I'll probably want another alnico single coil for the bridge or at least a lower output single sized HB.

EDIT: the blue looks even whiter on my PC monitor than it did on my phone when I took the pic. It's very light indeed but not as white as it looks. I now understand the difficulty so many have photographing sonic blue, and I am pretty sure this is slightly lighter than the color usually is. Hoping the white/black combo helps bring out the blue more.

Thomas · . Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 3317 Location: Glasgow, UK

Like you say, they're a bit of a mixed bag, but still good for the money. The one I had was mostly fine, when I took the neck off when I was poking about the body had a centre join that had a large gap in it.

Nick · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:46 am Post subject:

Aw man that sucks- I didn't see any structural issues like that on mine but then again I haven't taken the pickguard off yet so who knows.

From what I can tell I got a good body, a good neck, just some of the drilling was done haphazardly, the bridge has design flaws and it needed a setup.
I got mine brand new in box shipped to my door for $260. So still not too bad.

Totally feeling the irony having previously scoffed at those who make a $500 squier instead of just buying a $600 Fender.

Thomas · . Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 3317 Location: Glasgow, UK

You can always re-dowel and drill for the bridge post. It'd be hidden under the bridge so you don't have to worry about the work being seen.

dots · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:07 am Post subject:

whoah... that thing looks super tasty. nice pull!

oh and...

Hidden:

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Thomas · . Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 3317 Location: Glasgow, UK

Hahaha!

Nick · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:01 pm Post subject:

Decided to play with the setup some more sooner than later so I restrung it with Ernie Ball Classic (pure nickel) Power Slinky 11-48 strings. Despite liking the way a friend of mine's jaguar plays with halfround 12's, I don't have any desire to go heavier than the 11's, but the thing STAYS IN TUNE now. Overall just feels more solid too and sounds louder obviously. The bridge still rattles, which some loctite might remedy short term, but some of the buzzing I think is happening because there is slight gap between saddles

Noteworthy: I had a peek under the pickguard. The routes are clean, sheilding paint applied neatly. The wiring was actually well done as well. I thought to swap the neck pickup for the Fender CS I have waiting for it while I had it open but the covers did not want to come off and I didn't want to risk breaking it.

singlepup · . Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 4151 Location: San Diego

Yeah the Squier JM pups are attached to the covers with some adhesive. Mustang pups must be similar.

Lol I remember the $500 Squier debate. Despite the big frets and flat radius, the Squiers are pretty fun. Half thinking of buying another Squier Jag, but kinda want a hard tail next.

Btw a StayTrem will work nicely on that Stang if you're thinking major bridge upgrade.

Nick · Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 4:01 pm Post subject:

singlepup · . Joined: 10 Dec 2010 Posts: 4151 Location: San Diego

Shit you're selling me on the Mastery nooooooooooooo

BearBoy · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 3:52 pm Post subject:

Not sure how the costs pan out in the US but over here you could buy two Staytrems for the price of a Mastery. That obviously won't help with the string contact issue though....
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Nick · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:19 pm Post subject:

Staytrem over here is like $106 shipped. Mastery is about $175. Not going to lie, the price is obscene but it does appear to be the best option.