Squier VM Jazzmaster with mods

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 2:13 pm

I recently bought a Squier VM Jazzmaster as a project. I put some time in with it last night and I think it turned out pretty cool!

The bridge is an Invader that I put into a blank Jazzmaster cover. The neck is one of those GFS OEM blowout humbuckers they sold a few years ago. I had a set and put the bridge humbucker in my Squier '51 way back when. It looks a lot like a DiMarzio or something from Ibanez, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I put a blank cover over that one.

I used a Mustang bridge and got the pickguard for only $10 from Stratosphere. For some reason the Squier thumb roller bracket is shorter than every other Jazzmaster in the world. I can't mount it to the pickguard so I guess I'll pick a new one up. For now the rhythm circuit is just a cut switch, and the three way toggle selects the pickups. I'm not sure about those knobs. I might pick some up in cream, or do something totally different.

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:00 pm

Cool thing. Rock it!!!

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 9:25 pm

Yes, yes good. This is very good. How did you go about mounting the invader?

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 9:58 pm

Grant wrote:Yes, yes good. This is very good. How did you go about mounting the invader?

First I took a normal Jazzmaster pickup cover, put it directly over the blank cover, and lightly marked the position of the normal pole pieces for reference.

Then I took the big allen head screws out of the Invader, and made a template showing the position of the remaining screw holes on a piece of paper. Using the marks I made for reference on the blank cover I lined up my template, taped it down directly on top of the cover, and drilled some holes. When I was done I fit the screws back into the pickup through the cover and tightened them down.

It wasn't really necessary, but I thought it would look cool. I ordered a custom Seymour Duncan humbucker for my TVL Jazzmaster about a year ago, and while it did everything I wanted it to, this did the same job for about $200 less.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:56 pm

DUDE HOLY SHIT

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:24 pm

I got a new, longer bracket for the rhythm circuit last night. Unfortunately the holes for the control pots are a different diameter (Smaller). The threaded portion of the mini pot shafts have a larger diameter, and I couldn't feed them all the way through. What a pain in the ass. I used a file on the holes in the bracket to make them a little bigger and it all worked out.

Anyway, if anyone else is thinking about a new pickguard on a Squier VM Jazzmaster I figured this might be useful info - you'll need a new rhythm circuit bracket and new control pots, or you'll have to do a little work to make it all fit. It was only a 5 minute job for me.

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 9:35 am

Nice Jazzmaster mate. Would love to hear how it sounds now, compared to how it was stocked.

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:02 am

That looks ace man. Great job!

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Mar 02, 2017 1:20 pm

where did you get the soap covers? allparts ?

Mattsican · Post by **Mattsican** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:40 am

The Squier VM Jazzy i put together.... mint guard. i had to order a special bracket for the rollie stuff to fit right. added a buzz stop. The bridge is a CP Jazz that just kinda sits in there in the original cups. Not really happy with it though i had to shim the neck so stuff it a tad weird. I got some Rose Pickups Picasso humbuckers. I had him do a custom for the bridge. It's like 17.5K ohms and the neck is 10.8 k i think. I originally did the standards and i wanted higher output so i swapped the bridge into the neck and had him wind a hot as fuck bridge. The standard neck was 9.4k. The thing sounds good, i just gotta get the bridge situation sorted out. I might just put the standard one back on and get some loc tite or something.

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:03 pm

I'm really happy with it and I'm glad you guys like it too, thanks for the kind words.

The covers are from MojoTone. I ordered some other stuff from Allparts, but couldn't find the right covers there.

MojoTone Cream Jazzmaster Cover

I don't really have any decent recording gear, but I can probably make a video on my phone later. It breathes fire now.

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:16 pm

Mattsican wrote:The Squier VM Jazzy i put together.... mint guard. i had to order a special bracket for the rollie stuff to fit right. added a buzz stop. The bridge is a CP Jazz that just kinda sits in there in the original cups. Not really happy with it though i had to shim the neck so stuff it a tad weird. I got some Rose Pickups Picasso humbuckers. I had him do a custom for the bridge. It's like 17.5K ohms and the neck is 10.8 k i think. I originally did the standards and i wanted higher output so i swapped the bridge into the neck and had him wind a hot as fuck bridge. The standard neck was 9.4k. The thing sounds good, i just gotta get the bridge situation sorted out. I might just put the standard one back on and get some loc tite or something.

I love it dude!

Are Jaguar rhythm circuit brackets shorter? Maybe that's what Fender is doing with the VM Jazzmasters? It seems so weird to me that they'd use a different size. I had to shim the neck on mine too, but that's pretty much par for the course with a Jag/Jazz using vintage trem placement. Didn't take much to get the tension right on this Squier. This is the custom pickup I bought last year (Bridge position). Kinda makes my TVL a sleeper, 18.45k with a ceramic magnet, but looks like a normal jazzy.

Mattsican · Post by **Mattsican** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:28 am

Most of the good Jazzmaster replacement pups are pricey. Rose makes humbuckers AND they're like $60 a piece. He didn't charge extra for the custom one either. As far as the bracket the issue I had was the original guard holes for it to screw in are farther apart and don't line up. I forget which guard I got (I just googled what fit) and the forum I was reading the guy who did it said he needed the different bracket.