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Fender USA '62 Jazz Bass refinish at home


kevin_lindsay
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At last!

Time to get this beast reassembled

[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/9c2f58c0.jpg[/IMG]

Some of you might be thinking "what are those four screws in front of where the bridge will be?". Well, on the original basses there were 4 felt string mutes which most folk removed. The screws are there to cover the holes. Here's a pic of how the felt mutes looked:
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/25e0415d.jpg[/IMG]

Anyhow, remember the metal shielding plates in the bottom of the pickup and control cavities? Well, they're all wired together, but but they aren't wired directly to the ground of the pickup circuit. So, how do they get earthed?

Here's the brass earthing strip that solves the problem
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/3bc78604.jpg[/IMG]

It slots under the bridge pickup shielding plate, and goes under the bridge itself also.
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/88b9ea23.jpg[/IMG]

When the bridge pickup is screwed in to place, it presses the cavity shielding plate down on to the earthing strip, and as the control cavities are wired together, this allows the earthing circuit to work for them all.

So how does the earthing strip get to connect to the control wiring earth?

It makes contact under the bridge, and theeres an earth wire from the control cavity that mates with the underside of the bridge.

Here's how it looks:
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/6c117444.jpg[/IMG]

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Let's move the earth wire into it's channel do that only a small part of the wire is left to make contact with the underside of the bridge plate
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/3dcaae88.jpg[/IMG]

Let's get the bridge plate in place
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/c8216ed3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/802f72c1.jpg[/IMG]

Simple job now to wire the pickups and earth leads into the control plate next.

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I'm getting excited now!!

Neck has been reattached
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/b6be6cb6.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/24ccd3b1.jpg[/IMG]

Strings in place
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/62fe9c00.jpg[/IMG]

I'll leave the bass to settle overnight and in the morning I'll give it a full setup (check neck relief, action. Set the intonation, and balance the pickups).

But for now - ta-daaah!!! Here's how it's looking!!

[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/cbbbf256.jpg[/IMG]

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And here's the bass in the format I prefer to use:

[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/62%20reissue%20Jazz%20Bass%20refinish/95da96c4.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/62%20reissue%20Jazz%20Bass%20refinish/eb6578f0.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1328915288' post='1534963']
Let's move the earth wire into it's channel do that only a small part of the wire is left to make contact with the underside of the bridge plate


Let's get the bridge plate in place



Simple job now to wire the pickups and earth leads into the control plate next.
[/quote]

Very interesting. I have an old Japanese 'Silver Series' Squier from 1994 and it doesn't have the earthing wire coming through the little tunnel from the control cavity to the bridge it just has the earthing strip coming from under the bridge into the bridge cavity which is then soldered to the plate under the bridge pickup, just like the original early 60s Jazz Basses. Unfortunately when I removed the pickup the other day to fit a preamp I broke the solder connection and now I earth it every time I touch the treble pot on my preamp (resulting in a nasty click) which I'm going to have to sort soon before it sends me nuts.
I have the feeling that your strip must be there for just cosmetic reasons as you also have the wire coming from the control cavity to make contact with the bridge like a modern Jazz.

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That's really interesting mate, it's great hearing how different versions do the wiring. I guess the shielding plate in the control cavity on yours must be wired directly to the earth so that the earthing is completed?

On my reissue if the earth strip wasn't in place, then the shielding plates wouldn't be attached to the earth do would just serve no purpose.

Most modern jazzes just have the earthing wire to Thr underside of the bridge plate - I've never seen the wire soldered onto the bridge plate on Amy of the vintage or modern USA Fenders I've owned (I've had at least 20 post 1990 Fender basses, and at least 10 pre 1975 ones).

Most modern reissues (apart from the USA ones) don't seem to have the metal shielding plates in place. The early 60's jazzes didn't have the shielding plates wired directly to the control plate earth, so needed the earth strip fed under the bridge to complete the circuit. If it wasn't installed, then the shielding plates end up serving no purpose.

Here's s pic from the excellent reference book - The Fender Bass, an illustrated history published by Hal Leonard. You can see the earthing strip that was on the old basses (think of Jaco's "bass of doom" for example, you can see Thr strip on there)

[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/25e0415d.jpg[/IMG]

Edited by kevin_lindsay
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