Replacing and insulating a Jazzmaster pickguard
As you can see, I’ve already switched out the stock toggle switch top for an amber one, and I think it looks a lot better. The first thing to bear in mind about Jazzmaster pickguards is that JMs have a number of subtly different shapes and specs. Mine is a P-serial Crafted in Japan (not Made in Japan, or MIJ, another common point of confusion) from the tail end of the 1990s, and just finding the pickguard was a bit of a pain. Allparts say that their pickguards for JMs are essentially to a CIJ/MIJ spec, but given that MIJs and CIJs have (to my knowledge, anyway) a subtly different spec, that’s not super helpful. Got a AVRI or MIM? You’re out of luck.
In the end, after some deliberation I bought the allparts parchment guard and found that it didn’t quite fit; the guard was able to settle on the body but it caught on the saddle holes for the bridge assembly and the screw holes didn’t line up. I wasn’t really up for taking a drill to my (from my perspective, anyway) new Jazzmaster, so I ended up buying another off eBay - link - that did fit. Finally!
Unfortunately, the factory pickguard is plated (if a bit flimsily), and I didn’t want to half arse the job, so I purchased a roll of gold foil insulating tape off Amazon for about £5 ($8-10). Then it was just a case of cutting and sticking down the strips, taking a craft knife to the holes and edge, and attaching the new guard. The only thing I perhaps foolishly didn’t consider was how sharp the tape would be; I cut my fingers up quite badly and then couldn’t get into the office at work due to its impractical fingerprint scanner. Lesson learned, I suppose.
There’s still some more things that needed doing to it from those pictures that I’ve since done; most importantly, putting a Dimarzio Cliplock strap on it and then changing the strings. At the moment I’m favouring light tops and heavy bottoms, but that might change.
Alex Lynham
Notes on working for a startup in Manchester and various other projects.
alex@lynh.am
