JS-II project

hansmoust

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What do you think about that groove around it? Maybe there was an o-ring on that to help keep it from slipping out?

No, it's a taper fit! Should stay in place with hand pressure. It usually stays in place, but you should keep in mind that some people remove their strap on a regular basis and in the proces they might loosen the end pin. If you don't trust the fit, a simple drop of model makers glue on the inside of the tapered hole before pushing it in will keep it in place. The glue will give up when you are using a little force.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

fronobulax

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Sorry for the "Tough Love" but you know how it is, it's tough love!

I appreciate it. A sign of mellowing in old age is that I don't always HAVE to be right. As it turned out I pulled out the JS and realized that the thing I was picturing in my mind that had a screw head was the neck strap button. And I spent maybe an hour playing the JS and reminding myself what it does well and why it is not my go to bass and will probably never reclaim that title.
 

mmmalmberg

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First color coat...
guildJSII_1stColorCoat.jpg
 

mmmalmberg

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1st color coat wet-sanded with #400, rest will probably be with #800. Figuring two more color coats then two or three clear coats.

1stColorSandedFront.jpg

1stColorSandedBack.jpg

1stColorSandedHeadstock.jpg
 

mmmalmberg

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And then I just need to put it back together and learn how to play it:)
 

fronobulax

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And then I just need to put it back together and learn how to play it:)

My wife took a shop class in high school that included tearing down, cleaning and reassembling a small gas powered lawn mower. Before the students were allowed to try and start the motor, the teacher would dramatically drain the oil bath used to clean the parts and see if any parts did not make it back into the motor. Sometimes there were. So I hope you don't find any unused parts on reassembly.

As for playing it, just remember that the bassist is always the worst guitarist in the band so just use that for inspiration. You have nowhere to go but up.

(pun intended) ;-)

I hate to see the wood covered but given that it is, I do like the aesthetics of that body shape in black.
 

mavuser

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nice job man, looks like you know what you are doing. that thing is worthy of your restoration.
 

mmmalmberg

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... see if any parts did not make it back into the motor. Sometimes there were. So I hope you don't find any unused parts on reassembly.
...
I hate to see the wood covered but given that it is, I do like the aesthetics of that body shape in black.

I did a lot of work on cars and motorcycles back in the day and indeed it was more than once a mystery bolt remained at the end! But they still ran, fortunately:) I more hope I have all the parts to get it back together and don't lose any. I still need to make or have made a mounting ring for the new darkstar going in at the neck and I think I'll make a new back cover for the electronics rather than try to get the paint off the old one but we'll see...

Re. the wood, I agree but unfortunately the body wood was just not that nice to feature, was not a hardwood and was laid up in pieces. Nicely done, quarter sawn with flipping grain orientation to counter any possibility of warping. I thought about keeping the neck mahogany, which would have looked great with the black, but there were some areas where the original black lacquer was deep enough into the grain that I didn't want to try to get it out so I just went with next best, all black. I have to say the S100 and even more the JSII are a beautiful shape and the flowing of the body into the neck bodes well for the black flowing from the body up the neck.

I may eventually look for another with mahogany body and neck, it would be beautiful au naturale:)
 

mmmalmberg

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nice job man, looks like you know what you are doing. that thing is worthy of your restoration.

Thanks. Past experience mostly motorcycles so it seemed weird wet-sanding something made of wood. Only other guitar I did was my S100, about 35 years ago. Also black:)

Both rattle-can jobs unfortunatly and I was unable to buy regular cans of basic acrylic or nitro. lacquer here in CA to use with my gun, without jumping through some hoops and it would have ended up costing a bunch so if there's a limiting factor in how nice this comes out it will be the quality of the little plastic nozzle on the spray can which I have to say is not the best I've experienced. From Reranch. The paint itself seems good and flows together well in spite of the small, weak spray pattern. I'm hoping not to need to buff the final coat but we'll see...
 

bluesypicky

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I did a lot of work on cars and motorcycles back in the day and indeed it was more than once a mystery bolt remained at the end!
Don't you hate it when this happens?.... I swear next time I tear an engine (or part of) down, I'm filming the disassembly! lol
 

mmmalmberg

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Don't you hate it when this happens?.... I swear next time I tear an engine (or part of) down, I'm filming the disassembly! lol

Ive started taking pics with my phone as I take things apart, for that reason. How we survived before cell phones with cameras...:)
 

mmmalmberg

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The one thing I haven't gotten to yet is the suck switch. The idea of the switch, in the JS-II, which in my understanding is called a bass boost, is as follows:

The neck pickup has a resistor that supposedly balances its output level with that of the bridge pickup, since the neck position is inherently louder.

With the switch activated, this resistor is taken out of the circuit and a low-pass filter (the capacitor) is engaged to knock off some of the high frequencies. The point of taking the resistor out is that when you knock out part of the signal with the capacitor, overall signal level will drop so the resistor can be taken out, and the low frequencies will be higher, relative to the higher frequencies.

In other words, boost the neck pickup level by taking out the resistor, then shave off the top end with the capacitor. Result is bass boost.

Mine's not wired right. I haven't traced the wiring but I think someone tried to do something interesting with it but it seems to be acting like a pickup selector. I don't think I will need a bass boost switch with the bisonic, so I will be thinking about something creative to do with this switch. Maybe like unwiring it:) Or see if putting the pickups out of phase with each other is interesting.

In either case the bisonic pickup is substantially louder than the bridge pickup, so I'm going to make sure that resistor is in place and if it is, I may increase its value...
 

fronobulax

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My understanding of analog electronics is not nearly as good as I think it is, but your description of the circuit is correct. If you need pics or hand-drawn diagrams from my JS II, let me know. With all the photo hosting issues the are not online at the moment.

That said, I would not consider implementing it for a neck Bisonic.
 

mmmalmberg

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My understanding of analog electronics is not nearly as good as I think it is, but your description of the circuit is correct. If you need pics or hand-drawn diagrams from my JS II, let me know. With all the photo hosting issues the are not online at the moment.

That said, I would not consider implementing it for a neck Bisonic.

Having finally gotten some of my gear back on line after a recent move, I was able to play the JS-II through an Avalon 737 into a Klipsch KP-250 (an excellent 3-way I would say monitor-quality PA speaker). It sounds great. I don't have a dedicated bass amp but this is a good combo.

The suck switch is I believe doing as it's designed, and makes a very big somewhat boomy sound. Might only ever use it where a system is weak in bass or something. It was the simplest thing for me to just wire the new pickup into the existing circuit without changing anything. Unless I think of or someone suggests an interesting, better use for it I'll just leave it.

The bisonic sounds great with that switch off and has at least as much harmonic content, at least my impression, as the bridge pickup. I guess just single coil vs humbucker? Very rich sound considering it's strung with flat-wounds. If I can get someone who plays better to record something for me I'll post a clip or two.

Thanks:)
 
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