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Changing pickguard on fender jazz - aftermarket?


41Hz
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Hi Basschatters,

I’ve got a sunburst jazz with the standard tort pickguard. I know its the classic vintage look, but I’m not keen on tort and thinking of changing to a black one.

The proper Fender pickguards are pretty steep (around £45 with postage). Has anyone gone for a cheapo aftermarket one and if so was it OK? I’d rather bite the bullet and get a Fender one if the aftermarket ones look cheap, but if you can’t tell the difference then I don’t see the point in spending the extra.

Thanks

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I recently upgraded an old mex fender jazz and fitted a black pickguard from eBay, I had to file it out a little bit around the  pickup which was tight and about 1mm off the neck curve ,but otherwise it looks fine to me for £5.88 maybe worth a go 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F173526289183

6117A959-4BB1-42BD-B758-1752DE4E46BA.jpeg

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Reggaebass -  I see  you have black screws too, is that standard on the fender black guards - think it looks a bit better. The only issue with these ones is mine has the truss rod adjustment at the bottom of the neck, so need the.cutout on the pickguard.

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The one downside to most of the aftermarket ones is that they don`t have the cut-out for truss rod adjustment. I always go for the Fender ones, in terms of quality you can feel the difference, pretty much the same as @Reggaebass expensive bass, not going to skimp on whatever changes I make.

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I'm the opposite - I think there is very little difference, especially once the guard is on the bass. The amount of quality 3 or 4 ply guards out there for under £20 make the official ones seem crazy for the price.

Most importantly, it's the fit that matters. Even official guards I've had to still file to make fit. 

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8 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Ah so yours is the us jazz ,same pickguard as this one, IMO the cheaper pickguards are not bad ,but if it’s quite an expensive bass I’d opt for the genuine one 😀 maybe keep an eye out on eBay they do come up now and again 

DC052366-1F63-4152-A0EF-8085087DF5EE.jpeg

Is that an official one or aftermarket? Straight away I'm looking at the fit. Neck and pup seem okay but the top of the control plate is not in line and there is a gap between the guard and control plate. 

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13 minutes ago, The59Sound said:

Is that an official one or aftermarket? Straight away I'm looking at the fit. Neck and pup seem okay but the top of the control plate is not in line and there is a gap between the guard and control plate. 

 It’s the original one

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On 02/12/2018 at 19:33, The59Sound said:

Is that an official one or aftermarket? Straight away I'm looking at the fit. Neck and pup seem okay but the top of the control plate is not in line and there is a gap between the guard and control plate. 

There’s no gap between the guard and control plate  the bevel  goes all the way round, it’s not a very good picture  it’s my battered iPhone

Edited by Reggaebass
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8 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

The one downside to most of the aftermarket ones is that they don`t have the cut-out for truss rod adjustment. I always go for the Fender ones, in terms of quality you can feel the difference, pretty much the same as @Reggaebass expensive bass, not going to skimp on whatever changes I make.

But you can do that cutout in five minutes with a dremel

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10 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Ah so yours is the us jazz ,same pickguard as this one, IMO the cheaper pickguards are not bad ,but if it’s quite an expensive bass I’d opt for the genuine one 😀 maybe keep an eye out on eBay they do come up now and again 

DC052366-1F63-4152-A0EF-8085087DF5EE.jpeg

Mines a bit different, the truss rod hole is a bit bigger and it doesn’t have the screw above the neck pickup.

By the way, your neck doesn’t look quite straight, though it might be the angle of the picture. Mine was like that- just slacken off the screws on the neck plate slightly and push the headstock until the E and G string are equidistant from the edge of the fingerboard and the retighten. I swear mine played better after adjusting.

Edited by 41Hz
Grammar
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28 minutes ago, 41Hz said:

Mines a bit different, the truss rod hole is a bit bigger and it doesn’t have the screw above the neck pickup.

By the way, your neck doesn’t look quite straight, though it might be the angle of the picture. Mine was like that- just slacken off the screws on the neck plate slightly and push the headstock until the E and G string are equidistant from the edge of the fingerboard and the retighten. I swear mine played better after adjusting.

The necks dead straight thanks 

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I bought a cheap b/w/b off ebay for my black/maple Jazz and it's fine. Looks the business. However either it wasn't cut precisely perfectly or I just got too enthisiastic and scraped off a small amount of the neck when I had to force it on a bit. I think it was only arouind £20, can't recall the seller.

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I bought a cream scratchplate for my fiesta red Squier Classic Vibe P - Fitted perfectly but the top surface has started to lift/wrinkle after a really short time. (It's not the protective cellophane before you ask!😄)

Admittedly it wasn't expensive (£15 IIRC) so I can't expect top quality but I did expect it to stay in one piece.

Anyway, the tort one is back on. If I buy another aftermarket scratchplate in the future I think I'll pay a bit more in the hope of better quality.

Steve.

Edited by Sandypjb
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3 hours ago, ForestPoetry said:

I bought a cheap b/w/b off ebay for my black/maple Jazz and it's fine. Looks the business. However either it wasn't cut precisely perfectly or I just got too enthisiastic and scraped off a small amount of the neck when I had to force it on a bit. I think it was only arouind £20, can't recall the seller.

you paid over the odds in my humble opinion, decent stuff comes in cheaper than that. 

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I have a celluloid tort scratch plate for a MiM Jazz for sale in the 'other items' at the moment. I have previously fitted MiM plates to US Fenders and the other way round, the only difference seems to be the trussrod cutout on the US ones - the MiMs are adjusted at the headstock end.

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£7 Chinese fitted my MIM perfectly

I have a made in America aftermarket 3 ply black one I bought from someone on here I was going to fit but preferred the weird tortoiseshell one, you are welcome to try before you buy, you would have to modify it for the truss rod adjustment if you decide to keep it

WP_20180603_002.jpg

Edited by Aidan63
added offer to op
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