Please Help

[kagevz7]

Im having a JS1 chromed by a company in Quebec,its called cosmichrome,but I have never taken a guitar apart before.Is there any advice on do-it-yourself or should I have a tech take it apart and put it back together for me.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jem7RB MK]

I guess i've taken apart a few,some more than once,One thing i would say is make sure you write notes,make diagrams to aid in the re building later,Of course if you do get in a pickle,post here again and we will(1) help you out.
Good luck with your project and don't forget to show us the finished item


Rob

(1) We,the many whom make up Jemsite's members

[kagevz7]

I need help taking the tone&volume controls and pickups out of the guitar.How do I do this?Also the piece of metal that connects to the bridge and the output jack.What should I do ?

[kagevz7]

In addition to the above should I have any special tools for when I rebuild the guitar?

[Rich]

Got a soldering iron? ;}

[kagevz7]

no

[kagevz7]

How do I take the pickups and all of the electronics out of the js?

[Rich]

If you don't have a soldering iron then how were you planning on putting it back together later? If you're not going to be putting it back together maybe you should have the guy that will be do the teardown.

All that HAS to come off is all the pickup leads, the ground to the spring claw, and the output jack leads. With those off the rest can stay together. You can snip all the wires as close to the solder joint as possible, but somebody is still going to have to put this back together. [if you're going to attempt this you'd better make a very clear wiring diagram and snip leaving a little wire color to make it easier]

[kagevz7]

I was going to get a soldering gun to put back together.I wanted to know what to take off and how(which you explained,thank you) .I didnt want to start snippin wires here and there .Like I said Ive never done it before.Ill make the diagrams and get to work on it.Thanks for your help.

[nuno]

have you got some friends who tweak with electronics? once you got a (clear) diagram, that would be a joke for them.

[darren wilson]

Just out of curiosity, how much are they charging you for the chroming? Are you getting just the body done, or are you getting the headstock done to match as well? What other kind of prep do you need to do?

[kagevz7]

he quoted me 189 for the body and headstock.I was debating whether or not to get the headstock and follow Richs advice and go with the chrome mylar and get a Ibanez decal.If I did get the headstock done ,Jimmy(cosmichrome)told me that anything he sees gets chromed so cover what you dont want done,and I dont really want to take any chances with the neck so might leave it alone.You pay for shipping there and back of course.Ups ground to get it there then he will get to work on it right away and call if there are any problems.You then have to mail in the cost and shipping by personal check to get it back to you.No prep is need and a guitar with a paint job is done easier because they dont have to seal off the wood.Check out the site(cosmichrome) it looks pretty cool,and I figured Id give it a shot,especially after seeing the "Nicklers"that had ads on auction sites.I want to do a jem dbk next.Gotta find one for sale though.

[kagevz7]

To answer nunos question,I dont have any friends that "tweak with electronics",wish I did though.

[kagevz7]

What kind os soldering gun should I get for this project? Im looking for one but there are many different kinds with different wattage etc.If there is a specific one out there that most guitarists use let me know.Thanx

[MicJustMic]

35 watts is usually plenty.

You can pick good ones to garbage ones up at Radio Shack. They aren't expensive.

You may need something a little higher to solder the ground wire back to the spring claw, else it takes forever to heat the thing up enough to take the solder properly, but if you un-solder that wire from the pot instead of at the claw, no biggie.

Pots can take a while to heat up enough to take solder as well, but not nearly as long as that damned spring claw. :-)

Just be careful you don't over heat anything. Just hot enough to melt the solder (for lugs that's only a few seconds) and if you've never soldered before, read as much as you can and practice on some throw away parts first, just to get a feel for it.

I ruined a switch on a fairly nice Japanees Stratocaster (my first real guitar) swapping pickups. I had never done it before and thought I could just "wing" it . . . granted switches are cheap, but it really sucked to have to hitch a ride to the music store to buy a new one (I was 16 and didn't couldn't drive yet.)

Oh, and always pay attention when you put the thing down (buy the one with the proper holder/cleaner base, not the little "stand") because if you're not paying attention to what you're doing, you'll either burn something, or yourself.

I have a nice little scar on my thumb where I grabbed a hot pencil at the wrong end. I wasn't watching and the cord had pulled it towards me and when I reached for it I got a nasty surprise.

Mic