Jackson Dinky® JS11 | Part 2

◀ Part 1

YouTube Demo

Body - Rear View

As one would expect, the bolt-on neck joint, four-screw neck plate, tremolo cavity cover, and control cavity cover are located at the back of the body. Among the outstanding features here are the sculpted upper and lower back bouts, as well as the low profile neck joint. Presumably, these two design elements serve to enhance upper fret access and playability. Further down, the tremolo cavity houses the tremolo claw, three springs, and what appears to be a die-cast zinc tremolo block. This tremolo block is nothing like the skinny ones often found in Asian guitars. Measured with digital calipers, its thickness is an impressive 0.531 inches. Right on, Jackson!

Body - Rear View

Neck Plate/Serial Number

Sculpted Upper/Lower Bouts

Tremolo Cavity

Thick Tremolo Block

Pickups

The JS11 features two ceramic "Jackson® High-Output Humbucking" open-coil pickups. As these humbuckers are virtually identical save for the coaxial leads, no pictures of their brass base plates have been taken. In any case, the neck has a white hot lead, and the bridge; red.  I have, however, measured both pickups' DCR values. The neck reads 8.25K, and bridge; 15.89K. It's rather interesting that the bridge humbucker's DCR is nearly double that of the neck. Subsequently, the pickups are wired to a three-way blade switch, volume and tone controls, and output jack.

Jackson® High-Output Humbuckers

Controls/Three-Way Switch

Output Jack/Jack Plate

 

Control Cavity

The control cavity cover is shielded on the underside with aluminum foil, and the cavity, with black conductive paint. Control cavity components include two A500K mini pots, a 0.022uF tone cap, a three-way PCB selector switch, and mono output jack. Soldering is, on the whole, of an acceptable standard. For one, there aren't any messy solder blobs to be seen anywhere. Much the same can also be said about the wiring. No burnt or melted insulation, cables have been cut to length, and a plastic zip tie used to keep things tidy. On the other hand, I am rather disappointed with the unshielded hot and ground cables to the output jack. 

Shielded Control Cavity Cover

Control Cavity Components

Volume Pot

Tone Pot/0.022uF Cap

Three-Way PCB Switch

Mono Output Jack

  

Shielding Upgrades

The electronics have been disassembled, leaving the pickup and control cavities completely bare. Looking at the two images below, you might notice two shortcomings concerning the conductive paint shielding. The first is incomplete and therefore, patchy coverage. Worse still, the walls of all three cavities have not been painted at all. As for the second shortcoming, it's the absence of grounding. There are no cables connecting control cavity to pickup cavity shielding, or control cavity shielding to the back of a pot. On the whole, this is highly unacceptable and needs to be remedied.

Inadequate Pickup Cavity Shielding

Inadequate Control Cavity Shielding

I'm pleased to report that the aforementioned shielding anomalies have been corrected, and both coverage and connectivity achieved to my satisfaction. The pickup and control cavities have received extra coats of conductive paint, from the floors to the walls. Additionally, each pickup cavity now has a ground tab screwed securely to the floor, with a cable running into the control cavity. Then, in the control cavity, the ends of both pickup cavity shielding grounds have been soldered to a common ground tab, which has, in turn, been screwed onto the the control cavity wall. Yes, we now have a reliable connection between pickup and control cavity shielding. Also soldered onto the common ground tab is another cable, which will be soldered to the back of a pot. To complete the picture, I've installed two strips of self adhesive copper foil. These strips of foil run from the control cavity floor and upwards along the walls; finally overlapping the edges.

Pickup Cavity Shielding Grounds Installed

Shielding Upgrades Completed

 

Electronics Upgrades

The owner of this JS11 does know quite a lot about guitar electronics and has requested full-sized pots, as well as a high quality selector switch, tone cap, and output jack. Yes, he be speaking my language! And so, I've done the best I can to fulfil his wishes. Seen below are 24mm Alpha A500K volume and tone pots, a Mallory 150M 0.022uF tone cap, an Oak Grigsby three-way blade switch, and a Switchcraft output jack. Testing has just concluded, and everything is working as it should.

Electronics Upgrades Completed