Basic Black Jazzmaster

[markwayne]

So after years of super Strats, I decided it was time for something different. I built a black JM with a padouk neck and ebony board and a blueburst with a one-piece maple neck (by another builder). All other parts are standard super strat fare.

I'm really quite happy with the way they came out and I get comments at every gig wondering what I'm playing.

And here's a clip with the black JM -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLW_q9eAbYc&feature=player_embedded#!
Wayne

 

[JazzX]

They look great, especially the black one  :icon_thumright:, not so sure about those tremolos though.  :dontknow:

 

[markwayne]

Yeah, I understand. And if you saw me live, you would be right to wonder why I even have a vibrato at all as I rarely, if ever, touch the Floyd. If I could get the same tuning stability any other way, I would. To be honest, both the EMGs and Floyd are simply crutches that give me less things to worry about when gigging outdoor stages, festivals, etc.. I work a lot of shows where tuning and proper grounding between the front and back line are not givens so over the years I've just gotten used to the ease of tuning once at the start of a show and not having to touch it again. Just as I've gotten used to zero hum and not getting shocked thanks to the EMGs.

Wayne

 

[bagman67]

Nice guitars, Wayne.  Different, without being TOO different, if you know what I mean.


In re: tuning stability, why not try a fixed bridge plus locking tuners over a well-cut graphite or roller nut?  Obviously that would be a pain in the neck to retrofit on two floyd-equipped guitars, but you could always build a few more Warmoths...

 

[Jumble Jumble]

If you touch that metal jack plate the lack of bridge ground ain't gonna help

 

[markwayne]

Nice guitars, Wayne.  Different, without being TOO different, if you know what I mean.


In re: tuning stability, why not try a fixed bridge plus locking tuners over a well-cut graphite or roller nut?  Obviously that would be a pain in the neck to retrofit on two floyd-equipped guitars, but you could always build a few more Warmoths...

I do have several guitars that have fixed bridges with locking tuners. (Including a couple of Warmoth builds.) And I'll often take one of those to a club gig. But even the most stable of those are likely to need tweaking after five or six songs or if they have been in air conditioning backstage and the stage is baking hot and on some of these gigs there is just zero time for tuning. At times like those there's nothing like the peace of mind of having the strings locked down tight. It's also probably like a security blanket for me at this point since most of my touring guitars have been setup with Floyds and EMGs since around 1984.

 

[bagman67]

If it works, it works.  Can't argue with success.

 

[markwayne]

If you touch that metal jack plate the lack of bridge ground ain't gonna help

Yeah, that would certainly be true. Fortunately, I rarely make any physical contact with the jack plate while singing but it's really hard to avoid touching the strings.

 

[leo12.]

Here's something you may find useful on the wiring if you want to try passive pickups
sometime;
http://audiosys.com/safety-circuit.html

 

[markwayne]

Here's something you may find useful on the wiring if you want to try passive pickups
sometime;
http://audiosys.com/safety-circuit.html

Cool, thanks! That looks promising. I have several guitars that I'd love to use more live and that might do the trick.

I did have a tech who wired a circuit-breaker-type of protection into a couple of stage guitars many years ago. The problem with his design was that most of the current I got with minor ground issues resulted in a high enough current to be painful, but not high enough to trip the breaker and if the breaker did trip, you were left with no string ground so I just gave up and went the EMG route for live use.

 

[Cagey]

I especially like the black one, too. Not exactly anybody's father's Jazzmasters, are they? Good to see a better vibrato on that model, even if it is a Floyd.

 

[stubhead]

You've been working for a quarter-century professionally but you post a few pix of guitars that work and all the kids chime in with how to get rid of that stupid trem and learn how to work some manly pickups... gotta love this place! :hello2: I liked this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj0gecv-WVI&feature=relmfu
balls, dude. The yellow tele with with silver pearl guard? G&L, or? And about that stupid trem.... :cool01:

 

[markwayne]

The yellow tele with with silver pearl guard? G&L, or?

Funny you should mention that one. That's another Warmoth build. It's an alderTele body with Variax guts and a Warmoth, short-scale, mahogany neck with an ebony board. It's a very comfy guitar to play. What's weird is how often people single out how great that guitar sounds at gigs. Even when I carry some vintage piece with way more snob appeal to a gig that's the guitar everyone wants to know more about. Oh yeah, and my other Warmoth Tele? . . .  EMGs and a floyd.

I'm hopeless.

I'm glad you liked that clip. I wish I could say I was using some vintage guitar into a really nice amp. But that clip was done really quickly as a request for some regulars. It's a Gibson ES-339 into Guitar Rig.

 

[Cagey]

I not only liked that clip, I went through the balance that YouTube linked to figuring anybody who could do that was worth more than a couple minute's listen.

Nice work. I'm sure everybody would appreciate more.

 

[markwayne]

Sorry to reply to an old thread, but I was recording a couple of things at the request of my father whose health is failing and I happened to grab the black JM for the solo on this one and then thought of this thread. So my take on Satch's Always With Me. Martin acoustic and a Nashville tuned Yamaha layered with a Warmoth Strat playing the arpeggios and the black JM playing the melody.

https://soundcloud.com/rawas1935_founinge/always-with-me

And a silly thing with me abusing the Floyd on the blue-burst JM and channeling my inner twelve-year-old.

https://soundcloud.com/rawas1935_founinge/baker-street