Building a Lefty Jazzmaster ... maybe (care to sway me?)

[reluctant-builder]

Hi, all. Being a lefty is frustrating. I've heard all the talk about how I should have learned to play righty. I tried. Three separate times. Never took. Always felt awkward. The first time I tried lefty, it was a revelation... but I am stuck with very, very few options.

Electric guitar-wise, I've got a MIM Strat and two Hagstrom Swedes, and I love them all, but I'm gassing, big-time, for something special.

I want a Jazzmaster. Fender thinks very little of lefties, so I'm left (ha, ha) with the options of hoping a lefty Jazzmaster comes up on eBay or building one. I'm leaning toward the latter option, so I can decided exactly what I want, from a contoured heel to fret-wire gauge, the whole shebang.

However, as my username suggests, I am incredibly reluctant. I've fretted (pun, perhaps, intended) endlessly about the minutia of such a build. I'm worried about the deficiencies of the Jazzmaster bridge, its weird saddles, the nightmare stories about intonation screws rattling out, strings shifting position, and so on. The Modified Mustang Bridge seems like a good option, except it doesn't seem to pivot ... and a bridge for use with a Jazzmaster tremolo would need to pivot, right?

I assume that a contoured heel makes a neck-plate irrelevant. How, then, would I adequately secure the neck to a body with a contoured heel?

And there there are pickups ...

To reiterate: I want a Jazzmaster. Not the JM body shape with the spirit of Randy Rhoads inside (though any guitar with his spirit inside would be awesome).

So, I'm leaning toward the Seymour Duncan Vintage for JM pups. Is that a good choice? Good enough? I've read all the raves for Lollars and Novaks and I'm sure they're justified, but will I regret it immensely if I buy two SD V for JM pups for 125 instead of two Novaks for 180? I realize tone is subjective ... and I'm potentially asking for passionate opinions, but if you guys could be somewhat objective about the pros and cons of the SD Vintage for Jazzmasters ... I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[tfarny]

I don't know too much about the topic specifically - never owned a jmaster and never been a lefty.
The contoured heel still requires a neckplate. Warmoth sells a special set of neck screws though that are the right length. Once you get those, there is no practical difference in setup.
There is some kind of a bar you can buy for Jmaster bridges that gives them a decent break angle over the saddles, supposedly eliminating most of their issues. You can also get one with a vintage trem or a tune-o-matic (like a les paul), neither of which will make it a metal guitar. Fender even sells a jmaster or two with a tuneomatic bridge now.

Pickups: Never heard any of them, but different makers tend to be known for different things - Duncan for humbuckers in particular, Lollar for P90s, steel guitar pups, and assorted old vintage stuff. Duncan if anything tends to err on the "too hot" side for my tastes.
Personally, I don't believe in going cheap on pickups since you are already building a custom guitar and they are the #1 contributor (by far) to the overall sound. If I were building a Jmaster and wanted vintage output, I'd first look to Lollar or Fralin most likely. To save money, get a showcase body and a fairly basic showcase neck and put good hardware and electronics in them.

 

[reluctant-builder]

Hi! Thanks for the reply.

I'd definitely like to go the showcase route, if possible, but the lefty issue pops up there, too. Simply nothing for me, no LH JM bodies, no LH JM necks. I could go RH neck for a unique look, but I'm not totally sold on that possibility.

I think, if the arguments made are cogent enough to dissuade me from the SD Vintage for JM pups, I'd go with boutique ones. It's not that I'm trying to cheap out, per se, because I know how important the pups are ... but I loved the sound of the samples on SD.com for the Vintage pickups and, while I know that doesn't necessarily reflect how they'll sound through my VT30, if those samples are a good representative of the sound those pups produce, I could be happy with them.

I suppose I'm asking: how truthful are the sound samples on the Duncan website?

Further, could anyone provide sound samples of their Jazzmasters with Lollars or Novaks?

 

[Cagey]

The Jazzmaster bridge (and those that even resemble it) is a Rube Goldberg nightmare. The control scheme they use as originally devised by Fender is also laughably obtuse. Those two things are why that guitar never caught on like it could have. Assuming you liked the body style, they made it expensive to build and difficult to live with.

Luckily, when you use Warmoth's bodies, you get options Fender never had available due to non-existence or unwillingness to provide them. You can have the body routed for just about any hardtail or vibrato bridge worth using, and of course you can configure pickguards so they don't have a dozen holes in them for inconvenient and/or pointless controls. You can also have it routed for whatever pickups float your boat, so no hardships there.

With the necks, you don't need to use the ultra-tiny frets Fender was fond of putting on those guitars, you can have stainless steel monsters the size of railroad ties if you want them. And any wood you'd like as well.  They'll also drill the headstock out for any of a variety of good tuners - you don't need to use the ancient barely functional crap from 50+ years ago. Put a set of Sperzels or Schaller mini-lockers on there, and revel in the joy that is a guitar that stays in tune.

As for fretting, you don't have to. Warmoth's parts are unparallelled in the industry for quality and accuracy in design, build, and appearance, and they don't sell any junk hardware.

And no, I don't work for them.

 

[AutoBat]

Jalane has built several beatiful lefty guitars, including a Jazzmaster.  The Mastery bridge cures the problems Cagey mentioned whilst retaining the look of the original JM.

 

[reluctant-builder]

The Jazzmaster bridge (and those that even resemble it) is a Rube Goldberg nightmare.

Amen to that. It would be a little silly of me to make a "faithful" reproduction when, clearly, it's not going to be a Fender. However, I have the slight quandary of that I'd like it to be a Fender ... I just don't have the option as a left-handed person without serious patience and even then I'm buying second-, third-, nth-hand site unseen from who-the-heck-knows. I need to stop being a brand whore.

So, I gather that I can look at its stock unavailability as a blessing. Here is my chance to take the best of the Jazzmaster and improve upon the worst of it. I totally get that ... but now I need to decide which, exactly, improvements need to be made. The bridge is no question ... but the Mastery is $172 after shipping. Am I mad, stupid, unreasonable or all of the above to balk at that price?

I caught a glimpse of Jalane's award when I perused the forums. I feel a user-specific forum search is in order! Thanks, guys!

 

[Cagey]

Good hardware is sometimes expensive. You wanna smack in the head? Get a hard-on for a Floyd Rose vibrato. There's no cheaping out on those things unless you want some unexpected installation surprises that'll make you sorry you ever thought money was more important than a proper part.

If it was me, I'd be looking at a Wilkinson vibrato, which you can have a JM routed for and which only costs roughly $100. It's arguably one of the best vibrato bridge designs extant. Marry that up with a good nut and some locking tuners, and you have all the stability of the Floyd with none of the gimcrackery.

Get rid of the 319,922 pots and switches normally installed on a JM and knock it down to a volume, tone, and pickup selector, and you've got a good, reliable, attractive and playable guitar that you can work with.

 

[rapfohl09]

Good hardware is sometimes expensive. You wanna smack in the head? Get a hard-on for a Floyd Rose vibrato. There's no cheaping out on those things unless you want some unexpected installation surprises that'll make you sorry you ever thought money was more important than a proper part.

If it was me, I'd be looking at a Wilkinson vibrato, which you can have a JM routed for and which only costs roughly $100. It's arguably one of the best vibrato bridge designs extant. Marry that up with a good nut and some locking tuners, and you have all the stability of the Floyd with none of the gimcrackery.

Get rid of the 319,922 pots and switches normally installed on a JM and knock it down to a volume, tone, and pickup selector, and you've got a good, reliable, attractive and playable guitar that you can work with.

+1, I have wanted a guitar just like this for a long time, and will build one someday as well :icon_thumright:

 

[tfarny]

Look, you know exactly what you want - an actual Fender, lefty, that looks like a traditional Jmaster but plays much better because it has a well-designed bridge, and all for under a grand - but it doesn't exist and never will. Once you've accepted that fact, go and take a look at all the different Jmasters in the forum and here: http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/Gallery.aspx?type=MISC_GUITAR

This guitar you really want to build will probably cost you $1200 or so - the price of an American standard strat, and cheaper than most any Les Paul for sure, and the only way to get it is through Warmoth.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

This guitar you really want to build will probably cost you $1200 or so - the price of an American standard strat, and cheaper than most any Les Paul for sure, and the only way to get it is through Warmoth.

Potentially much less than that - depending on the woods you select, you could get away with a JM neck & body from Warmoth for less than $400, and buy pickups & hardware from GFS, or Carvin, or hunt around eBay - you can end up spending as little as $600 or $700 for a very nice instrument.

There are also... um... some other guitar parts builders..... but your being a lefty makes Warmoth the best option by far.  I'd advise you to steer clear of Allparts, which has lots of Fender & Fender licensed stuff, but is crazy overpriced on a lot of it.

 

[tfarny]

Of course you can build a warmoth for under $800, but the no-compromises one with boutique pups and everything will still cost less than an American Fender.

 

[reluctant-builder]

Look, you know exactly what you want - an actual Fender, lefty, that looks like a traditional Jmaster but plays much better because it has a well-designed bridge, and all for under a grand - but it doesn't exist and never will.

You're absolutely right.

Right now, my build cost is hovering around 1150 and that's with no significant compromises, it's more a bit of hope and ignorance when it comes to the bridge and pickups. I built the exact body I want, exact finish, contoured heel; the exact neck (maybe it's a little simple of me, but I don't know enough about the exotic woods to want more than an Indian Rosewood fretboard).

I threw in my cart those SD Vintage for Jazzmasters because I liked the sound clips on the Duncan website, but I could be persuaded to go boutique.

I see that It would be exceptionally stupid to go through the trouble and expense of building this thing only to skimp and buy a $50 bridge that's going to cause me headaches. The extra 132 bucks I'd pay for a Mastery brings my build cost to $1235. Novaks instead of the SD pups would probably bring me toward $1310. Like tfarny said ... it's still cheaper than a stock Fender JM, which they don't even make for me, anyway.

Thanks again, guys. This is really helpful.

 

[partialdoctor]

The Jazzmaster bridge (and those that even resemble it) is a Rube Goldberg nightmare.

Amen to that. It would be a little silly of me to make a "faithful" reproduction when, clearly, it's not going to be a Fender. However, I have the slight quandary of that I'd like it to be a Fender ... I just don't have the option as a left-handed person without serious patience and even then I'm buying second-, third-, nth-hand site unseen from who-the-heck-knows. I need to stop being a brand whore.

I caught a glimpse of Jalane's award when I perused the forums. I feel a user-specific forum search is in order! Thanks, guys!

One thing you are probably having trouble comparing here is the quality of the build you will get with a Fender vs. a Warmoth build. The quality of Warmoth parts, when appropriately assembled and setup, make Fenders look like a toy. They're seriously that good. After I built my 1st one I sold all of my real Fenders. They just feel wrong now. I had high expectations for my Warmoth products and they have all been exceeded. Good luck with your decision!

And lastly, if you do the build... do yourself a favor and don't buy cheap pickups. Lollars are unbelievable as are many of the other boutique winders. To me, this is the single best thing you can do to ensure your guitar sounds great. Its is a HUGE difference.

 

[jalane]

I know the mastery bridge is really expensive, but trust me when I say that it is SOOO worth it.  It's the only solution to the Jazzmaster bridge conundrum that: A) works (see modified mustang bridge), B) is not a Pain in the rear to tweak (see, again, modified mustang), and C) doesn't dramatically change the tone and feel of the guitar (see buzzstop).  

Whatever you do, don't get a buzzstop.  If you want to go that route, you might as well get a tune-o-matic bridge/tailpiece, because it will affect the sound/playability that much.  Everyone complains about the lack of a break angle on the jazzmaster, but that is a vital component to the sound.  The Mastery is absolutely the perfect solution.  I know it's expensive, but if you're building your dream guitar you can't put a price on maximizing it's playability.  

As far as pickups go, I have a set of the novaks and love them!  I have heard clips of the Novaks and SD's before and the Novaks were clear winner but the SD's sounded great too.  Normally I always advise to go for the best p'ups possible, but in this I think the Mastery Bridge + SD's = better guitar than Novaks + Modified Mustang (or some other alternative), for probably around the same net cost.

 

[dNA]

seems like JazzMasters are growing in popularity. I've had a design for a jazzy in the back of my mind for a year now. But i figured it'd be best to go with a no-compromise build with everything exactly to spec as I want it. And interestingly enough that came to around $1200 as well, which seems to be a general ballpark that more than one of us has landed in.

i'm just here to reiterate that you should definitely get exactly what you want, how you want it, and not let things like being "vintage accurate" conflict with the functional purpose of what you want to do. and being a recent convert from mass-produced pickups to made-to-order custom pickups, I second the recommendation to go with something boutique. Although I know Roadhouse Pickups doesn't list JM pups on the website, I recently came across an old Supro that had a Roadhouse jazzy pup in the neck (and confirmed it's authenticity), so I'll throw that name into the hat. It's been said a dozen times, but since you're new here you should know: Ken from Roadhouse Pickups is a forum member and a handful of people on the boards, myself included, have been raving about the quality of his work.

 

[Corey P.]

I would highly recommend getting a quote from Paul Rhoney (paulrhoney.com), he does an amazing job building Jazzmasters (even his own hardware) and has used Warmoth parts in some builds.  He even makes his own control plates if you're going for all the bells and whistles and have a hard time finding lefty plates.

 

[Mor Paul]

I would highly recommend getting a quote from Paul Rhoney (paulrhoney.com), he does an amazing job building Jazzmasters (even his own hardware) and has used Warmoth parts in some builds.  He even makes his own control plates if you're going for all the bells and whistles and have a hard time finding lefty plates.

I'm friends with Paul on facebook, and he's a great guy, from what I can tell. He's also friends with TroubledTreble here, I believe. You can see examples of his work on Offsetguitars.com

 

[Tipperman]

I really like the Jazzmaster Trem for appearance. It looks really cool. The bridge, however, is a bit much. If you want a straight Jazzmaster appearance, eBay the Fender jazzmaster trem (with the lock) and get a Mastery Bridge. You really can't go wrong with the Mastery Bridge. It's excellent.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Whether we're righty or lefty, we're here because no one builds the guitar we wanted.  It's a great time to be alive for lefty guitar players, because instead of having no choices, you just don't like the choices you have.  Somebody somewhere is making one.  Want to feel left out, there are even less lefty bass options from others, and has anyone ever seen a lefty Mandolin, Banjo, or Pedal Steel?

But I digress....

Tfarny and a few other nailed the price estimate.  You may not save any money over a mass produced factory version, but it will be what you want.  When you consider having one custom made is comparable to a factory made one, Warmoth is an excellent value.  Fender, Gibson, Jackson, ESP, Schecter, the list goes on won't make you a custom piece for the same price.  I refuse to believe the price difference is in asembly and setup costs.  I didn't get into custom builds to save money, but rather get what I want and know I may have the only one.  These are personal items we're supposed to bond with intimately.  How can one do that if there's an identical one on the wall next to it? 

If you read the build regrets thread, many's regrets are not going with their gut or skimping.  The showcase and screaming deals section can save a few bucks, then again the Devil is in the details.  It may be a different bridge route, color, wood, or something else different than what you want.  And a lefty JM in there?  Forget it.  DIY finishing may save a few bucks if you're set up to do that.  I'm not, and am no good at it.  Paying them just so I don't have to finish it, what a deal?  It's even a nice finish. 

And I too am a name whore, whether I admit it or not, and I love my Warmoths.  They nailed the Fender body shapes, have a license to recreate the headstock shape.  An "F" neckplate and questionable ethics placing a Fender logo on the headstock, you've got a Fender to 95% of observers.  In fact, the wording of the license from Fender says the necks must meet or exceed Fender quality.  There you go, a legal binding contract that says they're nicer than a Fender neck.

 

[reluctant-builder]

... and has anyone ever seen a lefty Mandolin, Banjo, or Pedal Steel?

Ha, ha! I actually just saw a Lefty Mandolin. A Fender, no less, here: http://www.frettedamericana.com/fender_electric_mandolin_left_handed_1960-d-1230-11.html ... only $3,750!  Pfft; I could build three custom guitars for that kind of money!

Mandolins are really easy to play upside down, anyway, but I do get your point. Good points, all.