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First Warmoth - My Frankenjazzmaster

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jordan_ytth

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hey everyone - first, I gotta say thanks for putting up so much info on this forum, since ordering from warmoth for the first time can be daunting! since i know no one wants to read about me, i'll put the good stuff first. i just hit "confirm" on my order for:

-jazzmaster body
-swamp ash (no laminate top)
-one pickup (bridge humbucker)
-tune-o-matic bridge/stoptail
-matte black pickguard
-transparent green
-wenge stratocaster neck with wenge fingerboard
-24.75" conversion, 6130 frets, 1 11/16" nut width, tusq black XL nut, 12-degree radius, mother of pearl dot inlays

whew! i'm excited. i have played the same gibson SG special for 15 years - it's my only guitar, and so i didn't take the process of buying a new one lightly. i have some pretty particular specs that no guitar on the market seemed to meet, and my search eventually led me to warmoth. the hardest part of the decision process for me was the neck - i love the look of an ebony fingerboard, but i didn't want to make it sound too bright (being used to a 24.75" scale with a mahogany/rosewood neck and all)... plus, a couple of you posted photos of wenge necks, and i just had to have one.

i'll post pictures when it gets here! i can't wait to build it up. cheers!
 
thanks! btw, here's the wenge fingerboard that i chose. i'm second guessing myself today, thinking maybe i should have stuck with ebony, since the guitar is green and black. as long as the piece of swamp ash they use for the body doesn't have too aggressive of a grain, this should look cool with it - that's my hope, at least.

FB279a.jpg
 
I did an all Wenge neck for somebody here, and it was pretty nice. I think you'll like it a lot. They're not like anything you'll find at your typical music store. I would suggest changing to stainless steel frets, though. For the $20 adder, it's a no-brainer. They're like playing on glass, they last forever and they don't affect the tone.
 
well, i broke down and changed my order to a black ebony fretboard with a matching peghead veneer. that unique choice wenge piece was nice, but i think ebony will be better overall. i didn't pull the trigger on the SS fretwire, though - i would have if they offered 6130, but i'm too scared to spend $500 on a neck with frets different than what i'm used to. i'm taking enough chances with this thing!
i'll come back in 2-3 months when it arrives and post pictures.
 
AHHHHH I LOVE THIS GUITAR SO MUCH!!!
so my frankenjazz came today, and it is even better than i had imagined. the quality is just ridiculous, and the fact that it just happens to be made to my exact specifications only makes it sweeter. i couldn't be happier with the finish - they nailed the exact green i was hoping for. the wood has a really unique grain that isn't too uniform (i'm not a fan of "perfect" wood like quilt or flame maple), and the wenge/ebony neck is a thing of beauty. plus, they shipped it about a month ahead of schedule.

here are some photos - i realized it wasn't the best idea to take the photos on a wood laminate table, but oh well. i've been reading this forum obsessively for the last 6 weeks, so i've got some good ideas as for the build... and i guess i need to get my hands on some 600 and 800 grit sandpaper to really make the neck hit its full potential.

 

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yeah, i found out about that thurston moore jazzmaster when i was putting this together. that's a hot guitar for sure, although i actually prefer my glossy emerald green finish to the more muted/matte fender finish. i wouldn't turn down a black aluminum pickguard, though! in fact, seeing that guitar is what made me decide to go matte with the pickguard rather than glossy.

okay, last pics (for now)...
 

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me too! i ordered a custom pickguard for my SG back in 1999 from warmoth, so i knew about them, but it didn't occur to me to do up a full custom until i saw a few pics from this site while google image searching G&L green transparent finishes. they're famous for their "clear forest green," but i like mine better  :glasses9:. we'll see if this becomes an addiction - i've always been a one guitar guy, and i like everything a certain way, so at this point i don't really see the point in buying up more bodies/necks/etc. i'm sure you guys are rolling your eyes at that!
 
jordan_ytth said:
...so at this point i don't really see the point in buying up more bodies/necks/etc. i'm sure you guys are rolling your eyes at that!
Click to expand...

Ummmmm... yep.  :laughing7:
 
here's a photo of the final build. some notes:
- i had the pickguard modified so i could use the control plate from a jaguar. this required some additional routing, since the standard jazzmaster route has the pots up much higher on the body. i prefer the pot placement on a jaguar, plus i like the look of the chrome control plate.
- the bridge is a resomax NV2 - i have used graphtech saddles for a long time, so i thought for this guitar, i'd just get the whole thing from graphtech. tailpiece is a standard gotoh from warmoth.
- roadhouse pickup, custom made by ken to sound "like my suhr DSH+ only better"!
- if anyone cares, i'm using a vitamin Q pot under the tone control. this pickup isn't very bright, so i'll probably run the tone control wide open most of the time anyway.
- i had the headstock stained to darken it a little bit - the peghead veneer supplied by warmoth had some brown streaks in it that i didn't like.
- this thing plays like a dream. the '59 roundback profile is really comfy.

i had a hard time getting good pics, since it's really sunny out and the body is really shiny. this was the best one i could get.
 

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Sweet! That came out really nice! That body design is helped dramatically by the loss of the goofy vibrato bridge and the simplification of the controls.
 
thanks! yeah, i have loved the offset jag/jazz shape for a long time. i even had a reissue jaguar when i was a teenager, although i eventually traded it for my sg. i agree about the excessive controls and gigantic tremolo, since the body definitely suits the simpler setup.

also - vitamin q CAP, not pot. duh.
 
Two of my brothers and a buddy of mine had '60s-era Jags back in the '70s that eventually got traded away because they were such pains in the ass. Now all of us wouldn't mind having one again, only configured more like what you've done with yours. One of these days...
 
Next to a slab tele( :laughing7:), the jag has to be the most comfortable guitar there is. The scale, the waist, bridge positioning, all perfect.

Wonderful crappy trem or no, I like 'em.
 
Very nice! I'm not usually a fan of Jags or Jazzmasters, but that is a cool looking version.
 
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