Jazz/Jag inspired Git-fiddle

A

Anaura

Junior Member
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I received my Warmoth order as well as my Stew-Mac finishing kit. Very stoked!

I did a dry fit and everything looks awesome with one very small exception. I'm putting a Jazzmaster pup in the bridge position and a Jaguar pup in the neck position. The pickguard is routed for a Tele or Strat single coil in the neck position and the Jaguar pup doesn't fit. Booger! I hope I can send it back for proper routing.

Here are the specs on what I'm building:
Neck - Warmoth Pro, CBS headstock, standard thin (maple, rosewood)
Body - Jazzmaster, 2 piece alder
Pickups - Vintage reissue 62 Jaguar neck pup, Vintage reissue 62 Jazzmaster bridge pup
Bridge - Gotoh stoptail & Tune-o-Matic
One volume, one three way toggle, side input jack

I was inspired by the Elvis Costello Fender Jazzmaster signature series to try to finish this guitar myself. His guitar is alder with a walnut stain and nitro top coats. I plan on doing something similar. I've attached a photoshop build with I hope to end up with. :)
 
Dude, sweet!  Shoulda gone with a walnut body, then half your finishing work is done.  :toothy12:
 
Sweeeet lookin' jazz!  :headbang:  Huge Elvis fan!

Bummer about the pickguard  ???  Hope it works out cuz I like those pups!

Be sure to get some new pics posted when finished  :rock-on:  :kewlpics:
 
I'll be sure to add new photos as I progress. I'm planning on making a short video of the build as well.
I'll upload the video here once I'm finished.

http://www.youtube.com/anaura

My next step is to stain the body. Wish me luck!
 
Funny how things happen, i just got a wrong pickup delivered in an order i received for
my Danelctro refit and the pickup in question is a black lipstick for a Strat. So i have decided that my next build
which will be a jazzmaster baritone and will have a P90 or humbucker bridge and this 6k RWRP lipstick as the neck.

Heres the funny part its the 1st time i have read this thread and your doing something similar.

Lookin good

  :icon_thumright:

 
Dont stain it if your going to try and send it back!!!! I feel like the wouldnt take it if you started working on it, but it might be different if you just wanted something modified, not returning it. How does the pickup not fit? Like not deep enough or something? Its covered with a PG so you could just use a chisel and modify it.
 
I'm going to check the body tonight for the pickup fit. I'm not worried about modifying the body cavity if need be. The issue I have is with the pickguard. It's cut for a Strat/Tele pickup not a Jaguar pickup. I don't want to mess with cutting the tort shell pickguard because I'll surely screw that up. Ha!
 
So Warmoth contacted me and said they don't cut pickguard routes for Jaguar pups. Bummer.
And by the photos, it doesn't look like the end of the neck is wide enough for the pups anyway. Is this correct?

I was really hoping for a jag/jazz pup combo but I may have to settle for a tele/strat pickup to get this project moving. What should I get if this is my only option?

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Tempest said:
You can probably just route the pickguard out a bit.  Shouldn't be that hard.
Click to expand...
+1
Or, find a good tech to modify your guitar a bit for you. I can't imagine that job being too expesive.
 
So here is my follow up on the project...

Since Warmoth doesn't route for Jaguar pickups in their pickguards, I contacted a local guitar shop and the rough estimate was $100 to make the route. That is twice as much as I paid for the pickguard itself! So last weekend I went to Taps Plastic, a plastic fabrication chain in California. The first sales guy said they couldn't cut material that wasn't purchased at the store. I told him I'd sign a waiver if it were to get damaged at which point he grabbed another sales person. The second guy said they couldn't do it either but then he started asking questions about the project. Turns out that he makes pickguards on the side for some pretty big bands. :) A few hours later the Warmoth pickguard was routed perfectly and he only charged me $5! Sweet!

So I go home and do another dry fit. Sweet Perfection! ...and then... I noticed that the pickup route on the body won't accept a Jaguar pickup. Douh! The pickup is too wide and because the top horn cavity was routed out, the mounting screw on the left side of the pickup has nothing to mount to in the body. I ended up sawing a square piece of wood out of some scrap and glued it into the cavity so I can properly mount the Jag pup.

Now all I have left to do is solder up the wiring and screw the pickguard on. I hope to have it done this weekend.
 
Lots of little fidlling around to get exactly what you want, but I am sure it will be worth it when finished.

Hadn't noticed the Jaguar pickup rout for the poickguard being larger than a Strat's before, so thanks for letting us all know about that little problem...
 
So here she is...

I'm surprised, for my first build, that it turned out almost exactly like my photoshop work.

I've been very patient during the whole process and it wasn't until I tried to race to the finish line that I started messing things up. ;) I snapped off a 1/16th drill bit into the body pre-drilling the pickup mounts. I had to dig it out. I also misaligned the pickguard by using my hand to hold it down while marking the holes. I had to plug the holes with toothpicks and start again, this time using painter's tape to hold it down. Both boo-boos are hidden though. :)

All I need to do now is install the strap locks, buy one more screw for the pickguard, and then final set-up/intonation.

I'll post some more picks in sunlight without fingerprints and smudges. :)

Cheers to everyone that helped me get here. I had so much fun learning and working.

Here is a link to the photos. The forum won't allow uploads for some reason.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31134841@N02/sets/72157622782650245/
 
How do the two pickups work alongside each other? When you switch from one to the other is it a complete change in tone of the guitar or is it more organic? Great concept.
 
The Fender Jazzmaster guitar case finally arrived. It was back ordered. Last night I went to the studio and plugged her into my Vox AC-30 and cranked it up. This is going to be my main guitar for a long time. :)
 
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