Jazzmaster build

[Glimmer]

Thought I would finally start a proper build thread for this guitar. It's not going to as epic as some of those I have read on this forum, as I'm not doing any routing, finishing, wiring, etc., I'm just assembling. That said, I've learned a great deal here from threads epic and otherwise, so perhaps someone will find this one useful. For those of you who have been putting up with and kindly replying to my questions for the past couple of months, you can at least see where your advice has lead me. As I have posted a handful of pics during that time, some of the following images may be familiar.

My goal was to build a Jazzmaster with a warmer, darker tone. Did some research here, on the Warmoth site, the Offset Guitars forum, and elsewhere on-line. Went to local shops and played some current Fender and other offerings. In the end, decided to go with a Black Korina body and a Goncalo Alves or mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard, and either Lollar or Novak pups. Right around that time the following body turns up in the showcase: it's chambered BK on BK with a tobacco burst, routed for JM pups and weighing just under 5 lbs:

I hemmed and hawed a bit (can't help it, seems to be part of the process for me  :laughing7: ), then snapped it up. While I waited for it to arrive, I started ordering parts and looking into neck profiles, fretboard radiuses, etc.

 

[Glimmer]

Next on the list was the pups. After a bit more research, including a call to Curtis Novak, I decided to go with his JM-V in the neck position and a JM-FAT for the bridge. I ordered them in a pre-wired assembly from Rothstein Guitars. I sent him the pickguard I had ordered from Warmoth, he put the assembly together and sent it right back. Turn-around was speedy, less than two weeks IIRC:

There were a few rough spots on the shielding, as it no doubt had to be trimmed it to fit the Warmoth JM guard, which is different from Fender's. I needed to do a little touch up work on those spots, but no big deal.

 

[Glimmer]

Regarding the differences between Warmoth JMs and Fender JMs, just out of curiosity I made the following gifs to compare routs and pickguards. In the first one you have the Warmoth JM body and a MusiKraft JM body (couldn't find an appropriate pic of a Fender, and the MKs routs are close enough for this informal comparison):

In the next you have the Warmoth guard and the Fender guard:

Please take these with a grain of salt. They were made from pics available on-line and resized to match. I was just curious to see how / where they differed. I can't say how exact they truly are.

 

[Glimmer]

The next big issue to be resolved was the neck. After obsessively considering all the options, I decided to go with the vintage / modern construction, a mahogany shaft and Macassar ebony fretboard. I can't remember why but I called Warmoth with some question or other just prior to placing the order. When I told the tech I was speaking to about my ideas for the build he suggested that Goncalo Alves would be another great choice for the shaft wood. I said that that had been my original choice, but that, if I understood correctly, it was only available with the modern necks. Well, as you know and as I learned, that is not the case. He told me to place the order indicating the GA shaft wood, and that they would let me know if in the end that was possible. I did, they affirmed that it was, and so I was able to get the woods I wanted in the v / m construction after all.

Chief specs:

Vintage / Modern Construction
Shaft wood: Goncalo Alves
Fretboard wood: Macassar Ebony
Nut width: 1-11/16
Profile: SRV
Fretboard radius: Straight 9.5"
Fret size: 6150

It took about three weeks to build and one week to get to me. Here are a few pics as it looked "fresh out of the box":

 

[Glimmer]

Hmm. Seems like this is more of an accumulation thread than a build thread. Actually, that's not too far from the truth, at least at this point: it feels like I've spent more time waiting for things to arrive than I have actually doing anything with them. That said, I have gotten a couple of things done. While waiting on the neck I shielded the pup and control routs:

I then went on to enlarge the holes for the bridge thimbles. Not having access to a drill press I thought to do this with dowel and sandpaper:

I measured carefully, worked slowly, and measured again as I went. When I saw that I was not able to widen the holes evenly – they were wider at the top than at the bottom – I stopped and took the guitar to a local tech to have this done. With any luck I'll have it back tomorrow.

 

[Glimmer]

With the body in the shop I turned my attention to the neck which I decided to burnish, having read (and reread) Cagey's thread explaining how to do so. Here too, I took my time, working my way from 400 to 4000 grit. What can I say? It's every bit as great as everybody who has done it says. Were I to build another guitar, I don't think I would choose a shaft wood needing a finish; burnished raw wood is just too nice. Here are a couple of pics of the burnished neck:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Very nice work indeed.
That's probably one of the cleanest JM pickguard wiring jobs I've seen!

 

[Glimmer]

Very nice work indeed.
That's probably one of the cleanest JM pickguard wiring jobs I've seen!

Glad to know it, as I haven't seen many JM wiring jobs myself. When I was looking into it, Rothstein's work did seem to be top notch. Can't wait to hear how it sounds.

 

[Glimmer]

The neck burnished, the next order of business was the tuners, which I installed this morning. Fitted the tuners (Schaller mini locking tuners, purchased from Warmoth), marking where the holes needed to be...

drilled them – carefully! – and prethreaded them using beeswax...

before fixing them in place...

Truth be told, one hole was a little off and thus one screw is not entirely flush against the little tab. :icon_scratch: All things considered, not so bad.

Funny, I obsessed (and stressed) over this job, reading and rereading the post on machine head fitting in stratamania's quilted purple Strat build thread, even did a practice run yesterday. In short, I spent hours preparing for what turned out to be a 50 minute job. :binkybaby:

 

[stratamania]

Good work so far and thanks for the shout out.

You know sometimes just getting the job clear in your mind I think is an important step. Still at a certain point you have to just do it.

I could not help noticing a Jazz book in French in a couple of the shots.

 

[Glimmer]

Good work so far and thanks for the shout out.

You know sometimes just getting the job clear in your mind I think is an important step. Still at a certain point you have to just do it.

Indeed. And with all the waiting I've been doing, I've been itching to get going.

I could not help noticing a Jazz book in French in a couple of the shots.

I needed something to hold the neck up while I dry fitted then fixed the tuners to the headstock. That book was just the right thickness. :laughing7: It's a book on Albert Ayler, whose work I really love. His 1964 LP Spiritual Unity was one of those life-changing discs for me.

 

[Glimmer]

Got my body back this afternoon, with the thimbles fitted:

Went to pop in the bridge to see how it fit...it didn't pop in, it's a very tight fit in fact:

Spent part of the evening dry-fitting the pickguard + assembly – that too is a tight fit. The back of the guard abuts the bridge and even with that it very slightly overhangs the edge of the neck pocket. Not enough to keep the neck from fitting but still. I shaved it down a whisker (pun intended) and it still overhangs it a bit, so I'll do a bit more tomorrow.

I was surprised too at how tightly the pup covers fit – no wiggle room!

 

[Axkoa]

I love the look of jazzmasters, especially this one. Looking forward to the rest of the build.. The neck wood is amazing.

 

[rgand]

Very cool so far. I also love that neck. It's perfect for that body.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Boy, she's gonna be pretty. Looking forward to seeing her come together! That wiring is so pretty it's a shame it'll be hidden, haha! Likewise on your cavity shielding, artfully executed.

 

[Cagey]

Went to pop in the bridge to see how it fit...it didn't pop in, it's a very tight fit in fact:

Spent part of the evening dry-fitting the pickguard + assembly – that too is a tight fit.

The last Mastery bridge I installed was on a Jaguar, and it was also a surprisingly close fit. If the thimbles had been off only a couple thou, it wouldn't have gone in. Also had trouble with the pickguard, among other things.

That wasn't my first rodeo with that body style. Jaguars/Jazzmasters seem to be problem children when it comes to getting things to fit together. Not sure why that is, but you'll notice that just about anybody who's put one together has one or more stories of mods they've had to make to get things to work well.

Yours is gonna be a beauty.

edit: just a last bit - if you're using an "authentic" Fender Jazzmaster vibrato with the locking stud intact rather than the version Warmoth sells, you may want to screw it on and see it it will operate freely. The vibrato Warmoth sells doesn't have that locking feature, and the relief for it isn't
sufficient. The cavity will need to be routed for some additional clearance.

 

[Glimmer]

Thank you guys for the kind comments, and Cagey, thanks for your note on the problematics of these guitars. I feel a bit better about it.

Re the vibrato: that too is a Mastery. Like a dummy I hadn't thought to see how it fit. Will do so this morning.

 

[Glimmer]

…That wiring is so pretty it's a shame it'll be hidden, haha!…

Funny that. When I realized I would need to have a tech install the bridge thimbles I called one local shop. After telling me they had a five-week turnaround but might be able to get it done in two, the tech proceeded to disparage every choice I had made for the build: Warmoth ("gotta be real careful; their stuff doesn't line up correctly"), Curtis Novak pickups ("they don't sound like Jazzmaster pups – too dark!"), pre-wired assemblies ("the wiring never looks right. I know nobody ever sees it 'cause it's under the pickguard, but still…") :icon_jokercolor: . The only thing he liked was the Mastery gear.  :icon_scratch:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

…That wiring is so pretty it's a shame it'll be hidden, haha!…

Funny that. When I realized I would need to have a tech install the bridge thimbles I called one local shop. After telling me they had a five-week turnaround but might be able to get it done in two, the tech proceeded to disparage every choice I had made for the build: Warmoth ("gotta be real careful; their stuff doesn't line up correctly"), Curtis Novak pickups ("they don't sound like Jazzmaster pups – too dark!"), pre-wired assemblies ("the wiring never looks right. I know nobody ever sees it 'cause it's under the pickguard, but still…") :icon_jokercolor: . The only thing he liked was the Mastery gear.  :icon_scratch:

Well, I guess that if you sniff enough cork, you can get high off of the fumes too,  ccasion14: :tard: ccasion14:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

No matter what you do, there's going to be somebody telling you it's all wrong. Fortunately, there's only one critic who's opinion actually matters  arty07:

I'm interested to see what you encounter when you go to fit the trem; I've got a Mastery trem for my JM build as well. I had hoped to leave the router in it's cage for this one...