Jazzmaster/Surfcaster WIP

[supertruper1988]

I have a Jackson branded Surfcaster Neck with a floyd and I have always dreamed of slapping it on a Jazzmaster Body.

Does anyone with a rear route Jazzmaster know if a 4 knob control setup can fit in the route?

I have done up some renders in Fusion 360. I would love to get a teal flake as found in a stripe on the pink/teal special run flake body but I think that the closest I can get is Turquoise Flake.

Here is a render in a mythical teal:

And here is one in turquoise. Its super hard to find real pics of this so my render is similar to the builder on the site.

 

[stratamania]

I like the mockups, perhaps take a look in the showcase at some rear rout JM bodies then you can see a rearview image and calibrate the image in F360 to get an idea of the size and shape. I don't have a JM so would not like to take a guess.

Just as an aside F360 will not run well on this laptop I use for portability, it does however on an older Macbook Pro I have. I am planning on in the future getting something newer and more powerful, what are you running F360 on?

 

[supertruper1988]

My daily at work is a 3 year old i7 with 32GB of ram and some kind of Nvidia Quadro card.

My home PC is a Ryzen 3600x with a 1650 Super and 32GB of ram.

For my mobile setup, I run a 2015 MBP and all 3 setups handle F360 just fine.

I have actually sized up a couple of different pics and attempted to figure out where I might place the controls but all of the official picks on the site have the cavity cover on so I cant get a feel for how large the cavity is on the inside. I am considering emailing to see if I can get it painted without any control cavities and just routing them myself but that is also a risky endeavor. At least any chipout will be on the back haha.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks my MBP is a mid 2014 model I think which was purchased in early 2015 and that runs F360 but my XPS 13" the internal graphics is not quite there along with the screen being a bit small for that type of work. Thanks for sharing your specs, it gives me some idea if I look at the PC build route.

Here is a pic I snagged off Reverb, which should help.

 

[supertruper1988]

Thanks my MBP is a mid 2014 model I think which was purchased in early 2015 and that runs F360 but my XPS 13" the internal graphics is not quite there along with the screen being a bit small for that type of work. Thanks for sharing your specs, it gives me some idea if I look at the PC build route.

Here is a pic I snagged off Reverb, which should help.

THat is really helpful actually, I think it might be a bit tight for a 4 control layout. I am also thinking I might do this as 3 mini humbuckers with a Jag plate where the lower control is with master volume and tone. That will also take some custom router work to get it right. So many options

 

[TBurst Std]

I may be wrong, but I thought all rear routes were the same size for guitars except for 7/8 size.

 

[supertruper1988]

I may be wrong, but I thought all rear routes were the same size for guitars except for 7/8 size.

I know that the jazzmaster is different as pictured above. I have had several strat, tele, and soloist rear routes but the rear route is more of a kidney bean shape than the one in Stratamania's post.

 

[rauchman]

Greetings,

Regarding the guitar in my sig, it uses the standard rear control and I was able to stuff 2 Vol and 2 Tone knobs in there. Tight, but doable.

Based on Stratamania's pic, you should easily be able to pull it off.

 

[supertruper1988]

I think I have decided that I want to get for a more tradtional Tele deluxe for my Wide Range guitar so I will be going for a custom setup on this one using a Jag Switch plate and a 3 knob control setup that will have a bass roll off.

The render shows P90's but I will actually put minihums in here

 

[supertruper1988]

Greetings,

Regarding the guitar in my sig, it uses the standard rear control and I was able to stuff 2 Vol and 2 Tone knobs in there. Tight, but doable.

Based on Stratamania's pic, you should easily be able to pull it off.

Thanks for this. The shape of the jazzmaster cavity is different and I am picky about my control layouts. I will probably end up with something totally custom routed in the future.

 

[supertruper1988]

I decided to go ahead and order something for this build but I went a different direction.

https://imgur.com/Iyktost

Specs:
Basswood chambered core with Flame Maple top
Turquoise Dye with Transparent Turquoise Burst-over
Recessed OFR
Contour heel
1 F-hole
3x Mini Humbuckers in P90 mounting rings
Lower control will be replaced re routed for the Jaguar Switch plate
No controls drilled so I can drill my own locations

I also paid the extra for a light weigh blank. I am a weight snob and I dont want my project soured by being too heavy.

Funny thing I noticed, the cost for Alder core and Alder top is only $5 less than the Basswood core and maple top. The dye finishes are cheaper than flake if you go for the burst over option. This fancy body was $23 less than then flake body I was originally planning. Interesting way to save some cash.

Fun render with the mini hums shown instead of the P90s and obviously not a figured top.

https://imgur.com/WiuVO4S

 

[supertruper1988]

Just got my ship notification a whole month earlier than expected!

 

[Rick]

That's going to be smoking!

 

[Scab Pickens]

Just got my ship notification a whole month earlier than expected!

Me, too!

 

[supertruper1988]

Got the body today!

https://imgur.com/PYiFbw3

https://imgur.com/PPTjwwx

I have some drilling to do and some parts to order but I’m excited!

 

[Rick]

Whoa that's beautiful, can you take a picture of the back and sides?

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Your project looks really cool. It would be interesting to know the weight of the body alone. Is there such a thing as too light?

 

[supertruper1988]

Whoa that's beautiful, can you take a picture of the back and sides?

Yeah I will as I go through the assembly process.

 

[supertruper1988]

Your project looks really cool. It would be interesting to know the weight of the body alone. Is there such a thing as too light?

I paid the $40 upcharge for a light weight body and its chambered and its Basswood core which is on the lighter end of things as far as body woods go.

All told it came in at 3lbs 3oz with the cover plates. I freaking love it. I am not a fan of heavy guitars and was really hoping it would turn out at less that 3.5 pounds.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

3lb 3oz is amazingly light. It must be one of the lightest jazzmaster bodies. However there will be some extra weight due to the trem.