New Split Jazzmaster Build

[gtar]

Howdy,
This is my first time building a guitar, and i'm pretty excited! I don't know too much about building, but it should be a learning process. I decided to jump right in.

I received a beautiful body and neck from Warmoth in the mail.
It is a split Jazzmaster body, Alder wood, HH pickup rout, Ice Blue Metallic Finish.
The neck is Maple with a rosewood fingerboard.

Since it is my first time building a guitar, I have run into a few speed bumps and I need some help figuring some things out.
First, Pickups.
I need two humbuckers. I mainly play reggae/ska, punk, alternative, rock. Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus, Pepper, Etc.
I want humbuckers that have a single coil type sound to them. Something good for reggae, but also be able to switch to the bridge and have a little meat. Like the tone of Weezer's Say it ain't so is very appealing to me.  I was thinking about the Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell in the neck, EJ Cusotm, or something of that nature.
Any suggestions for pickups/pots?

Second, I ordered a 7/8 output jack hole. I have a tele electrosocket to go in it, but since the side of the body is slightly curved, it won't fit and it leaves a gap (butt crack) on the side. Should i order a regular curved football jack? Would that fit?

Finally, to anyone who has experience with a split jazzmaster, how do you go about lining up the pickguard on the guitar to drill? Is there a template or do you just sort of eyeball what looks best?

Any Replies help
Anyhow, Thanks!
Rock on!

 

[MikeW]

Congrats, and welcome to the club first of all. I like the color combination you've got going. Be sure to post some pics when it's done.

I've used Seymour Duncans on my last couple builds and really like them. For what you're describing, I might go with the SD Jazz for the neck and maybe a Pearly Gates or '59er for the bridge. The Jazz will give you a nice deep clear tone and the '59er can go from clean to chunky pretty easily. It's a good mid-range output pickup.

Ken (TroubledTreble) from Roadhouse pickups is a frequent contributor here and he'll be able to hook you up with some really good stuff as well. Search the forum for 'Roadhouse' to get a ton of hits on his stuff.

Either the football jack plate or the square jack plate will cover the hole and center the jack.

I've not done a JM before, but I've aligned Strat pickguards by sliding the neck into the neck pocket and then laying the pickguard on the body around the neck. From there it's pretty easy to get a good measurement of how far from the edge the pickguard should be. Then it's just a matter of nudging the pickguard a bit around the edges to make sure that it's even. I tape it down when I've got it aligned, mark the holes, then pull the neck and pickguard off so I can drill. I'm assuming that you can do the same thing with the split JM pickguards by using the neck pocket as a reference. YMMV of course.

 

[Cagey]

Welcome to the forum!

Nice fiddle! You're gonna love it.

re: jack plate - I also think you should go to either the football or square jack plate.

When you get ready to install it, mount the jack to the plate, then insert a 1/4" plug into the jack. It'll help you locate the plate so there's clearance for the tip connector to move when you plug/unplug cords. Otherwise, it's easy to get the thing installed slightly off-center and the first time you go to use it the cord won't go in.

 

[jordan_ytth]

nice! i've got a jazzmaster on order too.

as for pickups, i can't say enough good things about the suhr DSH+ for the bridge position. it's high output, but not over the top, smooth even at high gain settings, and really balanced. some of the high output duncans sound shrill to me, but i don't get any of that with the suhr.

 

[Day-mun]

Are you getting Humbuckers because they have to cancel hum, or because that is the size hole in the wood? If you want single-coil tone with a bit of growl, check out Seymour Duncan Phat Cats; P-90's (mid-rangey single coils found in LP specials and some SG's for those who may not know) in a direct-replacement-for-HB size. They got nickel covers like the Gibson style HB's; same dimensions and fit, only with the pole pieces centered across the cover and not off to one side... -Soapbars in PAF clothing=tone-city!

 

[dmraco]

For pickups you cannot go wrong with the p-rails from Duncan.

I just useded them in a jazzmaster build....sound is quite amazing.

Also agree football would work.

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=21642.0

 

[tylereot]

What I did was called Ken at Roadhouse pickups and told him what I wanted it to sound like.  He nailed it.
Jazzmaster in the neck, with a 60% tap.  Humbucker at the bridge.
5 way does neck, tapped neck+one coil of bridge, full neck+full bridge, single coil bridge (twang!) and full bridge humbucker.
He wound them with similar (fairly low) output values so they'd work together well, and they certainly do.
Actually, I'll bet you'd like this setup, too.

 

[gtar]

Woah, that looks awesome. Where do I sign up? I want to do something similar, but with a humbucker in the neck because my body is already routed for that. Can I shoot him an email saying what I want? I love it. Great axe by the way, the headstock is gorgeous.

 

[Cagey]

Ken's site is here, where you can read about the Roadhouse pickups he makes and order them as well. He does excellent work, and can match up what he builds to what you desire. There's a contact link there. It's all pretty informal - just message him what you want and it'll all work out.

 

[gtar]

How did you wire the pickups that way? I'm kind of a newbie for wiring, and I noticed the humbuckers only have two conductor cables. How do wire pickups with 2 conductor wire to have a coil split/parallel etc? I don't think it would be possible to have them pre wire it, because my guitar has a split Jazzmaster pickguard. I guess I would just need wiring diagrams.

 

[tylereot]

Woah, that looks awesome. Where do I sign up? I want to do something similar, but with a humbucker in the neck because my body is already routed for that. Can I shoot him an email saying what I want? I love it. Great axe by the way, the headstock is gorgeous.

Thanks!  It was my first and a 'learning experience', too.

 

[tylereot]

How did you wire the pickups that way? I'm kind of a newbie for wiring, and I noticed the humbuckers only have two conductor cables. How do wire pickups with 2 conductor wire to have a coil split/parallel etc? I don't think it would be possible to have them pre wire it, because my guitar has a split Jazzmaster pickguard. I guess I would just need wiring diagrams.

Well, it depends upon how your pickups are wired.  Mostly, they'll be four conductor humbuckers, so you've got hot and ground for each coil.  Then they can be wired in series, parallel, one coil, etc.
Tap is where a single coil has a wire inserted in the winding to cut off some of the windings (my neck jazz pup is tapped at about 60% output).  So that pickup has two hots and a ground wire.
AND I don't think it's difficult to put Jazzmaster pickups in a humbucking hole.  Just not vice-versa.