body:
solid body alder
controls - 500k/500k volumes (one for the main pickups, one for the lipstick pickup), 500k tone
concentric Jass Bass knobs
modified Mustang bridge
Staytrem tremolo arm upgrade
chrome Schaller straplocks
finish - locally sprayed Daphne Blue w/matching headstock (found the original DuPont codes)
custom cut pickguard by local luthier
neck:
Warmoth Pro construction
Goncalo Alves neck w/ Pao Ferro fretboard, mother of pearl inlays & Graph Tech Black TUSQ XL nut
SRV back contour
Schaller Mini Locking Tuners
22 frets
Stainless Steel 6100 frets
1-11/16" nut width
10-16" compound radius
electronics:
neck - Roadhouse Pickups PDX90
middle - Mojo Pickups humbucker sized Gold Foil
bridge - Roadhouse Pickups PDX90
behind the bridge - GFS 8K Bridge Position Pro-Tube Lipstick
so, this all sort of started out as me originally wanting to have a Squier Jazzmaster reissue. ever since I built my Jaguar bass a couple years ago, and bought my Pawn Shop Bass VI last year, I've found that offset bodies are just extremely comfortable to me. that, plus I've really taken a liking to the Jazzmaster tremolo system. it's really smooth, and just enough to be effective without being a PITA.
but I've been playing my Ibanez Jet King for the past couple of years, and I decided I wanted something a bit higher quality, and with a tremolo. so, I looked at the Squier. I actually bought one, and after a few days of owning it, I realized the amount of work I wanted to do, and I didn't really like Sonic Blue, so I sent it back after making the decision to just build a Warmoth. I was trying to do this as cheaply as I could, so the body was a showcase part, but the neck had to actually be built to order. I realized when I was playing my VI that my thumb naturally laid on the upper part of the back of the neck, so I decided to go with an offset contour. I went with the SRV contour because I just like thicker necks, and it was the biggest one they had. after a while, though, the parts showed up, and I got the pickguard blank to a local luthier who ended up actually putting it all together, as well.
the pickguard idea pretty much started around the idea of the Moog rocker switches I had for the pickup selectors and the phase switching. Line6Man put together the wiring diagram for me. it's basically like this: each blue switch is an on/off selector, and the black switch is the on/off for the lipstick pickup. the yellow switches are for phase switching for each pickup. I never would have used the weird Jassmaster rhythm/lead circuit thing it had, so I found the phase switching diagram from Brian May's guitar somewhere online, and Line6Man inserted it the rhythm circuit's place. it sound really cool!
the reason for the lipstick pickup, however.....I originally saw a photo of a Jazzmaster with it behind the bridge. I did a little bit of research, and found that Thurston Moore did it years ago. I figure it would at least look cool if it really didn't do anything. TURNS OUT it sounds so awesome! the main pickups have to be turned to half volume for it to be noticeable, but when you get the balance right, you get a super resonant, almost ring mod, sound out of the guitar. it's picking up all the sympathetic vibration from the other side, and you get some really crazy sounds out of it. it's almost like you're playing guitar in a long metallic hallway, or something.
my only future plans for it are getting a custom neckplate, and a custom tremplate to get rid of the "Fender" logo. speaking of "logo", Hannaugh was actually responsible for the design of the headstock logo! HUGE thanks to her! she was really awesome and patient with every bit of feedback I gave her! I found some Fender style spaghetti font, sent it to her, and she made all the changes I asked for, and sent it back. I sent the picture off to an eBay decal maker, and I eventually got a good waterslide decal back. a couple of friends have asked if it was a "custom shop" guitar...implying Fender Custom Shop....
ALSO, huge thanks to a local painter named Jeremy Wilson. he's actually the son of a local body shop, and he also works there. I got his number through someone around here, and he was able to get the exact color by me sending him the Daphne Blue DuPont code of what Leo commissioned on the early Fenders. I brought him the body and neck, and he did the whole thing for only $120! that's including price of paint!
I'll try and get some soundclips up as soon as I can, though!
oh, I've currently got it strung up with a .012-.052 heavy set of strings, and it's tuned to D-standard.
ccasion14:
