ThePearDream's Coyote/Voyager builds (Completed Pics on Pages 7 & 10)

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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ThePearDream
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Sun Feb 11, 2018 2:25 pm

When I said I wasn't going to work on the body this weekend, I was just lying to myself.

I made a lot of progress today. The rest of the body routing is complete.

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Knocked out the forearm and belly contours.

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I did this with a Shinto rasp. It didn't take more than an hour, and was actually really enjoyable and relaxing.

I did end up getting too close to the neck plate area with the round over bit, so I may need to use neck ferrules instead of a plate. I'm not going to beat myself up over this though. This was my first attempt at making a body and overall it turned out far better than I could have hoped. Before I started, I had mentally prepared myself to not expect perfection on my first try.

Final weight. Not too bad.
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Next, I need to do a bunch of sanding and drill the hole for the ground wire. Also, I think I'll a make a small channel to connect the pickup and control areas. That way I can do all the wiring while the body is being finished, and just drop it all in place when I'm ready to assemble.
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:33 pm

I solved my problem with rounding over too close to the neck plate area.
I was playing on my last project, when a light bulb went off. The body has a contoured neck heel that I really enjoy.

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I took some measurements, transferred them to the body and did some sketching on the body.

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20 minutes with the rasp and a few more minutes of sanding and...

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It's really hard to capture the contour in a photo, but it is going to work out well. I would even call it an improvement.
Like Bob Ross said, "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents".
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by 07hubbardj » Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:41 am

This is looking really good. Also, I now want dual jag pups in all my guitars haha. Really cool design. Excited for updates

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by sirjeremy » Fri Feb 16, 2018 3:50 pm

I'm so excited to see this thing finished, lol. I have this thread bookmarked. So cool, man!

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Fri Feb 16, 2018 5:16 pm

Thanks again to everybody for all the positive response.
07hubbardj wrote:
Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:41 am
This is looking really good. Also, I now want dual jag pups in all my guitars haha. Really cool design. Excited for updates
You want updates? Well I've got minor, minor updates for you.

I got my neck pickup cover in today:

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Also, I decided to take the tinted poly off of the Squier Mustang neck. The color was just too "presidential" for me, if you know what I mean.

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Also, the mini reverse pots for the bass cut, do have 1/4" (6.35mm) shafts, so I will have to ream out the (6mm) roller knob. No big deal, just one more thing to do while the body is being finished.

It's the busiest time of the year at work right now, so I'll be working some overtime this weekend. I'm going to try and make time to finish sanding the body though.
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by 07hubbardj » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:09 pm

Pickup covers are looking very nice. Also, good call on the neck. Only issue I've ever had with the squier VM stuff is the really is the finish. I like the vintage tint but the clear coat is pretty thick. I prefer the feel of a thinner finish or an oil finish personally. I appreciate you giving me my update fix haha. Great project man :)

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:58 pm

07hubbardj wrote:
Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:09 pm
Pickup covers are looking very nice. Also, good call on the neck. Only issue I've ever had with the squier VM stuff is the really is the finish. I like the vintage tint but the clear coat is pretty thick. I prefer the feel of a thinner finish or an oil finish personally. I appreciate you giving me my update fix haha. Great project man :)
Thanks. I don't actually have a problem with poly, I just don't want a non-vintage style guitar to have an orange neck. I also like a satin-y neck, so I started off by just sanding out the gloss and decided to just keep going. This one will be getting a tru-oil finish, with some lacquer over the new decal. I may slightly reshape the headstock too, just because I don't really like the big CBS headstocks.

After putting in 7 hours of overtime, I was itching to get back to work on the guitar. So, I got the body sanded to 220, then wet the body to raise the grain. I'll go back and use some 220 again, then do a dry fit of all the major parts to make sure everything fits and lines up properly. I also routed the wiring channel between the main and control cavities and drilled the ground wire to bridge hole. I still need to square up the trem route, but my chisels are in pretty rough shape. After that, If everything looks right, It'll be ready to send off for finishing.

After that, since my pickguard material arrived today, I decided to work on that. This is pickguard #4 for me, and is probably my best one yet.

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I'm tempted to try and see if the covers could be polished up, but I also like the contrast between matte and shiny.

I did an experiment on making the slide switch and roller knob holes. I picked up a 1/4" mortise chisel insert, and used it as a punch after using a 1/4" forstner bit to remove most of the material.

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I still need to do a little clean up with some needle files, but this got me 95% of the way there.
The roller pot hole is a little sloppy, but it's still undersized, so should be fine once I clean it up

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I held off on drilling the screw hole for the pot bracket. I'm reusing the original one from my Squier Jazzmaster and I wasn't sure if the screw placement would be different from a US bracket. I'm going to cut down the bracket and have it share a hole with one of the slide switches.

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Now it's really time to start getting serious about pickups...
Last edited by ThePearDream on Sun Feb 18, 2018 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by 07hubbardj » Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:44 am

Nicely done on the pickguard. I agree with the matte and shiny contrast between the pickup covers and pickguard. Looks slick. Not that it's doable with the neck you have but I think the starcaster headstock would look good with this body shape

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Mon Feb 19, 2018 6:40 am

I think you're right about the starcaster headstock, and also about me not doing it. :D
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Sat Feb 24, 2018 1:44 pm

I did my dry fitting today.
I had to do a bit of sanding in the neck pocket to open it up. The Squier neck measures 2-29/128" (or 5/128" more than standard) at the heel, and that's with the poly finish removed.

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I need to take down the neck contour just a hair, there was a tiny gap at one corner of the neck plate.

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Also, I couldn't quite fit the pickguard on with the top switches installed so I need to decide whether to open up the "rhythm circuit" routing a tiny bit in one corner, or redo the pickguard.

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Here's a tracing of the cavity with the switch locations and pickguard outline. I have room to move down, but I feel like I'd also have to move left to keep things aligned the way I want. I may open up the cavity over the middle switch and redo the pickguard.
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Lastly, I didn't lubricate the neck screws and broke one. I had a puck of beeswax less than one foot away, but I didn't bother to use it :fp: :fp: :fp: . Luckily it broke off by the head, and I had opened up the screw holes in the body beforehand. So I was able to pull the neck off without too much trouble and had plenty of screw sticking out of the neck to grab with pliers.



In neck news, the poly finish is completely removed and tru-oil is going on. Getting all the poly off was a huge PITA, but the neck already looks and feels so much better.



Ok, time to talk about pickups. I'm hoping the get some feedback from all you awesome folks reading this.

For reference, I mostly play clean, up to slightly gritty. I like lots of reverb, delay and Vox amps. I'm more of a melody player, than rhythm. The type of stuff I play a lot is Man or Astro-man, Dick Dale, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, etc. But I already have guitars to hit those sounds, so am open to other sounds as well. Mostly, I just want something versatile that can go from glassy, twangy clean to full out fuzz.

For the record I have a set of AV65s in my Squier Jaguar, so don't want this guitar to sound too much like that one.

My switching plan is to have the bridge coils go to two on/on slide switches to do Jaguar w/ series mod switching to get either coil alone, or together in either parallel or series, then to a toggle for neck/middle/bridge.

For the bridge coils, here's what I know I want:
-Each coil should have a different magnet
-The coils should be wound asymmetrically, that is, at different strengths. From the research I've done, I've been led to believe that traditional humbuckers with asymmetrically wound coils have more clarity, also I think it gives more tonal options than having two coils with the same output.
-RW/RP from each other, to create a true humbucker effect when combined.


What I have questions on are:
Which magnets should I use on the bridge? I'm leaning towards A2 & A5. I do really like A3s though and don't usually like A2s (but I've never played an A2 Jaguar bridge pickup). A2/A3? A3/A5?

Which positions should the magnets be in? I'm thinking A2 for the outside coil and A5 for the inside coil. My thought is that the A2 should go in the brightest position. Any opinions on this?

Which coil should be stronger? I would lean toward one coil being slightly underwound. Would you go for one overwound instead?

For the neck coil, I'm thinking I may do an A3 coil. I've never heard of using A3 on a jaguar, but I have two strats with A3's and they are my favorites. I think the tonal qualities of A3 would help tame some of the excessive brightness that shortscales can have. I'd also be open to something totally off the wall here, even if it's from a different winder than the bridge coils.

As for combining the bridge with the neck, I think I'd be more likely to not use the A5 coil alone as much, since I already have that in my Squier. So I think I should have both of the other coils RW/RP from the A2 coil

As far as who will make the pickups, I am leaning towards using Roadhouse Pickups, I like that they mostly only make oddball pickups. It seems like they are into interesting tones. Their price for a set of 3 Jaguars is $210, which is right in my sweet spot. I do have a set of Rose Mariposa (A3) that sound really nice, so I would consider using them again. I'm not against buying off the shelf pickups, if it gives me the right combinations though.

This could be as simple as just getting a standard Jag neck/bridge pair (with one more neck pu) with whatever magnets I pick. I may be over thinking this, but as a professional designer I'm used to diving deep into the details and analyzing every aspect to death.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Doug
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:41 pm

I just did some A/B comparisons with my two strats with A3 pickups (Rose Mariposa & Tonerider Surfari), my Talman TC630 that has an A2/A5 magnet mix in the P90s and my Talman/Mustang that has A5 neck & bridge strat pickups and an A3 "Jazzmaster" in the middle.

I rarely play the TC630, the P90s seems to have the worst characteristics of both magnets. It's somehow muddy, boomy, shrill and lifeless all at the same time. I definitely need to address this later.

The Talman/Mustang is too bright on the bridge and too boomy on the neck. The A3 Buddha humbucker sized Jazzmaster is definitely the highlight on this guitar and it mixes really well with either neck or bridge pickups.

The Tonerider Surfaris are just fantastic in every position, especially neck/bridge. Sometimes they can be just on the edge of being too bright at the bridge, but turning the bridge tone to 7ish makes for beautiful bell tones.

When I first installed the Mariposa's I thought I didn't like them quite as much as the Surfaris. But while comparing them back and forth, I think I actually prefer the Mariposas. Every position is great (again, especially neck/bridge). Slow strums on the neck gives harp like tones and the bridge is clear, articulate and balanced.

So, this is my plan now:

Neck- A3
Bridge Inner Coil - A5
Bridge Outer Coil - A3

I think, since I was so pleased with the Rose Mariposas, I will go with them again. Since the price is so affordable, I may just buy two sets of their Magic Dragon pickups - an A3 and an A5. I'll use the A5 neck and A3 bridge coil together in the bridge position to give me the mismatched winds and humbucker effect I want. I can use the spare A5 bridge pickup to replace the bridge pickup from my Squier Jaguar that in the course of testing out prototype pickup covers has sustained some coil damage. And I can put the 70ish dollar savings towards better pickups on my TC630.
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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by paulnewman » Thu Mar 01, 2018 2:07 am

I lurk this site all the time for inspiration and don't normally jump in to comment, but I have to say that this project is one of the most exciting ones I've come across in a long time. I love all your ideas, particularly the double jag pickups in the bridge. I'm dying to hear how that sounds! Not to mention that the pick up covers you designed look amazing.

Also, for what it's worth, I definitely dig the orange color. I have a strat that is almost that exact color, and it looks awesome. It currently has a white pickguard, but after seeing this thread, I kind of want to switch to pearl...

Coyote is a great name too. Did you come across Thylacines in your wikipedia wormhole? Really awesome animal form Australia (also called the Tasmanian Tiger) that was once thought to be extinct, but now they're not so sure. Always thought it would be a cool name for a project.

Anyways, can't wait to see the finished product!!

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Thu Mar 01, 2018 7:33 am

Thanks very much Paul, I appreciate your kind words.

I've never been a big fan of orange, but when Fender had some Tangerine Metallic strats a few years back, I thought they looked really nice. I just tried to do an image search and there really aren't very many metallic orange guitars and even fewer with pearl pickguards.
I did find a small pic of a nice looking G&L:
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Looking at that makes me want to call in sick to work so I can get the last bits of the body done and send it off for finishing.

I did come across Tasmanian Tigers during my search, but to be honest, when I was looking at animals, I was really only considering North American species. I agree that it would be a great name for a project though, hopefully using some of the beautiful woods that are native to that part of the world.

I still need to order my decal, so it's not too late for another name. I'm just trying to settle on the text that goes under the brand and model names. I like to use short, out of context lines from funny shows, and I just need to find the right snippet for this one.

Here is a previous example and two I'm getting ready to apply and a rough mockup of "COYOTE"

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by sirjeremy » Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:52 am

Sick! The "TE" in Coyote is a little too is hanging too much. Not sure if that was intentional (Basically all Fender logos have a weird 'off' thing about them). I've noticed the name of the model when they are the bold type (Jaguar/Cyclone etc), there's a more gradual change in the letters, if you get what I mean.

Sincerely,

Graphic Designer with OCD

Lol. Build is turning out great. Can't wait to see all the electronics and of course the finished thing!

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Re: Jagstang Done Right Build

Post by ThePearDream » Thu Mar 01, 2018 5:33 pm

sirjeremy wrote:
Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:52 am
Sick! The "TE" in Coyote is a little too is hanging too much. Not sure if that was intentional (Basically all Fender logos have a weird 'off' thing about them). I've noticed the name of the model when they are the bold type (Jaguar/Cyclone etc), there's a more gradual change in the letters, if you get what I mean.

Sincerely,

Graphic Designer with OCD

Lol. Build is turning out great. Can't wait to see all the electronics and of course the finished thing!
Don't worry, I'm going to leave the decal to the professionals. I normally only ever use Inkscape to convert pdf's into a format I can open in AutoCad. But since I have it installed, I thought I'd just see how the letters might look together. I really do appreciate your concern though.

Thanks,

Interior Designer with GAD
Doug
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